This is a very loaded question the last twenty years.

It's more like, "Who makes the best _____(insert subject matter here)?"

There are manufacturers who many of us have never heard of who make the best XYZ.

Fine Molds makes some of the best WW2 IJA armor.

AFV Club makes some of the best modern US Armor.

Want the top Bradley or Abrams? I'm telling you that there are some companies you have never heard of that make the best modern Abrams or Bradley, but their catalogs are limited and they don't have much out there.

So, now take a look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself there isn't a list of "best" model kit companies.

Even if you want to make the best Tiger, there could be a different company for the best early Tiger, mid war Tiger and late war Tiger.

Likewise for the Abrams tank, if you want an initial M1IP, it's one company, a late Cold War M1A1 might be another, a Gulf War or OIF Abrams is another answer.

So, the better question to ask is what do you want to build and ask who makes the best kit of that subject. And remember, some of these kits are 1000+ part uber kits, and some maybe simpler, but well engineered Tamiya kits. Although beware of many Tamiya kits; they have ancient models in new boxes that have been bypassed in the last quater century.

What is the best.. to you?

It's what you bring to the table, so the question is really what kits allow you to do your best work.

Might be Lego; might be shake the box Tamiya; might be a wood ship model kit.

Bill

Yes as a LEGO builder, they must be up there somewhere. Tamiya, Suyata, and my latest build DM.

Well;

         Let's see. There's Tamiya, With old stuff in new boxes and then there's Tamiya(New) with the same quality or better, higher parts count and still that quality that takes  us to their spot on the aisle. There's others of course and the list is to long to go into. I specialize in ships so yes, I do see if I can build it in LEGO first. If I can, then it's worth the scratch Building time to create.

        In other words, even limited run in a different scale that I don't like for instance is fair game, just once. If the enjoyment factor is still there, then another of the company's products will find it's way to my bench.

Tamiya is still top notch, but Trumpeter is very close.  Academy is nice,and usually a bit cheaper.  ICM in recent years has bubbled up and is now even with Academy, maybe even a bit ahead.  I dont do much armor, so can't comment on that genre, but both Academy and Aeosihima make nice ship kits at rrerasonable prices.  So does Airfix in the last few years- big difference, but you have to verify a kit is a new mold.

Depends on the kit your interested in Google whatever kit your interested in for build blogs or build reviews.

Every manufacturer has good and bad kits.

Also good and bad could be subjective.

First off, I'd like to say " Welcome Back" to the greatest hobby ever!  This forum will prove to be a source or inspiration and assistance.  Regarding your topic, I agree with everything that everyone has mentioned and I just wanted to add one more component to the mix, customer relations.  I recently posted a question on this forum about getting a lost part from a model that I'm currently building.  It was suggested that I contact Tamiya USA, which I did, and last week I received the missing part and wasn't charged for it! In the past I tried purchasing some missing parts from Trumpeter(Stevens International) and got nowhere with them.  I am now a lifetime fan of Tamiya models.  To me a big part is how willing is a company willing to stand behind their products.

tjs

PatW

Yes as a LEGO builder, they must be up there somewhere. Tamiya, Suyata, and my latest build DM.

When the youngest was growing up, I started digging through tubs and totes looking for the old Lego sets. He was mainly into Star Wars Clone Wars sets. I bought a bunch of sets for him, many on clearance.

Then I started seeing Star Wars sets from "my" movies (the original, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi). My son wasn't interested in those, so I kept them for myself. Several of these old sets are worth quite a bit today.

Every company has it's good points and bad points, and usually more of one than the other. My personal Top Five favorites are....

1) Tamiya - still the mothership to me in almost all respects simply for the quality of fit in almost all of their kits and the low-stress ease of build it generates; they might not have the most accurate of the tiniest details but that means very little to me; if Tamiya has a negative right now then it's that they're currently charging too much for their older kits - I don't mind spending $70 to $100 for their new ones but anything above $50 for their prior to the mid-1990's kits is unjustifiable IMO, even with today's inflation issues, and unfortunately right now it seems there are very few Tamiya armor items that are under $50 each in my neck of the woods

2) Academy - this one is a bit of surprise to me too but Academy's had a major increase in quality over the last 10 years; their newer kits are very good, pretty much on a par with Tamiya; I recommend doing a search on Scalemates for the history of their kits because there's a strong chance that the new box might contain one of their older items - that's not a huge negative for their aircraft for the most part but I wouldn't touch an Academy armor kit from the 1980's or 90's with a ten-foot pole; their new ones though? I recommend them almost anytime, not just for their improved quality but because right now they're also providing some of the most affordable products right now

3) Takom - very good as well; their armor kits are great, with mostly easy building and a higher degree of small detail than Tamiya; their only real negative IMO is some of the odd little curveballs they'll throw into a kit, like that silly front armor plate for their Jadgtiger that requires some surgery on the surrounding plastic in order to get it to "snap" in correctly, or the multi-piece lower hull on their Panthers that can be tricky to align properly; these are small negatives though compared to the overall quality of their product, and they're obviously a very creative company too as shown by their recent releases of large-scale warship gun turrets; Takom has a great future ahead of them if they continue along this path

4) Hasegawa - I haven't built one in quite a while as they seem to have disappeared for the most part from the stores in my area, but I don't remember having much of any difficulty with a Hasegawa build; their overall list of WW2 aircraft is impressively huge, with a very good selection in 1/32 and a seemingly endless selection in 1/48; from what I recall from my builds the only real negative Hasegawa has is that the interior details of their cockpits were kind of bland but this is kind of inconsequential given how little can be seen of a 1/48 cockpit when the canopy is glued shut or if a pilot figure is added; very good company overall IMO

5) Trumpeter/Hobby Boss - putting both together as I believe they are both owned by the same overall company; their huge selection to choose from for armor/aircraft/ships is their main strength, even more so considering that they don't hesitate in putting out an oddball item that the other companies simply won't issue - a good example would be the very nice and, more importantly, modern A-4 Skyhawks or P-61 Black Widows from Hobby Boss; there might be some accuracy issues but the builds are mostly without any really bad issues and the end product typically turns out to be quite nice; in the case of a Trumpeter jet aircraft though I will build a 1/48 before a 1/32 one because their larger planes tend towards flimsiness in the landing gear; Trumpeter's armor kits are usually very good though, with the only real problem I ever had with them was their excessively small detailed items that would have been better off as molded-on instead; Trumpeter seems also to be the leader in terms of the putting out the popular fictional Paper Panzers, which are usually fun enough to build, and no other company it seems has really stepped up to challenge their dominance in wheeled AFVs either

Other companies....

- Bandai/Fine Molds/Mobius/Pegasus all have a lot of very good sci-fi kits, especially Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, and I'd recommend them to anyone

- I can't recommend AMT/Round 2/Polar Lights to anyone for Star Trek kits,or MPC for Star Wars; I find these kits to be too expensive for the poor quality and frustrating builds; the molds for the most part are simply too old & create a wildly inferior product, and they are long overdue for retirement & replacement

- Italeri: built a few of them but have no plans to build one of them again; simply put the poor fits and odd soft plastic they use are too frustrating to deal with, which is a shame given their massive catalogue of available items; if you can find an old Italeri in their old-style boxes then it might be worth a chance, but do your homework on Scalemates first for their "new" boxings because the odds are good that it's another poor quality molding that hasn't been improved or revised in years

- Revell: I'd build the new (last ten years or so) Rev of Germany or old original-box Revell/Monograms in a heartbeat but I'd be very careful in buying any Revell USA products as the odds are too great that it's just another ancient & poor quality molding that's never been improved put in a new box; it's just my opinion but dealing with things like raised panel lines, wildly excessive flash, and blobby formless details just isn't worth it when there are far better options available from other companies who have equally massive catalogues and competitive pricing; I have as much nostalgic love for Revell as any other older modeler, based on childhood memories, but my willingness to go retro only goes so far; they're still selling those absolutely godawful 1/48 P-61 Black Widow and 1/32 Corsair models, and at today's higher prices too? c'mon, that's just ripping off your customers and they know it

- Dragon: I really liked their massive selection of German WW2 vehicles, but I can't think of a single Dragon kit I built that didn't have some sort of really bad fit problem; their overall level of detail is usually very good but having a build go bad due to a terrible fitting piece or because of their mistake-ridden instructions is just too frustrating; Dragon no longer sells in stores in my area for some reason, which I assume means that they were badly overcharging the distributors and retailers for the "privilege" of having Dragon products on their shelves; I can't say I miss them all that much and I see no reason to order online from a manufacturer who apparently has such an arrogant attitude towards customers in North America

These are all just my musings on the subject. I'm older now and tend to get all a-ramblin' on subjects like this. 

Just the same Rob, although not having LEGO as a 1950's child. My boys had it and I was in constant trouble with them 'borrowing' it to make weird and wonderful things!

Tamiya has been overall great for the long term, on ocassion has had a clinker or two, but always buildable. Their  1:48th P-38 that came out a couple of years ago is a stellar example of precision fit and quality materials.

Airfix for me is somewhat improved, but still lacking in accuracy and shape to some extent.

Revell did a fine job with the two 1:72 bombers I built, the B-17 and the Lancaster. I enjoyed them really well, I'm of a very advanced age and model building isn't as easy as it was, but those kits went together so precisely that I had next to no troubles.

Academy has improved greatly, precision fit and accuracy is much appreciated. I built their 1:72 F-4 and it went together beautifully. Zero filler needed, which is a big plus for me.

KeithRob

My question is who is on top these days? . ."quality-wise"   I know very little of the newer makers.   I'm looking forward to your answers.   Keith

Another issue I forgot to mention is that many companies rebox other company's kits. Tamiya has several models that are originally Italeri kits along with some extra Tamiya parts.

Many of Zvezda kits were once Dragon or Italeri kits. Some Italeri kits were once Peerless Max kits of the 60s and 70s. Revell of Germany boxes all of the aforementioned kits themselves as well as old Monogram and Revell USA kits.

With smart phones in everyone's pockets, it is always worth a few minutes to check out the heritage of a model kit before sinking $30, $40 or $50 or more into a model kit.

Welcome back Keith. I don't really have a "Top 5". Most all manufacturers have both good and bad kits. I usually Google around looking for reviews or articles on the model I'm interested in. Another site you should have in your Favorites list is www.scalemates.com This site has an amazing database of almost every kit ever made. Here you can search for a specific model, aircraft, afv, etc. You can also find when the model was released initially and by what company. They give you a list of reviews if the exist, shops that are selling the kit and at what price and a list of accessories like decals, PE, etc.

I had some decals in a Trumpter F/A-18F kit that had some severe smudging on some of the black areas. I contacted the retailer and they managed to get me a new set of decals from Trumpeter. Revell used to be very good with replacement parts. I have also got replacement parts from Kinetic with little hassel.

Thank you.

Thanks so much. . . a lot of good information here.  Like I said I really have no idea after having been out of the model-building loop for several decades.  This is a big help.  

I'd hesitate to say any one company is the best, they all have their pluses and minuses these days, but if I had to list some of my current favorites, they would be (in no particular order):

• Tamiya
• Trumpeter
• Takom
• Dragon
• Revell
• MiniArt

Trumpeter kits can be challenging with many small parts and occasional frustrating fits, but I love opening a box with a pile of sprues knowing that with patience, I can make a pretty sweet model.

The answers given on this tread are very welcoming since it helps a modeler with limited experience to select the best manufacturer that best meets the experience level of the modeler.

But I, for one, am at a disadvantage, the reason for this is my chosen field of modeling is at the square riggers of the past, ships like the US Constitution, the HMS Beagle, La Pinta and others. I realize that most modelers have a focus on recent battleships, car and planes and there are very artistic and beautiful models to be made of these type of models.

I, for one, at this time, prefer wooden sail ships, the older and bigger, the better. So far I have build 3 wooden ships The Pinta, by Artesania Latina, which surfers from hard to follow documentation, The HMS Beagle (It is not finished yet. Check the build log) from Occre, that has good documentation, but they could do better and also the Dapper Tom from Model Shipways, supposedly a beguines model. The Dapper Tom is not a difficult model, the problem lays in the poor documentation that comes with it, the manufacture claims this is a beginners model, but, the documentation is written for some one with a large knowledge of nautical terms and how to put it together and do the rigging of the ship.

Since my experience in building wood models is still limited, it would be very helpful if some of the members experienced in the building of wood ship models were to discuss what manufactures produce the best model with the best documentation. This info would be very valuable for someone at my experience level when the time comes to select the next model to build.

Thanks again:

Joe

 Hi Joe!

       I have built a few over the years until I started doing the history of wood ski type boats out of solid wood. I definitely think that Bluejacket, to me, had the best kits. I have built Occre and also certain ones in plastic. My go to here was the smaller scaled Heller kits.

       I got away from the kits when I started doing R.C.vessels. But, I have done three sailing Yachts in R.C.( They are called "Pond Yachts" by some folks) for the fun of it. They were so much fun to create. Again, there I bought Kits from Occre and Bluejacket. I only did one solid hull Cup Yacht out of mahogany as a showpiece. So I chose a modified BlueNose type. The wood actually came from wood salvaged from real boats which I then used on All my wood from there on out.

       If you have questions, Maybe I can help. I cannot send photos as I do not have either a Camera Now, or the vessels anymore(Major Downsize after second wife's Death.) I can't live alone because of health issues. So space is extremely limited now. But , just ask and I will try to answer or get the answer for you!

MIDWEST wood ship kits are topnotch.  Reasonably priced, high quality, easy to build with great instructions.  The only negative is that they are all rather small craft- I believe the largest is a two-mast schooner.  They make a beautiful Cheasapeke Trawler,

Model Shipways WILLIE BENNETT SKIPJACK 1:32 SCALE

My focus is strictly AFV models. All manufacturers have a couple of suboptimal kits floating around. Generally, best overall quality.

Tier 1 

Tamiya - Best build experiences but not necessarily the most detailed. Outstanding customer service.

Ryefield Models - Excellent build experiences and outstanding detail. Rising star

Meng - Excellent build experiences and outstanding detail. Rising star

Academy - newer kits over the last ~5 years or so only. Excellent build, well engineered a litte short on detail. Rising star.

Asuka - Rising star.

There are also a few brands that are grossly overrated in my experience.  They have excellent subject matter choices but consistently fail to deliver good instructions or good fit or good quality.

Dragon/DML - have built 30 or 40 of their kits since the late 1980's. Dragon consistently sucks (new or old) as a build experience even when the model turns out nice. Premium prices plus terrible customer service are other Dragon characteristics.

Takom - the one new Takom kit, I've completed was a dumpster fire of poorly designed and badly fitting parts. Garbage on par with what one would expect from the 1970's or 1980's. Poor mold quality. Poor kit design. Poor instructions. However, Takom does offer interesting subject matter.

Definitely research any kit before buying it regardless of manufacturer.

thanks for the info.   Greatly appreciated.

Even better companies have their own dogs. Tamiya has a good number of "poor" kits that have been in production for 40 some odd years.

AFV Club created some Taiwanese military kits by borrowing base kits from Academy and adding their own tooled conversions.

Gunze Sangyo created a pseudo USMC Desert Storm M60A1 RISE/Passive with ERA by taking the Esci M60A1 and adding their own white metal conversion parts. It gets you about 90-95% there.