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Best kit makes.


savo318

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When i first started modelling i aas building airfix, then went onto tamiya, which i was told was the best out there at the time.

I build armour,afv, and now find i prefer AFV club, bronco and one or two others.

What companies do most of you prefer, im wandering if im avoiding other makes just because ive never built them.

Thanks. 

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I have tended to find Tamiya a little underwhelming for its lack of detail and sometimes over-simplified engineering choices which create their own little problems when painting. Anyone who builds its bikes or cars will know what I mean. But I quite often make a point of building kits from manufacturers which I have not tried because it adds interest and expands my knowledge. Though this policy resulted in discovering just how much I thoroughly dislike Airfix...

I keep a very incomplete summary of my favourites and foes in my "About me" bit, if you're interested.

Edited by Ade H
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People choose kits to build based solely on their make? It takes all kinds... Personally, I choose by subject - sometimes the journey's easy, sometimes it's a challenge. Either way, I get a model of something that I'm interested in, which is, to me, the whole object of the exercise.

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48 minutes ago, savo318 said:

What companies do most of you prefer, im wandering if im avoiding other makes just because ive never built them.

We get this as a question on occasion.  The answer is 'it depends' , some kits get reboxed by other companies,  a company with a long history can have kits from various eras in the catalogue all at the same time.

So just because if from X company, does not guarantee it will be as good as something else you have. Scalemeates can help give an idea of different toolings, but it's not always right.

 

Best policy is to go on a subject by subject basis,  and bearing in mind your personal preferences, what you want from a build,  Tamiya are noted for ease of build, but some simplifications,  some more modern AFV kits have multipart tracks and numerous tiny bits, etc etc.,  or simpler link and length.  You get well engineered and easy to build kits,  which are nit very accurate, or an accurate kit that a pig to build.   Or even cost and availability.

the site search is not great,  but f you add Britmodeller into google search term that works,  though for armour, I believe Missing Lynx is good, if less friendly.

 

Basically, the key is research,   may seems daunting but it fairly easy to find out what is what with some searches and questions, the more you do it, the better you get at knowing reliable sources. 

On here for most armour, a member @Das Abteilung is a very good chap to give you an overview,  but I really recommend having a search about first. Note some reviews, especially on youtube,  know very little about the subject.   

 

HTH

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I agree that tamiya have made there builds over simplified, i myself enjoy a bit of complication. I like a build that is complicated and takes a while.

Ive just taken delivery of a AFV M728 which looks fun..

I cant understand why people like these super quick builds. 

Give me interesting any day of the week. 

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34 minutes ago, savo318 said:

I agree that tamiya have made there builds over simplified, i myself enjoy a bit of complication. I like a build that is complicated and takes a while.

Ive just taken delivery of a AFV M728 which looks fun..

I cant understand why people like these super quick builds. 

Give me interesting any day of the week. 

Some like the build process and others like to paint. If I'm being honest, I love simple builds sometimes. 

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I can only support Troy's point.  This is a question that needs to be asked by vehicle type, or even sub-type/variant, in order to get a sensible and understandable answer.  There is no universal truth.

 

Tamiya are still marketing kits dating back to the 1970s which are poor by current standards although they are a well-regarded brand (which has lost its way lately IMO).  And you can't tell from the marketing or packaging.  Many current Dragon kits go back to the 1990s.  Recent kits by newer manufacturers are no firm guarantee of superior quality or accuracy.

 

Scalemates is a very useful resource as it usually shows the product evolution so that you can see how old it is, when it might have been updated, whether it is a re-box of another brand etc.  They also link to known product reviews and to relevant after-market upgrades and corrections.  They indicate who might have stock and at what price, although this area is less reliable as it changes rapidly.

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Ah, let's not go down that rabbit hole.

 

It's perfectly possible, and reasonable, to form representative general impressions of each manufacturer. I think that this is what the OP wanted, not wishing to second-guess him/her.

 

For example: I would say, if anyone asked, that Ebbro kits are nice; Belkits' are not worth the money. That Eduard's kits are detailed and increasingly precisely engineered; while Airfix's are not. That Tamiya's fit nicely but have meh detail; while RFM's are well detailed and still fit nicely.

 

It's a bell-curve thing: there will always be outliers with which someone can (try to) disprove a viewpoint, but that doesn't make that viewpoint invalid or even low-value.

Edited by Ade H
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Assuming you mean 1/35th Armour, then there are great kits from Miniart (T-34s, T-55s, M3 Grants), Border Models, Amusing Hobby, Rye Field Models (RFM), Trumpeter & HobbyBoss, Das Werke, Academy (Panzer III) Tamiya, Bronco, AFV Club, and more. But, as others have stated you are probably better off deciding on a subject and then asking who makes the best kit. Even then there might not be a clear cut answer. Then again, if your interest is WWII Japanese armour in 1/35 your only option for most subjects is Fine Molds. 
One thing to beware of is the legacy companies like Tamiya and Academy still sell a lot of kits made from tooling that was produced 30, 40, even 50 or more years ago without labeling them as such. A site such has Scalemates is usually helpful in determining the vintage of the kit you are considering. Unlike wine or Scotch, model kit moulds generally do not get better with age.

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