Best 1/35th Armor Kit Manufacturer

In my honest opinion, considering all the possible factors like quality, variety, accuracy and price...Tamiya is still the best. Dragon would be in 2nd place.

Note: I have only built Tamiya, Dragon and Academy kits so that my judgement is based solely on these 3.

I know Finemolds have excellent quality kits but these are quite rare and expensive.

JCon: Tamiya still makes really nice kits , I would say DML and Tamiya are the best out there ,.... both are retooling the old kits and making them more accurate( because of the serious modelers out there ,IE competition guys). The only problem I have had on a regular basis with DML is incorrect instruction sheets ( sometimes they have incorrect placement of some parts ) but that is no big deal really .

1. Tamiya
2. Dragon
3. Academy
4. Italeri
I hear Trumpeter has some great kits, but I haven't built any of their stuff.
One day maybe ... if they ever manufacture a Sherman

Dollar for dollar, I will argue for Dragon. Still nothing fits like a Tamiya. Dragon offers lower price, indy tracks and in some cases pe grilles or whatnot. Latley they have been putting far more kits out than Tamiya. If price is no object, than go with Tamiya and the many am and pe parts that you'll need.

I don't think you can go far wrong with the big 4, Tamiya, Dragon, Academy and Italeri. Some of the guys are not too happy with Italeri, but I think they're okay. Tamiya is still probably the best overall, but don't get too wrapped up with manufacturer, there are a lot of great kits out there now. It's certainly a better time to model now than back in the 70's. (when I started).

As far as the newer releases.......

1. Tamiya
2. Dragon
3. Academy and AFV Club tie
4. Italeri


But when you start comparing older releases, the line gets fuzzy quick.

Dragon/DML have done good things to open up the armor market, but have sometimes missed in details (ex: the original Nashorn, the original Hummel, and most recently the Karl)

Some of the older Italeri kits are actually superior to the older Tamiya kits. (ex: M13/40 and the Semoventi) Also the Italeri Pz I still holds it's own after many years.

This of course is opinion based, and there will be people to disagree. But it is my 2 cents.

Tamiya & Dragon are BOTH good at the moment, prices will vary from location to location. Over here Dragon is more expensive than Tamiya.

Dragon offers indi tracks & pe parts, some of their kits come without figures though.
Tamiya includes Figures and accessories as well as PE and other parts in the new releases.

I just got the Dragon King Tiger with Porsche Turret, adding Tamiya King Tiger Indi tracks, AM Resin Zimmerit and a German tank crew at rest.

One thing I do not like with the Dragon KT issue is that it is nice to have the gun breach/loading mechanism modelled but when you look at it through the hatches you see an otherwise empty interior, which to me is wasted detail.

So I think it depends on what you are after and how you will display your Kit, Tamiya offers more for me when it comes to Dio. Individual tracks for seem a waste if the upper part of the tracks are invisible due to being covered by a skirt,
etc.

Italeri I was satisfied with, haven't done an Academy kit in 15yrs due to bad experiences with their early offerings.

Revell also has some interesting offerings, haven't done a Tristar or Baumann kit so no comment on them neither of most of the eastern europe manufacturers.

i agree from experience that some of Italeri's kits were better detailed, but generally more finicky in fit. I have the Sturmtiger and looks like a neat kit, even comes with molded zimmerit. I have heard nice things about it. Also their Chaffee was a good overall fit.

Personally I would say Tamaya is the best in detail,fit and quaity.But there are some good contenders to the crown.Revell from Germany,Academy,Dragon and Iterli.
DIGGER

I have built a couple of italeri kits and they have gone together just fine , they looked pretty good after too , built em' right oob . I built the M110 and paladin SPG nice details on both kits

Quality over quantity, Fine Molds Japanese WW2 tank kits are really nice but they have a limited selection.

(I'm a newbie so I've got nothing on these guys but I'll put my two since worth in anyway.) As far as "real quality" kits in the "Big 4" I have only built Tamiya and Italeri so far. Tamiya rocks but for me is expensive. I love Italeri for the price and quality but their kits tend to lack figures and i like free figs! Also imust add that am not a true armor builder in the sence that i like support vec\hicle and the more unique offerings. that is why like Italeri because they had offerings likethe Hummer Avenger and other unique vehicles that others don't offer and at half the cost of the Tamiya. It's all a matter really of how far you want to take the kit. Out od the box or after market parts.
[I know I've been building some Hobby Craft lately but I'm not going to even count Hobby Craft for any serious "rivit counting" modeler. They are just dirt cheap models that are for good for practice and blasting in a dio. I don't lose anything by screwing them up, kitbashing, and experimenting on them. (My HC Bradly sucks and probably should be burned, but I'm going fix it any way ). Though I heard on one of the threads that the M1 Abrams with mine rakes is good but that was one opinion.]

I've only built Tamiya and Dragon kits and I like 'em but I've heard Academy and Italeri kits are good too.

My money usually goes this way:

1. Tamiya
2. Dragon
3. Trumpeter
4. AFV Club
5. Academy
6. Italeri

I also buy kits from RoG, Zvezda, Eastern Express and Skif.

Erik, what can you say about Eastern Express kits? They have some subjects that I'm interested in.

QUOTE: Originally posted by MartianGundamModeler Also imust add that am not a true armor builder in the sence that i like support vec\hicle and the more unique offerings.

Love it. I am a bit the same.

Don't worry Martian, we could be worse; we could build planes!
I am sure we are still welcome here.

Back to topic, I have had predominantly good experiences with Tamiya, Italeri and Academy, but am yet to try Dragon.
Here in Oz, Italeri and Academy are in the price/quality sweetspot.

Anyone know anything about Maquette?

My choice for armor kit is tamiya & dragon.. The new mold from tamiya is just excellent for me and i like from DML kits is that all include with PE parts some have lack decals option. Furthermore i hav a heller kit build in halfway now and the mold look like "coffin" or soft mold for me ... Some other kit that i have is CMK. This one is eastern europe kits, so far i have'nt tried this kit before so i don't know yet..

I prefer Dragon kits because of the individual track links. The latest kits are as good as Tamiya for detail and moulding quality.
I don't, however, like the new colour Dragon instructions. The photos make it really difficult to figure out the placement of small parts. I would prefer line drawings for the build instructions, and colour photos for the painting guide.

Cheers

Tamiya - King of the Hill!

I'd go along with what 's been said already. Having just left Okinawa, I'm hooked on Tamiya, but I have had good experiences with Dragon, Academy and Italeri. I recieved a pair of Zhengdefu (sp?) kits and they were terrible; out of scale, lacking details, just too much like a cheap toy, but they were good practice kits, and strangely, they both were motorized.

Tamiya for me

1) Tamiy - very good fit, some kits have edward photoetch. expensive

2) Academy - good fit, some kits' instructions have errors. light on the budget

3) Dragon - good fit. we have shanghai dragon and dragon here, i dunno what's the difference. expensive like tamiyas.

sorry but i don't like revell, the plastic is very brittle and it's expensive too. the parts are just numbered from 1- let's say 150. and the drawings on the instructions are confusing.

hasegawa is kewl too with their 1/72 scale. a bit expensive though.

Tamiya.

I would go for 1. Tamiya 2. Dragon 3. Academy.
mark956

It's certainly a better time to model now than back in the 70's. (when I started).
--------------------
Steve

I couldn't have said it any better Steve, there is no comparison with what we have available now in our hobby vs. the 70's! Thanks, Joe

Indeed this is a great time to be a modeler. However, i sure miss the prices of yesteryear. Sob.

Istarted in the late late '60 after I back from Nam. 1.tamiya 2.academy 3.dragon 4.italeri "The Big Four" Not much out there then that were not "toys" Stephen

Tamiya is still the best now.
Last week, Mr.Tamiya annouced that he bought a large factory in China. You will see "made in China" Tamiya stuff soon.

I think Chinese manufacturers will be next generation. We have some rumour here in Japan about a brand-new AFV manufacturer from China or Hong Kong.

And,Skybow/Taiwan was one of my favorites.

i was wondering abt Skybow.
there is a kit of theirs at my LHS, and i was not familiar w/ them.
Easyeight, you have built some of their kits, i take it?

i am new to the armor side, and have only started 2 Tamiya kits.
but i have Italeri, Alan, CMK/Tamiya and others 'on the shelf'.

ed.