That all changed last year, when for some reason I thought I'd buy some more tanks to put in a small display case. I ended up getting several Easy Model tanks (mainly because they were cheapest), plus a single Dragon Armor SU-100. A couple of the Easy Model tanks were of impressive quality, but some not so. The Dragon Armor tank, on the other hand, was very impressive, so I considered buying some more.
That turned out to be a slippery slope. Less than a year later, I now have over 240 Dragon Armor 1:72 tanks. I even ended up getting another Dragon Armor 60013 Jagdtiger just so I have the box that I threw away 7 years ago! I'm slightly concerned that I might be getting obsessed with collecting these things!
Then I started getting a few Hobby Master tanks to augment the collection, particularly with ones that Dragon don't make yet. The M-10s, Achilles, Cromwells and Centaurs are pretty nice; not so impressed with the details on the KVs or Pakwagens.
As an aside, I notice some people seem obsessed with having "heavy" tanks with lots of metal content in them. I'm pretty much the opposite - I usually prefer the entirely plastic models, as they tend to have better details, and, with just a small weight inside, they usually end up being a much more appropriate weight. If you think about it, a 30 tonne tank should only really weigh 80 grammes when it's shrunk to 1:72 scale!
When I saw the Panzerstahl models hit the market, I bought a selection of ones which no other manufacturer makes. Again, I wasn't overly impressed with these, and found the mix of diecast metal and plastic to be a bit lacking in detail. They almost look like toys instead of collectors models. Rather like the Altaya/IXO range, I think I probably only bought these because Dragon don't make Ostwinds, FAMOs, etc. yet.
I also got a bunch more Easy Model tanks. Some really do look a bit rubbish, whereas others are great. Most of the Stug IVs and Jagdpanzer IVs look a bit lame - both poor detail and weird paintjobs - but the Jagdpanthers and various modern tanks look pretty good in both respects. Again, some of their models were appealing simply because nobody else made them, such as the 12.8cm Selbstfahrlafette and Char B1 (the latter of which is also quite a nice model).
I only have a few Forces of Valor tanks. They don't float my boat. Too much metal, not enough detail. And what's with all the weird aerial things?
The only one I do actually like is the Dragon Wagon, which has reasonable detail and lots of appeal.Funnily enough, when I look at the Dragon Armor Jagtiger that I bought 7 years ago, I now realise that the paintwork looks rather peculiar. Far too bright and defined. Things have certainly come a long way since then, as has my collection.
I now have over 1,000 tanks (1:72, 1:144 and 1:6) in my collection and really don't have any room for more. But because the new releases keep getting better and better, I just can't help buying more! It's probably a good thing that the Dragon Armor releases keep getting delayed
