I was looking at buying some modern kits I see on sale locally. they are all less than 20 bucks.

Tamiya M60A3 RISE Marine reactive armor version.
Tamiya Challenger 1 Mark 3.
AFV Club Scimitar.
Academy Warrior British IFV.

Any opinion on these ? Keep in mind I can get them about half off.

Thanks

The Tamiya USMC M60 kit is boxed as an M60A1, but also contains all the original Tamiya M60A3 parts. Not as good as the Revell rebox of the old Esci M60A3 kit.

Overall, it is a decent kit that looks like an M60 when done. The lower hull dates back 30 years and is a major weak point.

The British kits are not my strong suit, sorry.

Rob
I've built all 3 of the Brit vehicles on your list and IMHO they're not bad.
The Tamiya Chally 1 Mk3 is a nice kit to build, it turns out very well. You get 2 decal and build options. If memory serves me correctly I've seen comments about the lower hull somewhere,but I can't remember what the fault is.
The Afv Club Scimitar is also a reasonable little kit. things to watch out for are the tracks (too tight) and the Pe exhaust guard, I think it's steel not brass and as such is a little difficult to bend
The Academy warrior mcv is another nice kit which is ok oob but cries out for something like the Accurate armour update set. The final drive housings are too wide and so the front armour is accordingly too narrow. The AA set corrects this. Things to watch out for are, don't make the suspension too high and the turret basket is difficult to build.

Hth
Pete

Possibly not the sort of answer you'd love but I have the Scimitar kit lined up as my next project. I got this kit from a bargain bin and purchased eduards PE set for it (the total cost ended up being the retail cost of the kit normally). I can't wait to do my first nato paint scheme on that kit with a kosovo scene in mind.

I have built the Scimitar and it was a joy to build. It was my first build of a "white" tank as I did it in UN colors. The only problem I had with the kit were the tracks. They are very small and fragile. And yes too tight. I had to tie mine together and actually glue the joint point to a road wheel to keep them together.






On the CHally 1 Mk3 I am building it now. It's going together very good and is a good kit. I'm trying to find a Warrior to do next. I like these three kits a lot.

Hehe , I've done 4 warriors,3 challengers and 2 scimitars. As you can see I like em.

Pete

I wonder if any metal track companies have got a set of tracks for use with the scimitar? Off to have a looksie...

No unfortunately there are no replacement tracks available for the Scimitar. There are Warrior tracks available but none for the Scimitar.