Tamiya Quality? This Looks Like Crap!

I built that one back in the mid 80's back then Tamiya didnt get high marks for their lifelike faces but the kits were of extremely high quality and that kit could actually build out great if you switched the heads (I didnt). This was back when all their armour came standard with motors and the corresponding openings in the hulls.

I like those boots! Who did they steal them from, the Wicked Witch of the West?

That particular figure kit was released in 1980 but it originally came with M21 Mortar Carrier which was released in 1976. So it does have a bit of age to it.

IMO Tamiya never has been a very good figure company, especailly their older stuff.

Tamiya's King tiger battle of the bulge kit (the one with the motorcycle in it) has some pretty good figs though-nice n' crisp details.

Tamiya has come a long way with figure quality. I was pleasantly surprised at the SdKfz.222 crew man that came with the kit. I remember buying the 4 figure set of German infantry years back; they were awful!

Dan

Those are excellant quality... of an early martian mortor team, I think that was boxed with the Men-in-Black set

I'll tell you all what. I started building models in earnest around 1979 or 1980, and Tamiya was the Sh*t at the time. That kit included. I used those very figures as the basis for many a Vietnam diorama when I was in High School. Compare that kit to Tamiya's first US and German Infantry sets from the early 70's (which boybuddho mentioned). Now those kits were dogs. At the time, you had Testors/Italeri which went from fair to very good in sculpting/casting quality, and Monogram, most of whose figures and armor kits were in 1/32 scale and the quality was fair overall but a little mushy in detail. Then there was Tamiya at the top of the heap. Heller had some so-so kits, as did Hasegawa, but if you really wanted good quality figures in a variety of poses and nationalities, Tamiya was not only the only option, it was an option you looked forward to taking. There were, of course, many fine white metal kits kits available for the figure modeler in a variety of scales, but for 1/35th scale armor modelers Tamiya set the standard. I shouldn't forget that Hornet made many great white metal WWII figures in 1/35 scale.

It wasn't really until DML came along in the late 80's and early 90s to give Tamiya a run for their money by releasing affordable, high quality kits, plus releasing kits of long neglected subjects faster than the average modeler could build them. Notice that it was about that time that Tamiya began to set the bar higher again, only at a premium. The first main stream $50 injection molded kits began to appear, with Tamiya leading the way. You got what you paid for, to be sure, but $50 is a stiff price all the same. This was when Minicraft and Italeri jumped into the quality kit game, as well as a few others. Multi-media got big around that time too. Then MRC split with Tamiya and hooked up with Minicraft (which was when Minicraft really kicked it into high gear oh how I wish they had put out more 1/35th scale helicoptor kits)

The hobby has come light years over the last 30 years. Standards are so much higher now than they were then. Those figures may be laughable now, and brother are they laughable, but in their day they were high quality.

Someone should feed those guys! Tamiya obviously has come a LONG way in figure quality.

I just bought both Tamiya 1/20 scale pit crew sets,details are real crisp,needs minor clean up,the only fault I found is that the faces are similar,I would recommend then to anyone doing a project in this scale,mine are for a PT boat in 1/20 scale(Navy Sailors)

they were good for 1976

plymonkey is "right on" about the 30-year difference in figure quality.

Good Grief! Just look at a photo of yourself from 30 years ago while looking in a mirror at the same time. There's likely to be a big difference in the "quality" and "detail" of YOUR figure over those years.

"Should we prosper it shall be as is our custom...by Miracle!"

They are still much better than the very first Tamiya figures! Those were bad looking and undersized too, almost like plastic army men toys.

QUOTE: Good Grief! Just look at a photo of yourself from 30 years ago while looking in a mirror at the same time. There's likely to be a big difference in the "quality" and "detail" of YOUR figure over those years.

Ha! Ain't it da truth.

What scale is the mortar kit? 1/35?

Overall, I think it looks pretty good...except for the faces!

I wonder if news heads from one of the sets put out by Warriors or Verlinden (I think they have heads) would help this kit.

Regards,