J-Hulk weighs in on the Trump vs Tamiya Chally 2 debate (finally picked up the Tamiya kit!)

The Trumpeter vs Tamiya Challenger 2 debate has been going on for a while now, and after finally purchasing the Tamiya kit, I can directly compare it for myself to both of Trumpeter's releases.

I have the original Trumpeter Kosovo Challenger and the Op Telic Challenger, the latter having substantial improvements over the original release. Bravo to Trumpeter for that!

Today I picked up the Tamiya Challenger 2, and had a close look at both of them, side by side.

Hands down, the Tamiya kit wins.

Sharper molding, better detail, and better engineering all come together to put the Tamiya kit on top.

That ain't saying that the Trumpeter kit is a bad kit, because it's not. It's just not as good as the Tamiya kit. Also, it's not as expensive. But it is a lot more work. Trumpeter's penchant for overly complicated construction alone will probably add a week or two to your build time!

Some miscellaneous points:

Tamiya's canvas skirts are more accurately and better detailed than Trump's.

Trump's sponsons have bottoms, but with the full skirts on, you'll never miss the lack of them on the Tamiya kit. Heck, you could probably leave the road wheels off and never miss 'em, the skirts are so huge!

Two semi-dodgy aspects of the Tamiya kit are the tiny molded on grab handles on the rear deck (Trump's are oh-so-delicately separate) and the open, semi-sided but bottomless holes on the turret roof where the the side and rear storage boxes connect.

But even with the Trump kit, the separate handles are too thick and need to be replaced with thinner brass rod, and boxing in those holes on the Tamiya turret roof (if you deem it necessary) is still easier than trying to get all the sides of the Trump turret boxes to line up (plus you still have to make your own bottoms for them).

The Tamiya tracks win by virtue of their crisp molding along their sides...the pins are very clear and there's no parting line, as there is on the Trump tracks.

Neither kit comes with the rolled camo net (?) that you see on most (if not all) Op Telic Chally 2s.

Finally, you get a lot of nice clear parts for the various periscopes, lights, and sights in the Tamiya kit.

But to me, the main thing that carries Tamiya way past Trumpeter here is the sheer quality of the molding. Side by side, there really is no comparison.

I thought I would use my two Trumpeter Chally 2's in conjunction with the Tamiya kit to make a super-duper Chally 2 model, but now I see that is entirely unnecessary.

J-Hulk sez: Tamiya Trounces Trumpeter.

As far as price difference goes, the Trumpeter kit is 2,800 yen ($25.45 USD) and the Trumpeter kit is 3,100 yen ($28.18 USD) here in Japan.

Is the Tamiya kit worth the extra $2.73 USD?

Heck, yeah!

I know that price difference is much greater outside of Japan, but I still think the Tamiya kit is worth it.