I just read in a British modeling magazine that Tamiya has announced the reissueing of some of their 1/100 scale aircraft kits. Among them was an A-4, F-4 and an F-105.
Can anyone tell me about the quality of these kits? They caught my intrest because 1/100 is a different scale than normal. Also, when I was a kit I built two 1/100 kits (an A-6 Intruder and a SAAB Viggen). I was told that although I bought them in Revell packaging, they were both Tamiya originated, I bought and built them back in the mid 80s. Does anyone know for sure what their origins might have been. The Viggen was in normal Revell labeling for the time, but the Intruder had the Revell logo as well as the logo for another company called “Ceji” who I had not heard of before or since.
What I remember is the Intruder was a pain in the butt for fit and the Viggen is one I wouldn’t mind taking another shot at.
I’d also heard that Tamiya had a Sikorsky Skycrane, UH-60 Blackhawk and Blackburn Buccaneer in the 1/100 series. If they did and the kits were good, I’d hope to see them reissued too.
The Tamiya 1/100 aircraft kits are mainly designed in the early-mid 1970’s. I have built their A-4, F-4, Mig-19, SAAB AJ-35 Daken and a F-86 & MiG-15 9(2 in 1) kit. In general, they are fine kits base on the time they were released. But the lines are raised and they have shape and fitting problem. Their F-104 Starfighter has very serious shape problem. But in terms of finishing size, they are ok, expecially if you think 1/72 is too big and 1/144 is too small. Yet, if you are used with Tamigawa 1/72 quality, you might expect major additional work on them. IMHO, if you love small scale, DML 1/144 kits seem to be a better alternative in terms of surface details. Still, the Tamiya 1/100 worth a trial.
The A-6, A-7 and british F-4 that I have all have finely recessed lines and are damn good kits. The F-14 is based on the prototype and is not very accurate.
I once built their 1/100 scale Buccaneer, and seem to recall it was a very nice little kit which went together very well. Of course, that was ** years ago, so the grey cells might be playing tricks on me!!! [(-D]
They’re actually not all that bad for their age. Wish I had never ditched the Me 262 & Me 163 combo. I still have their Il-28 and even though it ain’t the best kit in the world, I would maybe like to build it someday.
YEAH, RIIIIIIIIIIIGHT! Me, build?
Geez, eqagle, get with the program. Sheeeeesh!! [;)]
I built their Me-163 and Me-262 combo kit and loved it. That was over 25 years ago mind you and I was not demanding nor as experienced as today. However, I seem to remember kits that were pretty well designed, with fine external details and the basic in terms of cockpit details. Nothing someone like you should find too hard to remedy.
I’m gonna get their Saab 35, and Saab 37 for sure!