Lee or Crown kits......

[Army of One]

.......hello all.....anyone have any idea of the quality of these manufacturers (?) I have read that the Lee boxing of an Su 27 is a re box of an italeri kit.....but I don't know. My main interest is that I have seen some Mi 28 Havocs......just wondering if they are re boxed from another manufacturer....? Any comments/help welcomed......H

Another search reveals that someone thinks the Lee is a re boxed Tamiya.....any truth to this....?

[beowulf]

yes............ive got the su27..............even the instructions are just copies of the italerai ones with the word italerai tippexed out  ......ive seen a Chally and thats supposed to be a clone of the tamiya one

[chrisonord]

I have a few of the Lee kits and are worth the money for sure. The SU-27 is not a bad kit and worth having and the 1/72nd scale Abrams, leopard and Merkava are all ok too, even better their tracks are moulded in one piece, so no sticking individual tracks together, which is nice.
Cheers,
Chris.

[Weaver]

I had a Lee Su-27 which I sold on. We established that it was a re-box of the Italeri, but the quality wasn't as good: detail soft, slightly short-shot in places etc...

I used a Lee 1/72nd Leo II for my AT-TS model and thought it was pretty good. Like Chris says, it's a bit simplifed, with one-piece tracks (a godsend as far as I'm concerned) and lots of stuff moulded on that another manufacturer might make separate. Came with a useful display plinth too.

I've also got a Lee 1/35th Leo II, but since I'm not that familiar with 1/35th tank kits, I couldn't say who it's copied from.

[Army of One]

Many thanks to all.....not found much on the Crown kit during my cursory search though....

[rickshaw]

I understand that the Lee E-2 Hawkeye is quite acceptable, according to the reviews I've read on it.

Wasn't Crown largely limited to 1/144 kits?  I seem to remember they did quite a few in that scale.

[Army of One]

Don't know.....the kit I was enquiring about is shown as a 1/72 one.....cheap enough so I might just get  it....

[Nick]

From memory both Lee and Crown were mainly (only?) reboxers, adjusters and copiers of kits from other makers. I wonder if they are based in China and simply ignoring copyright laws?

This is seen best when you look at the F-16XL in 1/144. It seems that everybody issued it at one time or another, including Lee and Crown, and there were only 2 actual mouldings. One was Airfix/Heller and everyone else had the other! There was a very good F-16 website that compared them all, can't find it now.

[raafif]

wonder if these are the same Lee & Crown companies that did clockwork car kits in the mid-1970's    Got quite a few from Woolworths etc - they were quite accurate but fit was average even then 

[Army of One]

I shall let you know when they arrive.............

[Army of One]

Just if anyone was interested.....the Lee kit arrived and it is the Italy/dragon kit....not bad for 99p n a few quid postage......