If you read the fine print on the Tamiya website, the Staghound is a re-box of the Italeri kit, but includes new Tamiya figures & accessories.
Regards, Rick
So I guess that makes it sufficiently different to classify as a new, and different, kit compared to the Italeri job. Cheaper than the Italeri efort in the Colonies - I see that the MRSP is $US49.00. Talking of which, I see that the RRP of the AA version of the Italeri Staghound will be £29.99. That’s dearer than the latest versions of the Dragon 1/35 M1A2 and Tamiya’s 1/35 King Tiger.
Someone in Italy needs a reality check, methinks.
Cheers,
Chris.
word of caution–I believe I read on another site that the Tamiya Staghound was definately the Italeri model but can’t remember where I read it. Possibly the Perth site but not sure. Is that a bad thing? Not really. I have the Italeri Stag and some say its better than the Bronco model. I hate to tinkle in anyone’s cornflakes here but while Tamiya is pretty good, they ain’t all that either. Every now and then they do screw up. They will absolutely cut a corner or two if they think they can get away with it. RickM
I have built the Italaeri Staghound and it’s not at all bad , although a trifle pricey . I don’t think the picture shows the Italaeri model .The crew members are certainly new , and one appears to be leaning on an open door which the Italaeri kit certainly doesn’t have, they’re moulded closed. I think it’s a new model.
Hi MR,
I agree entirely. Tamiya was for a long time the most advanced model company in the world, with a quality and standard of manufacture few other firms could approach. Yes, that reputation has slipped, they do commit booboos, and Dragon have overtaken them in a number of respects in past years, but I’d suggest Tamiya still has the edge in ‘buildability,’ which is important to many modelers (myself amongst them, when I want a plain, simple, enjoyable project, instead of one that challenges my engineering skills – like heat-stretching Trumpeter tracks that are half a *&$&%^# inch short!!! – shudder).
I wrote to Tamiya America a couple of years ago to say this very thing, that I strongly disapproved of their rebox program. I had spotted a range of aircraft kits carrying the Tamiya logo and fallen with glee on their ‘new’ 1:72 F4-J, expecting this subject to have been engineered with the Tamiya touch – only to recognise from the boxtop photos that it was Monogram’s 1980s offering, complete with raised panel lines (it went back on the shelf… The whole consignment disappeared from the shop after a brief while, nobody seemed to touch them!). Thankyou, I have two in my stash, which may go unbuilt as my taste runs to recessed panel lines and decent fit these days.
I said to Tamiya that while I understood the economies of a rebox relationship, it did nothing for Tamiya’s reputation to offer under their banner kits which would never pass their quality control if coming out of their own development department. It kinda defeats the notion of what Tamiya is, should be and can be – a backward step. I never received a reply, of course…
I’m glad to see new armour kits coming along, and I hope they are indeed all genuinely new releases.
TB379
telsono
“With Tamiya’s relationship with Italeri could this be a re-box of the Italeri kit of the Staghound? Its so close off the release of the Italeri kit.”
Mike T.
Manstein’s revenge
“Lord, I hope not…if it is I’ll never buy another Tamiya kit again–I mean what would their brand mean anymore after that?”
Tamiya have been reboxing Italeri aircraft kits for domestic consumption for years. It would not surpise me in the slightest that this practice is expanding into armour.
Cheers
Mike
I briefly ducked into my LHS yesterday here in Oz when I noticed two new Tamiya kits - that is to say two new reboxings of kits. It surprised me because there’s been no talk of this and I haven’t seen any test shots. I did notice however, that on the Tamiya site you can see a couple of the figures in the back ground of one of the other shots.
The first was a kublewagon, which I assume is just their kit 35213 reboxed with four or five new figures. It has a couple of MPs, a driver and an officer with his boots being polished by a young boy. The figures look quite snappy and to me looked to be completely new moulds - on a more impulsive day I probably would have indulged.
The second was again what looked like a rebox of their Marder IIIH with a couple of mechanics working on a visible engine and a couple of crew members. If it had been a IIIM I would have absolutely indulged.
It seems to me with some of the pairing of their figure kits with Italeri dio kits on a base to produce a ready made dio that their 1/35 productions are looking at a new shake and bake type dio kits.
Anyway like I said I haven’t seen any press on these at all - not even from the venerable PMMS site, just wondering if anyone else had seen them. It’s not often you see a kit on the shelf now before you’ve read at least a build review and copious test shots before hand.