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New 1/48 Tamiya Spitfire Mk.I?


k5054nz

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15 hours ago, Scooby said:

With the fuselage insert what options does that give Tamiya for other variants? Or did they only design it this way to depict the cockpit door open or closed?

If they are planning a V family off the same basic CAD then it might be the differerent windcreen mounting for internal/external armour screens, though it's a big old insert for such a small change

 

Or perhaps a version with the relevant fuselage area in transparent plastic to show off all the new detail.

Edited by Work In Progress
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3 hours ago, Work In Progress said:

If they are planning a V family off the same basic CAD then it might be the differerent windcreen mounting for internal/external armour screens, though it's a big old insert for such a small change

 

Or perhaps a version with the relevant fuselage area in transparent plastic to show off all the new detail.

It’s for an open and closed canopy version, much like the 1/32 Corsair. It changes the sliding rail configuration.

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 Check out the windscreen armor on Tamiya's new 1/48 scale Spitfire Mark I...

 

30060351827_733cfe6a74_h.jpg

 

I have many Spitfire references but I was not aware of this detail.  After checking my photo files I found a photo of LZ-N, R6800 with this type of armored windscreen.  

 

44085346465_f9b9818e2c_h.jpg

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At the moment there is no reason to suspect this new tool has shape issues.

 

As for the experts on the original Tamiya release of '93, that is up to them why they never mentioned it.  Maybe some didn't notice, others kept quiet to not affect sales??

 

regards,

Jack

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That’s the first version of the factory rear view mirror housing bolted onto the standard canopy/windscreen frame.  Nothing unusual there, just a detail that no other kit manufacturer has ever bothered to reproduce is all.  It is not technically correct for P9495 (DW-K), although the difference is slight in 1/48.  P9495’s housing was the MU type, which was slightly shorter in overall length.

 

What I find interesting is that every piece that goes into assembling the wings is contained on a separate sprue, which means we could see a Mk.Vb/c with a simple change of sprue. Additionally, the lower cowling is molded on a gated sub-sprue off one end of one of the other main sprues, with nothing on the opposite end where a gate is closed.  That tells me that a Vokes filter on that gated off area is in the offing, again pointing to a Mk.Vb/c.

 

 

Edited by Sonoran
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8 hours ago, JackG said:

At the moment there is no reason to suspect this new tool has shape issues.

 

As for the experts on the original Tamiya release of '93, that is up to them why they never mentioned it.  Maybe some didn't notice, others kept quiet to not affect sales??

 

regards,

Jack

Tamiya's Spitfires has always been known for having cowling shape issues as well has short fuselages in both scale. You don't have to be an expert to notice it. Simply look at pictures.

 

Yes Tamiya San can also have mishaps !

 

Most of the builders don't care for that just because the kit is easy to build...right or wrong and because Tamiya is written on the box !.

 

Madcop.

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17 hours ago, Work In Progress said:

If they are planning a V family off the same basic CAD then it might be the differerent windcreen mounting for internal/external armour screens, though it's a big old insert for such a small change

 

Or perhaps a version with the relevant fuselage area in transparent plastic to show off all the new detail.

Lets hope they are planning a Mk.V and that they give us a Vc as well. A Mk.I is nice but very limited colour scheme, plenty of nice Vc's to do though.

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12 hours ago, Schweinebacke said:

I bought and built   the original MK 1 because the reviews  were enthusiastic. at the time.  And these came from experts. So I dont understand why  suddenly this kit has shape issues ? Can one still rely on expert reviews?

There are two types of experts.

 

The experts that will tell you how a kit glues together. They will most often poohpooh the kits shape issues, or ignore them completely. This happened with Eduard's original Bf-109G release. They were 109 Experten too! They just glossed over the issues. Same goes for Tamyia's Wildcat which is bloated, but from a side view it lines up perfectly with scale plans. (Eduard went back to the drawing board and made a really nice Bf-109G which still has some minor shape problems. Nothing that's a deal breaker for me.)

 

The second expert usually is reviewing the kit that they purchased. They're passionate about accuracy and trying to see how well a scale kit matches reality. When you google kit reviews you'll learn who these folks are. Commentary on their reviews can get nasty, but take time to look at the kit and judge for yourself how accurate the kit is. Remember no kit is perfect. Decide if you want to invest your time in building the kit. 

 

I once purchased the Hobby Boss MiG-17 because the reviewer praised the kit. Once I got the kit it was obvious that the nose has some severe shape issues. Live and learn. Same for the Hobby Boss F-14 - all the reviews called it the best F-14 yet! But the kit has problems in the intakes. They are a little warped. I'm building it anyway. But it really would have been nice if the reviewer took time to see the kits shortcomings before raving about it.

 

Yes, I've also built the old skool Tamiya Spitfire and never knew it had issues. Now I can see what's wrong with the kit. As a plastic kit it just falls together. In fact you can build it in a weekend, but now there's a better replacement on the way. Which will also shake and bake. It's what Tamiya is known for.

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13 hours ago, Schweinebacke said:

I bought and built   the original MK 1 because the reviews  were enthusiastic. at the time.  And these came from experts. So I dont understand why  suddenly this kit has shape issues ? Can one still rely on expert reviews?

 

10 hours ago, JackG said:

At the moment there is no reason to suspect this new tool has shape issues.

 

As for the experts on the original Tamiya release of '93, that is up to them why they never mentioned it.  Maybe some didn't notice, others kept quiet to not affect sales??

 

regards,

Jack

In 1993 there was no web, no network that can now act as a "hive mind", no easy way to cross reference data, such as what drawings are reliable etc

 

I have read a massive amount of tosh on Spitfire kits on the web, but not much about ways to fix kits "with some modelling skill", without getting into the realms of some kits getting a really bad rep they don't deserve, I've seen the same rubbish trotted out regularly about the 48th Special Hobby kits, even after posting a detailed critique and fix....

 

And, regarding the old tool Tamiya Spitfire, it's not really hard to fix, once you understand the problems, 

Here's the fuselage critique and fix

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234968337-two-148-mkvb-spitfires-tamiya-and-airfix-new-spitfire-collection-expansion-project-finished-photos-now-in-the-rfi-section-080615/&page=3

If the photos don't show, use a Photobucket embed fix

 

I'm not claiming to be an expert, but a fix is a lot easier if you have the "recipe" and I get irritated by the "such and such" is wrong with X kit, without taking time to document the problem.

So, I have tried to show my reasoning and methodology, to allow for questions and criticism. 

 

Again, what may greatly offend on your pet subject maybe of no consequence to a casual builder.

In the case of old tool Tamiya, I was very impressed at its engineering,  before I hacked it up.... And, while it's a chore, i thought the surface detail was better than the new tool Airfix, and it seems mostly in the right places, so not a waste of time to do the corrections if you can preserve the surface, which you can with care.

 

Regarding the old chestnut of "there is no perfect kit" which seems to trotted out when kit criticism comes up, I've been meaning to add a significant line "no kit is perfect, but some are less imperfect than others"

 

Right, I now must do some far less amusing  domestic chores.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

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IIRC, that mirror type was introduced on R6799*. I'll have to dig out the old SAM article on early Spitfires, as it's a goldmine of information on the subject.

 

Edit: it (being the first production-fitted mirror) was introduced on R6800-6803 and R6880 onwards according to the SAM November 1982 article.

 

 

Cheers,

Mark.

Edited by lasermonkey
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I have to say, I'm kind of amazed that "new tool 1/48 Spitfire from Tamiya" hasn't generated more buzz.  We already knew Airfix were releasing an XIV, yet that thread's up to 7 pages here already.  Tamiya's announcement was a surprise, yet this thread's only 2 pages.  Weird.

 

And as for contemporary magazine reviews, when Academy released their XIV a couple of years later, it too had glowing reviews - beautiful detail and easy to build.  Most magazine reviewers (especially at that time) are concerned with building to a deadline, not the intricate shapes of the kit in question.  It's the reason why you'll see a good deal of commentary on fit, or detail, but accuracy largely amounts to a throwaway "it's about the same length and span as published dimensions". 

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1 hour ago, ICMF said:

I have to say, I'm kind of amazed that "new tool 1/48 Spitfire from Tamiya" hasn't generated more buzz.  We already knew Airfix were releasing an XIV, yet that thread's up to 7 pages here already.  Tamiya's announcement was a surprise, yet this thread's only 2 pages.  Weird.

 

 

Not really.

 

Tamiya approach releases with a ‘here is what we’re releasing’ Normally at one of the Japanese’s hobby shows.  In this case we get a Spitfire to the standard of the recent Ki-61 and 109 G-6... With completed tooling and a release date not too far away.

 

Airfix approach releases with more of an emphasis of working over Social Media. Hence teasers of ‘dimensional tables’ links to work bench etc... The announcement is of the ‘intent to release’ a kit at some point in the future. As it progresses there will be further progress reports which allow the marketing machine to milk the release and build up the ‘hype’ for the kit. 

 

So the 7 pages of forum comments is not surprising as that’s what the marketing campaign is supposed to produce. 

 

I’m personally now in a quandary as I have a ‘old’ Tamiya mk1 spitfire about 20% finished.. Do I push on or wait for the new kit?

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1 hour ago, Graham T said:

Have to ask & it's a while since I built it but what was wrong with the old tooling!?

As a simple to build reasonably detailed kit not much. It was the first of the ‘modern 1/48’ Tamiya releases and is pretty much the kit that coined the ‘shake n bake’ moniker.

 

When completed it looks like a Spitfire... However it does have some shape issues if you are a Spitfire Purist.

 

Tamiya have refined a lot of what they do since they released this kit so the new one will undoubtedly be an improvement.

if they follow previous form we’ll get a MkV at some point in the future..

 

 

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