I recently placed an impulse bid for this kit at my local auction site and since there’s a chance I’m going to win it, I feel like asking around about it. I understand it’s somewhat simpler than the Dragon kit of the same, and engineered to average Tamiya standards.
The one on auction comes with a set of Friulmodel tracks and an Eduard PE set, so it ought to give me a nice learning experience. Of course, I would also prefer a metal barrel (since getting proper invisible seams on plastic has eluded me so far), so I might have to do something about that.
Depends on how much work you want to do, but you might find this article useful. Where the writer states that all other Tiger I turrets are inaccurate, bear in mind that the article was written some years before the appearance of the new Dragon 1/35 Tiger Is, whose turrets are accurate (and which also come with turned aluminium gun barrels).
Well, the bid’s been placed and can’t be retracted, so I’ll be stuck with it unless someone snipes me (unlikely, since the opening price was pretty high). I did some quick math and ended up with the estimate that I’m only saving 10 to 20 percent, tops, of what I’d have to pay buying the Tiger and mail-ordering the track and photoetch. (And more than what I’d have to pay for a Dragon kit). All things considered, a typical impulse buy.
Based on what I can find, Tamiya’s never done a horrible kit, so at the very least, I’ll be able to build it and have a set of metal tracks for some future endeavor.
EDIT: Never mind, I got sniped. Another bid would put the total to roughly 75€ , which is past my personal limit.
Check out their early military vehicles, whose hulls/ chassis were based on the size of a couple of ‘C’ batteries, an electric motor and a gearbox, rather than the actual subject, some time. Then have a look at their 1/35 Chieftain and Centurion tanks, and compare them to the real thing. Then admire all those lovely see-through side sponsons. And the rubber band tracks. Then compare their prices with those of their competitors.
If Tamiya spent as much effort on keeping the quality of their products up to that of most of their competitors as they do on PR, many more of them would be worth buying.
The Tamiya Tiger 1 Early which comes with PE and AM is a good kit and not motorized although it is very expensive. I must agree that the older kits (1970’s issue) of Tamiya were designed for motorization and are way below the current standard but their recent releases are still among the best out there (Pershing, Famo, Dragon Wagon, Marder 3, M1s, Challenger 2, Leo, etc.). I have built 15 Tamiya kits so far and I have found them to be of good quality and fit. The only downside is the price.
The newer kits from Dragon are very good and comes with so many extras like PE and metal barrel at a relatively cheaper price compared to Tamiya. The older kits from Dragon are not necessarily good. I have built 10 kits from Dragon (old and new) and I must say that I am leaning towards their recent releases. However, don’t let the number of parts of new Dragon kits decieve you especially the 3-in-1 kits. 30-40% of the parts do not necessarily go into the model but will come as extras for the spares box.
My local store had none. Nor did they have a Tamiya FAMO which was my second choice. So I settled for the third best thing. I suppose I’ll order one from one of these online store thingamajigs sometime in the future.
This used to be true with the older Dragon kits - if you needed one part for the particular version of the subject you were modelling, they gave you the whole sprue that the part came on. The Shermans and Pz… IVs were notorious for this. However with their more recent releases, this is less so. For example, on the 1/35 3-in-1 Tiger I Ausf. E initial production, only 13 of the 750ish parts in the box are not used.
There’s a lot of stuff that I won’t need to use, luckily. Such as the insanely small storage bin lock assemblies. I’ll be trying my hand with the photoetch, but I guess I’m going to have to use the moulded-on tool brackets (except for the jack, which only has PE brackets… darn). I knew the brass was tiny but the actual size still caught me unawares.
Incidentally, if anyone has a good build article on the Vorpanzer, I’d like to see it.
I built the Tamiya Tiger I early production model earlier this year and it turned out pretty well for an amateur. I don’t object to the rubber tracks; in fact, if you paint them and weather them appropriately, they look pretty good. The problem with them usually is that the company doesn’t make them long enough, so they look stretched instead of laying on the bogies like they are supposed to. This was NOT the case on the Tiger I, however.
I’m currently building a Dragon Tiger I (P) and the single strip tracks are just the right length. Weathered, they look really good.
Which brings up the Dragon magic trak system. Am I missing something? I thought they were supposed to snap together, but they don’t, and I have had a h*ll of a time getting them to work like they are supposed to. I’ve just created a mess and have basically given up on the Dragon kit I have (will use the rest of the parts for kit-bashing). I wasn’t proficient enough, for one thing–too new to the hobby to try something as ambitious–but I’m afraid to try another one at this point although I’m much more experienced than I was a year ago.
Some of you guys that like these single-link systems, fill me in here. What am I doing wrong?
Dragon Magic Tracks - they do clip together, and they don’t!
While they do clip together, they don’t do so with any strength. However, once clipped together, a brush of liquid poly will hold the tracks together. That’s why Dragon kits with Magic Tracks have formers for sections of track which need to be a specific shape. Normally, when you assemble indy links, you have to do so against a straight edge, and use a piece of double-sided tape to hold the tracks in position while you glue them together, and the glue sets. With Magic Tracks you don’t have to do this.
Perhaps the main advantage of Magic Tracks is that the individual links don’t have to be removed from the sprue and cleaned up, thus considerably speeding the assembly process.
