Am having my first experience with this brand, a German Puma armored car. I’m impressed with the fit as I’m not a fan of having to fill and sand. I feel kits should be made to fit so I’m pleased. The instructions though are terrible and painting references are poor. I have a Avenger torpedo bomber by Italeri and I think I’ll be less relectant to tackle it despite instructions being sub par.
Don’t have any experience with their new stuff but the older ones have so-so fit and quite a few ejector pin marks. I’ve only done armor so can’t tell you anything about aircraft or ships. Be interesting to see what others have to say.
Well, the Italeri Avenger is, IIRC, a rebox of the Accurate Miniatures kit, which is very hiighly regarded.
Generally speaking, Italeri’s own kits can be hit or miss, sometimes with lots of ejector pin marks, sometimes with lots of shrinkage/sink marks.
In addition to their own toolings, Italeri also reboxes a number of kits from other manufacturers,. There are many ex AMT and ESCI kits in the line-up, so do your research.
Hit or miss as said. So far, I’ve done only a few. The SU-27 Flanker went together well, with some time spent cleaning up and re-engraving the panel lines around the wing to fuselage joints. I was disappointed with their F-22 Raptor as it had this odd seam between the front and rear section of the upper fuselage that I couldn’t get rid of. I also am in progress on an A-6E Intruder that seems to be going well, with some fit issues on the wing joints and panels lines are a bit oversize to me.
Impression of Italeri model kit is that its a mid range quality. As long as it don’t jack up the prices. I will not hesitiate to get their model kit if they have things in my mind.
Back in the day, Tamiya and they were the players in 1/35. They have been since passed in quality by the other players such as Dragon. Still, they offer eclectic choices such as some of their half-tracks and the ever elusive Chaffee. I have built numerous kits of theirs and they are not shake-and-bakes, but usually turn out quite pleasing.
If you want a nice quick OOB build, then Italeri offers some great examples at reasonable prices.
I like Italeri, their newer kit prices are getting up there (just like everyone else it seems), but overall they offer decent kits at reasonable prices. I can’t think of any Italeri kits I’ve been disappointed with.
Italeri, has reboxed Tamiya, Revell of Germany and Zvesda kits (and these companies have reboxed Italeri kits) which can confuse things occasionally.
I’ve got an Italian M13/40 medium tank that has been boxed by Tamiya, Italeri and Zvesda at different times, I think the kit started with Tamiya but I’m not really sure anymore (and the company stamping is inside the model).
PS: The vinyl tracks provided with Italeri’s armour kits are among the hardest (most rigid) and difficult to work with of any manufacturer.
I agree with the others regarding the inconsistent quality of Italeri kits. Despite the rigid tracks and quality issues, the armor kits certainly fill a niche (both in subject matter and price). I have been building their armor kits for well over 30 years begining when Italeri was the budget alternative to Tamiya. Some of their kits have seen a revival with other companies: the M7 Priest (new with Academy), the Opel Blitz (new with Tamiya), the Puma and the entire SdKfz 234 series (new with Dragon), the M4A1(76) (“new” with Dragon), etc. Now if some one will come out with an M32 series revovery vehicle.
I am not a familliar with their aircraft kits, so I can’t comment there.
Their hay day was back in the 1980s when their Willys Jeep, M4A1 Sherman, M47 Patton, Leopard 1 were the best kits on the market bar none. They took a lot of lumps when they acquired the old Peerless Max molds in order to increase their armor range. They added many wheeled prime movers, but the molds were from the 1950s so their overall perceived quality was seen as hit or miss.
Their best instruction sheets were the ones done by Testors for the yellow box releases in the US.
For every great Italeri Sherman, there was the ancient, nasty Peerless Max M3A1 scout car, for example.
Towards the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, they began to cut corners when releasing kits. They produced a kit called the M4A2 Jumbo around 1988 that was neither an M4A2 nor a Jumbo Sherman. It was in fact just an M4A3 76(W) but not a bad kit, just misnamed. In fact, all of Dragon’s initial (not the newer, latest kits) Sherman range of tanks were based off of Italeri’s Sherman line and even included Italeri lower hull and suspension sprues.
They went into the 1990s making the only new tooled modern US wheeled vehicles like the M977 & M978 HEMTTs, M923 & M925 5 ton trucks, and their HMMWVs were the best ones on the market until Academy produced a series in the mid 90s. Even Tamiya’s original HMMWV w/Bushmaster was a rebox of Italeri’s HMMWV. The main faults with these kits is that they were not produced with the same level of detail as their better kits from the 1980s.
They still make some of the more interesting subjects, but their level of detail has been surpassed by most armor model manufacturers. Their recent armored car series are pretty darn good.
Their Italian tank series was superior to Tamiya’s. While they were the same subjects, they were not the same kits. Just like Tamiya’s best kits of the 1970s were Japanese WW2 tanks (Chi-Ha, Type 1), Italeri’s best tank kits from the 1970s were WW2 Italian tanks (M13/40, Semovente).
I grab the old Testor’s/Italeri kits about every time I see 'em… I’ve never cared about ejector pin marks (most are invisible after assembly), and filling & sanding is just part of the hobby IMHO…
Interesting and desirable subjects but the plastic I encountered seemed a bit too fragile compared to other manufactureres.
Hopefully that has changed since I last purchased Italieri.
I’ve built a few Italeri kits over the years, both armour and aircraft, and enjoyed each one.
Sure they’re not Tamiya or Dragon in the quality stakes, but then neither do they compare to those manufacturer’s products in terms of price either.
This is Italeri’s venerable Puma with some Eduard PE and a JR barrel, all of which cost me under £20.
Karl
Their armor kits are pretty good in my view. All the points I would bring up, already have been. My only gripe would be their current pricing. Their prime benefit is the kits they do that no one else does. Amtracs, DUKW, modern wheeled and SP guns.
In aircraft, they are all over the board as well. You have to research the kit to see what you are getting, a straight rebox of someone else old kit, an upgraded rebox, or an Italeri original. But again, thay have an extensive line with great selection. And again, their pricing these days is on the high end, no matter what the subject.
I agree with Rob G on the M47, I’ve built that one and was pleased, but I just finished their Sd Kfz 140/1 Aufklarungpanzer (see it in the group built Winter Warriors II) and was not impressed. There were numerous fit problems with the road wheels and tracks, several sink holes and injector pin marks. Like the others have said, hit or miss with these guys.
[dto:]…except I would have written: “hey-day”…
No one ever uses Halcyon?
As in:
“Ach ! Das jahr 1940 vass one of mein Halcyon Years” !!! [:D][ip]
While you’re at it-sing along in a chorus of
“Those Were the Days…”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEORJ3_EQ_A&feature=related
with shouts of , “urah !”
My sentiments are the same as most here. For me, as a builder of US artillery and AFVs only…my shelves has plenty of Italeri on it since they tackled many diverse US subjects
Rounds Complete!!
I recently completed an Italeri 1/35 German Mk IV Ausf G, and I only added a resin tarp, a couple of photo etched tools and a horseshoe… and indy tracks… and recently won 1st in its division at Downeastcon…
so… you never can tell…
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I have a couple of the 234 series 8-wheelers from the 80’s in the yellow box. They were great in their time, but the Dragon releases smack the heck [blkeye] out of the older Testors/Italeri kits. They still build up very decent by adding just a few added details.