Most of my experience in buying 1/18th scale vehicles tend to be Joe/Cobra vehicles, from Hasbro. There are many excellent photos posted here with other brands of vehicles. So much so that I am now looking at other brands.

Recently I bought a 21st Century Navy SEAL Tactical Jeep and I'm impressed with the details of it. The plastics are of the type that takes to paint very nicely, so customizing and weathering is friendly. So now I am looking at Hummers, WWII German armored tracked vehicles, half-tracks, an ME-262, and others. But with various brands out there, which ones would you recommend?

For example, there's several companies doing Hummers, desert versions. Looking at the humvees on this page:
http://smalljoes.com/cgi-bin/pgen.c...tId=61&Start=24
and this page:
http://smalljoes.com/cgi-bin/pgen.c...tId=61&Start=48
Which ones is worth buying? Is it friendly to Joe scale? Doors open? Wheels turn or rotate?

So, I'm curious, which brand would you most recommend, and which (hasbro and non-hasbro) vehicle do you feel is essential to get?

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BTW, anyone has experience with this 21st Century M16 quad 50 halftrack?

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I purchased one a few months back from a local Hobbyshop... I returned it within a day. I was very disappointed with the design of it, you can't fit figures in it, you can't take it apart, you can barely roll it without the wheels snapping off.

I am very careful with my stuff and I am not one to be rough, yet in the few hours I had this"1/2-track" three of the rear wheels broke off (non repairable).

Over all the detail was ok, but it was not worth the money spent... Bravo Team (Target Exclusives) have a 1/2-track that I would recommend over the other. The Bravo Team one doesn't have all the opening areas and removable accessories, but its built better and can actually fit soldiers (25th, ARAH, and Clones).

That's my answer and I'm sticking to it.

I have two 21st century humvees, the desert soft top, and the woodland camo one, and they are both sweet vehicles. All the doors open, the wheels rotate, and the detail is awesome. The soft top on the desert humvee is removable, which gives it great playability. The only problem I've had with 21st century stuff is that the smaller parts of the vehicles tend to be a little fragile.

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"The future's uncertain and the end is always near." - The Doors "Roadhouse Blues".

Have you considered Power Team Elite's desert humvee?
It's probably a bit less on the detailed side than BBi or 21st Century's stuff, but it's cheaper and a lot more durable.

And from what I heard, it features a double-hinged roof hatch neither the 21st Century or BBi versions possess.

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RIP Minouche, 1994-2009.

Hrm, very interesting.

Concerning humvee's.. I am looking at this one specifically: Elite Force USMC Super Humvee.

There is a woodland camo one which I also want to get, that one is from 21 Century...here.

I have not considered Power Team Elite's humvee, but I am looking at one seriously. To me it looks smaller than the 21 Century one.. How does it scale to our Joes?


Concerning the half-track, that is disappointing about the 21 Century one. But thanks for info on that other one. I googled it and cound a store selling one, I think. Any one experienced with this online store? Bad Cat Toys

Anyway, the Elite Force Abrams looks interesting.

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I have the Elite Force USMC Super Humvee and love it. Well worth the money.

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All my customs in one place....Da Talent's Customs

I have all the vehicles mentioned in this thread and I have to say that they are all worth it. I have that halftrack and have not had any problems at all. Maybe you got a bad one or something, but mine is sturdy enough. It's not meant for rough play tho. The Super Hummvee is extremely worth it. I love it. I want more. The Abrams is over the top goodness. Perfect in every way, also very large. The PTE hummers are good, not as detailed, but put some paint and they work quite well. I dont have pics of the halftrack posted anywhere, (although my custom PAC-RAT has the quad 50 on it) but the rest of the stuff mentioned has made an appearance or two in my pictures. The Abrams was recently featured in my dio story, which is a rehash of some older pictures from my beginning on here.

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thinktankproduction.com

As long as this topic is here...
There are a few things in Toys'R'Us's "True Heroes" series I'm looking at, wondering if they're worth their price tag.
Maybe someone here has them and can tell me how they stack up:

Military Attack Vehicle & ATV (25$ Canadian/20$ US + sales tax) - vehicle looks neat enough on its own, standing wheels and cannon mode looks like a fun bonus, ATV doesn't look half bad... wondering mainly about the toy's durability, and if the chainguns can be attached to the vehicle. A little bonus is that I've got use for the head of one of the included figures for a custom. Downside is, price tag is a bit high...

Chap Mei Oil Bunker & Jeep playset (17$ Canadian/14$ US + sales tax) - I have NO interested in the bunker. All I want is the jeep. Can't decide if it's worth that pretty big price tag though.

Chap Mei "Navy SEAL Boat" (40$ Canadian/32$ US + sales tax) - Price tag is a bit more reasonable than the other two given its size and it being good quality (after all, it's Chap Mei). It's also pretty much my only alternative to a Moray hydrofoil (that thing is simply too brittle to survive my storage, if the stories I heard are true). Downside is... it's really big. Not sure I have sufficient storage space for it.

So yeah. Anyone who's gotten these or had the opportunity to play with them, I'd love to hear your thoughts on them so I can decide if they're worth plopping down the money for them.

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RIP Minouche, 1994-2009.