New kits from Hooben

[Kaczor]

I know Hooben has a bad reputation but at least every year they release some interesting new models. This year at the modeling fair in Dortmund they are to show some new sets. Below 1/16 Hetzer and BTR-4.

[HERMAN BIX]

Ohh that Hetzers got me
(I feel we need a 'drooling' emoji !!)

[ankh]

Yes, I'm looking at that Hetzer too
I just wish they would offer one without their MFU. It seems they have two versions - grey (£400) and camo (£520).
I asked their customer support whether this is pre-order or ready to ship product - release estimate 3 month, we all know what that means when it comes to Hooben

[MrChef]

I saw a member on anther board posting up his new Hooben Leopard 1A5 and I was intrigued. I checked out their site and saw some cool "other" options. I like the Hetzer too but I was also drawn to the Ferdinand/Elefant. It sucks that they have such a poor reputation with quality. I mean the guy on the other forum did an unboxing and things were immediately Not working properly or shoddy workmanship. And their pricing isn't anything to sneeze at.

Too bad as mentioned they don't just offer shells of the items so we could outfit and build our own tanks with better internals.

Interesting "Hetzer" note is that it wasn't utilized until 1944-45. I had previously thought that since it was built on the Panzer 38 chassis that it was an earlier war unit.

[tankme]

That BTR-4 has been on pre-order for over a year and this is the first test shots we've seen of it. Delivery on pre-order was Sept '22. The BTR is a cool looking vehicle, but I won't pre-order anything anymore after the M1128 MGS. As you have seen, I haven't posted anything on it as it was pretty expensive and I lost all interest in getting it to work right. I will get to it eventually. It is of course the same model Hooben has as a "preorder" on their site, but it is not a Hooben product.

[jee]

So, the Hetzer is new, but discounted from $998 to $490, that is a remarkable marketing strategy.

To be honest (I do like the Hetzer as a model) for that kind of money I would buy it from warprints, at least he is offering support and quality.

[tankme]

I haven't seen anything posted from Warprints in quite some time. Even his shop hasn't had any stock in like 6 months. You can still buy the STLs through Cults3D and direct though. I would agree that Hooben's prices are flakier than my ex-wife.

[jee]

I haven't seen anything posted from Warprints in quite some time. Even his shop hasn't had any stock in like 6 months. You can still buy the STLs through Cults3D and direct though. I would agree that Hooben's prices are flakier than my ex-wife.

I don't know, haven't looked at it but most of the time I just buy STL files. I finally started with the conversion of the Pz III to the SU76i by the way

[Kaczor]

I hope they fix suspension on Hetzer. It's bigger 1/10 brother have some issues with that.

[tankme]

I don't know, haven't looked at it but most of the time I just buy STL files. I finally started with the conversion of the Pz III to the SU76i by the way

Funny you say that Jee, I started my conversion also. The casemate STL from Colin isn't the easiest thing in the world to print as there are gaps in the mantlet that play hell with the printer. I had to print the casemate at least 4 times due to failures. Also, the toolboxes included with the kit are WAY too big so I scaled them down to make them shorter and thinner. I wish they had a back on the tool boxes as the back now shows since they don't mount right up against the hull armor in the research I have done. And don't get me started on the details on the casemate. there is plate welded to the sides of the tank to hold the casemate to the sides of the PZ3 hull. None of those "included details" on the casemate STL fit right so I spent a lot of time removing them or fixing them so that I can replace them with the right details.

I'm also trying to find a way to get some traverse on the gun by using a gimble of some sort. I should start a thread on it.