I recently (and mistakenly – never saw the scale on the ad! D’oh!) bought a ceramic kit of a “ruined Eurpoean barn,” only realizing after it arrived that it was 1/48th! I don’t think I have either the skills or the room to do a good forced perspective dio with it (although that’s a thought … ), so I’m hoping one of you Kind Souls would recommend one of these new generation 1/48th tanks. I’m particularly interested in a Tiger II or perhaps a Sherman of some sort – what are the recommended kits, y’all?
I built 1/48th when Bandai first (?) introduced the scale in armour in the 70’s … so by inference, you can see I’ve been doing this a long time, but the eyes grow weak and I prefer my 1/35th!
I agree…can’t go wrong with a “Tammy”!..BTW, I used to build those cool Bandai kits too-dontcha just miss their nifty lil’ interiors? Their figures were kinda stiff though![xx(]LOL!
The Soviet subjects (T-34 and KV-1) from the Chinese company, Hobby Boss seem to be sweeet! Their Shermans don’t seem to be as good as the tamiya ones.
I build mostly 1/48 aircraft, but the Tamiya 1/48 Armor kits caught my interest, so now I’m sort of a “closet” Armor modeler. Here’s a couple of their Shermans built strictly OOB.
I’ve really enjoyed these kits & plan to build a few more. They have decent detail & excellent fit OOB. There is more AM stuff being released all the time to juice them up if you prefer, but I’m satisfied with a simple OOB build.
Went to my “new” LHS and bought my first 1/48th scale kit since circa 1974 tonight: Tamiya’s King Tiger, production turret. Looks to be fun… TINY, but fun! Right now I’m worrying about Zimmerit… will research and see if there were Konigstigers in NW Europe without it, or if there’s a resin Zim kit for it…
What’s with the metal hull? A gimmick, like DML’s spring-loaded barrel on the Tigers? Or does it really make it “seem” heavier somehow? And is there a turned aluminum barrel available, after market?
Yes, the diecast hull has received many criticisms. Most don’t like the lack of detail.
Rule of zimmerit. It was applied from Sept 43 to Sept 44 give or take a month.
The price is relative to what you’re willing to spend I reckon. I can get most any of the 1/35’s off of ebay for less than $20, sometimes with shipping included. I went to my LHS and they had a ton of Tamiya 1/48 for $26-30. Hmmm, that is why I’m sticking with 1/35 I guess.
Re: the price, that was reaction exactly! But just think of the shelf space that can be saved it I go to 1/48! (And the eyesight to be further strained, but that’s the price you pay for attempted precision!)
I’ve built 2 of the Tamiya 1/48 armor so far, goes with my 1/48 aircraft. In regards to the price, that’s one thing I don’t get is why their markup (percentage wise) is so much higher than the 1/35 kits in the US. It seems their prices in Asia are about 1/2 those of the 1/35.
I’ve bought all my 1/48 Tamiya & Hobbyboss ($10 for the t34!) from luckymodel.com in HK. For example, their King Tiger is $15 US with air shipping is $21.47. last time I purchase, I bought 5 kits and as shipping is based on weight per Kg, I was able to save substantial $ with ground shipping too (only if you’re not in a hurry! took 5 weeks). The whole thing came out to around $100 vs something like $150 if I bought through US mail order. LHS would have been even higher. Hobbyeasy is another one, but I’ve never bought from them.
Brumbles…FineMold makes a turned aluminum barrel (with brass MG barrel) for the Tamiya King Tiger. I just got mine yesterday and it looks sweet! And if you are so inclined, Fruilmodel will soon be marketing 1/48 metal track for this kit. Sheesh…the model is fast becoming the least expensive part of this process!
