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Model mfr. quality scale?


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is there such a thing?

 

trumpeter to snap-tite? 1-10...?

 

Wingnut Wings

Tamiya

Zoukei-Mura

Eduard

GreatWall Hobby

Hasegawa

Kinetic

Trumpeter

Hobby Boss

Dragon

Academy

MRC

Revell

Airfix

Panda

Monogram

Smer, Matchbox

 Zhengdefu

 

1.  Tamiya

2.  Zoukei-Mura, Hasegawa, Eduard, Great Wall Hobby

3. Kinetic, Trumpeter, Hobby Boss, Revell, Airfix, Academy 

Edited by Bounce
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1.  Tamiya

2.  Zoukei-Mura, Hasegawa, Eduard, Great Wall Hobby

3. Kinetic, Trumpeter, Hobby Boss, Revell, Airfix, Academy 

4. Everything else


Newer releases from the mfg’s above are all better the more recent they are.   There are some kits by folks I would consider 3/4 tier that are really great, but I consider them anomalies and not yet “standard”, or they are turning the corner and my move up in my mental tier soon (like Kinetic).  IMO, Tamiya still sets the standard when it comes to quality and fit.  

 

My $0.02

 

Steve

Edited by Falconxlvi
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11 minutes ago, Falconxlvi said:

1.  Tamiya

2.  Zoukei-Mura, Hasegawa, Eduard, Great Wall Hobby

3. Kinetic, Trumpeter, Hobby Boss, Revell, Airfix

4. Everything else

 

On a scale of 1-10, 

10. Smer, Matchbox

11. Zhengdefu

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58 minutes ago, Bounce said:

is there such a thing?

 

trumpeter to snap-tite? 1-10...?

 

I mean, if there's one thing I've learned in my 20 years here (yes, really), it's that yes...but it's situational/contextual. Some kits of specific subjects are going to be better than others and I've heard crap said about certain Tamiya/Hasegawa ones (don't quote me on this I'm mostly just using it as an example). I would say, if there's a specific kit or subject you're interested in do research on that specific one.

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Within the overall ...

... there's the thing, for example, of comparing a Tamiya kit from 1978 which might be in production again with a Tamiya kit designed in 2015.

 

Model companies do that, cycle older kits in and out of production through the decades.

And there is some selling/trading of older molds between companies.

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I don't dispute your opinions or lists, but then again, there are certain old or classic kits that are still arguably better than the latest version.  For example, the old Monogram 1/48th Republic F-105.  It's amazing what you can do with that kit considering all the aftermarket items that are still available.  And then there's the "only game in town" kits.  If you want it in a particular scale...or any scale in some cases...it doesn't matter how old, inaccurate or crappy it is.  One example is the 1/72nd C-46A by Williams Brothers.  Whether or not you can make a good representation out of it depends entirely on what kind of a modelbuilder you are.

 

Of course, if you watch any of the Plasmo videos on YouTube...

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If you’re looking for the best kit of a specific subject, then sometimes it’s best to ask about that specific subject.  For many companies who have been in business for a long time, they can be a mixed bag.  For example Tamiya has a lot of old tool kits, some kits that are a mixture of old and new tool, and some new tool, so saying Tamiya is better than company X may not be correct for specific subjects.  A specific example might be the Tamiya 1/35 M1 Abrams kits.  They made a number of versions over the years, but they all used the old 1982 hull with motorization holes.

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helicopters, WWII american fighters, pacific theater. 

 

Flying boats is my latest want...

 

just knowing the best quality will also steer my wants based on availability here in the classifieds  🙂

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WWII fighters, tamiya and hasegawa are all pretty high quality. Hobby boss has SOME good stuff, but that's on a kit by kit basis. 

 

Floatplanes are a very mixed bag. If you want to build anything other than a catalina, youre going to be delving into all manner of short/limited run kits. Which isn't a bad thing, but just don't be suprised when theres no shake and bake Volmer Sportsman kit 😄

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A lot of my personal interests in the last few years were answered by Zvezda: Both 1/48th WWII fighters and their Yak-130 is fantastic. To top it off, their kits are very affordable. I'm not really into armour, but Zvezda produces top notch kits in 1/35th scale that really is up there with the best.

 

Another company that has really stepped up their game in recent years is ICM. Their 1/48th MiG-25 really stands out for me, but they have also had some great WWII releases in 1/48th and 1/32d scale over the last few years.

 

Despite the issues with their F-14, I feel AMK has consistently produced high quality kits. Their MiG-31 and L-29 probably being the best kits of those aircraft available right now. And I have also heard good things of their later Kfirs, although I haven't seen those myself.

 

Among the manufacturers listed at the top of this thread, I think the difference between Tamiya and the few just below it is not that clear at all. For example, there is a slight philosophical difference between Tamiya and Eduard's new Mk.I Spitfire, and my personal preference between those two goes to the Eduard offering. Similarly, although GWH and Tamiya produce different types of kits, looking at the new GWH Su-27UB as shown in a thread in a different section of this site: I don't see Tamiya easily topping that kit in quality.

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On 9/2/2020 at 9:28 AM, IPMSUSA2 said:

I don't dispute your opinions or lists, but then again, there are certain old or classic kits that are still arguably better than the latest version.  For example, the old Monogram 1/48th Republic F-105.  It's amazing what you can do with that kit considering all the aftermarket items that are still available.  And then there's the "only game in town" kits.  If you want it in a particular scale...or any scale in some cases...it doesn't matter how old, inaccurate or crappy it is.  One example is the 1/72nd C-46A by Williams Brothers.  Whether or not you can make a good representation out of it depends entirely on what kind of a modelbuilder you are.

 

Of course, if you watch any of the Plasmo videos on YouTube...

 

True dat! I'm really into GA and with some of the subjects I really, really want to model (Mitsubishi Mu-2B and Dassault Falcon 50) I have to deal with the only game in town, a kit almost as old as the dang airplane design itself and a kit that I've been told doesn't even include pinhole guides, respectively.

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roger that; and understood.

 

how about tier levels of model quality?

 

tier one operator models  🙂

thru

tier 10 models suitable for your cat to build.

 

the modeller skill level and abilities can be discounted for the sake of this learning exercise of mine(ours)  

 

I've only learned of GWH and other higher tiered model quality manufacturers this year...and never heard of Wingnuts until someone posted their going out of biz news on a gun website!

 

my ignance....

 

george

 

Edited to Add:

 

and getting Tier one group identified is my main interest!  I will lookout for them here

Edited by Bounce
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16 hours ago, Bounce said:

roger that; and understood.

 

how about tier levels of model quality?

 

tier one operator models  🙂

thru

tier 10 models suitable for your cat to build.

 

the modeller skill level and abilities can be discounted for the sake of this learning exercise of mine(ours)  

 

I've only learned of GWH and other higher tiered model quality manufacturers this year...and never heard of Wingnuts until someone posted their going out of biz news on a gun website!

 

my ignance....

 

george

 

Edited to Add:

 

and getting Tier one group identified is my main interest!  I will lookout for them here

 

To be honest here I'm not sure what you're getting at. It's been my observation that there are brands that have better consistency, some more consistently better (Asian brands, for some reason, although it seems like culturally they care a lot more about super exacting precision, i.e. Gunpla etc, also Czech brands but I always say the Czechs just seem to make the best stuff on Earth) some more consistently worse (*some* brands from behind the Iron Curtain although it seems like everyone's pretty much caught up, plus I know I'm going to get flak for this but Airfix, Italeri and Testors seem to be more budget-oriented and therefore other aspects of quality fall behind no matter how well the kit shakes-n-bakes) and then just no consistency at all with kits being all over the place (pretty much everyone else, including Airfix and Italeri again). 

 

I'm tempted to finally pull the trigger on that AModel Falcon 50 and Pilatus just to go through this first-hand.

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On 9/1/2020 at 9:52 PM, Just call me Ray said:

 

I mean, if there's one thing I've learned in my 20 years here (yes, really), it's that yes...but it's situational/contextual. Some kits of specific subjects are going to be better than others and I've heard crap said about certain Tamiya/Hasegawa ones (don't quote me on this I'm mostly just using it as an example). I would say, if there's a specific kit or subject you're interested in do research on that specific one.

 

I agree, I think this is the best approach. It is really important to research each kit. It is almost comical when someone new to the Hobby decides to build the Tamiya 1/48  A-10 ... They blindly buy the Tamiya kit and are very disappointed.

 

It just takes time to get a feel for manufacturers, and to know when kits were released, and to get a feel for what to expect for kits of a given era.  Ask here, check scalemates.com and search for reviews of a given kit. We are in an age where it seems just about any kit has something written about it. 

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37 minutes ago, Kurt H. said:

 

 It is really important to research each kit. I

 

 

This! This is what we're all trying to tell you.

 

You can't scale the companies.

 

You have to look at it one kit at a time. 

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Let me give you a specific example of why

Lets look at the Spitfire Mk I/II in 1/48 scale. You have about 5 READILY available options. New Tamiya, 1990s Tamiya, New Airfix, 1980s Airfix, 19-- Revell/Monogram 

I would rank them from best to worst
2010s Tamiya 
2010s Airfix
80s Airfix
90s Tamiya
Revell/Monogram 

But now lets look at 1/48 P-51D mustangs. Again, there are 5 readily available kits, Eduard, Meng, Tamiya, Airfix, Revell/Monogram

This time we get
Eduard
Meng
Airfix
Tamiya
Revell/Monogram 


Or maybe you wan't a 1/72 Spitfire I/II. Now you can consider Tamiya, 2000s Airfix, 1970s Airfix, Hasegawa,  AZ, 2010s Revell 

Some may disagree, but I think you'll find that in general most modelers would say
AZ
1970s Airfix
2000s Airfix

2010s Revell

Tamiya
Hasegawa


and finally 1/72 P-51D Mustangs:  KP, Academy, Tamiya, Hasegawa, Airfix
Tamiya

KP

Hasegawa
Airfix
Academy


See? They bounce around all over the place. And that's just relative to two iconic fighters in two scales. 
And for Pete's sake; don't listen to anyone who claims Tamiya is the be all end all. They're generally good, but not always the best. 
 

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beginner with high aspirations I would say.  ( not first timer BUT not anywhere near competitve or skilled)

 

I'm building my stash.  My main reason for asking whats the best is to keep an eye open for them in the classified section.

 

I've recently caught up my 1/32 and 1/35 helo stash with lots of help here  🙂

 

Then seeing some of the stash sales I couldn't help myself so I've expanded kit types to include WWII (pacific theater mostly) and some modern aircraft. (korean era USAF fighters and these beautiful russian fighters like the Sukhois...the aesthetics are really attractive to me)

 

And flying boats / float planes seems to be my latest desire.

 

pby catalina!

Edited by Bounce
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19 minutes ago, Bounce said:

 

 

And flying boats / float planes seems to be my latest desire.

 

pby catalina!

 

For the PBY - Academy has a 1/72 series, and in 1/48 Revell released a 1/48th kit in at least 2 variants in the late 90s. It is a modern kit with engraved panel lines. I seem to remember the major concern about the kit is that the rear fuselage and tail is too wide... or something like that. 

 

Minicraft released a 1/72 Mariner in 2013 which looks good in the box but I am uncertain if there are any concerns about the kit. 

 

modelingmadness.com is a good site with over 20 years of kit previews and full build reviews. This can also help you get a good idea of what to expect with a given kit. 

 

It just takes time, I "just know things" because I have been involved in the hobby since the 80s. So I have seen and read about a lot of kits. It is hard to transfer a lifetime of knowledge, so just ask questions, and we are happy to help.

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