Somewhat surprisingly Dragon has today announced release of their next kit – MIM-104B Patriot Surface-To-Air Missile (SAM) System (PAC-1) w/M983 HEMTT, which is apparently to be released very soon. Frankly, I’m not that excited about it. Given that Trumpeter seems to be close to the finish line with their version of the same vehicle, I just don’t see why would we need another one from Dragon. Especially since it is released under their Black Label brand, which has rather disappointed me so far (see my thoughts on their recent Conqueror for example here).

As someone on a different modelling forum has put it – few years ago it would be difficult to believe someone saying “Bah, I don’t care about Dragon, I’ll wait for Trumpeter”, but I fully agree. Trumpeter has made great progress over the past few years and their every release seem to be better than the previous one. Black Label on the contrary has been step back in my opinion.

But that’s just me. I would be curious to know which kit would you prefer…?