Older Tamiya kits?

Rob Gronovius

You also have to clarify by what you considered "older". I was thinking about their kits from the 1970s and 1980s that were often designed to be motorized.

Yes, I was referring to the old 70s kits that you can pick up for very cheap. The old Tigers, Hanomag, etc. 

The Easy Eight that I built is the newer 2015 release. It was excellent. I assume, however, that level of fit and finish is only available on the newer more expensive kits. 

You also have to clarify by what you considered "older". I was thinking about their kits from the 1970s and 1980s that were often designed to be motorized.

You mentioned their Easy 8 kit, it is the second one they've put out if you don't count the Tasca one they reboxed briefly. The original old one was motorized and not very good. I still have a decades old one in my display cabinet. Their newest one is highly regarded and available in Hobby Lobby for a decent price using their 40% off coupon. The old one is hard to find and mainly sought after by collectors.

Their old Hunting Tiger and King Kiger kits were not very good either. Many of their older motorized kits were categorized by smooth inner track surfaces and usually just a token guide tooth as detail.

The 80s were when they started to diverge from motorized models although several of their kits were released in motorized versions like the M1 Abrams. Their Bradley and LVPT7A1 kits were designed with motortization but did not come with it.

Rob Gronovius

One of their worst kits is the Panther A that stays on the shelves. It was surpassed by other Panthers in the 90s, but they still sell at places like Hobby Lobby.

Yes, my son picked that kit up for cheap and it was fairly primitive. In fact that's what got me wondering about the older Tamiya kits. You can grab them for around $15 as opposed to $45 for the newer ones, but I wondered of they were all at the sam elevel of quality as the Panther A.

GMorrison

And what the heck, the Tiger 1 is pretty ok.

Superseded by the later kits, the '70s vintage Tiger 1 (3556, later renumbered 35056) is best avoided though, as it's really quite primitive and badly proportioned in parts. Not really likely to run into one of these kits these days except perhaps online, as it hasn't been produced since the late '80s.

Funny, I consider the old E8 as a bad kit, so if you could deal with it, there's others better.

I always liked the 88. There's better now, but the Tamiya one with crew is a pretty good deal.

If you can find the big German half track with the quad 20 and crew in winter smocks, that's pretty cool too.

And what the heck, the Tiger 1 is pretty ok.

My favorite though is probably the Pzkpfw 3 with the 50 cm gun.

Yes, some of the older Tamiya kits are very nice even today. The Japanese WW2 tanks, Chi-Ha and the SPG are especially nice for 1970s kits. The M3, M5A1 and M8 Stuart light tanks are not bad, but the tracks are inaccurate and need replacing to bring them up to current levels.

The M41 Walker Bulldog is decent, but very dated and often a kit recommended for a beginner, but light years behind the current state of the art Bulldog kits (Skybow and AFV Club, now both owned by AFV Club).

One of their worst kits is the Panther A that stays on the shelves. It was surpassed by other Panthers in the 90s, but they still sell at places like Hobby Lobby.

Their US half tracks weren't bad, but again have been surpassed by uber kits by Dragon. Just about any of their kits from the 80s and 90s were bettered by other companies. Many of Tamiya's kits remain at the top of their subject though.