I see that Great Models are taking pre-orders for both the Academy and Trumpeter 1/350 Graf Spee kits. The Academy is listed at $37.45 USD, and the Trumpeter at $74.95 USD. Assuming you plan to buy either which one, or both, do you plan to buy and why?

i'm looking forward for this kit but it;s hard to tell which one to buy without seing them my self... but budget wise i will go for the academy offering. I never build any ship from trumpeter so i cannot say much about it and the price tag is double the academy...
anyway, i will buy which ever come to LHS with good price.... probably from academy....

I preordered the Trumpeter version a while ago, but may opt out for the half the price academy. But, I just don't know about quality. I have never been very impressed by academy's stuff. It has always been a good deal for what you get, but in tanks area, both Dragon and Tamiya's stuff was a lot crisper and better. The Graf spee is just way to cheap....less than a destroyer so that concerns me.

NOw if I remember, he Trumpeter comes with photo-etched stuff. The Academy says finely dtailed railings I saw the Prinz Eugen pre-order write up that pointed out the etchd set was a lot more than just railings and if memory serves me the Graf Spee said the same thing in preliminary write up (which is not shown in the preorder blurb) Both kits will give atrline option. So I guess if you are abrgain hunting go for the Academy. For the money, I think it will be a better deal .

I`ve got the Academy version on the way from HLJ,I thought that it would work out cheaper than buying the Trumpy offering in the UK,however,with the postage costing more than the price of the kit,I`m not so sure now!!
regards Phil

I haven't built any Academy ships. From what I understand many are Tamiya knock offs anyway. I kind of feel about their tanks along the same lines as Steve. Trumpeter ships are alright, but not all that great, at least the ones I have built. I'd have to give Trumpeter the nod on quality, but it's hard to argue with half price. I'm leaning toward the Academy.

I'm still thinking. The old axiom "You get what you pay for" sticks in my head. Avg Heavy cruiser price has exceeded $120 lately, so Trumpy's price ain't that bad. The Academy comes in half of that and I remember how much work and extra PE I had to get for that little mistake. Of coure I got it at half priced sale at Hobby Lobby, so $25 plus the $60 I put in for PE was still chaeper than Tamiya at $75 plus $30 for a PE set

Tamiya's never done a 350th Oliver Hazard Perry... I'd give them a little credit. That said, I have a friend who saw the assembled kit they brought to the 2009 nats and he was... unenthusiastic.

I recieved my Academy Graf Spee,yesterday,and after a quick look in the box,I`m please with the kit.The only downsides were the overscale deck-railings and there was no waterline option,otherwise I think it is a good kit..
Regards Phil

Glad I didn't switch out then. The Trumpy railings are brass which makes up a chunk of the price difference.

Hannants in the UK have now received stocks of the Academy kit of the Graf Spee,and their asking price is £24.98!!Amazing!!Why didn`t I wait ,and get one from them,rather pay all that extra from HLJ. That`s the last time I do that !

Regards Phil

I have just completed the Academy Graf Spee and although it goes together quite well it suffers by the sze of the railings. They are unable to make plastic railings that small to be to scale as these are already fragile.
Soon I imagine that a PE set will be made available for this popular model and that will be the way to go.
Regards Les

I think Eduard or somebody has a generic German rail set in 350 already out. Eduard Kreigsmarine set costs $12.50 in US

Hi Guys,

have a look at www.hobbyeasy.com. Search under MK1 Design, its KA Models. They offer a wooden deck , brass barrels and a PE set for Academy Spee.......and the price is not so awful too.

Best regards

Marc

I bought the Academy kit if I had the stones I'd build online.

My Trumpeter version just came in. Might have to go with those brass barrels and maybe do a wooden deck.

I'm not a shipbuilder, but I've always wanted to try one. I've already got Trumpeter's Hood, but I saw this recently and for the price (around $60) you get a lot of bang for your buck. So, if you were going to choose between Academy's (Premium Edition) or Trumpeters, for the price Academy is definitely the way to go.

http://www.finehobby.com/FrontStore/iGoodsView.phtml?iCategoryId=309&iCategoryIdMain=309&iGoodsId=AC14104&iCurrentPage=1

We've already got our 1/350 Graf Spee PE ready. You can order PE 35126 from our website now:

http://www.whiteensignmodels.com/acatalog/Other_Nationalities.html

Dave still has to update the page, but the price is 21.23 Pounds, ex-VAT.