Ron Garcia
Bit of a challenge (no pun intended) to build. I built it as per the instructions and the the rear hull ended up being misaligned when I tried to attach the upper hull. I ended up prying out the rear hull, cementing the upper hull in place, and then attaching the rear hull after much time was spent fiddling with it to line them up correctly. Had I not done this, the rear deck would have sat several millimeters too low (as compared to the Tamiya Challenger 2 I had previously completed). The two piece barrel was also a minor issue as it only has one positive connection point when glued together. This led to a slight droop that I had to constantly readjust as the cement set. I added the extra armor on the front hull even though I haven't seen any pictures on the Internet showing this combo with the slat style armor. Since I didn't use the dozer blade, I figured why not? So which Challenger 2 is better - Tamiya or Trumpeter? I just build for myself so I don't get into all the small details others might quibble about. Tamiya's is certainly easier to build but has no anti slip coating. Both build up nicely with small differences between the two. Based solely on ease of construction, however, I'd have to say Tamiya. Having said that, I'd still recommend Trumpeter's version. Just be prepared to put a bit more time into building it.