As a sweeping statement I disagree, although in the instance of this kit, yes there are better modern tooled alternatives but Italeri have been capable of producing good kits and still do. Sure they tread the well worn path that Tamiya does, reissuing old kits with a few extras or just a change of boxart but even some of their "70's" kits are good. The Opel Blitz for example, was the only game in town for years, even Tamiya boxed it, but when they decide to make their own it wasn't a huge leap forward by any means and the old Italeri one still looks good. The radio truck version still gets good bids on Ebay. Same goes for the Horch staff car, which they've released recently with some extras. Their Leopard tanks have only recently been surpassed by Meng and Takom. The Staghound was all new and compared favourably against the Bronco offering, again Tamiya reboxed it. Lets not forget the Sahariana in both variants, so I don't think your comment is justified. Alan [/quote] Don't forget their M47 it's one of their best kits and is still the only game in town.

I think many of Italeri's kits are just fine - I must have about thirty or more of them. I just think in this particular case there is better value for money out there.

Thats what i was wondering.

I don't know anything about this Hetzer.. but regarding the quality of Italeri kits in general, you guys should try and take a look at their LMV Lince kit.. If they can continue making new kits like that, I'm sure many people will be very happy with them. Hisham

Hisham is right- BTW, ITALERI's 1/48 Germaqn Arado Ar.196 Seaplane a a real jewel! Also, their M47 is STILL the BEST, since it's THE ONLY kit of an M47 around. Maybe we could use a NEW ONE- You hear me, MENG, TAKOM, BRONCO, TRUMPETER/HOBBY BOSS? (And then again, maybe not...) OK, so the ITALERI Hetzer isn't anything to light the world on fire with. With a little bit of work, one can finish this kit to be a pretty darn credible representation of a "middle/late"-type of a Hetzer. There are plenty of aftermarket resin and PE updates out there to do so, plus a fine selection of aftermarket Tracks as well. NEW CONNECTIONS, LZ MODELS and JP HOBBIES made some great conversions that can be adapted to ANY 1/35 Hetzer kit, ITALERI, DRAGON, ACADEMY, or TAMIYA's which IMO, is probably the best one of the bunch, straight-out-of-the-box... I converted a couple of TAMIYA Hetzers: A Bergehetzer, with the NEW CONNECTIONS Conversion, and a sIG.33 auf Pz.38(t) Hetzer with a JP HOBBIES Conversion... The ITALERI or any of the other Hetzer kits out there would also work with these conversion sets, with the ITALERI kit probably being the cheapest way to do so, if you buy an old one from a private seller on ebay. They can be had for as little as $5 bucks, US-currency... And as far as the INSIDE surfaces of the Road-wheels go, how many times-a-minute are you going to pick the thing up, turn it upside down and stare at the insides of the wheels while you're saying bad words because there aren't any bolts? Personally, once I complete a model, it goes inside one of my display cabinets, and then it stays there, behind glass, never to be frogged-around-with again... PS- The "caps" are not "yelling", but merely used for emphasis and spelling out manufacturer's company-names...

It's no secret that Italeri is putting out some of their older kits w/a tiny bit of upgrade. I think they're trying to capture some of the interest spurred on by the World Of Tanks niche and target those buyers. This kit is not aimed at those of us with dozens/hundreds of stash kits or who regularly trawl through model show vendor rooms looking for the good deals. As such, it doesn't bother me. I hope they sell a bunch and make a mint!

AGREE! I prefer the TAMIYA Hetzers, personally. I LIKE the "Link-and-Length" Tracks- They're very well-molded, and once you dirty them up with some "road-dirt" and/or "mud", you can't really tell that they're "just" Link-and-Length, unless you get really close...

I remember this as a well engineered, fairly realistic kit, when I built it back in the 80s. I know there are more accurate kits now, but I agree with some previous posters, that details which cannot be seen without taking apart or turning over the model are pointless. It was fun then, it still looks like fun now.

I've still got a couple of the ITALERI Hetzers in my inventory- Maybe it's time that I dusted 'em off and DID something with them, instead of letting them molder...