Guys: I’m working on one of Tamiya’s relatively new offerings, the German Cargo Truck, and I don’t know if it’s just me, but the plastic seems softer than kits I’ve worked on in the past. The filing leaves a lot of dust too…again, different than I recall in the past…which may be related to the consistency of the plastic.
Is my head soft[D)], or has anyone else noticed the same thing?
I recently built Tamiya’s Jagdtiger. I really didn’t notice a problem. Talk to Manny. I think he is building one for one of his dios.
Yeah, I’m blitzing right along with you…I did detect a slightly softer characteristic to the Blitz plastic—not as soft as Dragon styrene, but softer than what I was used to with Tamiya armor…IMO, it is a little easier to work with…in the past, it sometimes took a little long for the plastic to “set up” when using liquid cement. Not sure if we can assume this is their “new” plastic or just a temporary formula change or a quality control issue…
My recent build of their recently released Pzkpfw II C had plastic that I would characterize as the same in terms of softness you would find in a DML kit. Not having built a Tamiya kit for a long time prior to this it’s hard for me to say if it’s a change vs. older kits FWIW.
the kits’ plastic may be “softer” due to the emmense cost of oil!!! they may be using less of it in their plastic in order to save $$$ on it!! just a thought! [;)]
I’ve built a few of the older Tamiya kits and if the newer kits are more like the DML plastic I would say yes there getting softer.
OK…time for the chemical engineer…
First the older kits may be harder due to their age, resin becomes harder and to some extent more brittle with time…but that aside, slightly softer syrene will mold a bit eaiser and if the molds are more complex, softer styrene may give better mold flow for the more complex mold.
I doubt it is the oil crunch. Yes, resin prices have gone up, but the softness is not leaving resin out but different grade of resin or a plasticizer additive. The plastic cost I’m sure is only a fraction of the overall kit cost. Mold costs are huge. I’m sure on some kits the box is worth more in the “bill of material” for costing the kit.
If they were “cheating” by say adding filler, the plastic would be brittle. I don’t think so, just using a different mix which may help in production.
Rounds Complete!!
Isn’t that kit (if we’re talking 1/35 here) a re-do of the old Model Master/Testor’s/Italeri Opel Blitz kit just under the Tamiya name?
If so, I have two of the MM/T/Italeri Opel Blitz kits-one just started and one 98% complete and I have noticed that all the plastic is very soft too. One piece (the “wooden” sides to the cargo bed) is almost as soft as a stick of chewing gum…it’s weird. I’m just hoping that the soft consistency of the plastic allows the model to take paint without any problems…
A major producer of scale models.
The tamiya kit is an all-new tooling, as evidenced by the finesse of the mouldings, is called 4x4 truck or somesuch, & that the mfr badge on the grille is, erm… BLANK!
The Italeri kit is donkeys old, still a very nice kit, has two different styles of cargo bed sides, has a mfr on the grille, & is good VFM.
In orther words not so far as I can tell a re-pop! see PMS:
http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/subject/blitz.htm
When did the price of oil go back up?
It’s all relative by what you mean “up”. [(-D] While it’s hovering around $60-$70 a barrel now, that’s still “up” if you compare to the previous “high” price of $40 a barrel but “down” if you compare to the record prices of $100-$120 a barrel. [;)]