Unless someone shows me otherwise, I am sold on these models. I have built a number of different company offerings and these are simply quality kits as far as I am concerned. The history provided is nice. The paint descriton is very good. In fact, I think excellent in helping me get the right colors. The history descritons however are excellent. In addition, the directions are straightforward, reasonable detail but most importantly, the fit is right on. There is nothing I hate more than putting a cockpit in the fuselage and have it go this way and that way. No guide pins or nothing, good luck. Then a little warp to the fuselage plastic and forget it. You have unbleiveblae glaps. I am building the Kawanishi N1K1 Shiden type 11 right now. The cockpit rests on 3 platforms basically between the fuselage halves. What a great fit. This is my 4th Tamiya in a row and I am sold.
However, the prices are steep. But, you get what you pay for. If you pay 9.00, expect a lot of putty and prayer. Thank goodness you can get things on ebay as well. Before I leave though, accurate minatures is certainly right there.
My only beef? There seems to be a paucity in pacific US fighters. Tamiya needs to get on the nandwagon and put together a nice avenger and Dauntless. Anyway, my 2 cents worth.
Yeah, took a while. It took those 10 dollar kits with gaps when parts are put together and pieces that simply don’t fit. It has been a steep learning curve.
What I do find amazing though is how much work we put into conckpits, and frankly you can’t see them. For those who glue on canopies, forget it, its over. Even if you pull the canopy off once in a while, it is tought o see. I admire the cockpit for a day or so before I mount it in the fuselage.
I have the same feeling. I do mostly 1/72 and stopped spending time on cockpits. I often get aftermarket ejection seats because you can see them but otherwise I save the time for other things. Only the important kits get cockpit detail, like my hasegawa tomcat is ridiculous. The way my eyesight’s degrading I can’t even see some of the work I did on it anymore. So it’s sort of a waste.
The great thing about Tamiya is that it threw down the gauntlet to other companies to either up their quality or get out of the biz. Many (Hasegawa, Trumpeter, Academy, Eduard etc.) have followed suit and I think the whole industry has benefitted.
On the contrary to others here, I tend to spend a great deal of time on the cockpit, as almost all of my planes have open canopies. The cockpit, to me, is the focal point of the model, so I spend as much time as needed to make it look right. On my A-10, that meant spending nearly 2 months.
Tamiya is a great company with great kits. I have never gotten a bad kit from them, but I’ll still grab an “inferior” companies’ kit just to keep myself in practice for filling, sanding, and scratchbuilding. It’s good experience. Even some of the best kits out there need a little extra attention, now and again, such as several Hasegawa kits. (such as the 1/48 Tomcat series)
Tamiya does make some outstanding kits. However I can’t wait forever for them to release a kit of a long awaited model. They have released some kits not made by other companies, but so have others. The one area neglected by many kit makers is early jet aircraft, especially the Navy jets, in 1/48 scale. I would love to see a Phantom l, a Banshee, a Demon and a Cougar in 1/48 scale.
Hey Berny, Tamiya did give us TWO F4D-1 Skyrays (fairly early Navy jet), in 1/72 AND 1/48!
Gotta commend 'em for that.
Sure would be nice to see a Tamiya Banshee though, eh?
I bought the 1/72 Skyray and it’s fantastic. I was hoping that Tamiya would put out more 1/72 (not rebox) but it’s not looking like it’s going to happen. The F-84 is the only one of this series I haven’t gotten yet. The F4U, Spitfire, FW-190 and P-51 are great too. I have the Academy Banshee (1/72) and it’s pretty good.
I have the Tamiya 1/48 F-4D-1. I also have their F-84G and MIG-15 bis in 1/48 scale. All are great kits. But how about a F-94D in 1/48? Or a RF-101C? And the early Navy jets I mentioned before?
I’ll have to agree with demono69 on this topic. I’ll still grab a kit which I know has gotten less than stellar reviews even though Tamiya makes a perfect version of the same kit. For one, not all Tamiya kits are sent straight from Heaven above. Their F-84 kits are not as accurate as the Pro-Modeler version. So not everything from Tamiya will be absolutely perfect. Second of all, Why should I buy one Tamiya kit when I can buy three other kits for the same price? Third of all, I like to think of myself as being a little bit more than a “plastic assembler”. I can always glue “Tab A into Slot B” but it’s when I have to use my own creativity and know-how, that’s when I derive the greatest satisfaction out of building a kit. If all the kits were like Tamiya then we wouldn’t need a publication like FSM to give us hints, tips, and advice on building things. We’d just be able to slap it together and call it a day.
By the way, don’t get me wrong. I do THOROUGHLY enjoy working on Tamiya kits but I hope everyone can expand their universe by working on other kits as well. Don’t exclude them just because it doesn’t say “Tamiya” on the box.
So, by that same thinking, should we all buy inferior cars to help hone our mechanical skills? Buy old, dilapidated houses to hone our carpentry skills? Buy the cheapest, least-tasty cooking ingredients to hone our cooking skills?
Well, I suppose if you want to do that, then, sure.
I’m sorry, but it just amuses me everytime I hear this “criticism” of Tamiya or Hasegawa or any of the “better” (but more expensive) model companies.
Imagine, being criticized for being too good!
In my opinion, even with the best-fitting, most accurate kits, there is still plenty of room for improvement, for us to be “creative” and take the kit from a simple assembly of parts to a work of art. Just because a kit goes together well and is accurate out of the box doesn’t limit the amount of creativity we as modelers can put into it.
I’ve said this before, but to those of you who feel the need for a “challenge,” and don’t want to feel “coddled” by a well-designed, good-fitting, accurately-detailed kit, why don’t you just scratchbuild all of your models? That way, you need not share the glory with any model company at all, good or bad.
I never decide what I want to build solely on the brand name. I build what I want to build based on the subject, and choose what I think is the best kit of that subject available.
Do you guys think Tamiya is “better” than other kit manufacturers because other Tamiya is INDEED better (meaning other manufacturers can’t catch up even if they tried) or is it just because other manufacturers are targeting toward a different audience? (the lower budget modelers)
For example, Ford and Toyota both makes family sedans, when it comes to overall quality and reliability, Ford is not as good as Toyota (even if Ford is trying hard)
But on another hand, both Toyota and Lexus are good quality (same manufacturer), but Lexus is “better” because it’s targeting a different audience (higher budge buyers).
So, what’s the relationship between Tamiya and other manufacturers? Maybe Tamiya is targeting the serious modelers while other manufacturers are targeting the less serious or the great majority of the modelers.
I mean, injection molding is not rocket science. Any company can make great quality plastic kit as long as they are willing to spend the money and man power on the tooling, which will be reflected in the price of the kit.
Looking at the Tamiya catalogue, it’s plain to see Tamiya is targeting ALL modelers. Their 1/72 “Warbirds” line is very inexpensive (less than 10 bux US), as are their older aircraft and armor kits.They also sell tons of their “Dangun Racer” and “Mini FWD” kits to hordes of kids here in Japan.
It’s also plain to see that their newest automobile, aircraft and armor kits are targeting the more serious modeler, as does their very expensive line of RC vehicles.
They have even re-released their old 1/48 motorized armor series, both as kits and as pre-built “toys,” both for under 10 bux US.
Thus, I think Tamiya, besides offering some of the best kits produced today, also offer a wide variety of kits at different levels of pricing.
They ain’t all just 50 dollar Swordfishes and Tigers!
Just as an FYI, most of Tamiya’s 1/72 warbird line is Italeri reboxes. These are only supposed to be available in the asian market, but you know how things are these days. However, the Skyray, Thunderjet and WWII planes are Tamiya tools and very nice. They are of course, more expensive though. I got suckered into buying a couple of the reboxes just to be disappointed once I got them.
We don’t get them on shelves here but through mail order and ebay. You don’t get to se the ‘made in italy’ until you get it. So an F-5E, F-4S and Rafale later, I had kits I never would have bought otherwise. Speaking of which, does any company make a good F-5 in 1/72? I’ve never found one.
Zoiks! That’s too bad.
I bought the Rafale knowing well and good it was Italeri, for lack of any alternative.
An F-5 in 1/72? That’s a good question! None come to mind.
I don’t want anyone to take what I said the wrong way. I’ll be one of the first to come to the defense of manufacturers such as Academy, Hasegawa, and Tamiya as head and shouloders above most of the other offerings out there. However, if I want to super detail a kit using aftermarket accy’s, i would rather cut up a $15 model rather than risk destroying a $45 Tamiya kit of the same thing. There are exceptions, of course, such as doing a “presentation” piece or something that I want to be museum quality. In such cases, there is no substitute for great quality molds and fit. I just won’t practice my skills on something of high value or quality. Revelogram fits the bill too nicely for that.
BTW, I have finished the 1/48 Tamiya Skyray, and it is a very impressive kit. Great detail, incredible fit, but the decals leave a little to be desired. It’s too dificult to get some of their decals to curve the way they plan them. I just painted alot of them on by hand. Overall, a great buy.
What’s with the constant criticism of anyone who wants to exercise their modeling skills? No one criticized Tamiya, why would they? I recently made a comment on another similar post and was immediately accused of running down Tamiya, a company that I love by the way. Why can’t we build what we want, the way we want and support the efforts of others?[V]