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2014/07/08 18:02:00
Subject: New historical kits for possible use in 40K
nflagey wrote: Anyone knows, in terms of quality, of the details, ... how the different brands compare? Airfix, Revell, Italeri ...
In my experience, Hasegawa, Academy, Tamiya and Revell are all consistently good, Airfix it depends a lot on the age of the kit (some of them are really old, 30+ years, and really don't hold up well, but the newer stuff is great). Italeri are good from what I've seen, but I've heard some poor reviews of some of their stuff.
In general, stick to the well-known brands and you can't really go wrong, especially if you're looking for conversion fodder over exact historical accuracy (there's a whole market selling conversion kits for people who need the parts exactly right, so some kits and companies are sometimes a little off, but only if you're really obsessing over detail)
2014/07/09 00:00:12
Subject: New historical kits for possible use in 40K
nflagey wrote: Anyone knows, in terms of quality, of the details, ... how the different brands compare? Airfix, Revell, Italeri ...
In my experience, Hasegawa, Academy, Tamiya and Revell are all consistently good, Airfix it depends a lot on the age of the kit (some of them are really old, 30+ years, and really don't hold up well, but the newer stuff is great). Italeri are good from what I've seen, but I've heard some poor reviews of some of their stuff.
In general, stick to the well-known brands and you can't really go wrong, especially if you're looking for conversion fodder over exact historical accuracy (there's a whole market selling conversion kits for people who need the parts exactly right, so some kits and companies are sometimes a little off, but only if you're really obsessing over detail)
Thanks!
I'm actually looking for some diversity to include into my Ork army.
I recently got a 1:72 Warthog from Revell to use as a DakkaJet with a Grot pilot.
I was sort of disappointed: the plastic is a bit on the cheap side wrt to what GW makes, and there are not that many details.
Maybe it's because a snap-tite model ... not sure.
I've now made a list of some models to use as BattleWagon, Trukk, Dakkajet or Warbuggy but was not sure about the quality.
I found a few interesting models on Airfix: the Supacat Coyote and Jackal would be good for BattleWagon and Trukk for instance.
Airfix has a rather gak quality. It was like that back in the day and it's still like that now. I got their Land Rover twin pack and it has not been a fun build: ill-fitting parts, gaps, poor tooling and whatnot.
Same with Italeri aircraft kits, though their 1:35 tanks and whatnot are usually topnotch, with the exception of their 1:49 not-Opel Blitz, which was a nice kit, but for some reason all the rubber tyres snapped over time.
Fatum Iustum Stultorum
Fiat justitia ruat caelum
2014/07/09 08:38:37
Subject: New historical kits for possible use in 40K
I was sort of disappointed: the plastic is a bit on the cheap side wrt to what GW makes, and there are not that many details.
Maybe it's because a snap-tite model ... not sure.
In general, model kits are meant for display, and will have much thinner plastic than 40k as they're not really designed for gaming, just putting on a shelf. As for the 'not many details' bit, remember it is under half the scale, so if it were 40k scale the lines ect would be twice as deep (not to mention GW exaggerate every detail a lot on their kits)
2014/07/09 23:21:26
Subject: New historical kits for possible use in 40K
I was sort of disappointed: the plastic is a bit on the cheap side wrt to what GW makes, and there are not that many details.
Maybe it's because a snap-tite model ... not sure.
In general, model kits are meant for display, and will have much thinner plastic than 40k as they're not really designed for gaming, just putting on a shelf. As for the 'not many details' bit, remember it is under half the scale, so if it were 40k scale the lines ect would be twice as deep (not to mention GW exaggerate every detail a lot on their kits)
Right, GW models now feel kind of silly I want to keep some consistency though, and maybe after adding bitz and painting the model, the differences won't be noticeable.
nflagey wrote: Anyone knows, in terms of quality, of the details, ... how the different brands compare? Airfix, Revell, Italeri ...
In my experience, Hasegawa, Academy, Tamiya and Revell are all consistently good, Airfix it depends a lot on the age of the kit (some of them are really old, 30+ years, and really don't hold up well, but the newer stuff is great). Italeri are good from what I've seen, but I've heard some poor reviews of some of their stuff.
In general, stick to the well-known brands and you can't really go wrong, especially if you're looking for conversion fodder over exact historical accuracy (there's a whole market selling conversion kits for people who need the parts exactly right, so some kits and companies are sometimes a little off, but only if you're really obsessing over detail)
Forgot to ask a silly question: what are the well-known brands?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/07/09 23:22:07
nflagey wrote: Anyone knows, in terms of quality, of the details, ... how the different brands compare? Airfix, Revell, Italeri ...
In my experience, Hasegawa, Academy, Tamiya and Revell are all consistently good, Airfix it depends a lot on the age of the kit (some of them are really old, 30+ years, and really don't hold up well, but the newer stuff is great). Italeri are good from what I've seen, but I've heard some poor reviews of some of their stuff.
In general, stick to the well-known brands and you can't really go wrong, especially if you're looking for conversion fodder over exact historical accuracy (there's a whole market selling conversion kits for people who need the parts exactly right, so some kits and companies are sometimes a little off, but only if you're really obsessing over detail)
Forgot to ask a silly question: what are the well-known brands?
Revell, Tamiya, Academy, Dragon, and Hasegawa all have consistently good quality. In my experience, Tamiya are best for tanks, but Hasegawa often do large aircraft well.
2014/07/10 12:01:05
Subject: New historical kits for possible use in 40K
I think many of the early WW2 light tanks might make interesting choices for scifi tanks. They have more of that short boxy shape that GW vehicles use.
Heighten the tracks and lower the turret, and tanks like this H38 should be pretty nice:
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2014/07/10 12:01:17
2014/07/10 14:12:55
Subject: New historical kits for possible use in 40K
The smaller, early WW2 tanks probably work well in 1/35 scale. Most people are familiar with the German panzers and things like the Sherman. Tanks like the Hotchkiss, Somua and Valentine are less visually familiar.
I'm hunting for an odd one, personally. Rather than tanks, I've been searching for a good source of good heads for Marines. The Roman style with the horsehair crest, for instance. Any good plastic 28 mm historicals out there?
(Aside from Wargames Factory. Source of all things samurai!)
2014/07/10 14:44:47
Subject: New historical kits for possible use in 40K
Wakshaani wrote: I'm hunting for an odd one, personally. Rather than tanks, I've been searching for a good source of good heads for Marines. The Roman style with the horsehair crest, for instance. Any good plastic 28 mm historicals out there?
(Aside from Wargames Factory. Source of all things samurai!)
Not historical, but check out Anvil Industry. Roman-y bits galore (scroll down a bit)
www.anvilindustry.co.uk/Exo-Lords/Heads-helmets-crests
2014/07/10 14:57:48
Subject: Re:New historical kits for possible use in 40K
I really don't like leman russes but I haven't found a proper replacement that looks a bit chibi but not so deformed. But I think the russian tanks might work. Especially the KV-I tanks. And for 15 bucks I think I might give it a try. Also since they are russian, they are not as popular or as known as german/us/british tanks because of video games and movies. (at least from my part of the world)
I also saw a canadian vehicle that might work too, it's very simple as it doesn't have a lot of details on top so it's very good for converting. The bad thing is that it costs about 30 bucks which is not a good replacement haha
But, to me the winners are the supacats, there are like 4 variants and they look really cool. They would fit a desert themed AM army quite well I think.
2014/07/10 19:07:47
Subject: New historical kits for possible use in 40K
For a very odd Chimera variant, Valhallan, perhaps?
The Auld Grump
Kilkrazy wrote:When I was a young boy all my wargames were narratively based because I played with my toy soldiers and vehicles without the use of any rules.
The reason I bought rules and became a real wargamer was because I wanted a properly thought out structure to govern the action instead of just making things up as I went along.
2014/07/11 06:00:11
Subject: New historical kits for possible use in 40K
nflagey wrote: Anyone knows, in terms of quality, of the details, ... how the different brands compare? Airfix, Revell, Italeri ...
In my experience, Hasegawa, Academy, Tamiya and Revell are all consistently good, Airfix it depends a lot on the age of the kit (some of them are really old, 30+ years, and really don't hold up well, but the newer stuff is great). Italeri are good from what I've seen, but I've heard some poor reviews of some of their stuff.
In general, stick to the well-known brands and you can't really go wrong, especially if you're looking for conversion fodder over exact historical accuracy (there's a whole market selling conversion kits for people who need the parts exactly right, so some kits and companies are sometimes a little off, but only if you're really obsessing over detail)
Forgot to ask a silly question: what are the well-known brands?
Revell, Tamiya, Academy, Dragon, and Hasegawa all have consistently good quality. In my experience, Tamiya are best for tanks, but Hasegawa often do large aircraft well.
Thanks Paradigm!
One thing that I like, from my novice's view point, is that Revell gives the dimensions of their kits on their website. This makes it much easier to find models to use "as" GW40k.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2014/07/11 06:26:16
Remember you can calculate the dimensions of any historical scale model by dividing the real life size by the scale.
In other words, if a tank is say six metres long, it will be 17.1 cm long in 1/35th scale and 12.5 cm in 1/48th scale.
Not all the manufacturers are completely precise about all the measurements, which hardcore AFV modellers will mention in their reviews. But basically you won't notice the difference for wargames use especially if you buy all the kits from the same maker such as Tamiya or Italeri.
As for choice of scale, I prefer 1/35 myself but the increasing number of very nice models in 1/48 makes it a reasonable choice too. GW's models tend to be as wide and high as the 1/35 equivalent and as short as the 1/48 equivalent, so it is hard to get a really good match.
Jehan-reznor wrote: IMO 1:48 is to small for 40K they are ok for bolt action. 40K tanks and vehicles are so bulky that 1:35 is better at least for Space marines.
For Imperial Guard Some 1:48 scale models could be used, but to me they look to flimsy.
Definitely. It would take a truly large beast for it to work in 40k. I think the cold war era main battle tanks work good in 40k at 1:48, but only the largest ww2 tanks would work at that scale. For most you'll want 1:35.
But really, there's no reason to guess. Just look up the measurements of the actual tank, divide them by 48 or 35 or whatever and find out how big the model will be.
Balance in pick up games? Two people, each with their own goals for the game, design half a board game on their own without knowing the layout of the board and hope it all works out. Good luck with that. The faster you can find like minded individuals who want the same things from the game as you, the better.
2014/07/11 17:50:20
Subject: Re:New historical kits for possible use in 40K
The Object 279 is crying out to be converted into a grav tank or hover tank, and the track units saved as bits for another tank project.
I like the light tanks though, especially if you buy them way out of scale, remove scale related detail and add extra detail. The further from 28mm scale the tank is the easier it is to disguise as something else.
This kit ought to be quite big even though the tank itself is tiny..
You could make a really good Malcador from the above kit, historic 1/16 light tank to 40K super heavy. This is good news as statswise some of the Malcador designs are worth fielding, especially the Malcador Defender.
I am also looking at this:
Its so 40K..
n'oublie jamais - It appears I now have to highlight this again.
It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion. By the juice of the brew my thoughts aquire speed, my mind becomes strained, the strain becomes a warning. It is by tea alone I set my mind in motion.
2014/07/11 18:33:28
Subject: New historical kits for possible use in 40K
I have an Object 279 kit. I was planning to build it with the tracks, but your idea makes good sense.
I could use the track units in my conversion of a 60cm Morser "Karl" Gerat 040. I was thinking how to put some additional track units in the middle of the hull.
Da Fast and Da Furious! about 5000pts (25% painted)
2000pts (50% painted) 
