[Copland]

Hey Guys,

The Hobby Master KV-2 is in stock at Burbank's House of Hobbies. Has anyone seen it elsewhere?

[Legio LXXII]

That's excellent news as I have it on preorder with them, also looking forward to the Centaur.

[Legio LXXII]

Just got the KV-2 and Centaur today in the mail. The KV-2 is excellent with the same quality as their first 1/72 releases and on par with Dragon Armor. The Centaur is equally as nice and would be my favorite of the two if it hadn't been for a factory defect. The first thing I noticed when looking at the Centaur is the metal protection bars that are on either side of the front lights. The outter bar on both sides is a bright white and not painted at all, very noticeable and blows me away that it would ever pass quality control. Overlooking that, the Centaur itself is very nice and on par with Dragon Armor. If anyone else already has or gets the Centaur I'd be curious if they had the same flaw.

[chascbv]

Hi, Legio.

That is not a flaw; those parts were painted white in many real Centaurs, and Hobby Master got an often-overlooked painting detail right!!

See this link for a (poor quality) picture of a real Centaur...
http://www.2iemeguerre.com/blindes/i...centaurmk4.jpg

And this one for a finely-built scale model.
http://anzacsteel.hobbyvista.com/Mil...taurivbg_1.htm

Hobby Master should in fact be commended for this touch of authenticity!

[A3driver]

Just as a comparison: Easy Model/Trumpeter's "KV-2 - Russian Army (green) 1:72" .

It doesn't look bad, but I'll wait for the Hobby Master model.

[Legio LXXII]

Originally Posted by chascbv

Hi, Legio.

That is not a flaw; those parts were painted white in many real Centaurs, and Hobby Master got an often-overlooked painting detail right!!

Thanks for the info. I was going off the Centaur pictures shown originally on the Hobby Master Collector site that shows them painted the same color as the tank. I wonder why the Brits did this. Excellent job Hobby Master.

[Copland]

The Centaur, HG3102 is pictured at several sites. Some of the models have the white bars and some do not. I have only seen 1 Centaur that is in stock at sites. Is there another? Could the one without the white bars be a picture of a production model? Both models I saw were HG3102. Check out pictures at Monkey Depot and The Flying Mule.

[hawkonevoodoo]

Originally Posted by Copland

The Centaur, HG3102 is pictured at several sites. Some of the models have the white bars and some do not. I have only seen 1 Centaur that is in stock at sites. Is there another? Could the one without the white bars be a picture of a production model? Both models I saw were HG3102. Check out pictures at Monkey Depot and The Flying Mule.

Sorry to take so long to answer this but I was in the middle of a move and it took time to get a clarification from Hong Kong. The model should have the white bars and if it doesn't it is one of a few that got by QC without being caught.

[Copland]

I got my KV-2 in, as well as the Cromwell. These are superb models.

[chascbv]

In contrast to their previous Cromwell, the Centaur has had its tyres picked out in black, but too much so... The black paint goes over the rim separating tyre from wheel, and partly covers the wheel disk. The right tyre/wheel limits may be seen here: http://www.1jma.dk/Pics/centaur/centaur2.jpg
Aside from this easy-to-correct, almost negligible fault, HM's Centaur is a superb model indeed.

An so is their KV-2, where only the habitual "Za Stalina" slogan is seemingly inaccurate. Watch those nicely done handrails/steps on the turret side and top, and compare these to the solid slab-like ones seen in Easy Models' rendition of this same tank (also with the unavoidable "Za Stalina" slogan!).

The nex model in the Cromwell family will hopefully exhibit accurate tyres, and no fancy slogans will decorate the upcoming camouflaged KV-2... please HM!