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Tamiya Zero kits


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Tamiya doesn't play that game. Other makers (Revell, Airfix, Hasegawa, etc.) are known to package old junk in new boxes. I don't think Tamiya does it. I think it's disgraceful that anybody does it, without (at least) a warning on the box. Tamiya's new Zero's are The Best. Purchase with confidence. The only thing you have to worry about with Tamiya is that they do repackage Italeri kits from time to time. Nobody's perfect!

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Tamiya doesn't play that game. Other makers (Revell, Airfix, Hasegawa, etc.) are known to package old junk in new boxes. I don't think Tamiya does it. I think it's disgraceful that anybody does it, without (at least) a warning on the box. Tamiya's new Zero's are The Best. Purchase with confidence. The only thing you have to worry about with Tamiya is that they do repackage Italeri kits from time to time. Nobody's perfect!

Tamiya most certainly does this as well. They still release older molds and update the boxes periodically, just like everyone else. Their A-10 for example, or the 1/48 lanc, or many of their older Japanese WW2 molds.

It's trivial to check on these, from any maker. Just pay attention to the kit's number, pretty much every large maker numbers their releases, and these numbers distinguish between kits actually in the box.

And many of these older kits are gems.

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Tamiya most certainly does this as well. They still release older molds and update the boxes periodically, just like everyone else. Their A-10 for example, or the 1/48 lanc, or many of their older Japanese WW2 molds.

It's trivial to check on these, from any maker. Just pay attention to the kit's number, pretty much every large maker numbers their releases, and these numbers distinguish between kits actually in the box.

And many of these older kits are gems.

My standards are lower than yours, Obi Wan. Tamiya doesn't repackage junk in new boxes. Gently aged classics--yes. Not junk like Revell's Bf-109E or P-51D in 1/72. I still consider the Tamiya 1/48 Lancaster to be a quality kit for all time. Now I'm crestfallen to discover that it is merely detritus to be blown away by the mighty wind of New Men like yourself. I appeal to all for help in restoring my crest to its original standing state.

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My standards are lower than yours, Obi Wan. Tamiya doesn't repackage junk in new boxes. Gently aged classics--yes. Not junk like Revell's Bf-109E or P-51D in 1/72. I still consider the Tamiya 1/48 Lancaster to be a quality kit for all time. Now I'm crestfallen to discover that it is merely detritus to be blown away by the mighty wind of New Men like yourself. I appeal to all for help in restoring my crest to its original standing state.

Not to be disrespectful, but the only person who's mentioned the word "junk" in this thread has been you. Mawz certainly didn't. His last sentence, which you also quoted: "And many of these older kits are gems."

Sorry, I can't help you with your crest, but nor can I find anything in Mawz's post that constitutes an attack on it.

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Not to be disrespectful, but the only person who's mentioned the word "junk" in this thread has been you. Mawz certainly didn't. His last sentence, which you also quoted: "And many of these older kits are gems."

Sorry, I can't help you with your crest, but nor can I find anything in Mawz's post that constitutes an attack on it.

To be absolutely clear, I'm much fonder of those older kits than many (although the Tamiya Lanc is a bit of a bear to build, fit is not its strong suit). I was responding to the apparent attack on the practice of releasing 70's-era toolings, and the classification of them as 'Junk'.

Frankly, I haven't seen Revell rebox their old 1/72 Bf109E or P-51D recently, I know RoG's done some old Matchbox repops, but those are generally pretty good, if basic. The quality level of much of the old Revell or Airfix kits is at or above Tamiya's molds from the same era.

Sure Revell & Airfix still rebox some 60's era stuff, and some of that isn't necessarily great, but the only reason Tamiya doesn't do the same is that they don't have any 60's era molds.

Quite frankly, Hasegawa is the only major maker I've seen regularly repop old molds when they have better new molds available, and even then they generally sell the older molds at a much lower cost.

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Old junky Revell kits are released side-by-side with new tool kits by Revell (OK...OF GERMANY). Why is this even a thing? Why did I rate an immediate NO YOU'RE WRONG and now more of the same? Revell's habit of doing this is disgraceful. You put out a brand new product and ALSO sell the old, old kit right next to it. At the hobby shop I can see that the new FW-200 has a much larger box. On-line it's almost impossible to tell them apart. Old and new kits have nearly identical box art! It borders on fraud. I guess that's the real problem I have with it. New Lancaster kit comes out--old kit, with very similar box art, is still widely available and recently shipped. I'm just saying that they are milking the last few cents out of the old molds. Not really cool. Sheesh.

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Old junky Revell kits are released side-by-side with new tool kits by Revell (OK...OF GERMANY). Why is this even a thing? Why did I rate an immediate NO YOU'RE WRONG and now more of the same? Revell's habit of doing this is disgraceful. You put out a brand new product and ALSO sell the old, old kit right next to it. At the hobby shop I can see that the new FW-200 has a much larger box. On-line it's almost impossible to tell them apart. Old and new kits have nearly identical box art! It borders on fraud. I guess that's the real problem I have with it. New Lancaster kit comes out--old kit, with very similar box art, is still widely available and recently shipped. I'm just saying that they are milking the last few cents out of the old molds. Not really cool. Sheesh.

Umm, wha?

the 'New Tool' Fw200 came out in 2006, the last release of the 1991 tooling was boxed in 1995. Box styles are the same, but they've been used since 1990. The 2011 new-tool release had similar box art to the 1995 release, but the latter had been OOP for 5+ years at that point. Oh, and there's these nice little numbers written in large font on the box which tells you exactly which kit you are getting (04312 for the 1995 boxing, 04678 for the new) and of course you can also check copyright date on the box. And these are both modern tooling, the actual old-tool ancient Revell FW200 hasn't been released since 1984.

As to the Lanc, last old tool release was 2001, the new tool was 2007, and while both box art's are oriented similar, the aircraft markings are quite different, particularly the yellow tails on the new kit (matching its marking options).

In comparison, Tamiya's Zero from 1973 was last released in 2007, with the new tool A6M3/3a following in 2008, a far smaller time difference than any of the Revell of Germany examples you list. Box art in this case is different, but very similar between variant boxings.

Every maker releases old molds. Some release really old molds (and some of us snap them up, I buy plenty of these myself as I find a solid 70's kit to be about my favourite sort to build, quick enough to be fun, accurate enough to look right). Revell's actually quite good about not running a last repop of old-mold kits before a new release (Airfix used to be bad for this, before Hornby took full control).

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Okay.... okay...I see what happened here. 1/48 scale doesn't even exist in my world. On the other hand, you probably live in the dimension where 1/72 is alien.

If you shift over to the universe I'm in, what I'm saying makes sense (sort of). But when you shift to 1/48 reality, then I sound crazy. It's all relative to what scale you're on about. Now, normally I don't behave this way and I'm wondering what kind of brain disorder causes this. I guess I'll find out!

Anyway-- my bad.

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Umm, wha?

the 'New Tool' Fw200 came out in 2006, the last release of the 1991 tooling was boxed in 1995. Box styles are the same, but they've been used since 1990. The 2011 new-tool release had similar box art to the 1995 release, but the latter had been OOP for 5+ years at that point. Oh, and there's these nice little numbers written in large font on the box which tells you exactly which kit you are getting (04312 for the 1995 boxing, 04678 for the new) and of course you can also check copyright date on the box. And these are both modern tooling, the actual old-tool ancient Revell FW200 hasn't been released since 1984.

As to the Lanc, last old tool release was 2001, the new tool was 2007, and while both box art's are oriented similar, the aircraft markings are quite different, particularly the yellow tails on the new kit (matching its marking options).

In comparison, Tamiya's Zero from 1973 was last released in 2007, with the new tool A6M3/3a following in 2008, a far smaller time difference than any of the Revell of Germany examples you list. Box art in this case is different, but very similar between variant boxings.

Every maker releases old molds. Some release really old molds (and some of us snap them up, I buy plenty of these myself as I find a solid 70's kit to be about my favourite sort to build, quick enough to be fun, accurate enough to look right). Revell's actually quite good about not running a last repop of old-mold kits before a new release (Airfix used to be bad for this, before Hornby took full control).

was over at Hobby Town last Saturday afternoon looking for a couple Sherman kits, and to have a good look at some new aircraft for my way too big of a stash. They had the Revell Lancaster, and the newer Airfix. The Revell kit was already in the stash, and I did look at the Airfix. The Revell kit is identical to what I bought in early 2008 (actually both versions are in my stash). It was consider to be about 95% as good as the Hasegawa in 2008, and I believe this as I have a couple Hasegawas. A better kit than the Tamiya any day of the week. What I really wanted (aircraft) was in twin engine bombers. Nothing new, and it looked like the only game in town was Monogram. Nothing from Tamigawa, and the only thing new was the new HK kit of the Mosquito in 1/32nd. Then I remember my last Tamiya boondoggle, I bought their Swordfish only to find out it was Italerie. Kit was OK, but also a $30 kit with the Revell logo.

Now days I've found myself buying a bunch of 1/32 Revell kits. Started out with their $27 Spitfire, and never looked back. For about $65, I can have a hundred twenty dollar Tamiya kit. Later I buy the bf109G6, and for about $50 I can have an excellent kit that will rival anybody's. Then I buy their G10, and thoughts are the same. But it just gets better when they show up with their FW190F8. I buy four of those junk kits and kinda laugh at the fools that bought the Tamigawa stuff.

I do a lot of armor. Mostly German and Russian. Lately friends got me hooked on Shermans. I buy a Tamiya M4, and I think what a piece of junk. I get a couple Dragons and sure was right. Then I buy a Tasca for $61, and never looked back. Tamiya sells a reboxed one for five dollars more. I now own six Tasca Shermans and three Tamiyas. Looking at the shelf I see at least one third of the kits are reboxed from another brand name. The rest are outdated a way over priced for no more than what they are.

gary

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