My fiance insists on buying me something for my birthday.So I told her I wanted a 1/35 Tiger I.My main concern is that the kit come with good indy link tracks.I prefer the earlier production Tigers,but will settle for a later version.Also,I don’t want to hunt one down on ebay.I’m hoping to find a kit currently in production.Can you guys help me pick one out?
Thanks
Ed
If the price isn’t too outrageous,I’d go for it.
Frankly you can’t swing a dead sherman without hitting a Tiger these days. There are several on the market and with some hunting in LHS you can find just about anything.
Dragon, Acadamey, Tamiya and AFV all make some nice offerings in 1/35. All are nicely detailed and can build up some excellent pieces.
Early, mid, late, porsche; all are represented.
Here is a link to a site that has a tweek list for just about everything available and it will let you see what your in for on each and help you decide. Despite the price, its still more bang for your buck than just about anything else.
Personally, I’ve built the Dragon’s Tiger I late 3 in 1 kit and I enjoyed the build very much. Just a couple of comments about the kit:
There is a lot of PE parts and you must have a certain experience to handle them.
You will have to make your own zimmerit if you want ot go with a late model.
The instructions are a little bit confusing and you must be carefull all along the build.
That kit is out of production for now but I think the early model is still available.
My next Tiger kit will be the Academy’s Tiger I mid production with complete interior. It looks like a pretty good kit with all the extra parts for the interior. The price isn’t bad neither at around $35 or $40 USD.
Umm…maybe not. Academy took way too many shortcuts to make their excellent early Tiger into a mid production model. Academy’s mid kit is the most innaccuarate Tiger kit out there. Don’t mean to rain on your parade, but…
Also, both dragon Tiger superkits will be reissued in July, and there’s a new Mid production Super Kit in the works, if you want to wait…
Ah, good to know. Thanks. I will look at the earlier model than. I just like the idea of having a starting point for a complete interior without having to pay for aftermarket kit.
So, like he said if you’re able to wait until July, grab one of the Dragon kit, they worth the money.
My main interest are the indy links.I refuse to put a large amount of money and effort into any tank and then have to suffer the aggravation of tracks that don’t sag where they should and won’t hold paint!I can’t see spending $30-$40 (plus shipping) on a kit with one piece vinyl tracks.
Thanks for the info guys.
Ed
That is the bane of German armor builders. Not to mention lots of vinyls tend to be inaccurate, thus adding to the problems.
If you are going to go for it, go large…break the bank.
Fruil tracks, WW2 productions, MK all make aftermarket tracks. THe fruils will act like real tracks since they are metal. You’ll pay as much if not more than the kit, but compared to the kit indys, they are a dream to work with.
As others have advised, the Academy Early Tiger I w/ Interior offers incredible bang for the buck - and NO zimm needed!! IIRC, comes with some PE, link/link trax, and 4 decent figs. Plus that interior.
I’m s l ow l y building their exterior-only version of the same kit, which is still a very nice kit. Will get the full interior version in the future myself.
Here’s an article, but no pics, on the Interior version of the Early Tiger.
http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/german/jptiger/jptiger.htm
I haven’t even removed the shrink-wrap from my Dragon 3’n’1 Late just because of what you said! I looked at a friends 3’n’1 kit - and the instructions - yowza. A career move.
I’ll be quite honest, I am intimidated by this same kit that my parents got me for Christmas two years ago. I am still debating what zimm to use.
Well, it is easier than it looks. I’ve been able to tackle it without any trouble and this was like… my sixth armor I think. I read the instructions several times before starting and that helped alot. Most of the PE parts are to replace plastic details which aren’t that bad so I didn’t use them all. It was my first experience with PE set and the result is not so bad. Individual Magic tracks are really easy to get together so don’t be afraid of these.
Concerning the zimmerit. I did not have access to putty so I tried something completely different and used Play-doh. It worked well but now it has shrinked on the model so I don’t recommand this technique anymore. But it was really not hard to do. All these techniques and small parts are intimidating but it’s not a big deal once you get started. And if you have a big wallet, there is some aftermarket resin or PE zimmerit sets available.
I say open that box and get started, you’ll enjoy the ride.
Ouch! I thought you were on to something there.
As for the Tiger, I’d still go with the Dragon Late, but Tamiya makes a nice Late that goes together beautifully, even if it lacks some of the bells and whistles and some inaccuracies. Cost is roughly the same too. Much cheaper than Dragon on ebay.
Academy kits are better then they are given credit for. They were the first real super kits on the market. As for as innaccuarate tigers goes every tiger out there has them even Dragon you just need to do your research and correct them. As for as there so called mid-production goes its supposed to be a eary tiger with the new commander coupla. Not a late mid when the other change appeared. There are many pic of these mid-tiger in the academy configerration
Well the Academy (both early and mid) offerings have many glaring problems…wrong radio, wrong ammo stowage, floor layout incorrect, etc. But they do offer a great start to one who has never done a super kit.
Personnally, I don’t mind to much about these innaccuracies. I don’t care if it’s not the proper radio, as long as it looks like a radio. If the part looks like a blob of plastic, I will try to correct it so it looks better. But if overall, the model looks like a Tiger, that’s enough for me. So I guess the Academy would be a nice kit then.
Yann,
Glad you got the message I was relaying in my post!
I agree that the Academy mid Tiger is nice for an early mid, but to include markings for a late mid is rather misleading…