Are Tamiya and Minicraft models worth it?

i have been waiting for a SALADIN 6x6 armored car forever. i built a TAMIYA one back in the 70s (motorized) and fondly remember it. found one at a club meeting for $10. probably could have knocked that down more but .... granted it won't be as detailed as the new DRAGON one but with good basic skills, a cool camo pattern and some creative weathering it will hold it's own. plus i can use the savings toward the 1/72 (aka OTS = One True Scale) SCUD 8x8 or the new 1/35 Ukrainian tank transporter. (because having just a modern US, Bundeswehr, Russian, PLA tank transporter and a PLA DF-21 just isn't enough)

I also grew up in the Monogram/Revell era, I am comfortable and used to those old kits.  But the modern Tamiya kits are true engineering marvels.  Just beautiful kits.  It's hard to be absolute, and always check reviews on a specific kit, but in general I find Tamiya kits worth every penny.

I don't know about planes, ships and armor, but Japanese automotive kits are generally better than their USA counterparts. often they are far, far superior.

both Tamiya and AMT do a 1/25 toyota supra, and the tamiya is leaps and bounds ahead of AMT, despite being an older tool.

A useful site in situations like this is scalemates.

www.scalemates.com/products

You can search the history of a kit and see if it's new, reboxed, repopped or whatever.

Dear All,

I love this forum not only for the lack of trolls, but for the excellent variety of well thought out responses.

Armed with all of your cogent input, I did, indeed, purchase the Minicraft PBM Mariner today (it did have new tooling and good Internet reviews), despite the heftier price tag. This way, I will be able to see for myself if these kinds of kits are worth it.

Again, I want to thank everyone who took the time to wade in on this topic.

Jeff

I got into modeling in late 40s (before plastic), so non-flying scale models were wood- either balsa or basswood (during war, pine was a substitute, cheaper wood).  Fortunately, I have some model mags from that period, confirming my view of prices.  Kits ranged from 10c to almost 10 bucks- a one hundred to one price range!  Of course, there was a difference between the low priced and high priced kits. The ten cent kits did not include landing gear for retract ships, nor propellers.  Each step up in price included fancier detail parts.  Most expensive kits had die cast metal detail parts, and maybe even a plastic canopy (cheap kits had canopy carved into fuselage and painted gloss black- of course the detailed carving was by the modeler).

Today I don't think there is that wide a price range, but if you expect PE and resin parts you will be looking at the higher priced kits.  For a good feel of difference in kits, build one of the Testors racing planes- these kits were among the first plastic models I built.  They are simple repops of fifties kits.  Then build a Tamiya.  There will be an order of magnitude increase in the parts count and detail.

In my opinion, the Minicraft 1/350 RMS Titanic is the most detailed and finest model of that particular ship available anywhere (at least in plastic), but then again that is just my opinion. As for Tamiya, I researched building a 1/350 model of the Bismarck and after looking through reviews and scouring photos I decided against Tamiyas version of the boat and instead went with Revell of Germany's version. RoG's was far more detailed in my opinion and overall looked more accurate in scale to me than Tamiya's.

So, I'd say in regards to Minicraft, YES. In regards to Tamiya, NO. Although I do prefer Tamiya's building supplies over many other brands (i.e. putty, glue, etc.).

It's a pretty subjective topic.  I see on other chat forums where people just fawn and gush over the Tamiya 1/32 Corsair and they state how they have three of them in their stash.  I just purchased the quite old Revell Corsair in 1/32 and probably paid 1/6th of what the others paid.  

When all is said and done and if you put both completed kits next to each other and stand 3 feet away to look at them, you're probably not going to be able to tell the difference.  I, however, will sleep much easier knowing that I only shelled out $25 for mine.  But again, this goes back to being subjective.  The feelings I have are mine alone and are clearly far different that those who shell out $150 (give or take) for the same airplane but with "Tamiya" stamped on the box.

It's up to you to decide what's "worth" it to you.

Eric

It really depends on the kits you are comparing.

I have quite a few of the "shake n bake" kits here,,,,but, that is because if you put the Tamiya Skyray next to the Airfix/MPC Skyray, you are going to want the Tamiya. The same thing happens with Tamiya and Airfix/MPC or Revell Corsairs, The Tamiya is head and shoulders above the others. This is the pattern as long as the Tamiya kit is an original Tamiya, it only sometimes applies to the Italeri kits in Tamiya boxes. An example there is that the Tamiya/Italeri Intruder far surpasses all except for the Fujimi kits, Revell and Hasegawa kits aren't even close. But, the Fujimi, Esci and even the new tool Airfix Skyhawks are better than the Tamiya/Italeri Skyhawks. (if someone claims that Esci and Italeri Skyhawks are the same mold, they have never seen both of them)

So, as we always end up saying "it depends"

Rex

Yes and no. You have to check out each kit individually. Not difficult to do with the internet at our fingertips via a cell phone. Some kits are new tooled and (subjectively to the individual) worth the higher price. Others may be re issues of a much older kit, and not worth the steeper price. Or even a  rebox of another company's kit. Do a little research before you buy.

When I was building armour in my youth (early 90's) Tamiya was pretty much it.  Now that I'm building aircraft, I find Tamiya kits fit together like a dream and have considerable detail.  I can't say anything about Minicraft.