Honestly, I’ve built so many of the old Tamiya kits that I’m just kinda bored with most of them. I DO have the old Brumbarr with some Eduard PE zimm that I’m anxious to try out; I really want to give a 'doog-review" of that brass PE zimmerit. But as far as the other Tamiya’s, the 1970’s-80’2 era is just too chunky for me at this point.
I build Tamiya kits because they’re generally quick builds. With a few basic improvements they finish out as nice as some of the newer kits by other manufacturers, if, as said before, you’re not bothered by inaccuracies. I recently picked up a stack of the Tamiya Shermans for $10 ea. One of my favorite builds, looks like a Sherman when it’s done even if there’s better stuff out there. One of these days (not anytime soon) I’d love to do a Tasca Sherman, which brings me to another reason I build Tamiya kits: my skills are not up to building some of the newer, more intricate kits.
Keeps me modelling…
Another source for finding the old kits is either craigslist or your local swapmeet/flea market. Now neither one is not a fast or sure garauntee and can be some time to find them, but i have found some really nice intact old tamiya kits at our local flea market for between 1$ and $10.00 and some times on craiglist under collectibles you can find a few in your area. Tamiya kits are great, they used to be cutting edge back in the 70’s-80’s and very worth adding detail to them, and a lot of detail can be scracth built out of styrene and not bought to keep the cost down. I know all about having no money for the hobby right now but I am going into scratch building out of styrene to keep the cost down. I work for a transit advertiser and we install interior cards for advertising inside the buses, they measure 11"x30" wide and a lot of them are made out of styrene that liquid cement will glue together and i get to keep the expired ads so i have about 1000 of them now, i will never need to buy sheet styrene in my life, infact if i need it thicker i just glue more sheets together, and then i can make strips out of it, just havent figured out how to do rod yet, but where theres a will theres a way…Its been said before here in the forum, we modelers are a resourceful bunch and when times get tough we have to think more outside the box to come up with what we need!!!
I like Tamiya kits just fine. But, if you put together a Bandai or a Dragon kit, the difference is like night and day. T’s are fun and do require some extra work, but if you can get them for a song, it is a good deal.
Anxious to see your Brummbär, dawg. [:D]
Don’t get me wrong, buying Tamiya’s old 1970s kits on the clearance bin or at fire sale prices from vendors at shows is a great deal. Those kits build up just fine, even though most of them were designed to be motorized with removable upper hulls, turning suspension components, etc. They are great starter kits and many can still be cranked out into show winners. I made the old SAS Jeep into a contest winner just a few years ago.
What I am saying is paying the same amount for the old Panther A as you would for their new Hetzer, Jagdpanther or JS-1 is totally insane. Those new Tamiya kits are superb and well worth the MSRP. The old kits at the new kit prices are not.
I have no problem building Tamiya’s oldies. In fact the last two models that I have completed are quite old kits (kubel and BMW R17) and I am not ashamed to say that I am still happy with them[;)] (I am very easy to please [:D]).
Here in my side of the planet, these old kits cost roughly about half the price of the new releases (US$8-15). Moreover, the newer Tamiya kits, JS-2, Hetzer, Jadgtiger, etc. costs just about the same as the current releases from Dragon (US$20-30) unlike before when Tamiya is about 20% more expensive.
When I got back into the armor world Tamiya’s older kits were the way to go for me, especially when I can pick 'em up on the cheap. I don’t care for accuracy, heck at this point I just want to hone my skills and build!
I still build them although most of the Tamiya’s in my stash are somewhat newer like JS2/JS3/ and JGSDF type 90 etc. There are a couple of Shermans, a Leo 2a4 a LeClerc and some WW2 German Stuff. I remember when Tamiya and DML were pretty close in price and also pretty close in good or bad detail. If you can find the older ones at a good price buy them. I think most of us including newer modelers and some of us old guys may have gotten entirely too spoiled on working PE German tool clamps etc. Believe me, those things are nice but not necessary in every case. Nothing we build will cause the end of western civilization if it doesn’t have all the absolute latest detail. If you like the old kits for nostalgia, they’re great. If ya wanna hone your skills after a long absence from the hobby, they’re great (just look for bargain prices). HMMMM Think I’ll start on my Tamiya Krupp Protze truck now.
[;)]
Compare them to some of the old revell or monogram kits of the same subjects. Then whine about old Tamiya kits. Tamiya kits are still better, then some of the other stuff from the same era. I have had a few older Tamiya kits, they are still pretty decent. You don’t always have to do a super detailed in depth build on everything. For the Italeri GB II awhile back, I used thier Panzer IV. Oh my what a heap. To say it was challenging would be an understatement. Especially the shurzen and it’s mounts, they did NOT want to fit. It took me nearly a week just to get the mounts on and get them to stay put, they were that bad. With the exception of a set of Academy indy link tracks, and the echelon decals given to me by another builder on here, I can’t remember exactly who it was, but he still has my thanks for them, I built it right out of the box, and it looks nice. Sometimes I want a nice superdetailed kit, sometimes I want something that’s just representative of said vehicle. I’m more picky with my automotive subjects then I am my aircraft and armor though.
OK…Here is the old gas passer in the group. We are talking Tamiya. Some people speak as if the are garbarge (not in this thread). I agree with Rob and others, they build into a fine model but if you are looking for accuracy you will have to do some extra “model” work.
I think, like society today we have become lazy and want every thing done for us in the box. Then when we get it we complain about the price.
Look at some of the old Monogram kits. Yes…chunky, built on tools etc. OK…so you do a little work, grind down the tools add some detail…the old “scratch build”.
Everyone here considers Tamiya…old. Look at Monogram, Renwal, Aroura, Perless and Revell. That’s what I grew up on and Shep Paine made some great dios and builds with those “ancient” kits. Butt it required work.
I think many people have moved to become assemblers rather than modelers. How fast can I build it paint it and move on to the next activity. Again, I am not talking about this group but modeling in general.
I listen constantly to the endless complaints here about COST. Well, you wanted detail, you got it. Buy an old Tamiya or whatever kit, add PE and resin add ons, metal barrel, indy tracks…your build will cost as much as the super DML kit and look as good. Build a bunch of the details on your own and save a bundle
Even better…with a good OOB and a great finish…like Rob said you could still have a contest winner.
OK…its time for my Flomax and Viagra…Be careful what you call old and crummy remember
B52, C130, M16, M113 etc, ect. Somethings may get old and ugly (like me) but they still work and sometimes you just need an ugly.
Rounds Complete!!
I grew up building Tamiya and Italeri kits back in the 70s and have a healthy dose of respect for them. Sure…things didnt always fit accurately, but I thought that was just part of modeling. I still keep about a dozen of each type for a rainy day. And Ebay is my friend!
I like the old and new Tamiya kits and prefer them over Dragon, not for detail but for the fun factor. I have had the Dragon Tiger1 kit unmade for about 6 years now and everytime i open it up im a bit thrown back at how much stuff is in there and you have three build instructions on the same page.Im not saying i dont like this kit and im sure it will build into a nice model , its just that in todays busy lifestyles its a bit easier to pick up a Tamiya tiger kit that will build up just as nice. Lets face it half of the PE stuff on kits isnt really needed and some of the molded parts are of equal quality. Yes Dragon are better quality but Tamiya are more enjoyable and painted up well and corrected obvious mistakes they are just as good. If you dissagree then how is it that my Tamiya Sherman has won three gold medal when there has been plenty Dragon stuff in the same shows and cheap Italeri kits have also done well for me too. You can have the best ever kit with resin and pe galore but paint it up badly and it will look s*it
So for fun factor and ease of build it Tamiya 4 me.[swg]
Anyway when its done and youve posted it or taken it to a show or 2 who but yourself even takes any notice of it or says that bits wronge my familly certainly wouldnt know right from wronge.
There are so many things wrong with what you said.
I’ll ignore the rest, and ask you just one thing.
Which one of Dragon’s tiger kit were you talking about, that you had owned since 6 years ago.
Their 3 in 1 Tiger I kit (the one with the Volstad boxart of Wittman shooting up the British column) has got to rank up there as one of the most pivotal kits of all time…is that kit still OOP?
I have a handful of the older Tamiya kits, the Cromwell, the Quad gun tractor and the 25 pounder, and a couple of others. They go together really well, they look like what they’re supposed to be, and the instructions are clear and easy to follow. I also have a bunch of the new Dragon stuff too, among others. All of those new kits are great, and I don’t regret buying any of them, but right now, with my work schedule, my kids and their demands/activities, I don’t have the energy to wade through a huge box of Dragon parts. Also when I have a spare hour at the bench, I don’t want to spend half of it trying to figure out Dragon’s incomprehensible/inadequate/misleading instructions.
I retrieved my old 1/35 Tamiya armor models from my parents’ attic last year and took them to our club meeting for the theme “Glue Bombs”, or, kits you built early on. I enjoyed being reminded of how detailed they seemed to me, when I built them. For me, it was a matriculation from Monogram’s 1/32 kits, which I also thoroughly enjoyed building.
I may clean the Tamiya models up a little bit, for fun. They were models I built when I had learned about drybrushing for weathering, but didn’t know from washes or anything else. And the figures are also pretty good.
I’ve seen the newermakers’ kits built, and they’re great, too, but I have as much nostalgia for Tamiya armor (and Monogram armor, for that matter) as I do for Monogram’s 1/48 airplanes, which I build with enthusiasm.
I may even see if I can find my old Airfix 1/72 diorama sets and see if they can be reworked, too.
Regards,
Brad
Nothin’ wrong with the old Tamiya kits… They build up fine, and are pretty good subjects for scratchbuilding and detailing/superdetailing… The rivet-counter snobs can go buy the high-speed/low-drag/high-price kits if they want to… I don’t care if a stowage box is hinged wrong (fix it) or if the tools are molded on (buy a Dremel tool), or if they’re a scale foot short (nobody is carrying around a ruler and drawings with them to check)… They ain’t shake & bake kits, they aren’t for “assemblers” who want everything SOB to be exact… They’re for modelers, not kit snobs…
Anyone can build the high-end stuff… Takes a modeler to make silk purse out of sow’s ear…
Dragon rules…