Hasegawa Cruiser Tank Crusader Mk III 1:72 Revell Review Model Kit

This friday we will speak of a classic kit, the Cruiser Tank from Hasegawa;

Boxes; The first release box have all the flair of the 70s, the second one is just dull (I never liked the grey on Hasegawa's kits, maybe due to seeing them so many times). The artwork has more realistic colours in the second one, but in overall is not very exciting. The Revell box is typical Revell box, realistic and nice, more proper with desert colours, but it has been done like if it was a modern tank, and the driver looks like a Iraqi tank crew!

THE KIT - 9.0

One of the smoothest, easiest and nicest models to build I have had the honour of building (and that's quite a feat considering I've built around 200 model kits!). Everything fits perfectly, and if you are in a modelling spree, you could finish it in 2-3 hours! a perfect tank for a novice, and all the same with good accuracy. 

The only dark points you see after carefully comparing with the real thing, is that the turret is slightly squashed, and it lacks some angle on the roof of it. The real turret would be much higher. The front lights are big and they don't look like the real ones, so if you are one of those accuracy maniacs you will have a nice extra work replacing them. But knowing this was released in the 70s, you could say it's one of the best models of that decade!

Instructions are very clear, tracks are fantastic, soft and easy to assemble and adapt to the wheels (how nice it would be that all tanks had the same quality of tracks!) and decals are ok, but you will have to use some decal micro film or varnish or they will be flying off in a couple of months.

As always with hasegawa you get a nice little pilot, although he is in a very weird pose.

PRICE-VALUE RATIO - 8.5

Released since the 1970s, and if you ask me, at least in constant production from the mid 90s to the mid 2000s. This kit should be dead easy to find (although now you don't see much AFVs Hasegawa kits on shop, maybe Revell has bought all moulds, I don't know). But all the same Revell kits are easy to find, and quite cheap. And looking for it on eBay and finding it for less than 8 pounds can be easy, so a very good value here.


 Overall;

This is a important tank, besides having a interesting design (I had to check twice when I was kid to make sure it was a WW2 kit!), much different to the conventional tanks of WW2, it is a easy kit to do, cheap and easy to find, so stop reading and go and buy it! very appropiate for wargaming too. 

If you have enjoyed this review and want to say thanks, the best way is to click in one of the advertisings in the blog. Every little help will be appreciated. 
This is the Crusader I built, some 15 years ago so not much in way of weathering and similar, age provides that :);

Here you can get inspiration on other builds, gathered from the net;

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next battle!

Italeri Esci MORRIS QUAD TRACTOR with 25 POUNDER GUN nº7027 1/72 model kit Ford CMP Artillery Tractor

Yet another Italeri review (I have no special preference for this manufacturer, but a great majority of my desert model kits are Italeri), the Morris Quad with 25 PDR. gun;

A very nice artwork where you can see clearly what you are given. It is realistic and welldone, but the men seem a bit "plastic", lifeless, they don't seem they are in combat. The vehicle and the cannon is superbly done, but the men seem wax statues. 

This model is really two Esci models into one box, the 25 PDR gun and the Morris quad.

We can see here the original boxes (prepare to see quite a lot of images! (click on the picture to see them in big));

The original box, nice and realistic.

A Revell reissue, with a nice background.

Later Esci decided to give a background to all their boxes, and this maybe looks a bit strange, as it looks like France more than the desert, I suppose it represents Italy.

And later, Esci thought that the white background was better, so back again the white and now with a different artwork. I think on the whole I prefer the Revell one.

Now, let's see the boxes for the 25 pdr;

 A nice and clear artwork. As a curiosity, the men drawn are different to the figures, as the officer wears a helmet and there are more shirtless fellows.

The same with background. Is it 10 times better, or it is just me?

And now the Humbrol, which is just the model in a diorama. They have got a nice shading of the desert, better than my model. But I think that showing the model normally doesn't attract a buyer as much as a good artwork. 

THE KIT -7.3 >>

One of the curious things is that this kit is a scaled down Tamiya kit. I don't know to what extent Esci did this, I am still quite puzzled. How do I know? Obviously, there isn't the same exact parts, but everything looks built the same way, and the figures are exact copies. I suppose Esci had permission from Tamiya. I would say that, maybe except the wheels, everything is scaled down. I don't have the model of the Morris Quad, but probably it is a scale down too. Other kits such as the Fiat Ansaldo is also a scale down (this time from Italeri) (at least, judging by the driver and hull construction). Were all Esci kits scaled down from other manufacturers? Did they ask for permission? I don't have the answer, but it gives you something to think about.

Returning to the kit, it has nice detail, and it is easy to build. Probably better than the average Esci. Things fit very properly, and the details are well done. 

The only difference between this kti and the Esci kits is the inclusion of a clear sheet of transparent plastic to make yourself the glass of the Quad.

The only thing I see a bit strange are the wheels of the cannon, I see  them as a bit small. You can judge for yourself with this pic;

EXTRAS - 9.1 >>

6 crew and plenty of ammunition boxes are more or less the maximum you can ask. Originally, as the cannon was sold separately, it was absolutely needed to add an extra, but now with the lorry it gives a very high score.

The figures have good sculpting, although the detail is not sharp and is a bit diffuse in some places (handicaps of scaling down 1/35 figures). The figures have separate arms which you have to glue, and some separate legs. The poses are very good, all of them working closely with the cannon. The only thing is that I can't work out what the man with the shirt and helmet on is exactly doing, he is like walking while carrying something in his hands, and he doesn't carry anything. So it would be recommended to give him some box or a rifle or make him move the trolley. The officer with the binoculars is very charismatic, he resembles General Percival (at least the 1/35, where you can see the face detail)

POSSIBILITIES - 6.0 >>

The back of the box gives you more or less everything you can do, except the all green one. But if you paint it green, the men without shirts will look a bit strange in the middle of France :) , and you will have to get another crew. 

PRICE/VALUE RATIO - 9.0 >>

10 € for a lorry and a cannon, well done and with 6 crew, it is a fantastic price. Ok, it maybe is an old model, but all the same Italeri charges more or less the same for one vehicle without crew nor cannon, as old as this one.

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HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE - 10 >>

"The historical importance score is determined by how many were built, and how much operational service they had, and how much influence they had on the conflicts they were involved in"

They were decisive at El-Alamein, fought in nearly all theatres of war, from the jungles of Burma to North Africa. If this was not enough, it was used extensively by other countries after WWII, Greece only retired them in 1992, Cyprus still stores them, and Pakistan still uses today 1000 of them.

You can find out more here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance_QF_25-pounder#cite_note-9

WARGAMING - 7.0 >>

Maybe some things will be a bit tricky to build , like the suspension and chassis of the Morris Quad, but generally it shouldn't be a problem to most wargamers. The quantity of crew makes for a very nice diorama or wargaming item.

OVERALL - 9.0 >> 

Very intelligent for Italeri merging these two kits, which alone are by no means so interesting as together. Alone, they are dull and probably expensive, together  a must. There are not many alternatives to this important model (the Airfix is 1/76, and it is a very old model which looks very awkward compared to this one).

In one phrase; A true classic combined into a very interesting kit.

IMAGES OF FINISHED JOBS  (click on the pics to see them bigger)

Model kit build by myself.


Thanks to Al Magnus from http://www.onthewaymodels.com/reviews/Italeri/AMagnus_Italeri_25pdr&Limber_review.htm
for his permission to show his excellently built model kit.

Hasegawa M3 GRANT Medium Tank Mk.1

My first Hasegawa review, the M3 Grant.

Let's see the boxes;

BOX ART >> All Hasegawa boxes are quite the same, here the box art is maybe better than average, although they show you different men from what you get in the box.  I've never cared too much for the blue-grey around the box (I prefer the green older one), but that goes for all Hasegawa boxes. Forgetting the typo on the title (Gramt instead of Grant) a good box all round.

THE KIT - 4.8 >>

A standard good kit, which starts to show  it's age a bit (beginning of the 1980s). It is a simple kit to build. This is a kit I first made when I was starting in the hobby, and I did again recently (and is still available in shops).  It has good detail, but perhaps it needs a few more attachments, such as a machine gun, and the box on the back should be better done. For those who like to glue (or not to glue them) all the bits like shovels, axes, etc, you will be disappointed as they are in one piece with the main body.

Generally everything fits ok, but with so many reissues some parts of the hull are starting to leave gaps, so you will need a filler or a sand them thoroughly until they fit.

But now, it comes the terrible revelation; this kit has half the proportions all wrong. Yes, I didn't notice until I made this review, but you have only to compare with a real wartime picture;

The turret is far too flat, and the whole body seems too high. I am not picky with these things, but this is just very obvious, at first I thought it was another version! they also suggest that you glue the  visors on the turret in a wrong position. 

EXTRAS - 5.0 >>

They don't give you too many, but you do get two drivers. The problem with them comes that they are American, and even if the Grant was built by the Americans, it was the version made for the British forces. So you can use the drivers for other american tanks, or simply paint them as Britsh and say that they have borrowed some gear from their American friends.

POSSIBILITIES - 3.0 >>

There is not much you can do with it. If you want to escape the plain green for Burma and the desertic tone, there is just some additions to the desertic ones, like this;

And some other variations with two tones of browns, or another one like the one above changing brown for green.

PRICE/VALUE RATIO - 8.0/5.0  >>

Don't be fooled; if you see it for more than 8 pounds, don't buy it, or at least try and compare with other physical retail shops. I bought mine recently for 6 €, and I think that now in a retail shop it isn't very much expensive, but if you search by eBay, the cheapest shipped is 11 GBP.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE - 7.5 >>

"The historical importance score is determined by how many were built, and how much operational service they had, and how much influence they had on the conflicts they were involved in"

After reading too many books about the North African campagin, maybe you tend to maximize the historical weight of some of the types, but the M3 Grant was very important at a stage in the war when the British army didn't have anything capable of blasting the german Panzers. So, even if the type had several problems, and  was soon substituted, it had it's time of glory.

WARGAMING - 7.5 >>

A sturdy and fast build, it is very good for wargaming, although the inaccuracies with the turret and hull will annoy the perfectionists.

OVERALL - 7.0 >> 

It is a nice model, and if you forget the turret proportions (I have now the proportions of the model kit recorded in my mind, and it seems more natural to me the model than the real one!) this is a very nice kit. If you seek more accuracy, there is the Mirage kit, which for 14 GBP shipped roughly you will have lots of detail and no big inaccuracies. For wargaming and newbies in the hobby this kit will be good enough. Then there is also the Airfix one, but it is 1/76 and I think it has even bigger inaccuracies than this one.

                 IMAGES OF FINISHED JOBS

Model kit made by myself.

Another depiction made by Miniaturas Aconcagua

AIRFIX-JB MODELS VICKERS LIGHT TANK MK VI a/b/c 1/76 desert ww2 world war II

Let's review a great small tank, the Vickers from Airfix, which is a reissue of the JB Models kit.

Today we see the box in 3d;

BOX ART >> A nice realistic illustration, a bit simplistic maybe. The JB Models is curious indeed, as it is drawn, it gives the sensation that it is a modern tank. All the same, if I had to choose, I prefer the JB Models box, as it has the style of 90s comicbooks, and the Airfix seems too plain, as though made by computer.

THE KIT - 7.5 >>

A correct and regular kit, a bit deprived of detail compared with kits from other manufacturers. The wheels and the track are all in one piece, which to some modellers might seem outrageous, but I am quite happy with it, as with a so tiny vehicle, and made in 1/76, it would have been very tedious to build the wheels and attach the small track, and probably it would have looked worse.

The kit itself is easy to build, and probably a good starting point for newbies in the hobby

EXTRAS - 4.0 >>

Nothing too exceptional, but at least you can choose between different versions, the short or the long cannon. With a so small vehicle, a couple of figures or a small diorama should have been included.

POSSIBILITIES - 5.0 >>

Besides what is suggested in the box, there are three other possibilities;

A cracked camouflage for the desert, also used in Malta.

Two-tone green for the defense of France.

And finally a three-tone "Indian Pattern" for the desert too. There are also other variations with light blue or maroon instead of purple.

PRICE/VALUE RATIO - 6.0 >>

You can get this tank easily for 10 GBP on eBay, and probably less in retail shops. The JB Model maybe you can find it cheaper, but at least, before the reissue of Airfix, it was about 12 GBP in retail shops, and this, 5 years ago for a tiny tank, put me off buying it, and I really wanted to have this tank.

The price-value ratio is not very good, as it is a very small tank that can leave you a sense of "where have my 10 GBP  gone?". For the amount of plastic involved, they could have given you two kits, like Pegasus do with their tanks. All the same, if you can get it maybe a bit cheaper in a retail store, it is a good model to complete your British tank collection.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE - 8.5 >>

"The historical importance score is determined by how many were built, and how much operational service they had, and how much influence they had on the conflicts they were involved in"

With 1,682 examples built of the type, it is a must. It also helps to represent other marks of Vickers tanks which were used, as this is the only regular release of a Vickers tank, so it is this kit or nothing. 

WARGAMING - 7.5 >>

It is a correct and easy build, with not too many parts, but the price for just one unit (you would probably need at least two for wargaming) and the fact that it is 1/76 (which I don't think it is too important, but a bit annoying with a so small tank) lowers the wargaming score.

OVERALL - 8.0 >> 

With it's historical importance, even if the price and the quality of the kit aren't perfect, it is still a must for all 1/72 WW2 collectors.

IMAGES OF FINISHED JOBS

Model kit made by myself, next to 1/72 figures Esci and Airfix miniatures.