Manufacturer Evaluation

QUOTE: Originally posted by PSUMike Regarding Tamiya vs. Hasegawa in the 1/48th lineup, I took Tamiya's lack of parts compared to Hasegawa to mean less detailed. I built at least 4 Tamiya planes and was always surprised at the simplicity of putting them together.

Ease of putting together is VERY far from being less detailed. It just means that the kit has been more thoughtfully engineered. Maybe I am just biased. I came from a country where RM kits are expensive yet not worth the money and Tamiya kits are ALOT nicer but on the same price range. But wherever I go, Hasegawa kits are still expensive even tho they are on tehe same quality level as Tamiya's. Also, I dislike Hasegawa's marketing strategy about selling ordnance in a separate box. It is clearly a company that only aims to earn money and not make the poor modeler's life easier.

And also, from where I came from, Academy kits are alot cheaper than any of these and the Hobbycraft range wasn't even avaible. =D

When I first started in modeling, I built revell monogram kits, since they were popular in stores. But when I entered a hobby shop and noticed the Japanese kits, I was IMPRESSED. Even before opening the box, I knew the quality is the best in the world.

I think Hasegawa is the best overall. All of its kits are manufactured in Japan and I can't think of any bad points.

Tamiya is more expensive than Hasegawa which is bad. I don't really think their quality is that much better than Hasegawa, it's like comparing Honda to Toyota. Beside, their decal is way too thick. And the decal in their relative recent F4 kits simply sucks.

Also, when it comes to Japanese planes, Hasegawa kicks Tamiya's butts. They have more more selections.

I have to admit Tamiya makes the best armor and motorcycle kits and car kits, but the price is overrated. Especially if you buy it in hobby shop.

Blackwolfscd,

I saw your comment about the Acurate Minatures B-25 cowls and agree with you. I thought they looked wrong also. I haven't built mine yet but will definitely do something about the engine cowls when I do.

I think the main thing is how you feel about the kit in front of you. Most companies have the good, the bad, and the only game in town. Personal preference is the biggest factor. I get in hot water when I point out that I'm less than thrilled with Tamiya's panel lines. I know they are catering to the consumer as we put a lot of value in recessed panel lines that take washs well. I just can't get past a thumb wide gap that is trying to replicate two flush panels. Yes they fall together and yes they are correctly shaped but my preferances keep me from buying them. Who knows maybe they have changed. This is just my personal opinion, so don't give it much weight(heck I like vacuforms).

Hmm... Guess I'll give my opinion too... In my opinion anyone looking for a low price good quality kit (WW2) should be looking for ARII(Otaki) kits.... The parts are free of flash and warps and fit perfectly with lil need for putty and sanding.. the kits also come with pilot figs and added bonuses... However one cant deny the exceptional quality of Hasegawa kits...

Italeri kits aint that bad either but their decals leave a lot to be desired at times......

Tamiya kits are fantastic too but they seem to be remaking Italeri kits at the 1/72 scale!!

Hobby Craft kits.... well I built their Bf109 and loved it .. to make a decision would therefore be unfair... but I feel like buying more of their kits!

Airfix kits so far have given me hell!! Their fit can be disastrous and their figures have flash all over their body... Sanding becomes an SOP(Standard operational procedure) The B-25 has parts falling all over the place even though I only lifted the sprue from the box!! So It has been quite discouraging!! So it lies in my cupboard gathering dust!!

Academy kits are a pleasure to build! They always fit well and have parts that are perfect with no flash etc... Their MiG 29 was fantastic... and would've made a fine display had I not botched up the paint job!!! The ejector seat however looks like a bus driver seat! The decals seem extra delicate and are a bit tough to handle at times... but hey.. no one is perfect!!

I have yet to try ICM and trumpeter.... The ICM Spitfire 1/48 looks really impressive and can be built in three to 4 versions including the USAF version!! Waiting for the Armyto pay me so I can buy it ASAP!! hahaha!!!


Lonewolf 1seven....
Reboxed kits as far as I have seen have the same aircraft with the same markings.... The 1/72 Tamiyas are one such example.. their aircraft have the same decals and sprue structure as the Italeri kits... I aint no expert... but this is what I think...

By the way, I wasn't flaming!!! LOL

Anyhoo, mold swapping has happened for as long as there have been molds to swap.

Speaking of Academy, I've recently learned that their boxings of the Hobbycraft kits are not legit. I don't know all the details yet, but it looks as though IDEAL (?) of Korea (the toolmaker, I believe) provided the use of the molds to Academy without Hobbycraft's permission. Hobbycraft are pursuing this in the legal arena and have ads in several modeling rags.

I've emailed Hobbycraft to get the official dope on this.


Fade to Black...

This repackaging of models of other manufacturers is news to me! I was kinda suspicious when I completed an Academy La-7 and felt that it was very similar to a Hobbycraft La-5 I build a few years earlier. That seems very odd that a ProModeler plane I buy could be the same as a Hasegawa model...

Regarding Tamiya vs. Hasegawa in the 1/48th lineup, I took Tamiya's lack of parts compared to Hasegawa to mean less detailed. I built at least 4 Tamiya planes and was always surprised at the simplicity of putting them together.

I am always gonna get a Revell-Monogram kits cos they are cheap, require extra job, and if you want your model to look real nice you will need extra habilities, altough whenever i have some extra money i´ll get an either tamiya or hasegawa, and by the way, what i like the most from Revellogram is that they have some planes that nobody else has like the b-29, b-24j/d b-17, b-26, and mmmm.... i think those are the ones .... as somebody said you get what you paid for...

This is my take on the model manufacturers and some of their better and not so better kits! Seeing as this kinda thing is part of my bread and butter, this will be quite long-winded...

Firstly, let me say that it's hard to rate manufacturers because of the advancements made in technology over the past two decades. Some manufacturers continue to release their older kits alonside the new stuff. Mold swapping has been and continues to be prevelant, and this clouds the issue a bit further.

Things like decals cannot always be fairly rated because most model manufacturers contract the decals out to specialty shops, and some companies switch decal printers with the frequency of a cheap HAM radio. So I won't make a comparison of kit decals. Besides, I'm of the opinion that the vast majority of kit decals are good for only one thing: kindling for the campfire.

Plastic types; unless it's very bad stuff that's either way too soft and easily shreds/disintegrates or way too hard and just won't sand or cut well, the plastic makes little difference to me, so I won't mention this below either.

Instead, I'll just give my overall impression of what each company has to offer and the background of certain kits.

Also, I'll mostly be commenting on 48th kits as I don't build little scale (72nd) and braille scale (32nd & larger) is reserved for my "show stoppers"!

Academy: A good example of mold swapping. On the whole, all aircraft kits offered by Academy are good models. Their P-38's are very nice and hold up well against Hasegawa's. Their P-47's are also nice, but I'd take a Hasegawa or Tamiya Jug over the Academy kits any day of the week. (Unless you want to build a P-47N) Their Spitfire XIV is also very nice, only a few small problems.

Their F-86's, MiG-21's, MiG-29's, Su-27's and Hunters are all excellent kits with only minor problems. (The MiG-21MF is actually a bis though, from what I understand.)

Their earlier efforts; F4U, F-14, F-15's, F-16's & H-60's are less than perfect, but still decent kits. The best of this lot is probably the Corsair. (Don't confuse this with the kit that was released shortly after Minicraft and Academy parted company. This recent kit is absolute garbage.)

As to their latest WWII-era aircraft; the P-26, P-35, P-36, P-40, I-16, La-5/7, Bf 109's (I may have missed one or three) are all Hobbycraft kits. These range from 'eh' to fairly decent to pretty good.

Academy's 35th helos are excellent and their 32nd F/A-18 is rather nice. Their 72nd kits are again, on the whole, good models. But some of their latest 72nd releases look a bit funkified to me...

Accurate Miniatures: Among the best in the world, period. Some kits have fit problems and other misc issues, but what kit doesn't have problems?

If I had to single out a model or two, it'd be the Mustangs and B-25's. The Mustangs are the earliest AM kits and have a few minor fit problems, but the real issue is the clear parts. Very thick by today's standards. other than that, I love these kits.

The B-25's, well, I haven't built one. I've heard complaints about bad fit in several areas, but I don't know about this personally. However, I do know that this kit has two major problems.

Now, I'm not one to bash a kit and look for something that's wrong. I don't go around saying "this is wrong, that's wrong, wrong color wrong this or that." But if built SOB without any corrections, the wings droop and do not have the correct straight-inverted-gull look.

Even worse is the engine cowlings. I very rarely say things like this, but they are VERY badly shaped on the front end. Cutting Edge released replacement cowlings and I wouldn't even consider building this kit without them. But that's just me! other than these two things, I'd really like to build a couple of these.

Eduard: (including Flashback & Gavia) This company is a good example of the advancement of technology in a fairly short period of time. Their early efforts are kinda 'eh' in some respects, mostly because these were limited run kits. The inclusion of resin, brass and excellent decals kinda made up for any deficiencies in the plastic pieces. This applies to all their early WWI aircraft kits as well as the Me 163A (Flashback).

The Tempests, and He 280's were among the first Eduard kits to be released in the Profipack line which offers resin and/or brass. When the Profipack line was introduced, the regular issues no longer contained any extras.

The Eduard P-40's are Mauve kits which are, in the opinion of Mr. P-40 (yours truly!), the best P-40's available in any scale. They have a few issues, but this bit is already too long...

The X-1 and the Yak-3 were intermediary kits; much nicer than their predecessors and a sign of things that had yet to come.

Things that then came were excellent, indeed. The P-39, Bf 108, La-7 (Gavia), Po-2 (Gavia) Magister (Flashback), Lysander (also released under the Gavia label) and the newer Albatros, Hanriot & Nieuport kits can run with the big boys any day of the week.

Their 48th Camel also looks promising!

ICM: These folks have filled some gaps here and there as regards subject matter, primarily with the Yaks and the MiG-3.

The Spits and Stangs are redundant. When they were released, some variants of the Spitfire were the only ones available in 48th. But since then Hasegawa has pretty much filled the void in their 48th line. On the whole, the ICM Spitfire & P-51 kits only serve as a cheaper alternative to Hasegawa's and Tamiya's.

Speaking of Tamiya, the ICM P-51B is pretty much a slightly inferior copy of the Tamiya kit.

Oh, and they also offer a couple nice figure/accessory kits.
ICM kits, especially the early offerings, have what we consider nowadays to be bad fit. And the clear parts are pretty bad, overall. Back in the day, though, these would have been excellent kits. A friend of mine joked that the ICM Yak-9 was the only tail dragger that he ever built that needed weight in the tail because of all the putty he used in the nose!

Hasegawa: These are, arguably, the finest aircraft kits in the world. Hasegawa offers few dogs these days, even their older kits are nice by today's standards. The only exceptions would have to be some of their earliest 72nd kits, great for their day but...

Their 48th kits are superb. Like all kits, there are problems here and there. Hence one of my maxims: "You're a modeler, DEAL WITH IT!" Their 72nd kits are excellent as well (except the aforementioned early birds) and their old 32nd kits are decent for their age. The new 32nd stuff, the 109's and 190 are enuff to convert me to braille scale.

Hasegawa have released other companies' kits on occasion, and some of them don't measure up well to Mr. H's regular line. Secter's 48th Fiat G.50 and Model USA's 48th O-1 Bird Dog are two examples. They're decent kits and nothing more.

One kit not of their own design which they continue to market today is the 48th Ki-27. This is the old Mania kit and measures up very well in most respects to the rest of Hasegawa's line.

Also, Hasegawa have released alotta Monogram 48th kits over the years. My favorite was the A-1 Skyraider with the "special ordnance" under the wing! I still have the extra sprue from that kit and may use it on a Tamiya Spad someday...

Fujimi: These folks are still with us, they're not out of business. Alotta their very early kits are, to put it kindly, garbage. If you want to spend the time I suppose they can be built well...

In 48th, forget their F-14, Bf 109 (old kit), Fw 190 & P-51. Unless you're the ultimate casual modeler, they're simply not worth the time. Their A-6 is borderline. They have a Mitsubishi T-2 & F-1 and, if I recall correctly, these weren't too awful bad. In any case, they're the only game in town. Their F-15 is something of an unknown to me. Their Bf 110 is okay, great for it's day but that's it.

Their newer Bf 109's were touted as the best thing since Gypsy Rose Lee. But, in reality, they're only what could be described as very good kits. The major drawback is the clear parts. These things are so thick, it's sick. (HEY! I was a poet and wasn't aware of the fact...) The clear parts really are inexcusable for such a kit as the Fujimi 109.

But, if you can get past that, the 109's offer good detail and you also get a variety of extra parts in each box. These kits were engineered so as to make the most of the molds and many different versions can be marketed by simply tossing in an extra small srue or two. This is nothing new, but usually only the wholly universal parts are provided in each different kit. With the Fujimi 109's you have alotta stuff left over to add to the spares box.

Another unusual feature of these kits, resulting from Fujimi's version of the mold-maximizing idea, is the fact that the fuselage and wing pieces in every kit have panel lines and access hatches for every possible variant of the late 109's. To build a certain variant, you have to fill in the non-relevant lines. Some see this as a marvelous idea. I see it as a royal pain in the a**.

Fujimi's 72nd kits are, for the most part, excellent. They have a few dogs, and some of their stuff is WAY overpriced. But they mostly rank up there with Hasegawa.

Tamiya They lack the detail of Hasegawa? How so? There are a couple instances I can think of where this might be the case, but I think Tamiya's kits have more and better detail than any others. Tamiya's kits, alongside Hasegawa's, are, arguably, the finest in the world. The detail is absolutely excellent.

The neat thing about Tamiya's aircraft kits is that they have fewer pieces than many other manufacturers' kits, making assembly a bit simpler. There are a few kits that have problems that make me shake my head (P-51D clear parts) but on the whole, if I had to choose ONE manufacturer's kit line to take with me onto a desert island, it'd be Tamiya's 48th line.

ProModeler/Revell/Monogram/Revellogram: This is a mixed lot. Today's ProModeler and Revell/Monogram are the same company. But I distinguish between Monogram and Revell kits, no matter what the label on the box says. For instance, the Revell 1/48 B-25J is NOT a Revell kit. It's a Monogram kit.

(Similar to the Lockheed-Martin F-16 and Boeing F/A-18. To me, it'll always be the General Dynamics F-16 and the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18. And for those of you from WNY, it's PILOT FIELD and RICH STADIUM!!!! The HSBC arena is still The Bank, though. I miss the Aud... sorry, I digress.)

Anyhoo, this one is complicated. Some of today's ProModeler/Revellogram kits are new molds, some are old Monogram kits and some are other manufacturers' kits.

The first ProModeler kits were all mods of existing Monogram or Revell molds, although the He 111 could qualify as a new mold because the regular Monogram kit was released during the same timeframe. Some were okay, some were rather poor.
The old Revell P-40 was a rather bad choice for this line. The later release of the revamped Monogram P-51B was also a bad choice, and an even worse product. The first truly original ProModeler kit was the Helldiver, and it's an excellent kit. (Although subsequent runs have a problem with the clear parts.) The P-47N was also an original kit, but a big disappointment.

Other original ProModeler kits are: Me 410B-1, Bf 110G-4, PBY-5A, Ju 52, F-84's, F-86D, F-15E and Do 217E. All of these are excellent kits without exception.

The ProModeler Fw 190G & D-11 and Ju 88's are Dragon/DML kits, as is the Ta 154. The Ta 154 was to be released by DML, but never materialized and was thought to have gone the way of DML's A/B-26's.

The ProModeler P-38, Ju 87R, Ar 234C, F-4E, A-4E/F and F4U-5N are all Hasegawa kits.

ProModeler also released some 72nd stuff that wasn't too awful bad; Fw 190, Me 262, Spitfire... I can't recall any others.

As for the current regular Revell/Monogram kits, many of the above kits are available in this line as well; (Me 410, Bf 110, PBY, Ju 52,F-84, F-86, F-15E) albeit sometimes as different variants. The Rafale kit was quite impressive.

They're also continuing to release alotta the old Monogram kits which are mostly still very good kits. I grew up on these things and perhaps it's sentimental attachment, but I LOVE the old Monogram kits. You just couldn't beat Monogram 48's for quality, price OR selection. Some of the kits below aren't really the "Old" kits, but...

Some of the better ones: P-39, B-25's, B-26, B-29, P-61, TBD, AT-6, Me 262, Mosquito, A-10, F9F, F-84F F-101, F-102, F-105's, F-106, Su-25 (EXCELLENT kit!) and Mi-24.

Some of the decent ones: Sopwith Camel, Fokker D.VII, SE 5A (These three were re-tooled Aurora kits) P-47's, P-51D, Fw 190, OS2U, B-17, B-24, A-1/AD-6, A-4's, F-4's, F-5's, F-8, F-14, F-15, F/A-18, F-20, F-80, F-86, F-100, F-104, F-117

Some of the 'eh' ones: P-38, P-40B, P-51B, A-7, F-111 (modified ex-Aurora) and MiG-29.

Some which you shouldn't waste time on: Bf 109E, Zero, Spitfire IX, F4F, SBD, SB2C (original kit), TBF/TBM (That is, don't waste your time if you're a serious builder.)

Regardless of the quality of the kit, however, I find all of the old Monogram kits to be very appealing to the collector in me.

I won't go into the 72nd kits, there were a good number of them and this bit is too long as it is. Plus I'm getting a bit woozy! But they had one or two relatively recent kits that were entirely new and very nice, an F-104 being one of them.

AMT: Their REALLY old kits are mostly junk if you're a serious builder. (Civil aircraft, P-36, Typhoon, B-26 etc...)

The newer stuff really ain't too awful bad. The P-40's are kinda funkified. The Tigercats are mostly excellent kits, except for the clear parts here and there and those crap rubber wheels. The A-20's/P-70 are very good kits with only a few issues.

AMT's 72nd kits seem to be decent as well, although some of their early stuff was ex-Esci. (F-14, F-15, F-16...) Their KC-135's and B-52's are okay, I guess. Their Ju 88 was really nice. Things get a bit fuzzy here, like I said I don't build little scale. They had an F-104 that was nice, the Flying Wings and XB-70 were decent.

As far as other manufacturers, without going into too much detail, here's a listing of what I consider to be good & not so good manufacturers, some with a few examples of their better kits:

Airfix/Heller - overall 'eh' to decent

AMtech - decent to very good Ta 183

Classic Airframes - decent to very good

Czech Model/LTD - kinda okay

DML/Dragon/Shanghai Dragon - very good (mostly ex-Trimaster kits) Me 262, Me 163, He 162, Ju 88's

Fine Molds - Excellent J8M Shusui (too damned expensive sometimes, though)

HiPM - 'eh' to good He 100

Hobbycrap - crap to very good (their REALLY early stuff was garbage, and has varied since, mostly it's decent stuff)

Mirage - very good PZL.11, PZL.37, RWD-8 & Lublin R-XIII (last 2 are ex-model do sklejania)

MPM - 'eh' to good

There's more, but I'm kinda tired...


Fade to Black...

I don't have much experience, but I have build models by SMER and Sword - I chose these companies because they were the only ones that produced the plane I wanted to build. I have yet to build a Tamiya (F4F soon) or a Hasegawa (F4U in the stack of to-do's), so I cant really comment on them. I was presently surprised by Sword - probably because of their plain box, but the model (FM-2 Wildcat) was top notch. I actually built two!

QUOTE: So do not disregard companies such as Airfix, Matchbox, Frog, Heller, Sword, Trumpeter, Panda, Italeri, KP, William Bros, Mach 2,.... As you said yourself, there are poor kits in both Tamiya and Hasegawa's catalogues. Be open-minded.

Yes, keep an open mind! The above mentioned Sword brand for example, gets an A+ in my book. No flash, beautifully molded, lightly engraved parts. They also give you a resin cockpit and great photo etchings. Decals are also first rate. I over looked this company for who knows how long(I guess because their boxes are kind of plain and they were new to me).

I found this site very interesting in regards to opinions about kits. Check it out.

http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/reference/manufacturers.htm

hmm... from my experience, I would either rank Tamiya higher than Hasegawa. Just my own opinion. Prolly because of the experience of their kits I have so far. again, we do have differnces in opinions which boils down to the preferences and compromises.

I believe in "you get what you pay for" - each company has it's strength and weaknesses and each needs to be exploited. Take testors for example: good kits
are V-22 osprey and OV-10 bronco for example while a not so good looking kit is the
kamon h43 husky - but I've all 3 kits built into excellant models.

You also get out what you put in. Revell germany has some wonderful kits at low cost: f84f thunderstreak. Fondiere is good example of high cost and really difficult build (lots of filingand sanding, parts don't fit, plastic not great)IMHO

But generally, if I get a cheap kit. I just know it's going to require some extra attention to get what I want. I also look for subject matter and really determines wether I buy the kit or not.

There are actualy very few manufacturers I'll disregard completely. If any. The most important is whether a particular subject exists or not in kit. Then comes comparison between various manufacturers. There is also some pleasure Sado/Maso kind of stuff!) to be had from getting a great model out of a poor kit, i.e. because of it's age or else.

So do not disregard companies such as Airfix, Matchbox, Frog, Heller, Sword, Trumpeter, Panda, Italeri, KP, William Bros, Mach 2,.... As you said yourself, there are poor kits in both Tamiya and Hasegawa's catalogues. Be open-minded.

Well first off, thank you for your evaluation, now I know what to look for as far as quality. I recently got back into modeling after 10+ years. I built alot of Hasegawae kits years ago and I remember them as being of a poor quality, now geting back into the hobby Revell/Monogram will suffice until my skills are up to par.I guess I will try Haseagwae's kits again. One disappointment I have is Testor's kits ( but I wont get into that ). One question I have is how do you tell if a manufacture has reboxed their older kits or kits from another manufacture?Once again thank you.....

Your opinon is never wrong my friend. I feel a little different on many of the manufacturers you mentioned, but I won't nitpick.

Every manufacturer has their lemons. The way I look at things is cost vs. quality. Hasegawa and Tamyia are typically high cost but their quality is usually top notch. Where some manufactuer's are Low cost and low quality. this is OK too if I know what I'm gettng. The engineer in my wants to graph this....

I'm an old Monogram/Revel fan. Their kits of mostly late 70's and 80's vintage fall right in the mid-level of cost vs. quality- and I'm rarely ever dissapointed. Their marketing strategy has changed in recent years (reboxing a lot of other manufacturer's kits)- and I've seen some of the best values out their on some of their re-boxed Hasegawa kits.

For the ratio of cost/quality I do feel Monogram/Revel is the best deal out there. Especially for those on a small budget.