As the question says, if you’re like me you’ve had a frenetic 2023.
What’s been your favourite kit and favourite build of the year so far? And your least?
Mines a dead heat between a pair of Meng Panthers (early G and an G1 Jagd) and the Trumpeter T-72BM3 with the Cope Cage. All three were just lovely, lovely builds.
I’m in the early stages of a Tiger Nagmachon Late which looks as though it might run the others close though, every time I build a Tiger Models kit I am always amazed at how good they are.
What else have I built this year?
1/48 Academy SBD Dauntless, Midway edition which wasn’t a great kit at all.
1/48 Tamiya F-14A which was amazing.
1/35 Meng Bradley M3A3 which was a great kit but i ended up a bit disappointed in the finish, just wasn’t great.
1/35 Takom Chieftain Mk10 which I really enjoyed.
1/35 Trumpeter T-84M Oplot-M which was a lovely experience.
1/35 Tamiya T-62 which i got a great tune out of, won the kit for £6 on Evilbay!
The Meng Rolls Royce armored car was a fun kit to build and just a gem.
The AFV Club Centurion AVRE kit had no locator tabs on any of the three rear hull panels. Just blind butt joints. I put it back in the box.
Vintage Mania 1/72 Kawasaki Ki-48 Lily.
Went together perfectly and a lot of fun to paint the mottled jungle camouflage. And it got me looking more into Japanese aircraft and the war in the far East and Pacific, which I had neglected for far too long.
Built or mostly built
Tamiya Panther G w/Jaguar interior
Dragon Panther D
RFM early Stug III G
Dragon 15cm howitzer
Italeri Panther A conversion to Panther D
Finished
RFM KV-1 1942
Tamiya Panzer IV H
Tamiya Pz IV F
Academy Pz III N for North Africa
Dragon Pz III N North Africa
Tamiya T-55A
The best model was easily the RFM KV-1 1942. Well designed, outstanding quality, clean molding a total joy to build.
The RFM early Stug III G & Academy Pz III N w/ RFM aftermarket tracks were close contenders.
Kits with Dragon’s name on the box sucked by comparison to rest of my list. Dragon’s screwed up instructions maximized my annoyance and Dragon listed parts not in the kit in one case. Dragon’s 2nd class engineering design made them my bottom choice (again) this year.
The ancient Tamiya Panther G, T-55A & Pz IV H kits get honorable mention. They provide great build satisfaction. Likewise, modification to the terrible Italeri Panther A kit proved enjoyable.
YMMV as we all have our unique take on what makes a great model kit…
Same with me. I managed to finish a shelf queen: Tamiya 1/35 Leopard 1A4.
Working on too many things: Italeri 1.72 AH-6 Night Fox (yukky kit), Airfix 1/72 Spitfire Mk. 1a, Meng 1/35 ZPU-1 and ZU-23-2, Tamiya 1/35 SU-76M, Takom 1/35 Sea Dart (Launcher done - working on missiles) & Sea Wolf (just started).
