Excellent statement Jason, although I don't agree with the last part that I left out, not everyone can find all the other reviews and at the same time actually believe them. If I'm serious about buying a kit, one which I care about accuracy...which I should mention are the ones that I actually know something about...I'll try and read multiple reviews. More importantly, I'll want to read the discussion thread on the review as one reviewer may not have the knowledge of multiple readers and experts. I'll also want to see if there are any builds of the kit, since accuracy doesn't mean squat if the kit goes together like a dog and I end up trashing it out of frustration. A review is merely a tool to help you decide if buying the kit is worthwhile. As far as what do readers look for in reviews? I'll venture a guess that there are as many answers to that question as readers

It's not really a review then, is it? Might as well take 50 photos of the sprues and post them up without comment. Not that there's anything wrong with that...just don't give people a misleading impression that the kit is flawless.

Hummm....lets me say a few things. 1. No kit is perfectly detailed, 2. No kit includes all the details, 3. Not every kit needs to have a bizzilion parts and details, we need kits at all complexity levels to have something for all modelers 4. As for details.....we are modelers, if it is missing a detail, make it. We all seem to want to be just assemblers.Modeling is not just finishing!! SOOOO...now before you reply, the only other M109A2 kit was the old Italeri kit....with the lousy vinyl tracks, pin marks, sink marks, inaccuracies....but it was all we had. In comparison this kit appears to be far superior (yes I have one of each). It is not perfect, but far better. It will be interesting to see if AFV does the M109A2 and I would assume they would improve on the Kinetic offering knowing AFV. We went through a similar exercise with the M2A1 105mm howitzer. All we had was Italeri...the came Dragon which was a big improvement...then came AFV and made the Dragon kit look poor. As for a review/preview, if you like/build the subject and as long as the reviews are not calling the kit trash, buy it and form your own opinion. When I see a modern howitzer kit that includes an M90 chronograph and bracket, or a colimeter....then we are approaching all the details. Just my 2 cents....I am sure my younger brother Gino will be along shortly with his thoughts. Most of all....have fun, it's a hobby Rounds Complete!!

Yup, I agree with Mike. I have the kit too and think it is pretty good. I haven't built it yet, but from looking at the plastic, it is pretty nice. Detail is very high and much better than the old Italeri kit. The nicest part is the suspension. The road wheels are very nicely detailed and in multiple slices to get crisp details and the correct profiles. The idler wheel is molded with the lightening holes as well. It also has the flotation system boomerang removed from the top deck as is correct for A2s and later. All hatches open and have interior details. Also, all tools are molded seperately with separate tool holders so the tools can easily be left off. The only downside I see is the tracks. The indi-link parts around the sprocket and idler are nice. The longer bottom and top runs are not as nicely molded and have no track pin holes on the track connectors. I would still recommend replacing them with AFV Club tracks or the forthcoming Skunkmodels (affiliated w/Kinetics) indi-link T136 tracks. Bottom line, if you want a very nice M109A2, I would get it. My opinion on reviews is to take them with a grain of salt. Unless I know the objectivity of the reviewer, I don't really trust them. Some reviews and reviewers are better than others. Of the two posted, one is purely an amateur and his reviews are pretty worthless. The other one is pretty good. In the end though, I always check out a few reviews before I buy a model, then I form my own opinion on it.

Lucky has the Skunk Model tracks in stock for only $12 shipped. However, the picture shows link and length tracks making me wonder will they have the same lack of detail on the end connectors on the length parts that the kit does? LINK

The new Skunkworks T136 tracks are fully indi-links. The pic just shows a section built. They are also coming out with a set of T154 indi-link tracks, which are for the M109A6 Paladin. Hopefully it is an indicator of more to come...

Update -- I have clarification from Kinetic/Skunk Models. The indi-track set is extra sprues of the kit tracks with enough indi-links to allow you to build one complete track set out of only the indi-links. You will have the long lengths as extra tracks. Sounds good to me.

I think that's a fair point, although I find in-box contents previews really useful as I get to see the parts and molding and level of detail, which beats the Hell out of buying one sight unseen. I do think that differentiating the type of review (preview of contents, partial build review, full build review, etc) is very helpful and I do think it's fair to ask reviewers to include data for their conclusions. If the parts are still on the sprue how can I discuss part fit? If I just dry-fit the various major assemblies together it should be mentioned that that's what I did. Same with accuracy; if you eyeballed some photos that's fine, just mention that it looks right compared to photos but that's as far as you went. I just think it's more useful to know what the criteria/evaluation was for the reviewer when I read one. I will say though that there's a damned if you do/damned if you don't for reviewers. Get too AMS on the thing and you get hammered by some for being a nitpicker, don't compare it to (hopefully!) accurate plans in enough detail and you lose points for missing a 1 mm screw-up by the manufacturer. Matt

Thanks Gino.