I have not seen any of the Amusing Hobby kits so I do not have a reference as to how they compare to AFV Club.
Any preference between the two companies kit?
Greg, check out this thread. Both of them are being build here: Centurions: Fist of the Empire - #669 by Johnnych01
Greg, sorry I’m late in making a reply, been out and about all day.
I cannot reference the AFV offerings as I’ve never built one of them, this is my first Cent, and it’s the Shot Kal Alef from AH, @Catsrcool is also doing another variant in the link @ReluctantRenegade kindly posted.
Personally, I have not had an issue with it. It has gone together without a hitch (apart from me putting the wheels on reversed
)I had no need of filler or trimming etc, everything went where it should with minimal fuss.
The detailing all over is nice and crisp and well defined
On the Alef version, the sprues come with loads of extra bits for other types of Kal’s, I think most of the spares would go towards 80%of a Gimel.
Some larger parts have what must be big pour stubs but every one was on the reverse and not seen on the completed kit, and they are easily broken off flush with just finger pressure.
The indi track links are fantastic, simple click and go. It took me in all about an hour to do both runs. They need no glue at all and I have man handled them to within an inch of their life when assembling them, then rolling up each run into a tight circle, unrolling them, then priming, painting them, weathering them, and fitting them which I was not gentle with and they didn’t come apart once.
The one down side and it’s very very minor, is the lack of painting instructions. I may of accidentally binned them, but I can’t recall seeing any …may be me or just a one off error in packing …
I would genuinely get another of these Cents if I was building another. On a side note, I am also doing the Amusing Hobby Rheintochter and that is just as good in my opinion for detail and ease of use.
It did help having @ReluctantRenegade Israel and @gtdeath13 Nikos on hand for a million bits of advice…
The kits are definitely worth the money.
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Both kits are good for assembly, just certain details are missing in both forms, or over simpliforcation on some parts,
Michael Osborne can give you the definitive answer on kits.
Can someone tag him please.
3 Cent and IDF Cent gurus.
@ReluctantRenegade
@Michael_Orsbourn
@gtdeath13
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Personally I would choose the Amusing Hobby kit for two reasons:
- One piece plastic wheels
- Easy to assemble indi link tracks.
AFV Club kit has crispier detail and is better accuracy wise for a Yom Kippur War vehicle. The Amusing Hobby kit needs some minor backdating.
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Not a biggie, but the boxart of Amusing Hobby’s Sho’t Kal Alef is somewhat misleading: it says ‘Valley of Tears 1973’, when in fact, based on the number of MGs and their location, it clearly depicts a post YKW tank.
Prior to and during the '73 war Sho’ts were usually equipped with a single, commander operated 0.30 cal MG, or in some cases with a 0.50 cal instead.
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Hi All
Sorry I not been around but family issues, new job and trying to finish a couple of paint jobs on two German tank models. But will complete my shot Kal soon.
so, I helped AFV CLUB design the Australian centurion kit and advised on all versions and have had a huge input on the forth coming AVRE.
alot of my centurion knowledge was from serving in the ARMY on centurion all versions , chieftain most versions ,later CRARRV and driven a lot of different tanks .
I was Told that the designer of AFV Club who helped with the original centurion kit had left and went to work for a Chinese company. when low and behold centurion AVRE came out and a few more. I presumed he took all my information and drawing plus lots of actual dimensions for lots of versions not just British centurion versions.
so, I have bought an Amusing Hobby kit I bought the AVRE I won’t tell you what I thought except it went in the bin.
What I can say is the kits are interchangeable. I started to build the AVRE, and I did use some AFV Club parts on my model suspension and front plate plus turret but got fed up with the plastic being soft and so much wrong with the kit.
Reminded me of old Tamiya pre 1972 like Saladin.
Israeli version I have not had much input into the AFV Club kits but noted that both Amusing hobby and AFV club have their faults. so I cant comment, but I do own a few books lol.
I noticed a lot with both kits is they have the same faults in some cases, and both have simplified their kits.
In my opinion
These two both require mantel covers
If you want a model that is easy to build and looks like a centurion, then Amusing Hobby
If you want a model that is dimensionally correct and a lot of detail but fiddly in some places, then AFV Club is your model and more choices 5 versions of kit.
Tamiya Centurion, I built years ago.
1/35 simple to build but dimensionally wrong. But looks like a Centurion.
1/25 centurion is 2mm wrong between 2nd and 3rd road wheel to be honest not noticeable again simple kit a lot can be done to it.
this is my opinion
Ossie
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Thanks Ossie.
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