How often Tamiya?

yeah......

i suppose..........

they have been trying to release new kits...

check there website

http://www.tamiyausa.com/ 

Ideally, every kit would have on its box a statement of when it was originally issued. And if you think that's ever going to happen...well, I can get you a terrific price on a sliightly used bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Airfix and Hasegawa sometimes (not always) put the words "New Tool" on their boxes. Of course, that doesn't help much if you happen to be looking at a box that's ten or twenty years old. (Do they ever stop printing "New Tool" on a particular box?)

The classical music recording industry habitually gives the dates of its recordings on the CD boxes. (The fact that a recording was made in 1936 or 2015 is a big factor in the decision to buy a CD - and collectors know that newer isn't necessarily better.)

Another solution: let the modeler look at the kit before buying it. (I've seen web videos that do nothing but scan over the parts inside a box. What a commentary on the workings of the industry.) That might work for those lucky enough to have a good hobby shop within driving distance - assuming that the proprietor would allow people to open his boxes. (I worked for a few years in a hobby shop. We refused to let people take the cellophane off a box before buying it. The boss had a good reason. I remember one case where a "customer" broke into the box of a Tamiya 1/25 Tiger I and absconded with almost all the parts - one sprue at a time, over a period of weeks.)

I like Eduard's and Model Expo's policy: post the instructions on the website. That lets the potential purchaser at least get an accurate idea of the parts count and assembly methods.

Unless somebody passes a law against the model manufacturers' practices, though, I'm afraid we're stuck with them.

Tamiya has gotten a little better lately. Some of the recent reissues the last few years (Sheridan and M60A1 come to mind) have come with a big 2" or so silver sticker on the box, stating something like 'Tamiya classic 70s model kit'. I'm not sure how much more beyond that they can, or should do...

[quote user="Rangatron"]

Hi

"I know that Tamiya announced a SU-76M in around December and they just announced a AMX-13. How often do they release a new kit? How do they decide on what vehicle they will release? Does a newer Tamiya kit mean a better kit?

Thank you"

There is new molding technology coming into use.  However, each model company seems to introduce the new technology at a different time, so it is hard to set a date on what kits use the new technology and which do not.  Airfix and Revell seem to have started releasing kits with the new tech about three years ago.  Not sure when other brands made (or will make) the switch.

All I know is that it is terrific technology that produces detail that used to be available only with resin.  You do not need to spend money for as much aftermarket as you used to.

I don't disagree with Tojo. He's right: most new Tamiya kits come from brand new tooling. But the company is not above reissuing old merchandise. (To be fair Tamiya probably does it less frequently than most of the competition. Revell continues to introduce "new" kits that are just repops of originals from the 1950s.) I guess it can be said that Tamiya reissues usually have additions and corrections. But I'm still mad about that 1/700 Yorktown.

To add on to all that has been said here already, Tamiya can go long periods with no "new tool" releases, then suddenly come out with multiple brand new kits in a short time span. Feast or famine, with very little heads up. 

All that being said, I have no doubt the new SU-76M will be better than the two currently on the market. And the AMX-13. Well it has to be a vast improvement over the old Heller kit. How it will stack up againt the upcoming Takom kit remains to be seen. Both should be sweet.

Again,I wouldn't definitly say NO,I would say NOT ALWAYS,many of the newer Tamiya offerings are new tooled and great kits,Mark IV Male,Jagdtiger,Jagdpanzer IV,Sherman Easy 8,ISU-152 just to name a few.So YES newer sometimes means better.

But as I said above,not always

You're asking several of the Great Unanswerable Questions of the hobby.

Most of the manufacturers announce their forthcoming products at one or more of several big trade shows in Europe and Japan. Sometimes those products come out during the ensuing year; sometimes they don't.

Tamiya often seems to play its cards close to the vest. Sometimes it releases kits out of the blue. If fact it's not unusual for a kit from any manufacturer to appear without advance notice. (Did anybody know in advance that Merit was going to do a series of WWI aircraft in 1/24? I sure didn't - until FSM published a review of the first one.)

How any manufacturer picks its subjects is a carefully guarded secret. Pleas from the modeling community play a role somewhere in the process, but so do quite a few other factors. The dominating consideration, of course, is: "What will sell?"

The one question you've asked that can be answered definitively by an outsider like me is "Does a newer Tamiya kit mean a better kit?" Answer: No. Some Tamiya kits are reissues (of its own kits or Italeri's), sometimes with modifications and sometimes not. Sometimes the company tells us what the modifications are; sometimes not. A few years ago, Tamiya announced with great fanfare that it was releasing several "new" 1/350 battleships. They turned out to be 35-year-old kits in fancy new boxes, at much higher prices. And I'm still torqued about the allegedly "new" 1/700 USS Yorktown (CV5), 99% of which turned out to be a conglomeration of parts from the 1970s-vintage Enterprise and Hornet, both of which suffer from some pretty severe accuracy problems.

Serious scale modelers (except scratch-builders) have a symbiotic relationship with kit manufacturers - and it's a lopsided one. (We need them more than they need us.) The industry in general is mighty close-lipped in its communications with its customers.

Usually newer is better,new tooled,new details,but not always.

One thing newer always means is more money.

Google any kit for reviews,opinions,and build logs for more info on its quality.