Trumpeter Operation Telic Basra Iraqi 2003 British Challenger II Main Battle Tank (1:35 Scale)

6 reviews for Trumpeter Operation Telic Basra Iraqi 2003 British Challenger II Main Battle Tank (1:35 Scale)

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   The Duck – November 18, 2022

   As with every other Trumpeter model I have assembled all the parts are well made and fit together well. Please note that this is a model kit not a toy, you have to put it together and paint it. Playing with it after it is together is also not a good thing to do.

   The Challenger 2 has good detail and looks good after it is together. The tracks are two long solid pieces that need to be joined together and are over long even when you cut the extras off the ends. Don’t worry you will not see the extra track as the side armor covers the tops of the road wheels. The model has several small parts so I would rate it for an advanced model builder.

   The biggest problems with Trumpeter models are lots and lots of ejector-pin marks and sink holes. This model had many sink hole marks that can be seen so needed to be filled and filed smooth. This adds some time to the build, but improves the finish look of the model.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Daniel Webb – November 25, 2022

   Awesome kit, did not build it yet but will update soon. Tracks were vinyl, fit looks awesome.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Daniel Webb – November 28, 2022

   nice kit

4. 

   Rated 3 out of 5

   DC3036 – December 2, 2022

   This is an early Trumpeter mold, bad fit and finish affects this model. save you money and get a newer kit be sure to check the Scalemates.com database for a better model. On the flip side the seller was great I received my model in a damages box the seller refunded me 50% so that was great the shipping damage did not effect the model parts.

5. 

   Rated 2 out of 5

   The Duck – December 17, 2022

   As Benjamin Franklin once observed, “The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.” This kit was a HUGE disappointment — it’s so bad that I threw it out half-finished. Having just finished Dragon’s 1/35 M1A1 AIM and Tamiya’s 1/35 Cromwell MkVII, I was looking forward to adding the Challenger 2 to my collection of British armour. The relatively low price of the Trumpeter kit compared to that of Tamiya’s 1/35 Challenger 2 was, I admit, quite attractive, given the cost of, say, your typical Dragon MBT kit. Given that I’d found Trumpeter’s 1/350 warships to be excellent models, I was expecting something similar in their tanks kits. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth: the quality of molding, fit, and overall engineering on this kit would have been unacceptable to the serious modeler back in the late 1970 — for that matter, the old Monogram M4 Sherman, M3 Grant/Lee, and Panzer IV family of kits were better engineered and had better fit. Apprently the engineers and mold-makers for Trumpeter ships are on a completely different team than the one that does their armor.

   There are too many multi-panel subassemblies where some parts need to be trimmed.by a millimeter, while others on the same assembly are a millimeter or so too short . There are none of the interlocking tabs that Tamiya and Dragon do so well to line up panels and square up subassemblies; in some cases the orientation of a piece is vague and the instructions as often as not don’t really help. For that matter, the instructions aren’t entirely trustworthy, as some pieces are mislabeled/misnumbered, or drawn in such a manner that they bear little resemblance to the actual part.

   And ye gods, the ejector pin marks! Or should I say, “the ejector pin craters”? At least half of the parts had an ejector pin mark that would be visible when the kit was finished, which means that those marks have to filled and sanded smooth. (“Ejector pin marks” are small circular indentations left by the ejection mechanism that pushes the parts trees free of the mold. On this Challenger 2 model, some are as much as 1/16-inch deep — and believe me, on a 1/35 model, that’s DEEP! It would scale out to 2 1/4 inches on the real thing. Imagine what the real tank would look like if it had 2-inch deep holes, 4 or 5 inches in diameter, randomly scattered across it — now you see why these marks are something that just can’t be ignored.) There is also far too much flash, adding to the tedium, and sometimes interfering with the details on parts or where parts are joined. Yes, the flash and the ejector pin marks can be dealt with, but given that Dragon, Tamiya, AFV Club, Italeri, and Academy have all learned to construct their molds so that the pin marks when they occur are in places that won’t be seen on the finished model, and maintain their molds suffciently well to keep flash to a minimum, it’s not too much to expect Trumpeter to be able to do the same — it clearly isn’t rocket science anymore.

   There were other problems as well — circular parts molded off-center, for example, the worst offenders being the center hubs for the wheels. I can’t address the quality of the decals or the treads, because I never got far enough to use them.

   The bottom line is this: if all the additional work to correct the problems with this kit were necessary, I would do it. Gripe about it, yes, but I would do it. The problem is that it ISN’T necessary, as products from Trumpeter’s competitors prove. They’ve solved the problems, so there is no reason why Trumpeter can’t as well. Saving $15 or $20 on the cost of a comparable kit from Tamiya or $30 on Dragon kit simply doesn’t make up for what I feel is time wasted doing corrective work that I really should not have to do. I have no problem scratchbuilding parts, or adding details to existing pieces — for me that’s one of the guilty pleasures of scale modeling. But I draw the line at wasting MY time correcting mistakes that the MANUFACTURER needn’t have made in the first place. I won’t make the mistake of buying armor kits from Trumpeter again.

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Daniel Allen Butler – January 1, 2023

   I like the kit a lot it’s a really nice kit I have always like this style of this tank can’t wait till I build it an to the hobby shop thank you for the fast shipping