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Top super tomcat GWH, AMK or Tamiya


rkp111

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Any thoughts?

Looking to add one to the collection, thinking AMk mainly because of the not so great decals from the other two. I'm working on GWH su 35 and it is a nice kit but has quite a few drawbacks, mainly seam lines. Any input will greatly be appreciated

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Well the first question to ask is what're you looking to build, an A, B, or a D?  I'm assuming you're referring to 1/48 as the AMK is only that scale.

 

The GWH kit isn't even out yet so there's no opinion you can find anywhere or ask anyone about it. That leaves just the AMK and Tamiya kits, which would point this whole exercise to modelling a D.

 

The Tamiya is already a known quantity, there are numerous builds of absolutely stunning depictions of it, and tons of reading material as far as accuracy and details if you do a simple search here or an online search engine.

 

The AMK is still new, offers a lot of more fine details the Tamiya doesn't, has the dirty wings, and will continue to perplex most of the community as to it's worth regardless of who made it. IMHO the only thing that has sparked any value to me of it is just the wings, but I don't have one so I can't speak about it overall. 

 

When it comes down to it, just as with any subject I believe, you the individual modeller, has to form your own opinion on what you're looking for in a kit. Accuracy? Ease of build? Details? Cost? Put all that together and it should lead you to the answer.

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17 hours ago, rkp111 said:

Any thoughts?

Looking to add one to the collection, thinking AMk mainly because of the not so great decals from the other two. I'm working on GWH su 35 and it is a nice kit but has quite a few drawbacks, mainly seam lines. Any input will greatly be appreciated

If you have the money to spend on any of the kits, then you can hopefully afford an aftermarket decal sheet, of which there are plenty. As for seam lines, I've never come across any kit that didn't have them, or are the seams on the GWH kit something special?

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For pure ease of building, accuracy, and general feel-good factor, you simply can't beat the Tamiya kit.  GWH's kit is likely to be very nice as well.  I'm not impressed with AMK's efforts.  Their panel lines are far too deep and prominent for my taste, and there is the well documented fat rear end on their Tomcat, along with other accuracy issues that they didn't (or couldn't afford to) correct.

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Second the last post:

If you strife for accuracy in shape, then you are only left with Tamiya.

If you can live with the shape issues of the AMK and want to do her with dirty wings then you are only left with that option at the moment or resort to the good ol' Hasegawa. Has shape issues as well but not as hard to correct (if possible at all) as AMK.

Edited by bushande
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On 1/7/2020 at 1:15 AM, rkp111 said:

Any thoughts?

Looking to add one to the collection, thinking AMk mainly because of the not so great decals from the other two. I'm working on GWH su 35 and it is a nice kit but has quite a few drawbacks, mainly seam lines. Any input will greatly be appreciated

 

Save yourself  nervous breakdowns, money and time, buy the Tamiya kit or wait for the GWH's one.

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Tamiya for being simple while beautiful. And gives you the option for the swingy-wingy-thingy. Detail-wise I actually prefer the AMK to the Tamiya for what it offers out of the box as well as the scope for additional details (for instance, the separate nose makes it easier for me to add the spare radar set), but I can't fault the Tamiya for overall niceness. That being said, I'm still waiting for what GWH will (hopefully) be bringing to the party this year. 

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10 hours ago, NorthBayKid said:

 

Thanks for posting this ! It is a very good description of the problems, unfortunately confirms what others had noticed when the CAD drawings were first shown.

I would only disagree with the author where he mentions that kits in the '70s were accurate.. some sure were but others were sure not 😁

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On 14/01/2020 at 01:09, NorthBayKid said:

I have had a look at the link (thx for posting)

 

My kit has a lot of the same problems,  The ladder on the nose cone thread is completely short shot on mine, also the intake trunk has that strange line down it which appears raised when I run my nail down it. My canopy frame was also broken, this is down to it being badly put in the box I think. Those closed exhausts are very basic.

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