In your opinion what is the cadillac of model companys I don’t want to spend money on trail and error when it comes to detail or quality. Is there a company that sets a bench mark when it comes to models. thanks
Keeping in mind I am far from an experienced modeler. From what I have seen the best easily obtainable manufacture is Tamiya.
This a pretty subjective area, lol… Everyone’s gonna pick their favorites, rather than give a fair & balanced account… Personally, I don’t care for “Cadillacs” when I can accomplish the same thing in a “Chevette” getting from Point A to Point B… That is, getting a decent build of a particular subject out of a box of styrene lumps…
Oberst Von Hammer
President,
Monogram Modeler’s Preservation Society
Chapter 11
My Favorite is Todd.
He’s a guy in our local club. He can make a tank look like a tank, a plane look like a plane and a figure look like a human and not a popeyed goof. (My attempts).
I like a lot of guys and gals on this site too. They have that something that makes their stuff look right!
Will
I haven’t been back into the hobby for very long, but in that time I have built Italeri, Tamiya, Dragon, Trumpeter, Skybow, AFV, Revell, RPM, and Bronco. I can say both good and bad about all of them so I can’t say which my favorite would be. It would really depend on the particular subject that I was modeling. If there something in particular that you are inerested in, then ask away and I’m sure you’ll get an opinion or two.
My main interest are aircraft first armor second and auto third. I feel I could take on a little bit of detail with out to much stress.
CHEVETTES ROOOL!!!
LOL!
I had two ot those lovely little automobiles and I miss 'em like mammy! [sigh]
As far as kit manufacturers, every one of them has turkeys, and winners. No such thing as one compnany who “rules the roost”.
In the modeling world, Fine Molds is one of my favorite companies because of their line of IJA WW2 tanks and their Star Wars series. Very high quality models in two of my favorite genres. Downside is that their kits are not readily available and are high priced.
Tamiya’s 1/48 scale kits are great “bubble gum” kits. You can slap one together very quickly. They assemble well, look very nice and are not that expensive as their larger 1/35 kits. Tamiya’s later kits are themselves of Cadillac quality.
Skybow is a defunct company that passed the molds onto AFV Club. Their kits were nice and well worth the money.
One thing to keep in mind is that even the good companies have their dogs. The best advice to give you is the internet is your friend. Use it to search for a particular kit, say the AFV Club M10 or the Monogram 1996 Corvette or whatever. Before buying, read what others have to say about the model.
Tamiya has a very constant high quality in 1/48. They only have a few bad kits in that scale (watch out for there A-10, it’s bad)
Tamiya no probs yet
Hasegawa great aircraft
Dragon definitly not beginner kits,but good,diections shakey
Trumpeter ok
Aircraft - Eduard, they do a great job and the top end kits include all the PE goodies too. Accurate Minatures, Hasegawa and Tamiya are all very good also.
Armour - if cost is not a factor then Accurate Armour is first in my book. After that AFV is good, so is Dragon.
I don’t really do too much with cars so cannot comment on that one.
For aircraft, Accurate Miniatures is the best in my book. Too bad they don’t have a large variety of kits. Their Avenger series achieved nearly “universal praise” status on these boards.
After AM, Tamiya and Hasegawa are a close second and third.
I should mention that one of my most favorite airplane kits I built as a little kid was the Monogram TBF Avenger. The retracting landing gear, dropping torpedo and little ball turret was a very cool kit to play with as a kid.
A lot depends not only on genre, but the subject within that genre.
Eduard & Roden for WWI (as an example) - nobody else comes close.
I build mainly aircraft, and my vote would be Tamiya, followed closely by Hasegawa.