Top of the line companies?

It's predictable:

Tamiya

Trumpeter

Hobby Boss- I'd look for one.

Revell

Probably the best bet is Revell for 1/4 the cost of one Tamiya.

EdGrune

Caveat emptor

A Tamiya boxing is not a guarantee of "Tamiya Engineering and Quality".    Tamiya has reboxed the moldings of other companies,  notably Italieri and Skywave/PitRoad.

If it matters to you, a bit or research may be in order.   A question posted here or on other online boards may answer questions about the pedigree of kits.

 

Very true. I know that the Tamiya 1/72 f-14A is actually a Italeri re pop and not a very good one according to some of the reviews.

Sprue-ce Goose

 

 

GMorrison

Is that the big vac formed one, Don? Oh I hated that thing. Or maybe I'm thinking of the Zeppelin from Hawk.

 

 

 

 

GM:

 You are thinking of the old HAWK vac formed incarnation of the Graf Zeppelin.

Lindberg released a styrene version of the Graf Zeppelin a few years ago.

The Round Two / 1970s era AMT USS Acron/ Macon kit is entirely moulded styrene; a very out of scale fabric surface on the main " hull " halves and styrene "blobs " for the outrigger engines.

I just bought a re-release of the USS Acron/ Macon kit expecting to sand down the "fabric" detail and make new engines and mounts.

 

 

Those aren't the the engines.  The Akron had the engines inside, with complex prop shafts that came outside to a right-angle gear box.  The prop shafts themselves are not too bad, but the supports for the shafts are way to large and course. I intend to keep the shafts, but scratch all the supports.  Likewise the supplementary flying surfaces on the control surfaces are hugely out of scale and will be scratched.  The big supports for the stabilizers were apparently deleted when the thing was actually built, so I am just omitting those and filling the mounting holes.

Caveat emptor

A Tamiya boxing is not a guarantee of "Tamiya Engineering and Quality".    Tamiya has reboxed the moldings of other companies,  notably Italieri and Skywave/PitRoad.

If it matters to you, a bit or research may be in order.   A question posted here or on other online boards may answer questions about the pedigree of kits.

I only have 1 TriStar armor kit. It has great detail, but looks like it will take some time to build. I do like the separate rubber tires. 

Not much to add for I have little outside of Dragon, Tamiya and Hasegawa.

HobbyBoss is good, i think they are aligned with Trumpeter. Those two are good for JGSDF and PLA stuff. Aoshima has nice OTS JGSDF stuff. i will be doing a PATRIOT system.  Toxso is new with few kits in OTS but the ones they have are really nice. i am working on a SCUD. 

try a Glenco kit. i started a FROG and really want to finish it but the plastic is awful to work with. i will finish it since i seem to have fallen down the SSM, SAM hole.

I don't have much experience beyond ships, but I'd certainly put Eduard, Wingnut Wings, and the best Trumpeter kits in the top tier. The detail on the most recent Trumpeter 1/700 kits has been downright mind-boggling.

A strong competitor is the Chinese manufacturer Flyhawk. It hasn't made many kits, but the few it makes are outstanding.

plasticjunkie

Yes the Airfix line has some really nice new moldings out too. Forgot about those.

 

GMorrison

Is that the big vac formed one, Don? Oh I hated that thing. Or maybe I'm thinking of the Zeppelin from Hawk.

 

GM:

 You are thinking of the old HAWK vac formed incarnation of the Graf Zeppelin.

Lindberg released a styrene version of the Graf Zeppelin a few years ago.

The Round Two / 1970s era AMT USS Acron/ Macon kit is entirely moulded styrene; a very out of scale fabric surface on the main " hull " halves and styrene "blobs " for the outrigger engines.

I just bought a re-release of the USS Acron/ Macon kit expecting to sand down the "fabric" detail and make new engines and mounts.

Is that the big vac formed one, Don? Oh I hated that thing. Or maybe I'm thinking of the Zeppelin from Hawk.

I am currently building a re-released old kit, Lindberg's USS Akron airship.  Boy, if you want to see how far the technology of kit manufacturing has advanced, try one of those repopped really old kits!

I do not see anyone match Tamiya.Trumpeter comes close .Tamiya needs more selection of models instead on focusing on 1/32 be scale detail projects every 4 years.

Yes the Airfix line has some really nice new moldings out too. Forgot about those.

Wing Nuts if you like WW1 aircraft. Pricey, yet very well put together.

Both Revell and Airfix have new molding technologies that make their latest kits great quality, even if their prices are not "high end."

Thanks for the replies. I'll check them out. They all look good

The ones I consider in the Rolls Royce category are Wingnut Wings and Zuoukei Mura. Both make gorgeous museum quality kits.

Revell of Germany  is putting out some beautiful kits in 1/32 scale for under $30 and comparable in detail to a highers priced one as in Trumpeter. 

Another good brand is Eduard. Most of their kits are gems with all pe included for a super detailed model at a reasonable price.

You can find gems and dogs among all of the companies,but I also trust Hasegawa,I have built  some Trumpeter and Great Wall,but your best bet is to Google the particular kit that you are interested in for reviews and build logs.

meng is a newer competitor in armor and tons ,and tons of parts on many