Roden kits.

outrunner

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Anyone out there got any experience with Roden kits? I have been looking at buying one but thought I would ask if there were any known issues with them. Things like quality of parts, fit, finish etc.

Andy.
 

David Lovell

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I think in recent times they've greatly improved I've built a few of their 1/72 military stuff couldn't comment on the other ,most probably need some fettling as Simon would say ,depends on you if its something you fancy building and no one else manufactures it a bit of filling and scrathery is the order of the day.
 

Steve Jones

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Their crap. Well at least the two I have built. They are the kind of manufacturer I seek out as their kits are so poor they offer fantastic challenges in putting them right. They do a lot of aircraft which I have no knowledge on.
 

Jakko

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I’ve built a few, and though their recent kits are a bit better, their older ones require a lot of work even to just clean up the parts enough that they will fit together properly. In addition, they tend to have a lot of fine parts, giving their 1:72 scale kits almost the impression that they’re scaled-down 1:35 ones. They’re not what you’re after if you want a kit that you can just put together in an evening.
 

peterairfix

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I have one of their aircraft kits and it is bl**dy awful doesn't fit and needs a lot of filling and sanding it's been in the box for nearly two years I might one day finish it.
 

Dave Ward

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Andy,
I made a fair amount of their 1/72 WWI planes - they were all delicate models & needed careful assembly. I did (mostly ) make their Felixstowe F2A, but the struts & rigging really defeated me. At present I have the 1/48 Grumman Mohawk in the stash, and that looks very good!
They have quite a catalogue http://www.roden.eu/HTML/framemodels1.html no idea of the avalibiity which model were you looking at?
Dave
 

outrunner

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Thanks for the info guys but having done a bit of research this morning I decided against getting anything Roden. All the things you mentioned were noted by reviewers and a lot more besides. The model I was looking at was, you guessed it, a truck. One of the old style Russian KraZ 6 wheelers that I liked the look of, fortunately there is a Hobbyboss model which is far superior and only a fiver more expensive so that may well be joining the stash to keep me going on the cold winter nights.

Andy.
 

Allen Dewire

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Hi Andy,

I take it then that you are after 1/35 scale kits from Roden. I did build one of their 1/72 kits and really enjoyed it. The fit was good and it offered the ability to make things work on it too. It was this one,

IMG_0691.JPG
I had a blast building it and you see the 2 meter safety distance in effect. The downside was no tread pattern on the tires...………..

Prost
Allen
 

David Lovell

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Sorry guys I think some of that was a bit harsh, their recent ww1 stuff in72nd is sound plus none of the big boy are ever prepared to go where the small guys don't fear to tread . I remember Allen building the vomag on the old mm web site a groupe build I think as he says a nice little kit ok not perfect but a great end result ,a really great subject I haven't seen one in thirty fifth yet ,these are small firms bringing a good choice of subjects, I've got several 1/72 Dragon kits that are pretty much the pits moulded on tools and tow cables (in my opinion brings it down to kiddy toy straight away) rubbish rubber tracks instructions that are very poor and supposedly for one of the big guns poorly fitting parts , not promising as I've already got to much on the go but I'll pull a roden kit from the stash and build it watch this space some time this year.
 

adt70hk

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Andy

I've only ever built one Roden kit, a 1/72 SdKfz variant that I'm still working on - link HERE - although it is an Attack kit the sproes still have Roden on.

It wasn't the quickest to put together but the grey hull plastic was very nicely put together. The black plastic for the wheels and suspension was a bit soft though and although it was fine for the wheels it worked less well on the suspension. But it did come with plenty of stowage. The turret was an Attack resin piece.

HTH

ATB

Andrew
 
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