When I was a child in the dark ages of modelling, I had two choices:
(1) Tamiya, wonderful Tamiya, but a very limited range of products
(2) Everything else. Lindberg, Revell, Airfix, etc.
Then one day my local hobby shop had some kits by Testors/Italeri. They had an M4 Sherman, and a Hetzer. I’d built Testors kits and Italeri kits by themselves, and both were less than impressive. But the T/I kits seemed to be a cut above, and quickly became my favourites to build.
Fast forward to now. I got my hands on two T/I kits, a Marder III and a Hetzer. The build quality isn’t what my childhood memory thought it was, but it’s still way better than Dragon/DML (my opinion only, I hate Dragon/DML kits, for the lack of quality in the parts fitment, and their instructions suck rocks.) and in the Hetzer at least, on par with some Tamiya I’ve built.
But I’m curious where this teaming came from? I suppose these kits were nothing more than re-branded Italeri kits? Someone clue me in here please.
Testors is an Illinois based company. They imported Italeri kits and re-boxed them. M4A1, Hetzer, etc. They were the same. Why? Just a business relationship. Distributor lines, etc.
Too bad about your experience w/DML. You should look around at what they’re putting out nowadays. Unbelieveable stuff. Trumpeter, AFV Club, Tasca, Academy, Tristar, Tamiya. All cranking some incredible stuff. Italeri is limping behind frankly.
Maybe you just happened to luck out and the Testors/Italeri packaging kits happened to be among the better of their line. I thought a number of Italeri’s old armor kits were pretty decent for their day.
Italeri and Testors have had a tight relationship for 25 yers or more. I believe Italeri is now partially owned by Testors parent company RPM, which is a huge chemical company.
Dragon has gone through an evolutionary curve. Their early kits had a sea of parts, but bad fit. Over time they have improved the fit dramatically. In some cases, they have retooled some of their old kits quite a bit. I have compared their old Hummel and the new Hummel side by side and quite a bit of the kit is brand new.
The reason Tamiya has almost given up the 1/35 scale market is because the Chinese competition is driving them out. Between the biggest: Dragon, and Trumpeter, which is expanding their line at incredible pace, plus all the smaller companies like AFV Club and Tristar, Tamiya is finding it tougher and tougher to remain top of the heap in 1/35 scale armor.
Italeri has brought out a few new armor kits in recent years, but most of their line are either older kits or molds bought or swapped with some other company. Many Italeri armor kits are showing up under Russian kit makers labels and the Russian kits are showing up in Italeri boxes. In aircraft, the Italeri mix is a hodge podge of kits ranging from old Hawk molds to Dragon, AMT, ESCI, and even some Accurate Miniatures kits.
As stated, in the 1980s, Testors became the importer for Italeri and reboxed the kits into the now classic yellow box with a photo of the built up model surrounded by various Testors paint and glue products.
During this time Italeri kits ended up in several companies’ boxes. In Germany, you would find Italeri kits in Revell boxes. In Japan, you would find Italeri kits in Tamiya boxes, usually with a Tamiya figure or accessory set added. The last Italeri kit boxed by Tamiya was the Hummer with M242 Bushmaster 25mm gun.
In the mid 80s, Italeri hit their peak with kits like the M47 Patton, Leopard 1A2, Willys Jeep, M24 Chaffee and several Sherman based kits . Also issued in the yellow boxes were some fairly old Japanese models made by Peerless Max that Italeri had acquired. These included the US 155mm gun, 1½ ton Dodge, White Scout Car, and the WC Dodge Ambulance, Beep, Anti-tank Dodge, and Staff Car. Not bad kits, but not as good as the newer Italeri kits.
You will see some of those kits in Bilek boxes and Zvezda boxes as well.
Today, Testors still imports Italeri kits. They just leave them in the original boxes and add a sticker on the box end with Testors Corp. info on it.
I’ve always thought that Italeri had some unusual topics at decent prices. Some of them were better then the older Tamiya kits. Their Sherman, Chaffee, Crusader and Sturmtiger are among their best IMHO.
I’ve got to say that Italeri’s kits seem outdated. Part of manufacturing and business in general is continuous improvement. While other companies are releasing new kits with improved molds and increased quality, Italeri seems to turn out the same old same old. Any thoughts?
Agree with you there. Dragon, AFV, and even Tamiya are offering PE parts and Aluminum barrels in their latest offerings. We can thank Dragon for starting the trend. [:)] I’d hate to see Italeri fade away in the sunset though. They still make decent kits.
Even making sure every kit has plastic around the parts trees would be a nice improvement.[:)] I do like their kits though. I don’t think they have the same value as the others though.
Italeri did offer many kits that are not available… Such as 155mm howitzer, 105mm howitzer, Kangaroo armored vehicle, M7 Priest and so on and on and on. I just heard that Italeri may be doing another run of M7 Priest.
I will admit that I was miffed at their M1A2. It was really sharp on the sprue, but had some unfortunate ejection pin marks in obvious places and the fit wasn’t stellar. This being one of their latest too. [V]
Yes, I’ve been outbid on it so many times and I wasn’t willing to pay $30 for it either. Now I would love to see some one offering U.S. 75mm pack howitzer in 1/35 scale. Old Tamiya metal kit is also going for a premium.
Italeri still does some decent kits that other folks seem to ignore. Top of the list are their WWII Amtracs and DUKW! The different recent releases of the Crusader, Mk I, Mk II, and the AA variant are also great additions to any collection. And their re-issue of the M-24 with the WWII style tracks is another great gap filler. Now if they would only re-issue the M-7 as a Sexton, and an initial production variant. I sure hope they don’t fade away…
I’ll echo the comments on the Crusader series. Really nice bit of plastic. Ditto with the Valentine. Every time I go to one of my many LHS’, I keep casting an eye at their LVT 1 or 4. But something keeps dragging me away… I’ve got a gut feeling, I should drop some coin for one of them & give it a bash, & I’ll be a really happy camper. Maybe do up a beach dio with Academy’s forthcoming updated Lee?
I highly reccomend the LVT’s. I have built the -4 completely and loved every moment of it! I have almost completed the -1A and it is just as neat of a kit! For a diorama idea with new Academy Lee, maybe a 8th Army Crusader meeting a II Corps Lee in Tunisia? The LVT’s would go great with Academy’s M4A2…