The problem here is someone flogged you a kit from the 1970s for modern kit prices. At the model shop I worked at until recently we'd sell that kit for about £10-15 - not £50! So yes, you did get ripped off - but by the model shop, not Tamiya.
@@HarryHoudiniModels That is pretty terrible. I don't work in a model shop any more but had you come to my shop with a similar story I'd have talked to you a bit to gauge your level of experience and then probably pointed you at something a bit more in line with your expectations. Those old Tamiya kits are still useful to us as retailers because they are "good enough" for the price (at least when you sell them for £15) and easy for inexperienced modellers to put together - but I'd never point a veteran modeller at one unless they were deliberately engaging in a nostalgia build...
you have to be a certain age to remember Airfix kits in plastic bags from Woolworths, for a couple of bob - you need a second mortgage to buy some of the kits on offer today - stay safe
It's not just the model kit itself, but the half-dozen or more aftermarket upgrades for the people who aren't satisfied unless their build has details that only historians and grognards would notice.
My first ever kit was the Airfix Auster Antartica - because it stood out being yellow. I remember sticking myself to the plastic on numerous occasions. My second kit was the Centurion Tank. Happy Days!
Really your problem should be with the jerk that sold it to you. They sold you a kit that was mastered in the very early 1970's as a toy. Tamiya is the very best in model kits, they are the gold standard. Please don't trash Tamiya.
If you watched the entire video, you would see I didn’t “trash” Tamiya, I just said they take away what I like most about the hobby. So not for me. It is an opinion from my experience. And yes that hobby store was a rip off. I never went back.
@@HarryHoudiniModels Harry I can understand what your saying about the challenge of older kits that need more work as opposed to a kit that "falls together" I've done that and enjoy it too sometimes. Right now I'm working on what I have to say is the worst kit I've got this far into. The Revell 1/144 Flower class corvette. The only reason I'm sticking to it is I invested so much into it.
@@typhoon2827 Yes RFM is very good in fact the best of the Chinese manufacturers. But what sets Tamiya apart from every one is the quality of the plastic they use not just the engineering of the kit.
That is called background build up… if I just told you the kit make without explaining the mindset I was in or experience I’d had up to that point, then it would not have made sense. Although even with the explanation so many did not get the point.
Every modeling company has to start from somewhere. When I was starting to build models in the 1960s, almost all companies were building tanks with a motor and real rubber treads.. Tamiya's come a long way since.
Yes, but that is not the point of this video. This Tamiya kit was priced like a much more modern engineered one. For $10 or even $20 it would have been fine. But for the $55 I was charged, with the indication it would be the best kit I have ever made, and therefore I would only ever build Tamiya kits from then on, was not only misleading but downright price mongering. Therefore for me it was - a disappointment !
Bloody hell. You bought an old kit produced in the 1960s for today’s price. Back then, companies like Tamiya and Nichimo were giving the modeller an option of building a kit that could move using a small battery powered electric motor. I have built at least 25 Tamiya tank kits and they are excellent. Good fit and detail. Easy to assemble and paint. The one piece tracks are a godsend for those of us don’t want to go blind wasting hours assembling the hundreds of tiny track links. There are lots of photo etch packages, machined metal gun barrels etc., which you can buy on the market to muck around with if that turns you on. For many of us, it’s the challenge of painting, weathering, and creation of realism that gives us the most satisfaction. Different strokes for different folks.
Not sure why youtube rec'd this vid to me now, but I can't say I've ever had a problem with any Tamiya kits. I think you got talked into buying something you didn't need. Not the manufacturer's fault really. Having built plenty of Revell kits in the 90s, which required endless trimming of flashing, etc. my first experience with Tamiya was pretty impressive, frankly.
If you started modelling in the 80’s and 90’s then yes while the Americans ran Airfix it was a shambles with crap moulds from other poor manufacturers being spat out at an old Heller factory. It was a disgrace. The 60-70’s Airfix ran by good ole Blighty produced magnificent kits. Since the 21st century the Brits have managed to take control of Airfix again, albeit having the moulding done in India, so they are getting better again.
Greetings. 1st model I ever built was a little Airfix 1/72 Hawker Hurricane. It came in a bag with a folded paper tag attached to the bag. It was made of light blue plastic and was 39 US cents at our local drug store. I think it was in 1958, or 1959. I think I was 8 at the time. I just retired from a 52 career in aviation. I think I'm going to pick it up again.
Correct. My disappointment was paying so much, and told how great the kit would be, but only getting a mediocre kit in return. I have no real problem with Tamiya, just the hype and fan boy hysteria that gets rammed down my throat about the brand plus the absurd prices for the kits, at least down under in Australia.
My local hobby shop that i used to go to had tons of old tamiya kits. I could never buy them though bcause the owner wanted way more for them than they were worth. Dude wouldnt go down on his prices even while his store was closing down. He had boxes upon boxes full of kits from all brands out there.
I have no beef with you Harry, but hating on Tamiya for a kit from the dawn of the company when they marketed to kids in Japan who didn't mind the motors is funny. A. That model is full of fun. So you don't like rubber tracks, no one does in 2024. They were fine in 1980. So you disliked a few details. If that was all I needed to hate a company, I'd need to make all my kits from scratch. Airfix sold me a 1960s B-24 kit that was garbage. Nearly unbuildably. They said sorry sent me some new tooling kits. Revell, their 32nd scale aircraft can be some really lame kits if they are from last century. Build ok, but they are not the kits of today. I like Matchbox for the nostalgia. But that's all they deliver. Tamiya makes some 48th scale aircraft kits that are identical in 72nd scale and are pure gold. Their ships are incredible too. About the same as Hasegawa. I sometimes think they shared the molds. Italeri makes really nice tanks. They use rubber tracks too though. No toy angle. But their planes you raised detailing in a lot of cases. So in the end, ALL companies have duds. And all companies have stellar product. Have you experienced the confused mess that is a Dragon DML brand instruction sheet? Great models, but be careful of the instructions.
You completely missed the point of my video.... yes it's an old kit but in a shiny new box. Yes it has a low part count and is basic but I paid a premium price for the kit. Yes you could forgive all the issues with the kit if you were not first talked up and told how great Tamiya was and you will only build their kits from now on... then they rip me off with this expensive box of turds. See where I am coming from?
@@HarryHoudiniModels No I understood, remember me mentioning the B24. Airfix sold me a 60s kit in a new shiny box. The model should have been sent to the trash years ago. I paid a current modern price. It was even worse than your Tamiya kit. The T-34 is fully buildable. It IS a good model even with it's age. The average new Tamiya tank is about 90 bucks, the T-34 sells for about 25. If you paid premium, then the store screwed you, not Tamiya. I read Airfix the riot act, they sent me my choice of new tooling as an apology. The T34 though is not garbage like the B24. But it sounds like the retailer ripped you off.
Well that was a 1975 kit and most kits back then had "rubber band' tracks and were made for motorization. Tamiya was a motorized toy manufacturer until about 1970 when they started the Military Miniatures range. Then there was transition period before the first true model kits came out. Other manufacturers like Italeri, Esci and Monogram were all very similar in style. Dragon did not appear until about 1990 and had a very bad reputation for poor accuracy, too bad to correct in some instances like the Sherman MkVc. But I think they were first with injection molded plastic track and they did try to correct issues with older kits. I have spent almost 45 years doing kit reviews for magazines, including Airfix under Alan Hall 1988 to 1993.
That kit came out in the 70's. I built a lot of them back in the 80's. These days I use the RFM hull with DML and resin turrets from the stash. Tamiya kits from the last 5 years or so are vastly better than that ancient model.
True but the point of this video was the over hype about Tamiya, the over charging of the hobby store based on the brand name, and my eventual disappointment
@@HarryHoudiniModels In my modeling circle talk about Tamiya kits is usually: It goes together well, but details are lacking compared to x, y, z brands with ten times the parts count. The latest kits from Tamiya are very nice, but as I have been building Tamiya armor since 1978 I know what to avoid in the line up.
Having never built Tamiya kits as of yet, I can't give an opinion. However, the only Tamiya products I have used for my builds in their acrylic paint and that is fantastic - but as you say the price is even high on their paints and glues. Great video!
Disclaimer: Yes I heard the part where he said they were beautiful and well engineered kits, and that he wasn't calling them bad per-se. I just finished my first kit in 25 years since I was a kid. Their 1/48 A6M2 for $16.50 US. I tried so hard to exact-match the paint color of the Akagi model. That one spot of difficulty was nothing to do with Tamiya. It's an older kit I'm told and yet I have to say it's etter than any Revell/Monogram/Testors/Italeri kits I built as a kid. All that said, Harry gives an interesting take on it all here and there's nothing to disagree about. I think I bought the right kit to get back into the hobby. I had fun. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and I actually finished it. When it gets boring I just look at it. Lean back and take the whole thing in I've done so far and it gets fun again. Peace.
One of my only memories of my grandmother is when she bought me one of those Tamiya motorised tank kits when i was really too young to build it, i was maybe 7 or 8. I think it was also a T-34 as well. Even then, I thought it not quite the right shape, and the tracks just wouldn't glue together properly since i was not allowed to melt them together. And worst of all it was a later boxing that didn't even have the motorised parts included so i couldn't make it move. Thank goodness later on in the 90s I bought and built a few much better Tamiya kits, a Bradley, an M1, a Chieftain, an NR1 and a MacLaren MP4/4. So those newer kits made me appreciate Tamiya for their engineering if not the prices.
I disagree with you. I personally find Tamiya kits some of the best on the market and I think they give you the basics--what you do with it is up to you. That being said, older kits can come with some challenges. The T-34/76 is a 1975 kit. I was 16 years old when this kit came out. I'm 62 now. That doesn't mean it's a bad kit necessarily, it just means it's going to be more of a challenge for accuracy and cannot compete with today's laser cut molds derived from 3D modelling. This mold was cut by a blade and was based on a clay figure based on dimensions determined using a measuring tape. It was also marketed for boys and adolescents. There were no 60 year old men building models like this then. I do think you paid too much, as this kit retails for $23 USD online, and I can probably find it cheaper. As an aside, when I was into this hobby as a youngster, it was the Airfix kits that were the crap. The Tamiya were the desirable ones. I build and like both now.
problem is what was acceptable in the 80s is in the 2020s barely scraping by, especially when priced as premium ! imagine your feelings if someone offered you a movie on 8mm ( state of the art 60 yrs ago) but wanted to charge you for blu ray quality at top prices. for 2020s an 80s kit has to be priced cheap especialy if in the 80s the kit was considered mediocre
My slant on kit choice comes down to what I can relate to personally. Like, as an example, I wouldn't built a Bristol Britania, but would a Vickers Viscount, both turbo prop and contemporaries of each other. The Vickers was flown by our domestic carrier, where the Bristol wasn't. One has personal relevance while the other not so much. One of the several crash hot reasons for being a kit builder is that I can please myself - nothing is wrong and mistakes can be corrected, or the kit recycled. But my goal is the finished model, the less buggerising about getting parts to fit because the pattern maker is not at the top of their game, just makes more work for me to do.
Thanks Bruce.. well for you Tamiya is perfect. However my needs are opposite. I like to put my own stamp on the construction and am happy to reshape parts to suit my needs of conversion or updating. I’m in no race to complete the assembly. We are both modelling, just different approaches. The main theme of this video was the overpriced hype of Tamiyas old models. I was ripped off and sold a dud. If it had been a $20 kit I would have been happy to pour some more cash in to upgrade it. But being charged $55 for a kit, that in comparison to a Cyber Hobby kit I had bought for $40 which had all the bells and whistles, is just plain exploitation due to the Tamiya brand.
It’s not the kit… it’s the hysteria and fanboydom about Tamiya that results in excessive prices for average kits and massive peer pressure to conform and build Tamiya. I was lied to, ripped off, and hence disappointed. No moaning, just reporting the facts.
Yes, you got an old Tamiya kit tooled in the 1970's, which was quite a good kit for the standards of the day. The fact is most manufacturers re-box old kits, your beloved Airfix had decades long production runs but kept the prices in line with new toolings. Is this fair - NO and Airfix did get the message and now box old kits as Vintage. But most companies do not.
The point of this video is the hysteria about Tamiya that lets shop owners charge 3 times the worth of a kit, then hold a straight face and lie to you point blank saying “you will love this kit”, “its the best thing since sliced bread”, “once you build Tamiya then you will build nothing else”. All of this was false. I have no issue if it is an old kit, I build many old kits from the 60’s from Airfix, Matchbox and Revell. But I get them at an appropriate price and know what to expect. I am not bashing Tamiya. Their modern kits are well engineered and they surpassed Airfix back in the 80’s, when I had stopped scale modelling, so had no experience of them. My comparison was of my experience, I had just built the Dragon kit, which had cost me half the price of the this Tamiya kit. But the Tamiya kit was very, very, very, poor, for the money paid and expectation given by the shop salesman. Hence my disappointment.
Yes the weathering thing is just out of control… if those aircraft guys ever looked at real aircraft then they would not see all those preshaded panel lines! And modulation on Armour is absurd!
You definitely got sold the wrong thing by the shop. Proper Tamiya kits are excellent, I've made A Cromwell and a Sherman Firefly in 1/48 and loved them. Tamiya 1/48 armour comes with diecast metal lower hulls that add some nice heft to to the kit.
I bought a kit model of Harry Houdini and one of his famous illusions and it was a complete rip off. Even though the box was completely sealed, all the parts of the figure were completely gone when I opened it.
Tell you what I like in models, Harry. Perfectly fitting parts. No flash. Everything authentically and accurately detailed. Goes together like a dream. NO mistakes. No gaps to fill. No bloody scratch building or anything like that required, because it's all there and it's all accurate *already*. I look for kits like that and I buy them. The only thing I should need to add (if it's an airplane or ship) is the radio line and/or the rigging....and for that I'll use EZ-line or some similar product...unless it's a sailing ship, of course, in which case I use rigging that looks like rope in that scale. So, this means I love Tamiya kits! Yes, a few of the really OLD ones are no damn good by present standards, rather toy-like, as in the case of that old T-34 you bought, and quite a few other tanks in the early years of their 1/35 line. Their old 1/350 Bismarck, for another example, cannot compare to more recent Bismarcks in that scale by Revell and Trumpeter...though it was the best Bismarck when it was originally issued...and that's the thing: Find out when the bloody kit was first issued! Read the reviews of it. Then you'll know what to expect. The T-34 you were so disappointed by is from 1965, mate! What the hell would you expect? And their 1/350 Bismarck came out in 1978, whereas the far better detailed Revell 1/350 Bismarck is from 2007, and the superb Trumpeter 1/350 Bismarck is from 2020. Would it be surprising that the far older Tamiya kit doesn't rate well in detail against either one of them? But the newer Tamiya models are absolutely superb. All this can be found out simply by going to the "Scalemates" site and reading up on any specific kit you might be thinking of buying....which I expect you already know. Now be assured, I completely admire your scratch-building skills and dedication. You did some work on an Airfix sailing ship that was amazing! However, I appear to be looking for the exact opposite in kits that you are...which is fine. Whatever "floats your boat", right? 🙂 But the companies I love are the ones that put out the most accurate, best detailed, and finest fitting kits, and those are, typically, and in most cases... Tamiya, Hasegawa, Eduard, Wingnut Wings, and well, quite a few others these days too......including the *newer* Airfix kits of aircraft, which are very, very good, and including Trumpeter's wonderful warship kits and some of their other stuff. But one must always keep in mind that most of the great model companies STILL have some absolutely rubbish kits...dreadful stuff...that was originally issued way back in the 1960's or 70's...STILL getting re-issued in new boxes to this day....and that stuff is to be avoided! That includes the Tamiya T-34 kit you were so disappointed by.............but it does not alter the fact that most Tamiya models are great. You just have to do some research before you buy the kit, that's all. Get a look at the sprues online before you make the purchase.
I needed a toilet break half way though your essay… some valid points though. As I said in the video this was a decade ago before I knew about Scalemates, but I did ask the staff at the model shop for advice. You just can’t trust anyone these days!
Sorry to hear your experience with Tamiya was so bad. I put together that T 34 around 1990, and yes, it was kinda clunky, but I didn’t mind it. That shop keeper shouldn’t have built up your expectations!
After building a few Airfix kits after getting serious about the hobby (I tried them first based on your experience) I can safely say that I enjoyed one of the 2 I got. I'm not put off the brand, I'm just not building another F/A-18 from them again. The BF-109 kit I got is pretty. Basic paint job for a beginner, and I intend to get two more. Kit went together easily, adjustments were made where needed, and I bought masking tap & glue for it because I knew what I was gonna need as an absolute BASIC bit of paint work. As far as ships, you probably have a comment from me on a recent video about my current IJN Shokaku build. She's my first Tamiya kit, and while it seems very much like a more advanced LEGO set, I wont say I'll build them for the rest of my life. My previous ship was Fujimi's Yamato, and boy was she COMPLICATED. I loved every bit of it. The only part I hated about it, was how much fun she was to build, and the fact that I wanted to keep going. I love a good bit of actual problem solving that's not work related
I like a problem to solve as well… which is why I enjoy a bit of scratch work or kit upgrading.. but that is my choice, not everyone wants to exercise their mind in the hobby.
Absolutely enjoyed listening to your reasons why you're not keen on Tamiya kits. It was a great reminder how individual we are and how varied our preferences can be. I particularly liked that you acknowledged that Tamiya kits are well engineered, they just don't present a challenge to your own model building preferences. I recently came across your channel on your Airfix Sunderland build and it's a perfect example of a kit that needs worked on but if the effort is put in, a real diamond can be the end result. Perhaps too many of the younger modellers don't want to work hard to get results. Looking forward to watching many more of your vids!👍👍
One kit I built that threw me off their kits was a resin combrig 1/700 USS Maine. So I had got into resin models because it had a lot of new and unique kits that I was interested in. So after building the Nikos model USS Iowa(BB-4) pre-dreadnought I decided I wanted another early USN warship and decided to get a model of the USS Maine that went and was destroyed in Havana harbor. So I paid $70 dollars for it. And I was highly disappointed I had spent several days working on the PE parts and even after working on her for over a month well it was pitiful looking and I had seen several of their kits and they were nicely detailed but this was terrible. I can say I understand why you are disappointed with Tamiya as I have a similar issue when it comes to combrigs resin kits. Loved your vid Harry hope you stay healthy sir
Revell almost turned me off to modeling. I only started about five years ago. Revell were the only brand sold in the arts and crafts store in town. They were inexpensive and had levels to guide you. Unfortunately most of them fit horribly and had a lot of flashing. I didn't know much so I thought I was doing something wrong. After a long break I got a Hasegawa 1/72 harrier. It fit so well. The instructions were difficult for me to follow at the time but I finished it with only a few mistakes. I painted it with a paint brush with globs all over the place. I was really proud of it. I still try to avoid Revell but will use them as practice models for new techniques.
I wonder if you have only built the cheaper Revell of America kits, which are usually reboxings of bad old mouldings. Revell of Germany produces some very good kits these days like the U-Boat and Schnellboot’s I have made on my channel.
@@HarryHoudiniModels That's probably the case. I'll eventually try out more Revell sets. They can't be one of the biggest model companies without having good ones. First I have to finish my backlog in the closet.
Every modeler seems to have built the old 1/570 revell Titanic. Their new mold 1/700 Titanic is actually pretty good and have and Olympic version as well.
I built the same Tamiya T-34 kit, probably about 45 years ago. At the time, I was about 12 years old, & Tamiya kits were new & incredible to me, & that (at the time) some of Tamiya's 1/35 scale tanks were motorized & remote control made them so much better & interesting than the static Monogram tank models I'd built, before building some Tamiya's tank models. Yes, the T-34 was kind of toy like in detail, but to me, it was a much more detailed "toy" than what I would have expected for a motorized toy tank to have, that was made by a toy company, rather than a model company. But back then, Tamiya was the only model company that offered motorized (& also remote control, for some kits) model tank kits, that I was aware of, & to me, that made Tamiya stand above the rest. But back then, Tamiya also had a 1/25 scale line of tanks, with some of these kits motorized & some R/C (I believe). I built 2 of these 1/25 scale kits, the Jagdpanther & the Cheiftain (which I still have). Both models were motorized (without R/C), & were considerably more detailed than the Tamiya 1/35 scale tank models that I had built. I believe Tamiya set a higher standard for detail over 45 years ago, but comparing the details of today's modeling technology to even Tamiya's modeling technology of 45 + years ago is probably rather like the apples to oranges non-comparison. Anyway, I get that you were disappointed with the Tamiya T-34 kit, & reasons why you were, but I suppose I see the the old kit from a little broader perspective, & so feel a bit different about it. On the other hand, the last models I built were the Airfix 1/76 scale Aerial Refueling Set, which included 2 tanker (Bowser) trucks; a Bedford QL & an AEC Matador. These models were quite fiddly to build properly (which I was rather expecting), & I scratch built a steering wheel for the Bedford, & windscreen & windows for both models (as these parts weren't included with the kits). I only built these 2 Airfix tanker models as a "one time effort", for the experience, & I figured I could put a lot of time & effort into the builds, only to produce a decent (not outstanding), result. After completing the 2 models, which took about a year, my assessment of result was basically correct, but the models did turn out better than I thought they would. In summation, the time consuming trail & error scratch building process could have been avoided if the mentioned scratch built (basic) parts had been included with the kits to begin with. The fine details of the kits were actually quite good, but the fitment of parts was often not precise (again, as I expected), & required careful filing for proper fit. Was it worth it to me? I suppose so, but I don't think I'd do it again. Great post, btw!
Since we are talking about crappy kits the hobbyboss P51 C (mustang) has to take the cake ( I was young and inexperienced so inevitably I'm going to be biased) The issues started right out of the box out from memory,there were supposed to be 4 spruces instead I only found 3 so hopped in my car down to the store,asked the guy (David I'm pretty sure his name was) asked him about it and well what do you know he had a spare kit of the p51 he offered me a full refund for it (not a problem ) got the new kit home opened it up all the spruces were there ✅ Included the decals ✅ No lose parts✅ And well I started building the kit and the dodgy parts were fiddly (mind you I'm 6'8 so I do have big Bear hands) constant sanding and I mean constant! the glue I used was good but the decals bloody silvered within 5 minutes the parts while really well detailed was the only grace with the bloody thing so in a fit of rage lined the model with firecrackers and **Bang **Bang **Bang**. She went up in a blaze of smoke and only then did I feel happy ( I retired from model making for a while ) until last year when my other half bought me the airfix Bismarck so me and her are nearly done with the kit ( just painting her and it's been really good ( a few issues but nothing major) and as a result I'm enjoying the hobby again after nearly a decade of not building models.Cheers harry for a smashing Video -Cyrus in Brighton
I wasn’t saying the kit was crappy, just disappointing for the price charged, and the absurd hype I was given by the salesman about how great Tamiya was. If I had paid $20 and told it was an old kit but not bad to build, then that would have been fine. I wasn’t, I was lied to.
Apparently so, but the shop staff should not have 1. try to tell me how great Tamiya were then 2. overcharged for what is plainly a very ordinary cheap old kit. Hence my disappointment
Considering that T-34 kit is something close to 40 years old, and just been reboxed. It's not and never will be to modern standards. I have built several of those kits, and the shopkeep was selling you on the modern kits, not knowing or lying that this kit is getting close to collecting a pension.
..and hence my disappointment after being ripped off 3 times the price of what it is really worth and lied to about loving Tamiya for the rest of my life
@@HarryHoudiniModels because you were solid a bill of goods by the hobby shop owner on a 40 year old kit? One of my dearest friends owns a hobby shop and I asked why he stoks those kits, he says its for kids doing their first kit, and explains to them its an old kit but a solid easy build.
My "never again" manufacturer is (was) Kitty Hawk. I tried, and failed, to build their 1/48th Lockheed F-35B. I swear that kit didn't even have one single test-fit trial before it was released on an unsuspecting public. It was horrible. Nothing fit, seams in strange places, huge ejector-pins marks everywhere..... It put me off the manufacturer for life. I have never, and will never, build another Kitty Hawk kit ever again. Pity, as they covered some unusual subjects that other manufacturers just don't cover at all. So I wasn't sorry when they went bust not too long ago. Good riddance! ;-)
Many a decade ago my grandfather and I went to a tiny hobby store in Toronto, Canada just about every Saturday and bought a little Airfix aircraft in the little plastic bags and we would spend the next week of evenings building it up. Biplanes were the topic of choice, and we could have more than one of type in different colours. They were then attached to lengths of thread and pinned to the ceiling of my bedroom in various attitudes of flight, in little groups of dog fights. My grandmother pinned little tufts of cotton balls to the ceiling to make little clouds. Some of the best memories of my life.
Wow, I've found a kindred soul...lol! I'm with you Harry. I have several Tamiya kits in my stash, but no interest in building any of them at the moment. I enjoy the construction part of model building most of all, and solving fit problems. With Revell kits, it usually just means a lot of flash cleanup. Painting is not my favorite part, but the worst for me is decaling. I don't think I've built a kit in the last eight years where at least one of the decals didn't rip, silver or moved out of position on me whilst left to dry overnight. Thanks for the video! I feel better about not being on the Tamiya bandwagon.
Thanks@@HarryHoudiniModels! Yes, I've used it a few times. Sometimes it works great and other times not. I had some Italeri decals from an older kit that wouldn't budge. They just laughed at me when I put Mark Fit on them. Micro Sol didn't work either. Mr. Mark Softer did the trick, so that's why I now keep several different brands of decal products at the bench. You never know which decals will play nice and which won't!
Very enjoyable vid to watch. Just about to try to get back into this hobby now that I'm pushing near 60. Used to build models, poorly, back in the late 70's
I have enjoyed every Tamiya kit I've encountered, but you make a very good point about them being too well done. I personally like the painting and detailing a lot more than the actual build, but I can definitely see where they could be extremely irritating for people who prefer a bit of a challenge making parts fit just right.
Dude! You are my hero I've been saying this for years, I have the old (1970+) Revel 1/32 Spitfires, Mosquito, Hurricane, F-14, Beaufighter, Hasegawa FW-190 etc, etc, etc. I sand all the raised panel lines etc, and re-scribe correctly and add correct details, build cockpits from scratch, and I LOVE the BUILD. We are the 'same cloth' brother, no one else in my model club does this.
Actually, I like the Tamiya T-34 but I know it's a 1970s kit and, as such, isnt the same as a kit designed I. 2020. On the other hand, its $20 USD versus $90 for Bugler or Lizard.
Yeah I had the T34 kit when I young and have no idea where it ended up. Along comes Ebay and I have it again. Very happy I managed to get back a much-loved and played-with kit. Yes it is a toy, but it gave me fond memories so money didn't come into it. I have the GPA also and what impresses me about Tamiya is the engineering. Fit is almost perfect.
One of the worst kits i have encountered was a Heller Hotchkiss tank, i aquired from a local hobby shop in Long Beach, Ca. I hated the vynil tracks and cables, which i couldnt find paint that would adhere. The tracks weren't glueable, and melted like mush. The most disappointing aspect of the kit were the figures they included, along with i think, a small artillery piece. The faces were grotesquely cartoonish, with saucerlike eyes with protruding pupils. I was so disgusted, and i was just starting building kits at that time. I actually quit building when i went back to work, after an injury. I recently started building again after i got permanently disabled, in 2016. The kits out there now have much more to offer in detail, and ease of assembly and fit up. I do like the build process, so i look for more detailed kits with higher parts count. But, i don't want to have to do excessive modifications for the price of kits nowdays. Scratch building is fun when you want to accessorize, but fixing flaws in kits perturbs me.
@HarryHoudiniModels it was an abomination....i wept bitter tears, and was quite inconsolable for some time, until i was able to purchase a Dragon kit. That presented some frustration in itself, as the instructions i found to be quite vague, ending up in misplacement of myriad parts.
I built up that T-34. Its one of my best kits. I did spend to get the rear engine vent with louvers and screen. I used stock track and wheels. I also filled in the sponsons and the rear hull where axle goes in. I also scratch built the ramps that knock the track pins back in. Of course you cant see the ramps.
I also added photo etch and many aftermarket parts then gave it a snappy paint job. My issue in this video is the overblown hype and fan boy cult that lets shop owners over inflate prices based on brand name alone.
Depending on manufacture date, got Tamiya A-10 1/48 from Hobbyco for 45 AUD. It's the most garbage kit I personally built, nothing fits, cement barely fused the plastic, all the panel are raised. I use CA glue for 70% of the kit... It shouldn't even be sold over 20 AUD, I've heard the Harrier 1/48 (similar manufacture date) were sold for half the price.
Tamiya did rebox some very ordinary Italscary kits at one stage.. Checking scalemates shows that Tamiya kit maybe on old ESCi/Revell tooling from the 70’s
I think Special Hobby's kits would make your day. Any short run technology kit, that requires fiddling, scribing, reshaping, scratch building yet represents interesting subject with decent surface detail
I only had one wife, and that was enough for me, but the good thing is that, like most women of our generation, they won’t want your stash or anything to do with modelling, there are some very fine lady model makers who could outshine me with one arm tied behind their back and blindfolded, but in general your stash etc should be safe, unlike your bank account, self esteem, home and/or mortgage 💸 payments, and kids turned against you (luckily my two are both grown up and left home). My ex-wife leaving was a really tough time, as you probably know from experience, and getting back into modelling was a way of coping emotionally, now, after 8years I can say that modelling is now my hobby again, not a support mechanism, thanks for another excellent show, thumbs up as usual. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴🇦🇺🇺🇦
hmmm. i have done a hg gundam an rg gundam and in middle of my first mg gundam. I love thems. i do have a question. i got the f-86 sabre the joseph mconnel beautous butch one. n that is glue. my question is who makes the best military aircraft kits. i want to get a MIG 15bis and a sikorsky sh-19a or maybe b. also if you were gonna recommend or advise someone doing their first glue model kits what is like 3 advices or tips that would be the most helpful. cause waiting in the wings is a 1:350 Enterprise NCC 1701 the one that is the pilot edition where you can pick your build n that's gonna get lights n the works but that is a year away. i wanna start my journey to the NCC 1701 with the least amount of suck lol. anything will be appreciated,
There are many good aircraft kit manufacturers. Eduard, Kinetic, Trumpeter and modern Airfix put out superb kits, which fit well for the most parts and only have minor issues which can be easily fixed by any modeller. But if you want a click together kit, so you can assemble quickly with no modelling required, then Tamiya is your choice. You just became a painter
I've seen modellers take a lot of Gundam kits and take them to the next level. Re-etched panel lines, using styrene sheets to add and upgrade the armor, adding wires and pistons. it's really cool to see the basic HG kits turned into something that blows even the PG kits out of the water in terms of detail
I have had a few Lindberg kits given to me over the years… one peek in the box and I put them on Ebay… I am sure someone would either not care about how awful they were, or like the challenge of improving the kit, but not for me.
Recently retired and I too became a 'Born again modeler'! but where to start? Well I always wanted a model of the SHAR (Sea Harrier) after the scrap between the UK and Argentina, I was a big Fan of the sea harrier but the only one I could find was a Tamiya one! What a dog! ...or was it me? I hadn't made a model for nearly 50 years (I'm 65) and I must admit I nearly abandoned the whole model thing but I cant remember a Airfix model where the parts just didn't fit? What saved me from giving up was TH-cam for after I watched a few videos on the Tamiya sea harrier kit where it was thoroughly slammed by numerous model makers, I didn't feel so bad and now I'm really back into the hobby and even learnt to airbrush as Id always been a pant brush and enamel paints man/Youth but after an initial reluctance to use acrylics I now love them! So the moral of the story? Don't restart model making with the Tamiya sea harrier or you will never pick up a Tamiya kit again" (and I haven't either!)
I think you will find that Tamiya Sea Harrier is a reboxed Italeri kit, which was awful to start with. If you want a good Sea Harrier look at the Kenetic kit. I have it, and although a little fiddly, it is superb. www.scalemates.com/kits/kinetic-k48035-frs1--967167
I have made the best from the worst kits out there. And everytime I do,I improve my skills. As far as getting burned buying a toy,buyer beware. Not every manufacture gets it right the first time. It has happened to me. And it will happen again,I'm sure.
Thanks Mark... that was 10 years ago and since then I use Scalemates to check reviews and date of tooling. But for anyone just coming back, or new to the hobby, well they don't have those skills yet, like myself back then, so we rely on the sage advice from the shop staff. I have since realised not all can be trusted.
I had an issue with Tamiya...I bought the Tamiya Russian SU34 bomber...Straight away i sensed a problem.The box lid seemed too large for the bottom part,and then i saw why...The model was Italeri...Therefore i paid a Tamiya price for an Italeri model...a blatant rip off.
Hi Harry, Just getting back into the hobby after retiring last year,i think Tamiya have now been caught up and in some caese overtaken by other manufacturers, I have nearly finished the Airfix Katy ambulance,and have the a couple of other Airfix kits to get into,and must say they are good quality,although you have to look out for short shots ,i think a tighter qaulity control should be in place , All the best Harry.
take a look at a Williams brothers kit. They don't just fall together when you shake the box. The two I built turned out pretty nice. But if you really want a challenge get an mpc. So many inaccuracies you'll have a blast
There are a few WB kit that are fairly decent... I have five. The Pitcairn Autogyro is a pretty little gem of a kit with plenty of room for detailing. I have the corben Ace and Ford Flivver and Seversky S-35 in the stash that look decent enough. My problem was with the Curtiss F9C-1 Sparrowhawk. Between details that were either not included or unusable due to misaligned molding my experience with this kit was nothing short of a horror story. I literally had to shim the landing gear strut on one side with .080 styrene to get the thing to fit. The wheels wouldn't fit into the wheel pants without serious grinding away of the inside of the wheel pant and removal of part of the back side of the wheel to get it to fit. If you have the skills, it can be made into a decent representation of the Sparrowhawk... it's just a LOT more work than you expect.
So you are complaining about a manufacturer known for making kits that are (generally) superbly engineered as opposed to Airfix who seem to place flash and mould seams onto every part? Hmmm! Personally - I make models to relax and the idea of fighting the failings of a manufacturer really annoys me.
You obviously have not built the modern CAD Airfix kits, or the old 60-70’s brilliant white box ones with crisp moulding and firm plastic. Both of those are a joy to build, with no flash, and minimal fettling. Yes there were some dodgy kits as Irish and American owners took over Airfix in th 80-90’s cutting corners and cheapening the product. However, I like a build I can model, not Lego that just clicks together without any skill from my end. That’s how I relax.
@@HarryHoudiniModels not to ruin but I have not bought an airfix kit with a lot of flash on small parts (modern 109E) or mis formed parts (Spitfire mk Va) or missing entirely (F4F modern). I still like them as a manufacturer but I have not had a kit that was like tamiya’s.
I remember a mate of mine asked me to build a crappy ancient Tamiya SdKfz 7 8 ton German half track for him. Kit was dreadful 1970s era moulding with nearly unusable low detail rubber band tracks, that looked crap no matter how much weathering you did! I was really disappointed with it and it's very simplistic parts and build. Anyway he thought it was great so I then got myself a Trumpeter SdKfz 7 as I love German half tracks. Wow what a world of difference, nearly 4 times the parts count of the Tamiya kit, Indi link tracks, fully detailed engine and transmission as well as detailed cargo compartments. It just really didn't compare. While some of Tamiyas recent offerings are decent I just find them overpriced and would rather get a Trumpeter, Mini-art or Zvedza equivalent.
One thought about Tamiya which I have found to be as you say: easy builds; great painting/weathering practice opportunities…box art is superb. Let’s acknowledge how many kits are sold on box art alone. Cheers!
That is true, however the old T-34 kit has very dated box art. That had me suspicious from the start, but the shop assured me it was a very good kit, in a sealed box mind you.
Tamiya used to have two two ranges. One was a "kids" range and the other was a "model builders" range. The kids range never sold well and they were charging for their name. There were a lot of people put off Tamiya by getting the kids range by accident. That's why they withdrew them. The other thing about Tamiya is it is often cheaper to buy from a Japanese model shop and import it even after you pay the import duty and postage. The other thing is that some kits now are completely nuts. There is an M50 ONTOS model I forget which manufacturer but every track link has 5 parts. Upper, Lower pin and separate pads. That's over 400 parts just for the tracks.
Well I am one of the people put off by getting a “kids range” kit paying the price of the more expensive “modellers range”. It’s the hysteria and blind faith so many modellers have about Tamiya that also puts me off. Sure they have some complex kits, but all are over priced - in my experience. Equivalent or even better kits of the same subject can easily be bought from other manufacturers. Maybe they were the bees knees in the 80’s and 90’s but I was raising a family and paying a mortgage then, so had no time to keep up with the trends of the hobby. Coming back after nearly 4 decades, with Airfix and Revell my only yardstick, the new kits from China were a revelation, but the Tamiya T-34 was a disappointment.
Yes, with me it is Italeri; And I completely agree with you, there’s too much emphasis on painting and I find out hours spent on weathering, chipping, using washes and all that stuff to be completely boring. I like to have a bit of airbrushing with maybe a little bit of pigments here and there or some panel line wash and that’s it, but very little. Some of what people do on TH-cam is just completely exaggerated and I like the detail kits where you spend a lot of time with PE. I like to watch this one Japanese guy who does all this intricate detailing with ship models from the old Japanese imperial Navy
@@HarryHoudiniModels Yes, I hope you enjoy it. It is strange though when you never get to see the person. He has some other videos where you see a two-legged life form,but it turns out he also takes photos of cute local ladies🙂BTW, I always appreciate your humor!
I really appreciate your highly personalized views on the subject of scale modeling. You bring a human factor to the table that coincidentally I identify with to large degree. I myself just coming back after a 45-year hiatus, rediscovering these childhood pleasures and wanting to take it up as a hobby. The kits I find inspiring are objects that I have some connection with or personal experience, being it cars, planes ships, or whatever. Popular car models from my child hood, iconic car designs, airplanes I saw in the sky or travelled with and so on. Regretfully the bulk of kits today is military, sports cars (I hate sport cars) and fantasy objects. I have to look long and far to find the few kits that ring my bells. I agree with you on focusing on your own interests and setting your standards to your own taste. This way you get the most possible personal satisfaction out of this hobby. I only do it for myself, not to impress others or to mimic some "experts" on youtube. Thank you for sharing your self this way. It rings with me 🙂
I built a Tamiya Panzer in the early eighties that was motorized. I don’t remember what it cost but I never could get the thing to work right. I don’t think I knew it was motorized when I bought it so I just left the motor inside and unplugged it. Tamiya is all I built though because they really dominated the 1/35th market. I remember the artwork on the boxes were really nice too. Any way, great video, thanks.
Ive always had an amazing experience with tamiya, just amazing quality both armour and aviation, recently been making a trumpeter kits, also great if not better
I look forward to seeing your build of the Tamiya Honda S 600. I have been considering getting it, but have just obtained an old Bandai 1/16 Bugatti Coupe which looks like a fun build. I avoid Tamiya Armour kits for the very reasons you mentioned - sheer boredom, and cost.
Hallelujah. Someone at last got it. Yes their Armour kits are just overpriced toys. I’ll try to enjoy the S600 kit… it was a gift, so it will just be what it will be, and I can accept that.
Hah.. this was entertaining. Becker and I got into a bit of a convo over that same company after my experience with the 1/32 F-14. I had always expected super high quality of a kit out of a box from them. Companies like Zvezda, Trumpeter - I know are "research this subject" companies, but I expected high-quality. 13 Shekels for a rebox of a kit made in the 70's.. that was my breaking point. I don't mind paying shekels.. but not for old molds/designs. I also don't mind doing extra work, but I'd like to know that going into it, but I also don't want to shell out shekels for the base kit. :) Now, I might decide to pick up one of their kits, but only if the subject is one I really want AND it has some in-box reviews I can look into. Thanks for sharing HH. Hope you're doing ok stayin' dry.
Thanks man. I was going to get the T-34. It is a toy! However, some tamiya kits 1:35 do have battery/motor mounts inside but are still like for like kits. Panzer IV auf D. Is a good build.
It’s an ok kit for $10 or even $15 as a time waster or paint mule. But $55 and presented in a new box as a quality modern kit.. nope, that is the disappointment.
Tamiya aircraft and cars are typically great things, their armour, not so much but that's why I always research kit details these days, hate going in and paying a seemingly marked up price for a 70's kit with a fancy box.
@@HarryHoudiniModels though, aircraft guys are aircraft guys, he would have been telling you his whole experience of tamiya, he just didn't tell you his whole experience of tamiya was limited to aircraft kits
my husband felt the same way when he built the JGSDF Type-90 and he had a Trumpeter Type-90 he loved maybe it was a mess up in shipping but the Tamiya kit had warped parts
A lot of the old Tamiya mouldings are warped. I am building their Honda F1 car in 1/12 scale and the body sides were warped, but it is a 1970’s moulding of the kit.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and history. I can identify so much with you being a 1959 model! I have recently gotten back into modelling. My nemesis is Italeri. Hopeless. Thanks once again for sharing with us. There seems so much emphasis on painting it does take away from the building aspect of modelling.
yup ,, i started my modeling journey on the good old airfix kits back in the sixties ,, and they just had to be war ships ,, built a few tamiya kits which from memory were good so i ve been lucky i guess ,, now after a 40 year lay off ,, its hms victory by heller which is a real challenge ,, keep up the good work harry ,,
I've always said that with a lot of builders these days it is all about the painting and the building an inconvenience, one bit of flash and they rant and rave about how bad the kit is. I do not mind painting myself and have lots of airbrushes, full sets of Tamiya and Humbrol paints. The first kits I built when I was about 5 years old were Monogram and Revell, moved onto Airfix after that. Whilst I appreciate newer kits, nothing gets me more excited than building the older kits where lots of fitment is required. The other thing is that vintage kits offer subjects that are generally not available with modern offerings.
I think as you say there are different reasons why people buy Tamiya that don't float your boat mate. The painting and weathering is a particular modellers thing, a nice easy build to restart the mojo might be another, even dio fillers to put alongside other kits. Over here, they are cheaper than a lot of other kit manufacturers (although you could say the quality is reflected in the price) as you say, you can't say Tamiya make bad kits, they are just not your thing. I cannot build a length of tracks from separate links, it would frustrate me how long a build is taking.👍😉
I’m currently working on the first Airfix kit (1/72 A6M2B). I must say that for the price, I’ve been blown away by the fit and detail, in fact, I would say it’s as much or more than the Hasegawa 1/48 Zero I have which went together with a few fit issues and incorrect dihedral on the wings. Thankfully the 1/48 is a crash diorama so I really didn’t worry too terribly about the fixable build problems.
The new CAD Airfix do fit nicely, but luckily they still have quality control issues and that Indian plastic is terrible. More things for me to fix. Yay!
Each to their own matey… I enjoy old Airfix warship kits in 1/600 despite their foibles… all depends what you want out of the hobby and what you are prepared to pay.
I like Tamiya but I understand your point. Half of the challenge/fun is finding the flaws and doing the research and correcting them. Airfix on the other hand is what almost every child started with, lots of nostalgia there! Still love them. Hasagawa has some really great and unique armor models in 1/76 or1/72. Dragon in 1/35 is similar. Right now I'm building the Airfix Churchill with the "flying dustbin" gun in 1/72. Petard or AVRE. Have you tried "Das Werk" yet? Cheers from The Netherlands, love your channel.Keep it up! (lol)
Harry I have to admit that when I started up again I picked up a number of Tamiya tank kits, and after building them although the Panzer 3 and 4 look pretty good the Panther, Tiger 1 and 2 look a little bland. I have been trying out some photoetch and bought after market kits for a Revel London Transport double decker bus. Which I had a fair bit of trouble getting the outside to line up properly, but the challenge made it more interesting, I also worked on getting the drivers door to slide and again it was fun. I don't mind painting and am not that good at it, but I did about 10 passengers and a driver. I still have to do the mirrors, outside lights and the decaling but am happy with the progress, and am now also working on an Italeri Puma, I went overboard on the photoetch with this one and am currently awaiting some .3mm wire to make the viewing ports workable. Anyways after all that I agree the Tamiya kits are very well engineered and quite detailed, but its more fun to do something more challenging. Upcoming I have a Dragon Maultier Ambulance with tiny tracks, a border Stug iii and a RFM JagdPanther. Trying different companies is enjoyable as its always different instructions and sometimes not so good. You are so right, try new things and figure it out, that's so much fun
I grew up building Tamiya kits. 😆 It’s hard to find hobby shops here in California. I usually end up ordering everything now. I agree with you as the journey is more fun than the destination. I build RC planes now especially the balsa variety. 🥂
worst kit i ever had was a model railway kit of a class 40 by Q's kits, it was basically a block of resin that you filed to shape yourself, after many years of in and out the box it was "trodden" on to exorcize the spirit, i grew taller that day...
HH, I just subscribed to your YT channel; I really enjoy your frank, authentic anecdotes, and friendly advice. As for being rotten at relationships, right there with you, mate. "The worst day fishing beats the best day at work",is a saying you may have heard, but I came up with "The worst day single beats the best day in a bad marriage". So, at 65, I have take up renovating old Matchbox and Hot Wheels and Corgi vehicles, and I find it very soothing and relaxing and challenging as a means of tuning out the World and focusing the mind, right?
I love Tamiya kits, both old and new. And I love most vinyl tracks. I have no issue painting them, weathering them, and getting a slight sag. And I'm perfectly fine with their detail. I do avoid Revell and Italeri kits though.
If you don't buy the cheapest old junk they have out there, they usually are. But you need to do your research. The side of the box is a start. If it says 1979 or earlier don't build it. If it says 1989 or earlier proceed with caution This applies to their armor and aircraft kits only, not their cars.
Brings back some memories building models. Its been awhile. Was into 1/48th scale WWII airplanes mostly. Those are in storage, then got into a bunch of 1/24th to 1/25th scale cars some on display in my office. Still have 2 planes in boxes and a Formula 1 pit crew for one of my displays I never finished.
Horses for courses. Good on ya for learning early on what you like, and don't like, in a kit. An interesting story with an uncommon perspective on Tamiya. These days, most modellers that post online spend about 80% of a "build" in the paint booth creating hyper realistic models. Your candour is refreshing.
Tamiya's old stuff as you've found out is unfortunately pretty low quality. It's not the absolute worst, that's generally reserved for Heller, but it ain't great. Their RC Mark IV tank is actually absolutely fantastic though. I actually have a stash of 80s Tamiya ships that I need to work on, and I spent more on an accessory kit to bring them up to snuff than the boats themselves. But their new stuff? Top notch usually. If you wanna see the Tamiya Mark IV though... Check out Nightshift's model of it, it's nice.
Have to agree. Tamiya is arguably the best on the market at moment. I grew up on the old Revell and Monogram kits, they were fun when I was much younger.
Can anybody pls tell me what's wrong with ark kits? Keep hearing they are dogs hit but I have built the sturmpanzer II and yak 7 and I liked both of em, yes, they may not have the very best detail but I enjoyed the built
Their older kits were mainly bad copies or reboxes of worn out moulds so got a very bad reputation for awful kits. But surprisingly I have heard of a few newer releases that were not bad. Maybe they are stealing better moulds to copy kits with now?
@@HarryHoudiniModels huh, sure seems this way, just checked scalemates and indeed the sturmpanzer I built and uploaded is a apparently an ALAN mold,the yak7s from ICM.
My attitude is definitely the opposite. I don't want to pay good money to find out the kit has been poorly engineered or cast. At least with Revell, I know it won't fit right, but it's going to be half the cost. So give me high detail precision kits for more money, or troublesome cheap ones.
I agree with you entirely, except I want to enjoy the build, be it well engineered or a little lacking. Finding myself fast asleep on the cutting mat after assembling an expensive toy with no challenge is just not for me.
my first tamiya AFV kit was the Tiger version of your T34/76 kit. it was fun to build i guess but i always felt the dimensions and look of the tank was kind of ''off'' decades later i found out my gut feel was right, the tank was not scale accurate and was designed in the 1970s! tamiya has many great kits tbf but you need to have some product knowledge and do some research before buying them. For example, their kits that were tooled in the early 2000s are still great. Like the Panther D, Tiger (mid/late) and some M4 Sherman variants.
My disappointment was mainly due to the over sell by the hobby store staff member and the excessive price for just a basic kit. Being newly back in the hobby after a few decades break I wasn’t used to researching kits before buying, just go to the hobby shop and buy Airfix, which I always enjoyed. A decade later I have learned my lesson and now check reviews before buying,
I bought a Dragon Jagdpanther and after that kit I could never go back to Tamiya, I had built the Tamiya Hanomag kit with figures and again once I had built and painted some Dragon figures totally lost the love for Tamiya, mostly because of the not to scale reviews I was seeing and those damn rubber band tracks that you were supposed to join together with a hot screwdriver head, and those nasty mould lines on the old figures,,,,,eeeeeek. You brought back some horrific memories there Harry 😅🤣
yes, also Tacom, Meng and Das Werk............... that is if you like tanks..........plus you can't beat a Hasegawa BF109, loads of different variants............. i haven't built a Tamiya for ages, not since the new tool Yamato disaster.................. the best tank for pure quality is the Meng 2A7+, it is utterly brilliant
Tamiya are and continue to be heads and shoulders above the competition . Accuracy and ease of building are what l want from a kit and is what l get from them .I don,t like the over the top , complicated and over engineered assembly of some of the other model firms . l want to enjoy the hobby not be awed and frustrated by it .
If the track links are tensioned, with no slack, then rubber band tracks can work. But for early Russian and British tanks with the Christie suspension, Crusader and T-34 for example, they are only taught in forward motion, other times they have sag between the wheels. Same with WWII German Panzer tanks, which have some serious sag in the early versions. The number of times some Tank guy from the USA has gone on an on about how he tensioned the track links every day in his job in the Army and there is no sag, obviously never looked at other countries armoured vehicles or studied history.
Same as you Harry born in 1960 my dad bought me my first kit at the local newsagents a Frog Gloster Whittle and since that time i have been modelling on and off. .Six kids later 2 marriages and two sold collections of built kits and still building. It`s the building, thought and cajoling around kits that`s the thing not some piece of Lego that takes no thought.
Great story. Am my self a builder, not a painter. I build all kits, I don’t really have a maker I don’t like, if it’s an old poor kit we’ll it’s just a bigger challenge 😄. Just came back to the scene last year after 30+ years. And a lot has happened since last I built 😄👍🏻
It is a strange new hobby now with photo etch, resin, 3D printed parts and a ton of aftermarket. I used to just build the kits out of the box… but after my 30 year break it was an eye opening experience returning to the hobby.
The first two model kits I ever built were the Tamiya M-41 Walker Bulldog and the M42 Duster back in the early to mid 70s. Got them at K-Mart for $3.33 each. These were the original motorized versions with the motor and gear box. My brother and I would extend wires out the back and run them around the back yard using 6 volt lantern batteries. I was maybe 12 and at that age, they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now days the M41 goes for $15 to $20 USD... for the same kit, minus the motor and gearbox. I didn't build another motorized kit until I was in Korea back in the early 90s... Academy had a motorized version of the M3 Bradley they ripped off from Tamiya that came with two motors and a more complicated gearbox that allowed the model to pivot steer like the original Bradley and had a controller with steering levers. They were fun to build, and since I was assigned to a bradley unit, I built a LOT of them in the year I was over there...
"What does every modeler do when they get stuck? They buy another kit!" Isn't that the answer to all life's problems? I love it!
Glad you got the joke Martin.
Only one kit?
That explains my huge and growing stash. 🤣🤣🤣
Wish I had a dollar for every time I bought the same kit to use for my mess ups.
I like the T34 it’s a cheap kit but still is cool. Tamiya is the best overall in my opinion.
The problem here is someone flogged you a kit from the 1970s for modern kit prices. At the model shop I worked at until recently we'd sell that kit for about £10-15 - not £50! So yes, you did get ripped off - but by the model shop, not Tamiya.
True, but my point is the shops here think they can charge high prices due to reputation of other better Tamiya kits. So yes that is disappointing.
@@HarryHoudiniModels That is pretty terrible. I don't work in a model shop any more but had you come to my shop with a similar story I'd have talked to you a bit to gauge your level of experience and then probably pointed you at something a bit more in line with your expectations. Those old Tamiya kits are still useful to us as retailers because they are "good enough" for the price (at least when you sell them for £15) and easy for inexperienced modellers to put together - but I'd never point a veteran modeller at one unless they were deliberately engaging in a nostalgia build...
you have to be a certain age to remember Airfix kits in plastic bags from Woolworths, for a couple of bob - you need a second mortgage to buy some of the kits on offer today - stay safe
They have got a lot more expensive, but the more modern engineering needs to paid by someone :)
It's not just the model kit itself, but the half-dozen or more aftermarket upgrades for the people who aren't satisfied unless their build has details that only historians and grognards would notice.
My first ever kit was the Airfix Auster Antartica - because it stood out being yellow. I remember sticking myself to the plastic on numerous occasions. My second kit was the Centurion Tank. Happy Days!
Really your problem should be with the jerk that sold it to you. They sold you a kit that was mastered in the very early 1970's as a toy. Tamiya is the very best in model kits, they are the gold standard. Please don't trash Tamiya.
If you watched the entire video, you would see I didn’t “trash” Tamiya, I just said they take away what I like most about the hobby. So not for me. It is an opinion from my experience. And yes that hobby store was a rip off. I never went back.
Just built a RFM firefly. Defo gold standard. Love Tamiya but RFM is awesome.
@@HarryHoudiniModels Harry I can understand what your saying about the challenge of older kits that need more work as opposed to a kit that "falls together" I've done that and enjoy it too sometimes. Right now I'm working on what I have to say is the worst kit I've got this far into. The Revell 1/144 Flower class corvette. The only reason I'm sticking to it is I invested so much into it.
@@typhoon2827 Yes RFM is very good in fact the best of the Chinese manufacturers. But what sets Tamiya apart from every one is the quality of the plastic they use not just the engineering of the kit.
I agree Tamiya makes amazing models. The new Tamiya F 35 is awesome. Tamiya is the best ever.
Jeeeeezus!!!! Ten minutes into the video, and I still don't know which kit you're talking about...!
That is called background build up… if I just told you the kit make without explaining the mindset I was in or experience I’d had up to that point, then it would not have made sense. Although even with the explanation so many did not get the point.
Every modeling company has to start from somewhere. When I was starting to build models in the 1960s, almost all companies were building tanks with a motor and real rubber treads.. Tamiya's come a long way since.
Yes, but that is not the point of this video. This Tamiya kit was priced like a much more modern engineered one. For $10 or even $20 it would have been fine. But for the $55 I was charged, with the indication it would be the best kit I have ever made, and therefore I would only ever build Tamiya kits from then on, was not only misleading but downright price mongering. Therefore for me it was - a disappointment !
Bloody hell. You bought an old kit produced in the 1960s for today’s price. Back then, companies like Tamiya and Nichimo were giving the modeller an option of building a kit that could move using a small battery powered electric motor. I have built at least 25 Tamiya tank kits and they are excellent. Good fit and detail. Easy to assemble and paint. The one piece tracks are a godsend for those of us don’t want to go blind wasting hours assembling the hundreds of tiny track links. There are lots of photo etch packages, machined metal gun barrels etc., which you can buy on the market to muck around with if that turns you on. For many of us, it’s the challenge of painting, weathering, and creation of realism that gives us the most satisfaction. Different strokes for different folks.
Yes different strokes… I still feel I was ripped off by the store owner. Hence my disappointment
Not sure why youtube rec'd this vid to me now, but I can't say I've ever had a problem with any Tamiya kits. I think you got talked into buying something you didn't need. Not the manufacturer's fault really. Having built plenty of Revell kits in the 90s, which required endless trimming of flashing, etc. my first experience with Tamiya was pretty impressive, frankly.
Yes the Hobby Shop hyped up the kit maker and the price but the result when it got it home was sadly disappointing
Strange - when I read the title, I immediately thought of Airfix.
If you started modelling in the 80’s and 90’s then yes while the Americans ran Airfix it was a shambles with crap moulds from other poor manufacturers being spat out at an old Heller factory. It was a disgrace. The 60-70’s Airfix ran by good ole Blighty produced magnificent kits. Since the 21st century the Brits have managed to take control of Airfix again, albeit having the moulding done in India, so they are getting better again.
Greetings. 1st model I ever built was a little Airfix 1/72 Hawker Hurricane. It came in a bag with a folded paper tag attached to the bag. It was made of light blue plastic and was 39 US cents at our local drug store. I think it was in 1958, or 1959. I think I was 8 at the time. I just retired from a 52 career in aviation. I think I'm going to pick it up again.
Good on you matey… welcome back to the hobby
Sounds like the problem is the shop selling you what you weren’t expecting for too much money. not so much Tamiya’s fault.
Correct. My disappointment was paying so much, and told how great the kit would be, but only getting a mediocre kit in return. I have no real problem with Tamiya, just the hype and fan boy hysteria that gets rammed down my throat about the brand plus the absurd prices for the kits, at least down under in Australia.
Sounds like your local hobby ripped you off. Not Tamiya.
That is correct, hence the disappointment… but it is also the hype about Tamiya… simply not justified
My local hobby shop that i used to go to had tons of old tamiya kits. I could never buy them though bcause the owner wanted way more for them than they were worth. Dude wouldnt go down on his prices even while his store was closing down. He had boxes upon boxes full of kits from all brands out there.
I have no beef with you Harry, but hating on Tamiya for a kit from the dawn of the company when they marketed to kids in Japan who didn't mind the motors is funny. A. That model is full of fun. So you don't like rubber tracks, no one does in 2024. They were fine in 1980. So you disliked a few details. If that was all I needed to hate a company, I'd need to make all my kits from scratch. Airfix sold me a 1960s B-24 kit that was garbage. Nearly unbuildably. They said sorry sent me some new tooling kits. Revell, their 32nd scale aircraft can be some really lame kits if they are from last century. Build ok, but they are not the kits of today. I like Matchbox for the nostalgia. But that's all they deliver. Tamiya makes some 48th scale aircraft kits that are identical in 72nd scale and are pure gold. Their ships are incredible too. About the same as Hasegawa. I sometimes think they shared the molds. Italeri makes really nice tanks. They use rubber tracks too though. No toy angle. But their planes you raised detailing in a lot of cases. So in the end, ALL companies have duds. And all companies have stellar product. Have you experienced the confused mess that is a Dragon DML brand instruction sheet? Great models, but be careful of the instructions.
You completely missed the point of my video.... yes it's an old kit but in a shiny new box. Yes it has a low part count and is basic but I paid a premium price for the kit. Yes you could forgive all the issues with the kit if you were not first talked up and told how great Tamiya was and you will only build their kits from now on... then they rip me off with this expensive box of turds. See where I am coming from?
@@HarryHoudiniModels No I understood, remember me mentioning the B24. Airfix sold me a 60s kit in a new shiny box. The model should have been sent to the trash years ago. I paid a current modern price. It was even worse than your Tamiya kit. The T-34 is fully buildable. It IS a good model even with it's age. The average new Tamiya tank is about 90 bucks, the T-34 sells for about 25. If you paid premium, then the store screwed you, not Tamiya. I read Airfix the riot act, they sent me my choice of new tooling as an apology. The T34 though is not garbage like the B24. But it sounds like the retailer ripped you off.
Well that was a 1975 kit and most kits back then had "rubber band' tracks and were made for motorization. Tamiya was a motorized toy manufacturer until about 1970 when they started the Military Miniatures range. Then there was transition period before the first true model kits came out. Other manufacturers like Italeri, Esci and Monogram were all very similar in style. Dragon did not appear until about 1990 and had a very bad reputation for poor accuracy, too bad to correct in some instances like the Sherman MkVc. But I think they were first with injection molded plastic track and they did try to correct issues with older kits. I have spent almost 45 years doing kit reviews for magazines, including Airfix under Alan Hall 1988 to 1993.
The point of my video was the misleading hysteria about Tamiya and how shop owners profit over it.
@@HarryHoudiniModels Sorry I thought your point was bashing Tamiya! Comparing a 60 years old vintage kit with a new 2010 Chinese kit.
I retired ….. thank god I collected kits, todays kit prices are beyond belief.
This was my excuse for the stash too.
That kit came out in the 70's. I built a lot of them back in the 80's. These days I use the RFM hull with DML and resin turrets from the stash. Tamiya kits from the last 5 years or so are vastly better than that ancient model.
True but the point of this video was the over hype about Tamiya, the over charging of the hobby store based on the brand name, and my eventual disappointment
@@HarryHoudiniModels In my modeling circle talk about Tamiya kits is usually:
It goes together well, but details are lacking compared to x, y, z brands with ten times the parts count.
The latest kits from Tamiya are very nice, but as I have been building Tamiya armor since 1978 I know what to avoid in the line up.
Having never built Tamiya kits as of yet, I can't give an opinion. However, the only Tamiya products I have used for my builds in their acrylic paint and that is fantastic - but as you say the price is even high on their paints and glues. Great video!
A Tamiya virgin… wow! I thought I’d been the only one!
I have never been disappointed with Tamiya kits,they are easy to build and looks good..
Harry, I’m 71 and luckily for me, I never got out of my “first” childhood! Always have had “toys”! Love modelling.
Good for you Tony
Disclaimer: Yes I heard the part where he said they were beautiful and well engineered kits, and that he wasn't calling them bad per-se.
I just finished my first kit in 25 years since I was a kid. Their 1/48 A6M2 for $16.50 US. I tried so hard to exact-match the paint color of the Akagi model. That one spot of difficulty was nothing to do with Tamiya. It's an older kit I'm told and yet I have to say it's etter than any Revell/Monogram/Testors/Italeri kits I built as a kid. All that said, Harry gives an interesting take on it all here and there's nothing to disagree about. I think I bought the right kit to get back into the hobby. I had fun. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and I actually finished it. When it gets boring I just look at it. Lean back and take the whole thing in I've done so far and it gets fun again. Peace.
Thanks matey
Who's looking at Harry's stash and saying got that, got that, must get that..
I look and think, shouldn’t have sold that, built that, when the heck did I buy that?
Should get that Bentley built
Totally sending me back to my childhood 😂😂
One of my only memories of my grandmother is when she bought me one of those Tamiya motorised tank kits when i was really too young to build it, i was maybe 7 or 8. I think it was also a T-34 as well.
Even then, I thought it not quite the right shape, and the tracks just wouldn't glue together properly since i was not allowed to melt them together. And worst of all it was a later boxing that didn't even have the motorised parts included so i couldn't make it move.
Thank goodness later on in the 90s I bought and built a few much better Tamiya kits, a Bradley, an M1, a Chieftain, an NR1 and a MacLaren MP4/4. So those newer kits made me appreciate Tamiya for their engineering if not the prices.
Thanks for sharing your experience David
I disagree with you. I personally find Tamiya kits some of the best on the market and I think they give you the basics--what you do with it is up to you. That being said, older kits can come with some challenges. The T-34/76 is a 1975 kit. I was 16 years old when this kit came out. I'm 62 now. That doesn't mean it's a bad kit necessarily, it just means it's going to be more of a challenge for accuracy and cannot compete with today's laser cut molds derived from 3D modelling. This mold was cut by a blade and was based on a clay figure based on dimensions determined using a measuring tape. It was also marketed for boys and adolescents. There were no 60 year old men building models like this then. I do think you paid too much, as this kit retails for $23 USD online, and I can probably find it cheaper. As an aside, when I was into this hobby as a youngster, it was the Airfix kits that were the crap. The Tamiya were the desirable ones. I build and like both now.
You don’t need to agree… I shared my experience, that was all
@@HarryHoudiniModels No issues, just pointing out an alternative point of view.
problem is what was acceptable in the 80s is in the 2020s barely scraping by, especially when priced as premium ! imagine your feelings if someone offered you a movie on 8mm ( state of the art 60 yrs ago) but wanted to charge you for blu ray quality at top prices. for 2020s an 80s kit has to be priced cheap especialy if in the 80s the kit was considered mediocre
My slant on kit choice comes down to what I can relate to personally. Like, as an example, I wouldn't built a Bristol Britania, but would a Vickers Viscount, both turbo prop and contemporaries of each other. The Vickers was flown by our domestic carrier, where the Bristol wasn't. One has personal relevance while the other not so much.
One of the several crash hot reasons for being a kit builder is that I can please myself - nothing is wrong and mistakes can be corrected, or the kit recycled.
But my goal is the finished model, the less buggerising about getting parts to fit because the pattern maker is not at the top of their game, just makes more work for me to do.
Thanks Bruce.. well for you Tamiya is perfect. However my needs are opposite. I like to put my own stamp on the construction and am happy to reshape parts to suit my needs of conversion or updating. I’m in no race to complete the assembly. We are both modelling, just different approaches.
The main theme of this video was the overpriced hype of Tamiyas old models. I was ripped off and sold a dud. If it had been a $20 kit I would have been happy to pour some more cash in to upgrade it. But being charged $55 for a kit, that in comparison to a Cyber Hobby kit I had bought for $40 which had all the bells and whistles, is just plain exploitation due to the Tamiya brand.
For crying out loud, the kit he is lambasting is as old as him. Some people just want something to moan about.
It’s not the kit… it’s the hysteria and fanboydom about Tamiya that results in excessive prices for average kits and massive peer pressure to conform and build Tamiya. I was lied to, ripped off, and hence disappointed. No moaning, just reporting the facts.
Yes, you got an old Tamiya kit tooled in the 1970's, which was quite a good kit for the standards of the day. The fact is most manufacturers re-box old kits, your beloved Airfix had decades long production runs but kept the prices in line with new toolings. Is this fair - NO and Airfix did get the message and now box old kits as Vintage. But most companies do not.
True but not the point of the video
The point of this video is the hysteria about Tamiya that lets shop owners charge 3 times the worth of a kit, then hold a straight face and lie to you point blank saying “you will love this kit”, “its the best thing since sliced bread”, “once you build Tamiya then you will build nothing else”. All of this was false.
I have no issue if it is an old kit, I build many old kits from the 60’s from Airfix, Matchbox and Revell. But I get them at an appropriate price and know what to expect. I am not bashing Tamiya. Their modern kits are well engineered and they surpassed Airfix back in the 80’s, when I had stopped scale modelling, so had no experience of them.
My comparison was of my experience, I had just built the Dragon kit, which had cost me half the price of the this Tamiya kit. But the Tamiya kit was very, very, very, poor, for the money paid and expectation given by the shop salesman. Hence my disappointment.
I think I’m a bit like you Harry. Love building and getting bits to fit,and the basic painting,but lose the will to live when it comes to weathering.
Yes the weathering thing is just out of control… if those aircraft guys ever looked at real aircraft then they would not see all those preshaded panel lines! And modulation on Armour is absurd!
You definitely got sold the wrong thing by the shop. Proper Tamiya kits are excellent, I've made A Cromwell and a Sherman Firefly in 1/48 and loved them. Tamiya 1/48 armour comes with diecast metal lower hulls that add some nice heft to to the kit.
Yes it was a sad introduction to Tamiya.. very disappointing
I bought a kit model of Harry Houdini and one of his famous illusions and it was a complete rip off. Even though the box was completely sealed, all the parts of the figure were completely gone when I opened it.
Ha ha yes that would be a huge disappointment! Bloody escapologist!
😂🤣😂🤣😂👍
Tell you what I like in models, Harry. Perfectly fitting parts. No flash. Everything authentically and accurately detailed. Goes together like a dream. NO mistakes. No gaps to fill. No bloody scratch building or anything like that required, because it's all there and it's all accurate *already*. I look for kits like that and I buy them. The only thing I should need to add (if it's an airplane or ship) is the radio line and/or the rigging....and for that I'll use EZ-line or some similar product...unless it's a sailing ship, of course, in which case I use rigging that looks like rope in that scale. So, this means I love Tamiya kits! Yes, a few of the really OLD ones are no damn good by present standards, rather toy-like, as in the case of that old T-34 you bought, and quite a few other tanks in the early years of their 1/35 line. Their old 1/350 Bismarck, for another example, cannot compare to more recent Bismarcks in that scale by Revell and Trumpeter...though it was the best Bismarck when it was originally issued...and that's the thing: Find out when the bloody kit was first issued! Read the reviews of it. Then you'll know what to expect. The T-34 you were so disappointed by is from 1965, mate! What the hell would you expect? And their 1/350 Bismarck came out in 1978, whereas the far better detailed Revell 1/350 Bismarck is from 2007, and the superb Trumpeter 1/350 Bismarck is from 2020. Would it be surprising that the far older Tamiya kit doesn't rate well in detail against either one of them? But the newer Tamiya models are absolutely superb. All this can be found out simply by going to the "Scalemates" site and reading up on any specific kit you might be thinking of buying....which I expect you already know.
Now be assured, I completely admire your scratch-building skills and dedication. You did some work on an Airfix sailing ship that was amazing! However, I appear to be looking for the exact opposite in kits that you are...which is fine. Whatever "floats your boat", right? 🙂 But the companies I love are the ones that put out the most accurate, best detailed, and finest fitting kits, and those are, typically, and in most cases... Tamiya, Hasegawa, Eduard, Wingnut Wings, and well, quite a few others these days too......including the *newer* Airfix kits of aircraft, which are very, very good, and including Trumpeter's wonderful warship kits and some of their other stuff. But one must always keep in mind that most of the great model companies STILL have some absolutely rubbish kits...dreadful stuff...that was originally issued way back in the 1960's or 70's...STILL getting re-issued in new boxes to this day....and that stuff is to be avoided! That includes the Tamiya T-34 kit you were so disappointed by.............but it does not alter the fact that most Tamiya models are great. You just have to do some research before you buy the kit, that's all. Get a look at the sprues online before you make the purchase.
I needed a toilet break half way though your essay… some valid points though. As I said in the video this was a decade ago before I knew about Scalemates, but I did ask the staff at the model shop for advice. You just can’t trust anyone these days!
@@HarryHoudiniModels - Right! Fair enough. 😁
Ah! Wingnut Wings. Such beautiful, beautiful kits.
Sorry to hear your experience with Tamiya was so bad. I put together that T 34 around 1990, and yes, it was kinda clunky, but I didn’t mind it. That shop keeper shouldn’t have built up your expectations!
Yes my beef is with the hype, not so much Tamiya’s product.
After building a few Airfix kits after getting serious about the hobby (I tried them first based on your experience) I can safely say that I enjoyed one of the 2 I got. I'm not put off the brand, I'm just not building another F/A-18 from them again. The BF-109 kit I got is pretty. Basic paint job for a beginner, and I intend to get two more. Kit went together easily, adjustments were made where needed, and I bought masking tap & glue for it because I knew what I was gonna need as an absolute BASIC bit of paint work. As far as ships, you probably have a comment from me on a recent video about my current IJN Shokaku build. She's my first Tamiya kit, and while it seems very much like a more advanced LEGO set, I wont say I'll build them for the rest of my life. My previous ship was Fujimi's Yamato, and boy was she COMPLICATED. I loved every bit of it. The only part I hated about it, was how much fun she was to build, and the fact that I wanted to keep going. I love a good bit of actual problem solving that's not work related
I like a problem to solve as well… which is why I enjoy a bit of scratch work or kit upgrading.. but that is my choice, not everyone wants to exercise their mind in the hobby.
Absolutely enjoyed listening to your reasons why you're not keen on Tamiya kits. It was a great reminder how individual we are and how varied our preferences can be. I particularly liked that you acknowledged that Tamiya kits are well engineered, they just don't present a challenge to your own model building preferences.
I recently came across your channel on your Airfix Sunderland build and it's a perfect example of a kit that needs worked on but if the effort is put in, a real diamond can be the end result. Perhaps too many of the younger modellers don't want to work hard to get results.
Looking forward to watching many more of your vids!👍👍
Great to have you aboard Nugget
One kit I built that threw me off their kits was a resin combrig 1/700 USS Maine. So I had got into resin models because it had a lot of new and unique kits that I was interested in. So after building the Nikos model USS Iowa(BB-4) pre-dreadnought I decided I wanted another early USN warship and decided to get a model of the USS Maine that went and was destroyed in Havana harbor. So I paid $70 dollars for it. And I was highly disappointed I had spent several days working on the PE parts and even after working on her for over a month well it was pitiful looking and I had seen several of their kits and they were nicely detailed but this was terrible. I can say I understand why you are disappointed with Tamiya as I have a similar issue when it comes to combrigs resin kits. Loved your vid Harry hope you stay healthy sir
I am fighting fit thank you
Revell almost turned me off to modeling. I only started about five years ago. Revell were the only brand sold in the arts and crafts store in town. They were inexpensive and had levels to guide you. Unfortunately most of them fit horribly and had a lot of flashing. I didn't know much so I thought I was doing something wrong. After a long break I got a Hasegawa 1/72 harrier. It fit so well. The instructions were difficult for me to follow at the time but I finished it with only a few mistakes. I painted it with a paint brush with globs all over the place. I was really proud of it. I still try to avoid Revell but will use them as practice models for new techniques.
I wonder if you have only built the cheaper Revell of America kits, which are usually reboxings of bad old mouldings. Revell of Germany produces some very good kits these days like the U-Boat and Schnellboot’s I have made on my channel.
@@HarryHoudiniModels That's probably the case. I'll eventually try out more Revell sets. They can't be one of the biggest model companies without having good ones. First I have to finish my backlog in the closet.
Every modeler seems to have built the old 1/570 revell Titanic. Their new mold 1/700 Titanic is actually pretty good and have and Olympic version as well.
I built the same Tamiya T-34 kit, probably about 45 years ago. At the time, I was about 12 years old, & Tamiya kits were new & incredible to me, & that (at the time) some of Tamiya's 1/35 scale tanks were motorized & remote control made them so much better & interesting than the static Monogram tank models I'd built, before building some Tamiya's tank models. Yes, the T-34 was kind of toy like in detail, but to me, it was a much more detailed "toy" than what I would have expected for a motorized toy tank to have, that was made by a toy company, rather than a model company. But back then, Tamiya was the only model company that offered motorized (& also remote control, for some kits) model tank kits, that I was aware of, & to me, that made Tamiya stand above the rest. But back then, Tamiya also had a 1/25 scale line of tanks, with some of these kits motorized & some R/C (I believe). I built 2 of these 1/25 scale kits, the Jagdpanther & the Cheiftain (which I still have). Both models were motorized (without R/C), & were considerably more detailed than the Tamiya 1/35 scale tank models that I had built.
I believe Tamiya set a higher standard for detail over 45 years ago, but comparing the details of today's modeling technology to even Tamiya's modeling technology of 45 + years ago is probably rather like the apples to oranges non-comparison. Anyway, I get that you were disappointed with the Tamiya T-34 kit, & reasons why you were, but I suppose I see the the old kit from a little broader perspective, & so feel a bit different about it.
On the other hand, the last models I built were the Airfix 1/76 scale Aerial Refueling Set, which included 2 tanker (Bowser) trucks; a Bedford QL & an AEC Matador. These models were quite fiddly to build properly (which I was rather expecting), & I scratch built a steering wheel for the Bedford, & windscreen & windows for both models (as these parts weren't included with the kits). I only built these 2 Airfix tanker models as a "one time effort", for the experience, & I figured I could put a lot of time & effort into the builds, only to produce a decent (not outstanding), result. After completing the 2 models, which took about a year, my assessment of result was basically correct, but the models did turn out better than I thought they would. In summation, the time consuming trail & error scratch building process could have been avoided if the mentioned scratch built (basic) parts had been included with the kits to begin with. The fine details of the kits were actually quite good, but the fitment of parts was often not precise (again, as I expected), & required careful filing for proper fit. Was it worth it to me? I suppose so, but I don't think I'd do it again.
Great post, btw!
Do you get paid by the word?
Since we are talking about crappy kits the hobbyboss P51 C (mustang) has to take the cake ( I was young and inexperienced so inevitably I'm going to be biased) The issues started right out of the box out from memory,there were supposed to be 4 spruces instead I only found 3 so hopped in my car down to the store,asked the guy (David I'm pretty sure his name was) asked him about it and well what do you know he had a spare kit of the p51 he offered me a full refund for it (not a problem ) got the new kit home opened it up all the spruces were there ✅
Included the decals ✅
No lose parts✅
And well I started building the kit and the dodgy parts were fiddly (mind you I'm 6'8 so I do have big Bear hands) constant sanding and I mean constant! the glue I used was good but the decals bloody silvered within 5 minutes the parts while really well detailed was the only grace with the bloody thing so in a fit of rage lined the model with firecrackers and **Bang **Bang **Bang**. She went up in a blaze of smoke and only then did I feel happy ( I retired from model making for a while ) until last year when my other half bought me the airfix Bismarck so me and her are nearly done with the kit ( just painting her and it's been really good ( a few issues but nothing major) and as a result I'm enjoying the hobby again after nearly a decade of not building models.Cheers harry for a smashing Video -Cyrus in Brighton
I wasn’t saying the kit was crappy, just disappointing for the price charged, and the absurd hype I was given by the salesman about how great Tamiya was. If I had paid $20 and told it was an old kit but not bad to build, then that would have been fine. I wasn’t, I was lied to.
@@HarryHoudiniModels ah my bad thanks for clarifying 😀
No problem.. good to hear you have rekindled your enjoyment for the hobby with an Airfix kit.
Tamiya can be hit or miss. Particularly their older kits. They fit together very well but lack detail. Their newer kits are better.
Apparently so, but the shop staff should not have 1. try to tell me how great Tamiya were then 2. overcharged for what is plainly a very ordinary cheap old kit. Hence my disappointment
Considering that T-34 kit is something close to 40 years old, and just been reboxed. It's not and never will be to modern standards. I have built several of those kits, and the shopkeep was selling you on the modern kits, not knowing or lying that this kit is getting close to collecting a pension.
..and hence my disappointment after being ripped off 3 times the price of what it is really worth and lied to about loving Tamiya for the rest of my life
@@HarryHoudiniModels because you were solid a bill of goods by the hobby shop owner on a 40 year old kit? One of my dearest friends owns a hobby shop and I asked why he stoks those kits, he says its for kids doing their first kit, and explains to them its an old kit but a solid easy build.
Built that, it's a good kit to depect a blown up wreck with 25:18
My "never again" manufacturer is (was) Kitty Hawk. I tried, and failed, to build their 1/48th Lockheed F-35B. I swear that kit didn't even have one single test-fit trial before it was released on an unsuspecting public. It was horrible. Nothing fit, seams in strange places, huge ejector-pins marks everywhere..... It put me off the manufacturer for life. I have never, and will never, build another Kitty Hawk kit ever again. Pity, as they covered some unusual subjects that other manufacturers just don't cover at all. So I wasn't sorry when they went bust not too long ago. Good riddance! ;-)
I had one of their kits and just the massive amount of parts and confusing instructions were enough for me to sell it on.
You and me both. Their Dauphin has to rank as the biggest POS that ever saw the light of day.
Many a decade ago my grandfather and I went to a tiny hobby store in Toronto, Canada just about every Saturday and bought a little Airfix aircraft in the little plastic bags and we would spend the next week of evenings building it up. Biplanes were the topic of choice, and we could have more than one of type in different colours. They were then attached to lengths of thread and pinned to the ceiling of my bedroom in various attitudes of flight, in little groups of dog fights. My grandmother pinned little tufts of cotton balls to the ceiling to make little clouds. Some of the best memories of my life.
A lovely story… thank you for sharing
Wow, I've found a kindred soul...lol! I'm with you Harry. I have several Tamiya kits in my stash, but no interest in building any of them at the moment. I enjoy the construction part of model building most of all, and solving fit problems. With Revell kits, it usually just means a lot of flash cleanup. Painting is not my favorite part, but the worst for me is decaling. I don't think I've built a kit in the last eight years where at least one of the decals didn't rip, silver or moved out of position on me whilst left to dry overnight. Thanks for the video! I feel better about not being on the Tamiya bandwagon.
Have you tried Tamiya Mark Fit? It has worked well for me in both placing and setting the decals with hardly ever any tears
Thanks@@HarryHoudiniModels! Yes, I've used it a few times. Sometimes it works great and other times not. I had some Italeri decals from an older kit that wouldn't budge. They just laughed at me when I put Mark Fit on them. Micro Sol didn't work either. Mr. Mark Softer did the trick, so that's why I now keep several different brands of decal products at the bench. You never know which decals will play nice and which won't!
Did you spray the kit with gloss clear first before trying the decals?
Very enjoyable vid to watch. Just about to try to get back into this hobby now that I'm pushing near 60. Used to build models, poorly, back in the late 70's
Welcome back to the hobby… a lot has changed.. I go through that in my “What is wrong with scale modelling” video
I have enjoyed every Tamiya kit I've encountered, but you make a very good point about them being too well done. I personally like the painting and detailing a lot more than the actual build, but I can definitely see where they could be extremely irritating for people who prefer a bit of a challenge making parts fit just right.
thanks Matey
Dude! You are my hero I've been saying this for years, I have the old (1970+) Revel 1/32 Spitfires, Mosquito, Hurricane, F-14, Beaufighter, Hasegawa FW-190 etc, etc, etc. I sand all the raised panel lines etc, and re-scribe correctly and add correct details, build cockpits from scratch, and I LOVE the BUILD. We are the 'same cloth' brother, no one else in my model club does this.
Good on you matey
Actually, I like the Tamiya T-34 but I know it's a 1970s kit and, as such, isnt the same as a kit designed I. 2020. On the other hand, its $20 USD versus $90 for Bugler or Lizard.
Yes $20 would be a fair price, but you would be disappointed to pay double that or more, like I did.
Yeah I had the T34 kit when I young and have no idea where it ended up. Along comes Ebay and I have it again. Very happy I managed to get back a much-loved and played-with kit. Yes it is a toy, but it gave me fond memories so money didn't come into it. I have the GPA also and what impresses me about Tamiya is the engineering. Fit is almost perfect.
@@AshenShugar0965 fr Tamiya fit is beautiful
One of the worst kits i have encountered was a Heller Hotchkiss tank, i aquired from a local hobby shop in Long Beach, Ca. I hated the vynil tracks and cables, which i couldnt find paint that would adhere. The tracks weren't glueable, and melted like mush. The most disappointing aspect of the kit were the figures they included, along with i think, a small artillery piece. The faces were grotesquely cartoonish, with saucerlike eyes with protruding pupils. I was so disgusted, and i was just starting building kits at that time. I actually quit building when i went back to work, after an injury.
I recently started building again after i got permanently disabled, in 2016. The kits out there now have much more to offer in detail, and ease of assembly and fit up. I do like the build process, so i look for more detailed kits with higher parts count. But, i don't want to have to do excessive modifications for the price of kits nowdays. Scratch building is fun when you want to accessorize, but fixing flaws in kits perturbs me.
Sounds like a horrible kit. Thanks for sharing
@HarryHoudiniModels it was an abomination....i wept bitter tears, and was quite inconsolable for some time, until i was able to purchase a Dragon kit. That presented some frustration in itself, as the instructions i found to be quite vague, ending up in misplacement of myriad parts.
@@HarryHoudiniModels btw, love your channel!!!!!
Thanks.. great to hear ;)
I built up that T-34. Its one of my best kits. I did spend to get the rear engine vent with louvers and screen. I used stock track and wheels. I also filled in the sponsons and the rear hull where axle goes in. I also scratch built the ramps that knock the track pins back in. Of course you cant see the ramps.
I also added photo etch and many aftermarket parts then gave it a snappy paint job. My issue in this video is the overblown hype and fan boy cult that lets shop owners over inflate prices based on brand name alone.
Depending on manufacture date, got Tamiya A-10 1/48 from Hobbyco for 45 AUD. It's the most garbage kit I personally built, nothing fits, cement barely fused the plastic, all the panel are raised. I use CA glue for 70% of the kit... It shouldn't even be sold over 20 AUD, I've heard the Harrier 1/48 (similar manufacture date) were sold for half the price.
Tamiya did rebox some very ordinary Italscary kits at one stage.. Checking scalemates shows that Tamiya kit maybe on old ESCi/Revell tooling from the 70’s
I think Special Hobby's kits would make your day. Any short run technology kit, that requires fiddling, scribing, reshaping, scratch building yet represents interesting subject with decent surface detail
Yes they do.. I have a few of their Submarines and Aircraft
They're called "Special" for a reason!
Im a recidivist modeller from the 70s,and i really despise the trend for "photo etch"metal bits.I dont see the point,and they are too fiddly.
Then don’t use them… often you get a plastic alternative in the kit. I always weigh up if it’s really improving the model with the PE or not.
I only had one wife, and that was enough for me, but the good thing is that, like most women of our generation, they won’t want your stash or anything to do with modelling, there are some very fine lady model makers who could outshine me with one arm tied behind their back and blindfolded, but in general your stash etc should be safe, unlike your bank account, self esteem, home and/or mortgage 💸 payments, and kids turned against you (luckily my two are both grown up and left home). My ex-wife leaving was a really tough time, as you probably know from experience, and getting back into modelling was a way of coping emotionally, now, after 8years I can say that modelling is now my hobby again, not a support mechanism, thanks for another excellent show, thumbs up as usual. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴🇦🇺🇺🇦
Modelling replaces wife.. and doesn’t talk back.
@@HarryHoudiniModels is that mulder and scully on your shirt?
@@HarryHoudiniModels I'm a wife *with* a wife, and we both hold that opinion about my modelling xD
hmmm. i have done a hg gundam an rg gundam and in middle of my first mg gundam. I love thems. i do have a question. i got the f-86 sabre the joseph mconnel beautous butch one. n that is glue. my question is who makes the best military aircraft kits. i want to get a MIG 15bis and a sikorsky sh-19a or maybe b. also if you were gonna recommend or advise someone doing their first glue model kits what is like 3 advices or tips that would be the most helpful. cause waiting in the wings is a 1:350 Enterprise NCC 1701 the one that is the pilot edition where you can pick your build n that's gonna get lights n the works but that is a year away. i wanna start my journey to the NCC 1701 with the least amount of suck lol. anything will be appreciated,
There are many good aircraft kit manufacturers. Eduard, Kinetic, Trumpeter and modern Airfix put out superb kits, which fit well for the most parts and only have minor issues which can be easily fixed by any modeller. But if you want a click together kit, so you can assemble quickly with no modelling required, then Tamiya is your choice. You just became a painter
I've seen modellers take a lot of Gundam kits and take them to the next level. Re-etched panel lines, using styrene sheets to add and upgrade the armor, adding wires and pistons. it's really cool to see the basic HG kits turned into something that blows even the PG kits out of the water in terms of detail
Have you ever heard of Lindberg Models? I bet you would love them.
I have had a few Lindberg kits given to me over the years… one peek in the box and I put them on Ebay… I am sure someone would either not care about how awful they were, or like the challenge of improving the kit, but not for me.
Recently retired and I too became a 'Born again modeler'! but where to start? Well I always wanted a model of the SHAR (Sea Harrier) after the scrap between the UK and Argentina, I was a big Fan of the sea harrier but the only one I could find was a Tamiya one!
What a dog! ...or was it me? I hadn't made a model for nearly 50 years (I'm 65) and I must admit I nearly abandoned the whole model thing but I cant remember a Airfix model where the parts just didn't fit?
What saved me from giving up was TH-cam for after I watched a few videos on the Tamiya sea harrier kit where it was thoroughly slammed by numerous model makers, I didn't feel so bad and now I'm really back into the hobby and even learnt to airbrush as Id always been a pant brush and enamel paints man/Youth but after an initial reluctance to use acrylics I now love them!
So the moral of the story? Don't restart model making with the Tamiya sea harrier or you will never pick up a Tamiya kit again" (and I haven't either!)
I think you will find that Tamiya Sea Harrier is a reboxed Italeri kit, which was awful to start with. If you want a good Sea Harrier look at the Kenetic kit. I have it, and although a little fiddly, it is superb.
www.scalemates.com/kits/kinetic-k48035-frs1--967167
I have made the best from the worst kits out there. And everytime I do,I improve my skills. As far as getting burned buying a toy,buyer beware. Not every manufacture gets it right the first time. It has happened to me. And it will happen again,I'm sure.
Thanks Mark... that was 10 years ago and since then I use Scalemates to check reviews and date of tooling. But for anyone just coming back, or new to the hobby, well they don't have those skills yet, like myself back then, so we rely on the sage advice from the shop staff. I have since realised not all can be trusted.
I had an issue with Tamiya...I bought the Tamiya Russian SU34 bomber...Straight away i sensed a problem.The box lid seemed too large for the bottom part,and then i saw why...The model was Italeri...Therefore i paid a Tamiya price for an Italeri model...a blatant rip off.
Yes I hear they have done that with a number of the Aircraft kits
Hi Harry,
Just getting back into the hobby after retiring last year,i think Tamiya have now been caught up and in some caese overtaken by other manufacturers,
I have nearly finished the Airfix Katy ambulance,and have the a couple of other Airfix kits to get into,and must say they are good quality,although you have to look out for short shots ,i think a tighter qaulity control should be in place ,
All the best Harry.
Thanks Colin
take a look at a Williams brothers kit. They don't just fall together when you shake the box. The two I built turned out pretty nice. But if you really want a challenge get an mpc. So many inaccuracies you'll have a blast
Sounds right up my alley
There are a few WB kit that are fairly decent... I have five. The Pitcairn Autogyro is a pretty little gem of a kit with plenty of room for detailing. I have the corben Ace and Ford Flivver and Seversky S-35 in the stash that look decent enough. My problem was with the Curtiss F9C-1 Sparrowhawk. Between details that were either not included or unusable due to misaligned molding my experience with this kit was nothing short of a horror story. I literally had to shim the landing gear strut on one side with .080 styrene to get the thing to fit. The wheels wouldn't fit into the wheel pants without serious grinding away of the inside of the wheel pant and removal of part of the back side of the wheel to get it to fit. If you have the skills, it can be made into a decent representation of the Sparrowhawk... it's just a LOT more work than you expect.
So you are complaining about a manufacturer known for making kits that are (generally) superbly engineered as opposed to Airfix who seem to place flash and mould seams onto every part? Hmmm! Personally - I make models to relax and the idea of fighting the failings of a manufacturer really annoys me.
You obviously have not built the modern CAD Airfix kits, or the old 60-70’s brilliant white box ones with crisp moulding and firm plastic. Both of those are a joy to build, with no flash, and minimal fettling. Yes there were some dodgy kits as Irish and American owners took over Airfix in th 80-90’s cutting corners and cheapening the product. However, I like a build I can model, not Lego that just clicks together without any skill from my end. That’s how I relax.
@@HarryHoudiniModels not to ruin but I have not bought an airfix kit with a lot of flash on small parts (modern 109E) or mis formed parts (Spitfire mk Va) or missing entirely (F4F modern). I still like them as a manufacturer but I have not had a kit that was like tamiya’s.
I remember a mate of mine asked me to build a crappy ancient Tamiya SdKfz 7 8 ton German half track for him. Kit was dreadful 1970s era moulding with nearly unusable low detail rubber band tracks, that looked crap no matter how much weathering you did! I was really disappointed with it and it's very simplistic parts and build. Anyway he thought it was great so I then got myself a Trumpeter SdKfz 7 as I love German half tracks. Wow what a world of difference, nearly 4 times the parts count of the Tamiya kit, Indi link tracks, fully detailed engine and transmission as well as detailed cargo compartments. It just really didn't compare. While some of Tamiyas recent offerings are decent I just find them overpriced and would rather get a Trumpeter, Mini-art or Zvedza equivalent.
Completely agree with you Jason
One thought about Tamiya which I have found to be as you say: easy builds; great painting/weathering practice opportunities…box art is superb. Let’s acknowledge how many kits are sold on box art alone. Cheers!
That is true, however the old T-34 kit has very dated box art. That had me suspicious from the start, but the shop assured me it was a very good kit, in a sealed box mind you.
Tamiya used to have two two ranges. One was a "kids" range and the other was a "model builders" range. The kids range never sold well and they were charging for their name. There were a lot of people put off Tamiya by getting the kids range by accident. That's why they withdrew them. The other thing about Tamiya is it is often cheaper to buy from a Japanese model shop and import it even after you pay the import duty and postage. The other thing is that some kits now are completely nuts. There is an M50 ONTOS model I forget which manufacturer but every track link has 5 parts. Upper, Lower pin and separate pads. That's over 400 parts just for the tracks.
Well I am one of the people put off by getting a “kids range” kit paying the price of the more expensive “modellers range”. It’s the hysteria and blind faith so many modellers have about Tamiya that also puts me off. Sure they have some complex kits, but all are over priced - in my experience. Equivalent or even better kits of the same subject can easily be bought from other manufacturers. Maybe they were the bees knees in the 80’s and 90’s but I was raising a family and paying a mortgage then, so had no time to keep up with the trends of the hobby. Coming back after nearly 4 decades, with Airfix and Revell my only yardstick, the new kits from China were a revelation, but the Tamiya T-34 was a disappointment.
Sounds like a Takom kit. The guy who runs my local model shop joked their moto was why use one part when 10 would do.
This was mostly a trash shop keeper, not really a tamiya issue.
Correct.
Yes, with me it is Italeri; And I completely agree with you, there’s too much emphasis on painting and I find out hours spent on weathering, chipping, using washes and all that stuff to be completely boring. I like to have a bit of airbrushing with maybe a little bit of pigments here and there or some panel line wash and that’s it, but very little. Some of what people do on TH-cam is just completely exaggerated and I like the detail kits where you spend a lot of time with PE. I like to watch this one Japanese guy who does all this intricate detailing with ship models from the old Japanese imperial Navy
Sounds like a channel I would enjoy David. Can you flick me a link?
@@HarryHoudiniModels th-cam.com/video/4UJbDXgdptA/w-d-xo.html
Here you go🙂
Thanks. Subbed
@@HarryHoudiniModels Yes, I hope you enjoy it. It is strange though when you never get to see the person. He has some other videos where you see a two-legged life form,but it turns out he also takes photos of cute local ladies🙂BTW, I always appreciate your humor!
I really appreciate your highly personalized views on the subject of scale modeling. You bring a human factor to the table that coincidentally I identify with to large degree. I myself just coming back after a 45-year hiatus, rediscovering these childhood pleasures and wanting to take it up as a hobby. The kits I find inspiring are objects that I have some connection with or personal experience, being it cars, planes ships, or whatever. Popular car models from my child hood, iconic car designs, airplanes I saw in the sky or travelled with and so on. Regretfully the bulk of kits today is military, sports cars (I hate sport cars) and fantasy objects. I have to look long and far to find the few kits that ring my bells. I agree with you on focusing on your own interests and setting your standards to your own taste. This way you get the most possible personal satisfaction out of this hobby. I only do it for myself, not to impress others or to mimic some "experts" on youtube. Thank you for sharing your self this way. It rings with me 🙂
Great to hear you resonated with my video
I built a Tamiya Panzer in the early eighties that was motorized. I don’t remember what it cost but I never could get the thing to work right. I don’t think I knew it was motorized when I bought it so I just left the motor inside and unplugged it. Tamiya is all I built though because they really dominated the 1/35th market. I remember the artwork on the boxes were really nice too. Any way, great video, thanks.
Good on you matey
Ive always had an amazing experience with tamiya, just amazing quality both armour and aviation, recently been making a trumpeter kits, also great if not better
Many do seem to have a euphoric experience with Tamiya…. but I was disappointed with their T-34 for the reasons outlined in this video.
I look forward to seeing your build of the Tamiya Honda S 600. I have been considering getting it, but have just obtained an old Bandai 1/16 Bugatti Coupe which looks like a fun build. I avoid Tamiya Armour kits for the very reasons you mentioned - sheer boredom, and cost.
Hallelujah. Someone at last got it. Yes their Armour kits are just overpriced toys. I’ll try to enjoy the S600 kit… it was a gift, so it will just be what it will be, and I can accept that.
Hah.. this was entertaining. Becker and I got into a bit of a convo over that same company after my experience with the 1/32 F-14. I had always expected super high quality of a kit out of a box from them. Companies like Zvezda, Trumpeter - I know are "research this subject" companies, but I expected high-quality. 13 Shekels for a rebox of a kit made in the 70's.. that was my breaking point. I don't mind paying shekels.. but not for old molds/designs. I also don't mind doing extra work, but I'd like to know that going into it, but I also don't want to shell out shekels for the base kit. :)
Now, I might decide to pick up one of their kits, but only if the subject is one I really want AND it has some in-box reviews I can look into.
Thanks for sharing HH. Hope you're doing ok stayin' dry.
Thanks Mal… yes never mention Airfix to Becker… he will chastise you for not buying Tamiya.
Thanks man. I was going to get the T-34. It is a toy! However, some tamiya kits 1:35 do have battery/motor mounts inside but are still like for like kits. Panzer IV auf D. Is a good build.
It’s an ok kit for $10 or even $15 as a time waster or paint mule. But $55 and presented in a new box as a quality modern kit.. nope, that is the disappointment.
Tamiya aircraft and cars are typically great things, their armour, not so much but that's why I always research kit details these days, hate going in and paying a seemingly marked up price for a 70's kit with a fancy box.
Yes I learned about scalemates a decade ago after getting the T-34. Never trust the model shop staff.
@@HarryHoudiniModels though, aircraft guys are aircraft guys, he would have been telling you his whole experience of tamiya, he just didn't tell you his whole experience of tamiya was limited to aircraft kits
my husband felt the same way when he built the JGSDF Type-90 and he had a Trumpeter Type-90 he loved
maybe it was a mess up in shipping but the Tamiya kit had warped parts
A lot of the old Tamiya mouldings are warped. I am building their Honda F1 car in 1/12 scale and the body sides were warped, but it is a 1970’s moulding of the kit.
Tamiyas best were the 1/12 F1 cars.I built 5-the 1970 Ferrari-Matra-Lotus-Honda-Wolf,awesome.
You are absolutely correct. I was recently given the Tamiya 1/12 Honda F-1 and I love it. Building the kit now.
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and history. I can identify so much with you being a 1959 model! I have recently gotten back into modelling. My nemesis is Italeri. Hopeless. Thanks once again for sharing with us. There seems so much emphasis on painting it does take away from the building aspect of modelling.
Have you seen my video on the Italscary Fiat 500? Worst kit in the world.
yup ,, i started my modeling journey on the good old airfix kits back in the sixties ,, and they just had to be war ships ,, built a few tamiya kits which from memory were good so i ve been lucky i guess ,, now after a 40 year lay off ,, its hms victory by heller which is a real challenge ,, keep up the good work harry ,,
You’ll have your work cut out for you with the Victory, but it will be time well spent.
I've always said that with a lot of builders these days it is all about the painting and the building an inconvenience, one bit of flash and they rant and rave about how bad the kit is. I do not mind painting myself and have lots of airbrushes, full sets of Tamiya and Humbrol paints. The first kits I built when I was about 5 years old were Monogram and Revell, moved onto Airfix after that. Whilst I appreciate newer kits, nothing gets me more excited than building the older kits where lots of fitment is required. The other thing is that vintage kits offer subjects that are generally not available with modern offerings.
I completely agree with you Allan
I think as you say there are different reasons why people buy Tamiya that don't float your boat mate. The painting and weathering is a particular modellers thing, a nice easy build to restart the mojo might be another, even dio fillers to put alongside other kits. Over here, they are cheaper than a lot of other kit manufacturers (although you could say the quality is reflected in the price) as you say, you can't say Tamiya make bad kits, they are just not your thing. I cannot build a length of tracks from separate links, it would frustrate me how long a build is taking.👍😉
And yet I can do a side of links in half an hour… easy when you know how. Plus I am still awake and enjoying it at the end.
I’m currently working on the first Airfix kit (1/72 A6M2B). I must say that for the price, I’ve been blown away by the fit and detail, in fact, I would say it’s as much or more than the Hasegawa 1/48 Zero I have which went together with a few fit issues and incorrect dihedral on the wings. Thankfully the 1/48 is a crash diorama so I really didn’t worry too terribly about the fixable build problems.
The new CAD Airfix do fit nicely, but luckily they still have quality control issues and that Indian plastic is terrible. More things for me to fix. Yay!
Personally I absolutely LOVE Tamiya Warship kits.
Each to their own matey… I enjoy old Airfix warship kits in 1/600 despite their foibles… all depends what you want out of the hobby and what you are prepared to pay.
@@HarryHoudiniModels yes i agree with you.
Hi great video's btw, may I ask? Are all the kit boxes behind you empty because you have made them? Or are they your stash?
That is my stash of kits to build. I have another whole cupboard full of the boxes from kits I have already made.
@@HarryHoudiniModels ok thanks for the reply mate! Happy modelling 👍
I like Tamiya but I understand your point. Half of the challenge/fun is finding the flaws and doing the research and correcting them.
Airfix on the other hand is what almost every child started with, lots of nostalgia there! Still love them.
Hasagawa has some really great and unique armor models in 1/76 or1/72. Dragon in 1/35 is similar.
Right now I'm building the Airfix Churchill with the "flying dustbin" gun in 1/72. Petard or AVRE.
Have you tried "Das Werk" yet?
Cheers from The Netherlands, love your channel.Keep it up! (lol)
I haven’t built any Das Werk kits yet… still trying to get through my WIP before I get any new kits
@@HarryHoudiniModels Yes, I call it my "wall of shame" because lazy.
My wall of shame is just because after building a kit, I put off the painting, instead start another one.
@@HarryHoudiniModels We all do that , surely ?
Harry I have to admit that when I started up again I picked up a number of Tamiya tank kits, and after building them although the Panzer 3 and 4 look pretty good the Panther, Tiger 1 and 2 look a little bland. I have been trying out some photoetch and bought after market kits for a Revel London Transport double decker bus. Which I had a fair bit of trouble getting the outside to line up properly, but the challenge made it more interesting, I also worked on getting the drivers door to slide and again it was fun. I don't mind painting and am not that good at it, but I did about 10 passengers and a driver. I still have to do the mirrors, outside lights and the decaling but am happy with the progress, and am now also working on an Italeri Puma, I went overboard on the photoetch with this one and am currently awaiting some .3mm wire to make the viewing ports workable. Anyways after all that I agree the Tamiya kits are very well engineered and quite detailed, but its more fun to do something more challenging. Upcoming I have a Dragon Maultier Ambulance with tiny tracks, a border Stug iii and a RFM JagdPanther. Trying different companies is enjoyable as its always different instructions and sometimes not so good. You are so right, try new things and figure it out, that's so much fun
I try to do something new everyday, that is until Bertha got a puncture!
I grew up building Tamiya kits. 😆 It’s hard to find hobby shops here in California. I usually end up ordering everything now. I agree with you as the journey is more fun than the destination. I build RC planes now especially the balsa variety. 🥂
Thanks for sharing Chris… I built balsa control line aircraft as a kid
worst kit i ever had was a model railway kit of a class 40 by Q's kits, it was basically a block of resin that you filed to shape yourself, after many years of in and out the box it was "trodden" on to exorcize the spirit, i grew taller that day...
Great story
HH, I just subscribed to your YT channel; I really enjoy your frank, authentic anecdotes, and friendly advice. As for being rotten at relationships, right there with you, mate. "The worst day fishing beats the best day at work",is a saying you may have heard, but I came up with "The worst day single beats the best day in a bad marriage". So, at 65, I have take up renovating old Matchbox and Hot Wheels and Corgi vehicles, and I find it very soothing and relaxing and challenging as a means of tuning out the World and focusing the mind, right?
Welcome aboard William… do what makes you happy mate
I love Tamiya kits, both old and new. And I love most vinyl tracks. I have no issue painting them, weathering them, and getting a slight sag. And I'm perfectly fine with their detail. I do avoid Revell and Italeri kits though.
As long as you are enjoying the hobby all power to you matey
Tamiya is the golden standard usually.....
So they told me.. but not all of their kits are fabulous
If you don't buy the cheapest old junk they have out there, they usually are.
But you need to do your research.
The side of the box is a start. If it says 1979 or earlier don't build it.
If it says 1989 or earlier proceed with caution
This applies to their armor and aircraft kits only, not their cars.
Brings back some memories building models. Its been awhile. Was into 1/48th scale WWII airplanes mostly. Those are in storage, then got into a bunch of 1/24th to 1/25th scale cars some on display in my office. Still have 2 planes in boxes and a Formula 1 pit crew for one of my displays I never finished.
I am happy my video rekindled fond memories
Horses for courses.
Good on ya for learning early on what you like, and don't like, in a kit. An interesting story with an uncommon perspective on Tamiya. These days, most modellers that post online spend about 80% of a "build" in the paint booth creating hyper realistic models. Your candour is refreshing.
Thanks Ian… good to know you got the point of my video.
I got a Tamaya M1A1 Abrahams with a bad sag in the models turret tool kit? Still trying to figure out how to fix the defect on the model?
Fixing it will teach you modelling skills… solving problems is very good at stopping you getting altimeters later in life.
Tamiya's old stuff as you've found out is unfortunately pretty low quality. It's not the absolute worst, that's generally reserved for Heller, but it ain't great. Their RC Mark IV tank is actually absolutely fantastic though. I actually have a stash of 80s Tamiya ships that I need to work on, and I spent more on an accessory kit to bring them up to snuff than the boats themselves. But their new stuff? Top notch usually. If you wanna see the Tamiya Mark IV though... Check out Nightshift's model of it, it's nice.
Thanks Kommkat
Have to agree. Tamiya is arguably the best on the market at moment. I grew up on the old Revell and Monogram kits, they were fun when I was much younger.
Can anybody pls tell me what's wrong with ark kits? Keep hearing they are dogs hit but I have built the sturmpanzer II and yak 7 and I liked both of em, yes, they may not have the very best detail but I enjoyed the built
Their older kits were mainly bad copies or reboxes of worn out moulds so got a very bad reputation for awful kits. But surprisingly I have heard of a few newer releases that were not bad. Maybe they are stealing better moulds to copy kits with now?
@@HarryHoudiniModels huh, sure seems this way, just checked scalemates and indeed the sturmpanzer I built and uploaded is a apparently an ALAN mold,the yak7s from ICM.
My attitude is definitely the opposite. I don't want to pay good money to find out the kit has been poorly engineered or cast.
At least with Revell, I know it won't fit right, but it's going to be half the cost.
So give me high detail precision kits for more money, or troublesome cheap ones.
I agree with you entirely, except I want to enjoy the build, be it well engineered or a little lacking. Finding myself fast asleep on the cutting mat after assembling an expensive toy with no challenge is just not for me.
my first tamiya AFV kit was the Tiger version of your T34/76 kit. it was fun to build i guess but i always felt the dimensions and look of the tank was kind of ''off''
decades later i found out my gut feel was right, the tank was not scale accurate and was designed in the 1970s!
tamiya has many great kits tbf but you need to have some product knowledge and do some research before buying them. For example, their kits that were tooled in the early 2000s are still great. Like the Panther D, Tiger (mid/late) and some M4 Sherman variants.
My disappointment was mainly due to the over sell by the hobby store staff member and the excessive price for just a basic kit. Being newly back in the hobby after a few decades break I wasn’t used to researching kits before buying, just go to the hobby shop and buy Airfix, which I always enjoyed. A decade later I have learned my lesson and now check reviews before buying,
I bought a Dragon Jagdpanther and after that kit I could never go back to Tamiya, I had built the Tamiya Hanomag kit with figures and again once I had built and painted some Dragon figures totally lost the love for Tamiya, mostly because of the not to scale reviews I was seeing and those damn rubber band tracks that you were supposed to join together with a hot screwdriver head, and those nasty mould lines on the old figures,,,,,eeeeeek. You brought back some horrific memories there Harry 😅🤣
Once you’ve eaten the forbidden fruit that is Dragon… it’s hard to go back to Tangerines
@@HarryHoudiniModels 😅😆🤣
yes, also Tacom, Meng and Das Werk............... that is if you like tanks..........plus you can't beat a Hasegawa BF109, loads of different variants............. i haven't built a Tamiya for ages, not since the new tool Yamato disaster.................. the best tank for pure quality is the Meng 2A7+, it is utterly brilliant
Tamiya are and continue to be heads and shoulders above the competition . Accuracy and ease of building are what l want from a kit and is what l get from them .I don,t like the over the top , complicated and over engineered assembly of some of the other model firms . l want to enjoy the hobby not be awed and frustrated by it .
We have different expectations of enjoyment
I hate making tank tracks. I would rather have rubber bands or link-linked tracks.
Then you have never seen my easy way to do indy links. Fast, simple, and works everytime.
@@HarryHoudiniModels : no I haven’t….
Then have a look at this.. it might get you doing track links. th-cam.com/video/-0fLhzAsjKk/w-d-xo.html
me too, sectioned pieces are a chore and they may look more accurate but there are decent renditions with certain makers in the rubber band tribe
If the track links are tensioned, with no slack, then rubber band tracks can work. But for early Russian and British tanks with the Christie suspension, Crusader and T-34 for example, they are only taught in forward motion, other times they have sag between the wheels. Same with WWII German Panzer tanks, which have some serious sag in the early versions. The number of times some Tank guy from the USA has gone on an on about how he tensioned the track links every day in his job in the Army and there is no sag, obviously never looked at other countries armoured vehicles or studied history.
Same as you Harry born in 1960 my dad bought me my first kit at the local newsagents a Frog Gloster Whittle and since that time i have been modelling on and off. .Six kids later 2 marriages and two sold collections of built kits and still building. It`s the building, thought and cajoling around kits that`s the thing not some piece of Lego that takes no thought.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Lego…. unless you step on it barefoot!
Great story. Am my self a builder, not a painter. I build all kits, I don’t really have a maker I don’t like, if it’s an old poor kit we’ll it’s just a bigger challenge 😄. Just came back to the scene last year after 30+ years. And a lot has happened since last I built 😄👍🏻
It is a strange new hobby now with photo etch, resin, 3D printed parts and a ton of aftermarket. I used to just build the kits out of the box… but after my 30 year break it was an eye opening experience returning to the hobby.
The first two model kits I ever built were the Tamiya M-41 Walker Bulldog and the M42 Duster back in the early to mid 70s. Got them at K-Mart for $3.33 each. These were the original motorized versions with the motor and gear box. My brother and I would extend wires out the back and run them around the back yard using 6 volt lantern batteries. I was maybe 12 and at that age, they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now days the M41 goes for $15 to $20 USD... for the same kit, minus the motor and gearbox. I didn't build another motorized kit until I was in Korea back in the early 90s... Academy had a motorized version of the M3 Bradley they ripped off from Tamiya that came with two motors and a more complicated gearbox that allowed the model to pivot steer like the original Bradley and had a controller with steering levers. They were fun to build, and since I was assigned to a bradley unit, I built a LOT of them in the year I was over there...
If I had paid $3 for the T-34 I would not have complained, especially if it had a motor inside so I could play with it.