ARK Models

[hooterville75]

Has anyone ever built any kits manufactured by ARK Models ? If so can you give your opinion on this brand of kit ? Pros & Cons, recommendations or not ? Ran upon a great deal on my first Tank kit that Im kinda interested in but never heard of ARK Models. Thanks in advance.

 

[TBadger]

They look legit. I'd expect their quality to be similar to Zvezda, which if its like the new toolings you'll be right as rain. Probably not as popular since its a European company and the import fees prob hinder their sales here in the USA

 

[hooterville75]

So the Trumpeter of the same kit would be a bit better ?

 

[Dusky]

Any particular vehicles you are looking for?

 

[hooterville75]

Well Dusky, Im currently on the hunt for my first Armor build, I finally feel comfortable enough with the airbrush to get out of the automotive and venture into the Armor genre. If you read any of my past posts, Im real new to this hobby and bought a big lot of Nascar kits off ebay when I originally started. I wanted to stick to those until I developed some technique and got some skill with the airbrush before I ventured out to anything else.

Ive been building a month or more now and feel Im comfortable enough with everything to venture out into a new genre. I have a big interest in tanks so I was looking through the tanks I could find in my price range and am really diggen the KV-85. Found it in Trumpeter and ARK with the ARK being a few bucks cheaper. I need it to fit easier as again being the first armor kit I ever attempt to build I need the process to be easiest as possible lol. Im sure Ill goof it somewhere along the way but hey its worth a shot lol.

I was also looking at the P51 Mustang I believe it was Aircraft wise today at Michaels while out for Black Friday.

 

[Dusky]

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/3/t/130310.aspx

I can't really find much about ARK Models, but it sounds like they are an Eastern European company who sometimes reboxes kits from companies like Eastern Express. Not the greatest kits, but can be built into nice models.

I've also never built a Trumpeter armor kit so I can't really speak about them either.There are some inbox photos of the Trumpeter KV-85 here: http://militarymodels.co.nz/2012/09/10/trumpeter-soviet-kv-85-heavy-tank-now-out/

My guess is that the Trumpeter is probably more crisp in moldings and goes together a bit easier than the ARK Models kit, but the Trumpeter kit does have individual link tracks. Though, it sounds like the ARK tracks are badly molded and possibly rubber rather than vinyl

Tamiya armor kits are usually fairly easy; not a lot of parts, vinyl tracks, and go together fairly well.

You can't go wrong with Tamiya's P-51s. They may not be the cheapest, but with their age you can usually find them online fairly cheap.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Unless you get yourself a kit from Trumpeter from say more than 10yrs ago...then anything you get from Trumpeter is going to be better than the ARK kits.

For the most part they are just reboxes of kits from other defunct Eastern European companies like Eastern Express, Alanger, Maquette, etc, etc.

If you can get them cheap enough, they might be a good deal, but I wouldn't recommend them as something for your first armor kit.

Trumpeter stuff is good, some of it is great. Don't know as if I would recommend them as a first armor kit either, but only because they tend to over engineer some of their assemblies. Where as Tamiya might make a part in 1 or 2 pieces, Trumpeter would do the same part in 5 or 6 pieces. Doesn't make it any easier or harder to put together, just more time consuming. Of course in that 5 or 6 pieces, you will usually end up with something alot more detailed than the same thing made out of 1-2 pieces.

Some Trumpeter kits will take awhile to build, while others you can build in a weekend. The BTR 50 I am working on....pretty much built the whole vehicle minus the tracks in a weekend. Of course going to take longer to paint and finish, but the kit was assembled in about 2 days, and not a drop of putty on it anywhere, it fits that well.

 

[spud]

Trumpeter or Tamiya ill Take a Trumpeter any day as for Ark i wouldn't waste my money. Get yourself the Trumpeter KV-85 it will be a sweet it and a jot to build.

 

[geegad]

ive had an ark kit in my stash for ages never have got round to doing it ive looked in the box and to say it basic is putting it mild there is only two sprues i would go for trumpeter bud

 

[OldHammer]

It is a bad choice for a first kit!
I have a lot of ARK models in my area, but i don't buy any- unless it is a rare kit or a vehicle that is not issued by any other brand.