I have just finished building two Tamiya aircraft- the new 1/32 P-51D and and an older issue, the 1/48 A-1H Skyraider. Both kits were almost flawless in design and fit of parts, and resulted in very nice models.
I am now working on a Trumpeter 1/32 P-40 Warhawk and find that the parts have many flaws, the index pins in the fiddly bits don’t fit into the holes, and the instructions leave a lot to be desired. I’m having to fight my way along and sand and shave almost everything to make them fit. Have any of you found that this is the general quality of Trumpeter, or did I just get an old bummer of a kit?
This is my first Trumpeter, and may be my last, if they are all like this.
All my models are Tamiya with the exception of a couple of Dragon. Recently I bought my first trumpeter kit and it was the worst experience of my life. With Tamiya and Dragon everything fit with no gaps. With the Trumpeter (Marder I Hotchkiss) I had to trim stuff to make it fit, and in the instructions things seemed to magically change between diagrams. I almost gave up and threw it out at one stage!
I mostly make trumpeter, 9 times out of 10 they are fantastic but perhaps you got an older kit? I have had the usual problems you get with kits with them but nothing that’s not easy to fix, just minor issues. They dont come in a box as nice as a Tamiya kit but they are just as good, and I can tell you now their 1/32 Mig-23MF kit is flawless no filler whatsoever exactly as good as Tamiyas F-16 CJ (1/32), I have heard this about many of their newer kits They are mostly superb sounds like you got an exception.
Yes, perhaps I have an older Trumpeter kit. I’ll check for copyright dates on it- but this one is really lousy quality. Thanks to all for your comments.
Building an older Trumpeter P-51D in 1/24, the only problems I’ve run into were caused by me. Very nicely engineered kit really, I have to imagine their new kits are cutting edge. I think the kit I’m building is from 2004, maybe older. This is my first Trumpeter and it won’t be my last.
I will never fault Tamiya really, but I have a hard time spending the money they want for their new kits, namely in the bigger scales (1/32 is my new standard, with as many 1/24 as I can find). I’ve only built 1/48 Tamiya kits and they were are perfect for fit and their design almost always makes perfect sense. They do make great kits.
It just seems I can get some larger stuff at a decent price from Trumpeter if I look. The 1/24 Mustang set me back $40, I can live with that. At that price I could easily justify buying aftermarket stuff for it. The new 1/32 Tamiya P-51 is what, $130? I simply refuse to pay that.
I’ve not built anything by Trump yet, I’ve completed assembly on the Hobby Boss A-10 and just begun work on the F-14. Both of these are scaled down from Trumps 1/32 offerings. Now I don’t know if they are molded in the same factory by the same people, so it may not even matter, but the A-10 had no real fit issues. The only problem I had with that was consistency with rivet and panel line molding. Some parts had very nice and crisp details while some parts were really shallow. Of course, a scriber and a needle was all it took to fix. I’ve been over the F-14 parts with a fine toothed comb and that problem is non existent. I don’t know if the Hog was one anomaly kit, or if its an issue with the molds and affects all the A-10 kits they pop.
I do believe the P-40 is one of their older kits though…
Trumpeter kit quality is all over the map. In the beginning, they were extremely poor copies of other companies’ kits. Their quality increased sometime after 2002, but their old stinkers still pop up from time to time.
I doubt their quality will ever reach current Tamiya kit quality. Maybe on par with early 80s Tamiya quality (maybe). They do have quite a range of subjects that Tamiya doesn’t carry though.
I’m currently building the Trumpeter 1/48 Warhawk, and while it is no Tamiya kit, I have found the fit of the pieces to be generally fairly good. The shallow cockpit defies explanation though and that is what I find with Trumpeter in that they sometimes fall short in the research department.
I really enjoyed their T-62 and ASLAV which I thought were wonderful kits and their Abrams wasn’t too bad except for the strange little section missing from the front of the turret and some slightly softer details. I wouldn’t say Trumpeter are one of the best ones out there, but they aren’t far off and I find their prices generally reflect this so I won’t complain about them too much.
I have to say I made the Hobbyboss A-10 and it was perfect iin every aspect, all the lines were there so perhaps you get soft lines only on an occasion. As for Trumpeter in my personal experience it depends what you like to make. For me its cold war and post cold war soviet jets and believe me they are great kits though the box art does not inspire enthusiasm to want to make the kits like a Tamiya kit would, but that’s really besides the point. You have to take a risk I guess but their Mig-23’s are easily, easily as good as any Tamiya 1/32 jet. In fact in one instance better than a Tamiya kit I have made.
I have to agree with Dean, relative to the HB A-10…as superb build. Also agree with comments that the newer Trumpy kits are very nice. The F-100s are nice and I am currently building a 1:32 Trumpy P-51B…a very nice kit.
Watch Squadron on “Black Friday”. Last year they had a tremendous sale on everything in stock, and I picked up the 1/32 Tamiya P-51D, for $90 and got free shipping, too! Don’t know if they will do it again, though.
I’ll clarify re: the HB A-10. As far as fit and what not it was stupendous. Not a single issue. However, the rivets aft of the turbines on the fuselage verge very shallow and almost invisible under primer. I used a thumbtack to deepen them. I wouldn’t even mention this non issue if I were recommending the kit to someone because its easy to remedy. It’s possible that it was only an isolated incident. I’ve read a lot of reviews and never seen it mentioned.
I really like Trumpeter’s 1/32 aircraft line as they’re making kits that no one else is doing in that scale.
In my experience the fit and engineering can be a challenge at times but nothing that can’t be overcome without a little effort. Their MiG-3 was the best fitting kit I’ve ever worked on even though the details were a little lacking and in places, just plain primitive.
They truly are hit or miss depending on the age of the kit but they are my preferred source of modern-era Russian jets. If they don’t make what I’m looking for, only then do I look to Tamiya or another manufacturer.
Trumpeter’s decals beat Tamiya’s everyday, all day and in their newer releases they are including some very nice full-color paint profiles for both the aircraft and the weapons. Speaking of weapons… if you get one of their new Russian jets then you’ll have more ordnance sprues than you can ever hope to use. In fact, fully half the box will be ordnance sprues.
The only real fault I can place on trumpeter is that their cockpits are usually very weak in detail and are oftentimes better replaced with a resin set if available.
I believe that. It’s a problem with the scaled down Hobby Boss kits. In all three that I have the IPs ate pathetic. The panel just has molded recess but there is absolutely no detail. It wouldn’t be that big a deal if the IP decals were cartoonish. I put Eduard color photo etch in my A-10 and it made a ton of difference.
Personally I find Revell kits are a real challenge as there’s always room for extra detail and they never fit too badly but usually require your skills to make a good model of them but you get so much more satisfaction from doing a great job of a difficult kit I personally think, anybody can throw a Tamiya kit together but some of the cheaper kits I believe are better simply because you get a lot more building time from them.