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Armor/AFV: IDF [Israeli Defense Forces]
Armor and AFVs of the IDF army from 1947-today.
Hosted by Darren Baker
AEF designs 714, anyone here have this?
knewton
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New Zealand
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Posted: Tuesday, December 11, 2018 - 05:25 PM UTC
I’m interested in whether this is any good, and what it contains, please.
junglejim
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Alberta, Canada
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Posted: Tuesday, December 11, 2018 - 05:51 PM UTC
What is the description of 714? Might help?

Jim
Garrand
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Pennsylvania, United States
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 03:34 AM UTC
I don't have an answer about that specific item, but my experience with AEF is that some parts will be pretty nicely cast, & some parts will be so badly cast that they'll be utterly useless. I picked up many years ago the turret upgrade for the Tamiya T-62. The turret casting was very good with just a couple air bubbles, & it came with a metal barrel. But every other single piece was so poorly cast that they were unusable. If you can physically see the castings & they are up to your standards, I'd consider it. But I'm never buying anything from them sight unseen again.

Damon.
Sandbox
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Connecticut, United States
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 04:10 AM UTC
I seconded Damon's input.
HermannB
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Bayern, Germany
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 04:28 AM UTC
Didn`t realize that AEF Designs is still in business.
knewton
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 05:46 AM UTC

Quoted Text

What is the description of 714? Might help? Jim



Good point; it is, “Achzarit 2008”, an update with Katlanit rws and aquarium commander copula. Thanks,
knewton
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 05:47 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Did [not] realize that AEF Designs is still in business.

I don’t believe he is, either, but was wondering whether this is worth finding somewhere on the Internet...
RobinNilsson
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KITMAKER NETWORK
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Stockholm, Sweden
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 05:49 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Did realize that AEF Designs is still in business.



I don't think they are but sometimes owners of oversized stashes clear out some stuff and sell it second hand on ebay and similar sites ....
/ Robin
jasegreene
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Florida, United States
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 07:06 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Didn`t realize that AEF Designs is still in business.



They are not.AEF Designs has been out of business since 2012 I think.
Garrand
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Pennsylvania, United States
Joined: October 27, 2009
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 07:34 AM UTC
I always thought their masters were pretty good. It would be nice to see them get reissued by someone that actually cares about product quality. But I think quite a few items in their catalog are obsolete now...

Damon.
knewton
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 09:01 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I don't think they are but sometimes owners of oversized stashes clear out some stuff and sell it second hand on ebay and similar sites ....
/ Robin



And that is exactly what I was wondering, too.
GTDeath13
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Attica, Greece / Ελλάδα
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Posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 10:09 AM UTC
AEF Designs inventory, masters and library have been purchased by another person.

I do not know if he will recast and have products available in the future, but judging by the previous castings he has a lot of work ahead of him in order to get a decent/complete product.
tankmodeler
#417
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Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Thursday, December 13, 2018 - 05:38 AM UTC

Quoted Text

but was wondering whether this is worth finding somewhere on the Internet...


Under no circumstances buy an AEF kit without actually holding it in your hands and looking at all the parts. Every one.

Seriously.

His reputation is/was soooooo bad that it is highly likely that any AEF kit offered for any amount, no matter how small, will come with a lot of unusable parts, if not ALL unusable parts.

Don't do it. No matter how alluring the subject is.

Just, don't.

Herein endeth the lesson.

Paul
knewton
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Posted: Thursday, December 13, 2018 - 07:44 AM UTC
Tankmodeler, copy that, out.

I take it you’ve had a bad AEF experience, then?
darklen
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Alberta, Canada
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Posted: Thursday, December 13, 2018 - 07:50 AM UTC
I ended up throwing out every single AEF kit I had. They were horrible. Half the time, it appears they just recast the factory plastic part in resin and added a bunch of resin blobs and flash covered crap parts that never fit. Warping was insane on many parts in most of the kits I had as were air bubbles. I couldn't even use the stuff as a starting point to remake them or to convert on a kit part. I found it way easier to scratch build the conversion than use AEF stuff. But that's me. Your mileage may vary.
tankmodeler
#417
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Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Friday, December 14, 2018 - 06:03 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Tankmodeler, copy that, out.

I take it you’ve had a bad AEF experience, then?


A friend taught me the lesson long ago before I bought anything off him. The one time I had a chance to actually see his stuff, in person, at his table at a show, none of it was worth buying.

He went away pissed at sales and never came back, but it wasn't the show's fault. Everything he brought to sell was rubbish.

While he was in business, the forums were rife with horror stories about not only the quality of the stuff he would ship out but also his abusive attitude towards anyone who dared ask for replacement parts. On top of appalling quality issues, his interpersonal client interaction skills were, if at all possible, worse.

Paul
knewton
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Posted: Friday, December 14, 2018 - 06:15 AM UTC
Thanks for that, Paul.

I'll leave it where it is and hope maybe legends or Blast do the necessary update of a Katlanit rws and cupola.

Kylie
grunt136mike
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Florida, United States
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Posted: Friday, December 14, 2018 - 08:33 AM UTC
Hi Everybody;

FYI;-- AEF when they first started were A Cottage Garage type of just A few individuals who came out with Russian and mainly Israeli Items in 1/35 scale. When they first started there offerings were not to bad depending on which individual cast them; At the Time I purchased quite A few set's of T-55 items like different fuel panniers, and at the time they offered A large selection of items that you could use for different version's !! Now I am talking quite A few Years ago, 80ish; After A few years the coalition started to fall apart and they all went there separate ways, and this is when things started to fall apart Quality wise. Only later did A different individual from A Certain Northern State tried to take over, and this is how AEF Ended !!!!!!

CHEERS; MIKE.
ptruhe
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Texas, United States
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Posted: Friday, December 14, 2018 - 11:47 AM UTC
Katlanit same as Samson?
knewton
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New Zealand
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Posted: Friday, December 14, 2018 - 12:44 PM UTC
Hi Paul,

The Samson is a 762 mg, the Katlanit is a 50cal or 762. The Katlanit is the more modern of the two, and itself has been superseded by the Drakonit (Dragon) rws in Israeli service. Yeah, I know, I’m a bit of a trainspotter like that.
exgrunt
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Massachusetts, United States
Joined: December 17, 2013
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Posted: Saturday, December 15, 2018 - 03:10 AM UTC
Always saddens me when I see posts tearing into AEF with such hatred. Gotta keep in mind lads, back in the late 80's, AEF was pretty much the only outfit releasing stuff for Israeli and modern Russian subjects (aside from maybe Verlinden, which didn't have nearly the same product range and whose quality wasn't exactly perfect either).

Some of their kits were rough but I used their IDF TOW jeep, T-55AM2, BMP-1 & 2 interiors and T-62 correction sets and was very happy with the results. Was everything perfect? Nope. However, I was able to overcome the flaws and built models that otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to.
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