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Hasegawa vs Tamiya


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New to the hobby and my favorite aircraft are Spitfire and FW190, BF109. Just looking for comparison in detail and ease of build comparing the following:

How does the Tamiya and Hasegawa BF109 kits compare?

How does the Tamiya and Hasegawa FW190 kits compare?...or should I look at Eduard?

How does the Tamiya and Hasegawa Spitfire kits compare?

Thanks, I really appreciate any feedback?

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Not much to choose between Tamiya and Hasegawa Bf109E kits. Strengths and weaknesses in both, but both look like 109Es when built

Both company's Spitfire Vb's (the only one they have in common) have issues, but different issues. I personally like the Tamiya kit better, but that's my own opinion.

J

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How does the Tamiya and Hasegawa BF109 kits compare? E version Tamiya win

How does the Tamiya and Hasegawa FW190 kits compare? Hasegawa win but Eduard is better

How does the Tamiya and Hasegawa Spitfire kits compare? Eaven match

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For Emil's I like the Tamiya version better, and its a easy kit to build,

While I have done the Tamiya 190's from what I gather from people doing the new Hasegawa is better overall. The Eduard kit is a labor of love, it looks great when done but of the 3 its the hardest to build

For Mk Vb Spitfires again I prefer the Tamiya offering. Mk I's Tamiya is the only one of the 2 who offer that version

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109s and 190s are my thing!

The Hasegawa 109 Emil slightly better than the Tamiya offering - but only if you look really closely:

Better wheels and wheelwells

FAR better control surfaces

thinner clear parts

More accurate prop (the tamiya prop is far to thin).

The Hasegawa 190 (A-3 through A8) is slightly better than the Tamiya 190 in a couple places:

Much better wheels and landing gear and gear bays

Better control surfaces (and the ailerons on the wing are positionable).

In general the Tamiya kits will be more simplifed and easier to build - this is especially true for the 190 series as Hasegawa has you put in various panel inserts into the wing to make the right version, this leads to all kinds of fun making them look natural (but Tamiya does the same thing - they just do a better job of it). So these kits are a toss up. If you are looking more for accuracy, Hasegawa will be a better start, if you're looking more for ease of build - Tamiya is the better start. In the end - they all look pretty good and while the tamiya kits fall short in a couple places, they are obscure places so it's unlikely that anyone except someone really into the subject will know about the issues.

I haven't built a Hasegawa Spitifire, but I can say the tamiya one is very nice and very easy to build. I can't really tell you much beyond that as I don't know much about Spitfires.

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I bought one Tamiya FW190 and one Hasegawa. I think Hasegawa is much better in detail etc vs the Tamiya kit. One thing I hated about the Tamiya kit is they mold the 20mm cannon into the top halve of the wing, that is kind of crappy and makes it hard to sand the wing by the fuselage as the molded in cannon is in the way. I also think the Tamiya mold is an older mold and Hasegawa updated their kits G-K series any how and Tamiya just tosses in some extras and new decals etc to make other version. I have the new Tamiya 1/48 A6M5/5a kit and it is the best 1/48 kit I have seen to date. Would be nice if Tamiya did new FW190 kits like that and also some BF109g's.

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109s and Spit Vs...a tossup between them. Both are good kits and I have both built them well and botched them over the years.

190's Tamiya is an easy build, Hasegawas look nice (have not built mine yet) Eduards are a challenge, mine is the centerpiece of my Wurgers collection but except for the Fw-190F-8 I won't be looking at another for quite a while (The F-8 has oodles of wierd Luftwaffe a/g weaponry that doesn't exist elsewhere - think the Kinetic weapons set for Eastern Front ground attack). Though I may take a look at the Dora when it comes out (1 Tamiya and 1 Dragon/Italeri/ProModeler built and two left in the stash)

The only one I'd avoid would be the Eduard kit. It is definately for the hard corps modeler (lets see if that gets by ARCs censor....)

If what you are looking for is a good build that really won't tax you much go Tamiya. As much as I gripe at times about Tamiya not releasing further versions of thier molds the ones they do are done VERY well. Also you may have trouble finding Hasegawa kits of the versions you want - except the 190s. Tamiya releases 1 boxing of a kit and it's almost always available. hasegawa pops out short runs of thier kits and I have to admit I have not seen a Spit V or 109E in the shops for a while now.

Happy Modeling

Matt

Edited by Matt Roberts
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  • 2 weeks later...

What suprises me is when I look in the Gallery on this website under FW190 and all the 1/48th kits are all Tamiya, there is like one Hasegawa, and when I search on the net for reviews etc again 98% Tamiya, the only Has ones are in 1/32nd. That makes me question how good can the Has 1/48 FW190 be?

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What suprises me is when I look in the Gallery on this website under FW190 and all the 1/48th kits are all Tamiya, there is like one Hasegawa, and when I search on the net for reviews etc again 98% Tamiya, the only Has ones are in 1/32nd. That makes me question how good can the Has 1/48 FW190 be?

Keep in mind the Tamiya line has been out for over a decade, and is a ease to build. The Hasegawa kit is a more recent release (maybe 3-4 years old IIRR) and you might not see as many built given allot of builders like to do 1-2 of a type then move on to another type model....they've got their FW 190 fix as it were.

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What suprises me is when I look in the Gallery on this website under FW190 and all the 1/48th kits are all Tamiya, there is like one Hasegawa, and when I search on the net for reviews etc again 98% Tamiya, the only Has ones are in 1/32nd. That makes me question how good can the Has 1/48 FW190 be?

As Don mentioned, the Tamiya Fw 190's are relatively old and Hasegawa has re-tooled their Fw 190's (A's) so that they truly are much better than the Tamiya offerings.

There's a bit of a split with other members here regarding Tamiya/Hasegawa Bf 109's. Yet having built probably upwards of a 100 of these I can truly say that the Hasegawa offering is superior...greater detail and much more accurate.

As for the Spitfire's, I can't honestly help on this one since I primarily build Luftwaffe aircraft.

Greg

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...having built probably upwards of a 100 of these I can truly say that the Hasegawa offering is superior...greater detail and much more accurate.

How do you gauge that? Other than a couple of minor boo-boo's, like the oil cooler on the initial release, and the ill-fitting horizontal stabilizer brace, I really don't think you can tell much difference between a Hasegawa and a Tamiya Emil once they're built and painted.

J

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How do you gauge that? Other than a couple of minor boo-boo's, like the oil cooler on the initial release, and the ill-fitting horizontal stabilizer brace, I really don't think you can tell much difference between a Hasegawa and a Tamiya Emil once they're built and painted.

J

The wings on a Hasegawa Emil look "chunky" compared to a Tamiya Emil...to me the Tamiya wings look closer to a Emil

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How do you gauge that? Other than a couple of minor boo-boo's, like the oil cooler on the initial release, and the ill-fitting horizontal stabilizer brace, I really don't think you can tell much difference between a Hasegawa and a Tamiya Emil once they're built and painted.

J

Put the Hasegawa and Tamiya Bf 109E's side by side and I can tell the difference.

Greg

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I have heard alot of nice things about the Tamiya Emil. But I guess when it comes to the F/G/K series Has wins hands down as they don't really have any competitor...which when I think about it that is weird. Why did Tamiya not do later versions of the BF109 as Has did FW190 and so did Tamiya.

What year did Hasegawa retool their FW's? Is it only the A-3 and A-8 that have been retooled? What about the A-4 kit#09745?

Edited by Spitfire88
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I have heard alot of nice things about the Tamiya Emil. But I guess when it comes to the F/G/K series Has wins hands down as they don't really have any competitor...which when I think about it that is weird. Why did Tamiya not do later versions of the BF109 as Has did FW190 and so did Tamiya.

What year did Hasegawa retool their FW's? Is it only the A-3 and A-8 that have been retooled? What about the A-4 kit#09745?

The A-4 is also a newer retool, major difference between a 3 and 4 is the attenna mast on the rudder and different cowling parts....kit was designed for that and depending on what boxing you get you can do either sometimes.

A later Tamiya Bf 109F/G series is every Luftnuts dream :thumbsup:

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But I guess when it comes to the F/G/K series Has wins hands down as they don't really have any competitor

Actually, they do have competitors. Fujimi did a whole series of late 109s in the 90s, and there's always Revell's old-but-excellent G-10 kit (which can be adapted to a K-4 easily enough). Airfix and ICM both have 109Fs in their respective ranges too. Admittedly, Hasegawa's kits will be considered superior to these, but there is competition nonetheless.

Kev

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Actually, they do have competitors. Fujimi did a whole series of late 109s in the 90s, and there's always Revell's old-but-excellent G-10 kit (which can be adapted to a K-4 easily enough). Airfix and ICM both have 109Fs in their respective ranges too. Admittedly, Hasegawa's kits will be considered superior to these, but there is competition nonetheless.

Kev

Hobbycraft (can be found in Academy boxes too) also has G-6/10/14 versions. Scott Van Aken (MM) say very nice things about them

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Hobbycraft (can be found in Academy boxes too) also has G-6/10/14 versions. Scott Van Aken (MM) say very nice things about them

Ah yes, of course! I have the Hobbycraft Avia kit, and it shows some of those on the side of the box. :D

Kev

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  • 2 years later...

What suprises me is when I look in the Gallery on this website under FW190 and all the 1/48th kits are all Tamiya, there is like one Hasegawa, and when I search on the net for reviews etc again 98% Tamiya, the only Has ones are in 1/32nd. That makes me question how good can the Has 1/48 FW190 be?

As Don mentioned, the Tamiya Fw 190's are relatively old and Hasegawa has re-tooled their Fw 190's (A's) so that they truly are much better than the Tamiya offerings.

Greg

It has been three years since these postings, and I came accross this old thread and thought it was worth adding to it what has been seen since:

In the three years since this thread, the vast majority of the new 1/48th FW-190As to be posted everywhere have been either Tamiya or Eduard kits, the ratio of new Eduard builds to new Hasegawa builds being at minimum twenty to one in favour of the Eduard kit (not including the D), usually these Eduard builds making no use of the openable panel features that are a hallmark of this kit... Eduard and Tamiya builds have been roughly at a one to one ratio, with an edge for the far more complicated and difficult Eduard...

Tamiya and Eduard builds together outnumber all other builds by a similar or greater ratio, this including the quite good and much better Dragon kit that has been around for 25 years... Rarest of all builds to see is the superior Hasegawa...

In terms of quality and accuracy, the Hasegawa kit is far ahead of the others, the Dragon second, the Tamiya a very distant third and the Eduard an even more distant last...

In terms of popularity of builds in the last three years, the order is reversed in an almost perfect mirror image...

Go figure...

Robertson

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In terms of popularity of builds in the last three years, the order is reversed in an almost perfect mirror image...

Meantime for the 109E's, one could argue both got punted down the line by Airfix, which in its' turn now looks likely to be blown into the weeds (well apart from in cost terms) by the rather pretty looking Eduard offering...

Patrick

Edited by Patrick_Nevin
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read this thread from front to back twice, and here's my thoughts (please don't hang me by my thumbs)

*FW190A series; I like the Tamiya for ease and they are fairly accurate (no kit is dead on that I've ever seen). The Tamiya kit goes together well. But the real ringer here is the Eduard 190 series. This is the top dog in this pile, but as others have said not faint for the heart5. Have never seen the Eduard F8, but can just imagine all the extras they'd add in there. Their weekend additions are much easier, and yet still better than the others.

* BF109's; Boy we got lots and lots of them to choose from here! I have the Hasegawa E and the Tamiya E, and personally think they both need new props. But both are pretty good kits. Have not been in the box to look at an Eduard, so cannot comment. The "G series" is a little different, but still more of the same. The G10 from Revell is a good little kit, and often can be had on the cheap. The BF109F2 from Zvezda is the best 109 kit period! But needs new props from Vector. Another often overlooked kit is the 109 G/K combo kit from Fujimi. Look for the one in the large box (they actually make two different kits). It has all the parts to build any G or K series aircraft (will have to do a very minor rescribe for a couple access doors to build a G). It comes with both style tails and all the stuff to do a regular 109 or an AS bird. The interior is a little sparse, but the kit's been out for quite awhile. The bigger kit comes with one of the biggest decale sheets out there for WWII stuff. And the props are correct. If it's a 1/32 bird, I like the Hasegawas (never been inside an Eduard as I said). There's also a new Airfix E, but once again kinda rare around here. They say the new Trumpeter 1/23 kits are nice, but so are the Hasegawas for less cash.

* Spitfires! Oh My what a pretty bird!(is there anything prettier?) I most have Tamiyas in my stash, but have heard lots of pros and cons about shapes and things like that. They look like Spitfires to me! They 1/32 kits are all older Tamiyas, and nothing like the new high priced stuff. The Airfix MK. XII is a very nice kit in 1/48th. I think I'm going to pick up a Hobby Boss MK. V this year contrary to what some folks claim. This kit looks like it can be built into something nice with some minor work. And maybe if I hit Powerball I might also buy a Tamiya MK. IX. One can never have too many Spitfires!

gary

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