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Something I find interesting about the new Tamiya Spitfire


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I just noticed this while looking over the instruction booklet for the new Tamiya Spit. I find this interesting because it was something Trumpeter was doing for a while on their kits, and it was almost universally slammed as a poor choice and gimmicky. It seemed most people just didn't use it and glued the parts in place. However, in all the raving about the new Spitfire kit, and the few builds/reviews I have seen, I don't recall seeing or reading a thing about it.

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I guess it depends on how tight the fit ends up as. I'm not sure but I think one of the negatives of Trumpeter using it was the sloppy fit. Looking at photos of the Spit, the gaps will have to be very tight in order to pull it off, and that means very tight control on the molds, cooling process and on the build itself. I guess if a few people pooch the build n start to cry about it, then Tamiya will get slammed for it as well.

Sabre

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Could be. I was just surprised that with the amount of grief Trump got for using them that Tamiya went that route at all. It really is a gimmick, as I dont think most modelers are going to sit around and move the surfaces up and down just because they can. If they're not loose to start with, they will be in a short time, if not broken off altogether.

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Tamiya started this as far as I can tell with their amazing 1:32 Zero type 52. So I think Trumpeter copied the Big T, not much of a surprise there. Maybe an other company did this before Tamiya, but I can't recall it. I didn't have any problems with the way Tamiya did it on the Zero that I finished 7 or 8 years ago, doubt I'll have any issues with the new Spitfires either.

Ron

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I'm almost certain (but stand to be corrected!) that the Trump A-10 in 1/32 came out before the Tamiya Zero, and it had the PE hinges.

Moveable control surfaces, yes... but not with PE, just plastic. The engine nacelle engine covers, however, do use PE hinges.

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Hey Jason,

having built the trumpeter corsair and the tamiya zero, i can say that trumpeter missed the boat and tamiya engineered it perfectly. the zero hinges worked flawlessly as i'm sure they will on the spitfire. at least for me personally, i won't slam tamiya on it cause i know they thought it through correctly.

cheers,

Shane Pulliam

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Hey Jason,

having built the trumpeter corsair and the tamiya zero, i can say that trumpeter missed the boat and tamiya engineered it perfectly. the zero hinges worked flawlessly as i'm sure they will on the spitfire. at least for me personally, i won't slam tamiya on it cause i know they thought it through correctly.

cheers,

Shane Pulliam

I second this. I just finished the Zero in September and the PE hinges were both very easy to assemble and worked perfectly. I was very pleased with the result.

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I'm almost certain (but stand to be corrected!) that the Trump A-10 in 1/32 came out before the Tamiya Zero, and it had the PE hinges.

Trumpeter does not use rod, they used stranded wire and it does not work as well as the metal rods.

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