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So yeah, which company sells the best quality models for 1:100 scale? I bought some shermans from BF and they were okay but not the best.
I looked at their infantry and they dont look that good pictures.

I should add that i am looking for Shermans and British paras.

PSC kits look nice on sprues, but they dont have much infantry. Forged in battle looks decent too but im not sure of the quality.

While I like BF infantry I can understand why some don't. Were the BF Shermans you bought from the Open Fire! set? If so, they're notoriously "meh" when compared to BF's other stuff. Plastic Soldier Company also makes a very affordable box of allied Shermans that look great. I'm not so much of a fan of Forged In Battle's vehicles (I can't stand the bases), though the models themselves look good.

That being said, Forged in Battle's infantry look fantastic in person. Also, I think with FIB you get a higher proportion of paras in berets which is something I'm a total sucker for.

I have a load of the PSC Shermans that I'm really happy with.

For Brit infantry I use a mix of BF and Peter Pig, I haven't had a look at the paras from either yet though.

I got the shermans from the "Sherman Armoured Platoon" box (4x M4A1 and 1x Firefly), the tracks and guns were metal while hulls and turrets were from some strange plastic.
I wasnt too happy with them as i had to spend about 2h filing stuff so it would fit and all the barrerls were bent.

Shouldn't be a strange plastic, most likely resin. I've always had trouble working with resin.

Make sure to wash the hulls and turrets and hulls in Luke warm soapy water and scrub with a soft toothbrush to get off the release agent.

I like the weight of the resin hulls over plastic. I do have the open fire Sherman's and took a good deal of work to get them together despite horrible molds.

I like BF infantry but they are the first 15mm troops I've worked with. I got two boxes of PSC sdKfz 251/1Ds along with 2 251/10s from BF. PSC tends to have a lot of little bits but were easy to build. My only complaint was their machine guns were so thin I broke most of them trying to get them off the sprue. Very very annoying.

Big thumbs up to BF infantry and for Shermans. I have used PSC Shermans before and the tracks were pain in the arse, hope they have fixed this problem and made them a single part ?

If the gun barrels that were bent were metal its a regular issue on all metal models. The metal is very soft but its easily bent back into shape

If have some PSC Shermans on my blog some where

Battlefront has never done hybrid plastic/metal kits that I know of. If it has metal bits then it's resin, not plastic.

The plastics in the Open Fire set were not designed using CAD (computer-aided design) and were sculpted by hand. This is the reason for the difficulties in assembling the models. All other Battlefront plastics were designed using CAD and fit together much better.

Make sure to wash the hulls and turrets and hulls in Luke warm soapy water and scrub with a soft toothbrush to get off the release agent.

What will that do?



And isnt resin some sort of plastic? Certainly looks and fells like it.

Daemonhammer wrote:

Make sure to wash the hulls and turrets and hulls in Luke warm soapy water and scrub with a soft toothbrush to get off the release agent.

What will that do?

As Kiwi461 said, it removes the release agent. This will allow the primer to adhere to the model and not be as likely to rub off with handling while painting, etc.

Daemonhammer wrote:
And isnt resin some sort of plastic? Certainly looks and fells like it.

In a broad sense it is a 'plastic', but resin is very different from the polystyrene that plastic kits are made from and they do look and feel significantly different. Resin is quite hard and somewhat brittle, whereas polystyrene is softer and somewhat flexible. The manufacturing processes also differ, with resin being cast in an inexpensive spin caster whereas polystyrene requires more expensive injection molding.

 Ghaz wrote:

As Kiwi461 said, it removes the release agent. This will allow the primer to adhere to the model and not be as likely to rub off with handling while painting, etc.

Ah sorry i didnt understand that at first.

In a broad sense it is a 'plastic', but resin is very different from the polystyrene that plastic kits are made from and they do look and feel significantly different. Resin is quite hard and somewhat brittle, whereas polystyrene is softer and somewhat flexible. The manufacturing processes also differ, with resin being cast in an inexpensive spin caster whereas polystyrene requires more expensive injection molding.

So basicaly resin models are cheap versions of the normal plastic ones?

No, they're not. Resin and polystyrene plastics are two totally different materials each with their own properties with their own strengths and weaknesses.

 Ghaz wrote:
No, they're not. Resin and polystyrene plastics are two totally different materials each with their own properties with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Okay i see.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
If im correct the general consensus seems to be that resin models are not as good as the plastic ones.

No. There is no general consensus either way. Some people prefer resin and some prefer polystyrene plastic. It all comes down to personal preference.

I highly recommend the PSC sherman- every bit as much detail as Dragon and Tasca models of the tank, but in a way smaller scale.

The Battlefront plastics usually suck quality of details-wise.

This seems as good a thread as any to ask this in, but does anyone have any experience with Zvezda models?

I bought an Sd Kfz 222 yesterday. Not because I needed one. I just saw it and couldn't argue with the price...

What I've heard of Zveda's 1/100 scale kits is that they go together easily and have finer detail than Batte£ront equivalents for a little less money.

I was told that zvezda only make soviet and german kits but I could be wrong.

Tibbsy wrote:
This seems as good a thread as any to ask this in, but does anyone have any experience with Zvezda models?

I bought an Sd Kfz 222 yesterday. Not because I needed one. I just saw it and couldn't argue with the price...

I use 3 of that exact same model with my Romanians, it looks good, though the barrel is really thin and I know it's going to snap one day...

I like Zvezda alot, at a recent tournament a guy ran a lot of their KV tanks and they looked just fine on the table. If I ever start Soviets up again I'd definitely pick some up.

 sing your life wrote:
What I've heard of Zveda's 1/100 scale kits is that they go together easily and have finer detail than Batte£ront equivalents for a little less money.

They make high quality kit for a fraction of the cost of Battlefront and most nationalities are covered.

As far as I'm aware they do not do 15mm troops

I cannot recommend them highly enough and I'm not connected in selling them in any way unlike some people who post on this site who constantly recommend their own product

I play the game, I don't sell or make the product.

Yeah, after a little research and all these good reviews I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the 222.

And I bought a Panzer II as well, just because.

Personally, I like Battlefront's product over others for a few reasons.

1). Heft. Yes, the resin can take some filing to get tracks to mate up properly, and the metal can have some heavy flash at times, but I've learned to live with it after growing up on GW metals and once they are on the table, they tend to stay put better.

2) Durability. I will never buy PSC infantry again. Too many broken ankles. There have been some that have been "on me" due to ham handed handling, but there have also been some that have happened after they have been safely placed in foam transport. No idea how those happened. Vehicles I am a bit more on the fence about. You state you don't like the bend of metal barrels. I'm thankful they do bend. My first batch of PSC Panthers had a bad barrel mold. Two snapped on removal from the sprue, one snapped in tha hands of a demo player where a metal barrel would have bent.

3) Completeness of line. With BF there is seldom much worry if scale will be an issue. Something might be a bit out of scale from real life, but with all models from the same manufacturer, they look good together. You also don't have to worry about some manufacturer not having some oddball unit type or having to piece different manufacturers products together.

This is getting better, but right now things like TDs, AA, and artillery are just starting to roll out from the various plastics makers. It is still a bit visually jarring to have one company's plastic Shermans and another's metal Priests with slightly different hull sizes.

4) Ease to obtain. Even with a wide variety of game systems out there, BF is still the one that FLGS will stock on the shelf due to the popularity of the system and the support of the models. I try to support my FLGS as much as possible and many times that is by purchasing BF models.

On a broader note, we are talking 15mm here. Detail is not going to be as crisp and fine as a 1/72 or 1/48 level model kit. There is some stuff out there that is just plain rubbish...I've ran into some old Command Decision stuff that said the mold should have been retired long ago and recut.

Shotgun wrote:
Personally, I like Battlefront's product over others for a few reasons.

1). Heft. Yes, the resin can take some filing to get tracks to mate up properly, and the metal can have some heavy flash at times, but I've learned to live with it after growing up on GW metals and once they are on the table, they tend to stay put better.

2) Durability. I will never buy PSC infantry again. Too many broken ankles. There have been some that have been "on me" due to ham handed handling, but there have also been some that have happened after they have been safely placed in foam transport. No idea how those happened. Vehicles I am a bit more on the fence about. You state you don't like the bend of metal barrels. I'm thankful they do bend. My first batch of PSC Panthers had a bad barrel mold. Two snapped on removal from the sprue, one snapped in tha hands of a demo player where a metal barrel would have bent.

3) Completeness of line. With BF there is seldom much worry if scale will be an issue. Something might be a bit out of scale from real life, but with all models from the same manufacturer, they look good together. You also don't have to worry about some manufacturer not having some oddball unit type or having to piece different manufacturers products together.

This is getting better, but right now things like TDs, AA, and artillery are just starting to roll out from the various plastics makers. It is still a bit visually jarring to have one company's plastic Shermans and another's metal Priests with slightly different hull sizes.

4) Ease to obtain. Even with a wide variety of game systems out there, BF is still the one that FLGS will stock on the shelf due to the popularity of the system and the support of the models. I try to support my FLGS as much as possible and many times that is by purchasing BF models.

On a broader note, we are talking 15mm here. Detail is not going to be as crisp and fine as a 1/72 or 1/48 level model kit. There is some stuff out there that is just plain rubbish...I've ran into some old Command Decision stuff that said the mold should have been retired long ago and recut.

1) "I've learned to live with" - isn't this the opposite of like?

2) Machine guns of 251s break easy, but they not look like TOYS, check US303 on the official site, even they could not bend all guns to look acceptable.

3) That's the point for them.

4) Depends where you live.

Plastics are fine, and I'm happy BF goes plastic.

1) How about scraping flash and a bit of resin is better than eventually having your barrels/legs/wheels snap off of your PSC plastics rendering them mostly useless? No one makes completely work free models straight out of the box. Everyone has some level of flash/mold line/mis mold to deal with. I was stating that I find BF's the least offensive. I'm sorry if that doesn't match up to "like" for you.

2) I consider a lost 251 mg less of a hassle than 2/3s of my panthers being some kind of odd short barrel design due to breakage. A bent barrel is still there, a broken one never will be. Neither are "acceptable". I find it easier to attempt to repair bends over breakage.

3) I have no idea what your issue is here.

4) True. I have one shop locally that carries BF, some PSC, some Zevda. When items are not on the shelf, thier vendors are able to get me BF quicker than the other two. I do not know who they use.

I am fine with most BF plastics. The Open Fire StuGs can be useable. The Shermans take a lot of fiddling with. The infantry is great. I'm looking forward to the Panther/JPanther box. I am eagerly awaiting anyone's 38T/Marder/Hetzer box.

Anyone know where to buy Zvezda kits in Australia? Especially Melbourne?