By Fabrice Marechal | 14.10.2013 17:30
It was in 1978 when I saw for the first time, the Tamiya Porsche 934 at a hobby shop. Though, the 1/12 model was built straight from the box and without paint, the details seemed to be surrealist and impossible to imagine up to that mome...
By Gary Wickham | 16.05.2013 13:49
The glorious Tamiya P-51D in 1/32. This model was started immediately after I finished my battle with the Dragon P-51D. As you would expect there is no comparison between the two as this kit from Tamiya almost builds itself. Having said tha...
By Patricio Delfosse | 20.04.2013 10:01
The Dragon Flak 36 is one of the last moulds from this company. Together with the initial and late versions of the Tiger(s) and the Panzer IV, make up a trilogy that shows a new tendency in modeling, where besides of offering plastic and...
By Philip Curtis | 11.04.2013 10:30
To any follower of motor racing history the Porsche 917 needs no introduction. The kit is available in several different versions including the 1970 Le Mans number 20 Gulf car that I have used. For this build I also used Studio 27 photo ...
By Claudio Kalicinski | 03.02.2013 23:11
The kit was manufactured by the Ukrainian company, Roden and without doubt is the best Fokker Dr.1 kit in 1/32. Regrettably, it perpetuates some mistakes common to previous models of the Fokker Dr.1 because all of them have been based on...
By Mario Covalski | 09.01.2013 10:03
This article to be useful to anybody who wants to pursue this project, I decided to write it in the form of an instruction manual, following the steps set forth in the Tamiya's instruction manual, but also indicating all modification...
By Jose I. Hernandez Diez
Tamiya have been offering high quality motorcycles kits very detailed and good presentation. If you add to this the modern detail sets, the result will be a superb museum piece that will look striking in any showcase, this is the case of...
By Joachim Kutt
This build report is about superdetailing the 1/20 Tamiya kit and turning the Jordan 191 into Schumacher’s ride. The kit, a typical Tamiya product of the time, represents the Silverstone race version most closely, so some modificat...
By Fabrice Marechal
Probably this has been for many years one of the most desirable kits in 1/12 scale. This article aims at leading the reader into the building process, solving several problems of the kit due to the lack of details or wrong represented an...
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
MPC stopped manufacturing their kits since many years ago, but now we can enjoy them again since that brand which was eventually absorbed by Ertl, today has been resurrected by Round 2 models that have been releasing during the last year...
By Michael Capell
Looking at the kits plans the rigging looked daunting to put it mildly. Not only that but there is also additional rigging on the top wing as well, oh dear!
We all know of Wingnuts much deserved accolades so instead of repeating how ...
By Fabrice Marechal | 01.01.2014 11:48
In 1991 Mazda became the first Japanese manufacturer to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Mazda was also the only that produced rotary engines for competition use. Tamiya have offered the 787B chassis #002 in its 1991 Le Mans “Charge” livery. The kit of this article is a reissue of the white 787 and 787B that competed at Le Mans in 1991. Note that #18 is 787B chassis 001, whilst #56 is 787 chassis 002. The 18 finished 6th and 56 finished 8th overall at the 1991 Le Mans race.
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By Pablo Raggi | 01.01.2014 09:40
At the beginning of the 50s, Daimler Benz took over manufacture of the Unimog and means UNIversal MOtor Gerät, being Gerät the German word for machine or device. Its four-wheel drive and suspension design allowed the truck to comfortably drive not only on paved roads but over extremely uneven terrain. So much so that many armed forces purchased them in a variety of variants with an equally impressive number of uses: cargo/troop transport, communications vehicles, ambulance, fire engines etc. etc. One of these countries was Syrian that used them as cargo/troop transport and mounting them anti aircraft devices, created an armed version that would be used later by the South Lebanon Army.
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By Claudio Kalicinski | 31.12.2013 10:58
The kit offers two versions: the Italian of the 78 Squadriglia and the other is the Belgian fighter piloted by Willy Coppens who scored 37 victories flying Hanriots, becoming not only the maximum Belgian ace but also developing an especial expertise in shooting down enemy observation balloons. I decided to represent the machine piloted by Coppens in mid 1918. It’s a Hanriot HD.1 that belonged to the 9me escadrille “Le Chardon”
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By Juan Layos Pantoja | 24.12.2013 10:29
The Peugeot 307 is one of the Tamiya last releases of rally cars. It includes a diecast lower chassis that makes the product more expensive and at first this seems to offer no advantage, however, once the model is finished, we realize the importance of this diecast chassis that not only gives the model the necessary weight but also realism. So no extra weight will be needed....
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By Modeler Site | 23.12.2013 11:12
Over the end of the year, we are offering a preview of the best articles we were proud to have during 2013. Enjoy them and happy new year.
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By Keith Christie | 23.12.2013 10:35
Tamiya introduced this kit after the success of the 1/12 masterwork series of models. This is the second in the series released in December 2012 after the Ferrari Enzo. This article is devoted to novices so as to help them to build, which is perhaps, their first 1/12 model car.
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By David Guardia | 23.12.2013 10:28
My dear friend, J.J Aos, who is himself an encyclopedia, gave me all the necessary information to place it in Pakistan. Although it is common to find pictures of Chaffles of late production, the early ones were also seen, included in the last Pakistan's 1971 conflict with India. Of course, exactly when I finished my model painting, Bronco Models offer the final release, Have you heard of Murphy’s law…?
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By Keiichi Aoki | 17.12.2013 21:27
My regular modeling has to do with AFV models, but at a certain time I felt “captivated” by the sleek lines and shapes of car bodies; but as an AFV modeler, I usually look for super detailing both out and inside the model. Because of that, F1 racing cars best satisfy my quest for super detailing in every model I build. That takes me to the fact that a sleek body must be mated to a chassis and engine-transaxle combination with a good deal of detailing. Current F1 cars don’t fit in that “category” due to the aerodynamic body that covers all the innards. That is why my choice went towards old cars, so I chose the HONDA F1 RA273 which raced in the 1966 Italian Grand Prix as my first “incursion” in F1 modeling.
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By Fabrice Marechal | 14.12.2013 10:29
Upon opening the Nissan GR-R box, what attracts attention is that the body is molded in light gray (looks as if primed) with interior and chassis parts molded in black. In my opinion, it would have been more practical to have a white body. Beautifully plated –matte chrome parts are provided for the stylish wheels and other parts. Among other features you may add, the engine, clear plastic parts, decals, masks for the windshields, nylon meshes, metal transfers and the tires. Tamiya made them out of a material that makes them look less real than the ones provided with previous kits..
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By Alessandro Prini | 04.12.2013 23:02
Rarely I’m building street versions of the supercars. I was honestly waiting for the Tecnomodel F430 GT when, upon request, I started working on one of the latest release from Fujimi: the Ferrari F430 Option Version, which differs from the standard one for the BBS wheels and the racing seats. Hmm… that’s ok, not a pure street version …it sounds better. The project will feature some improvements in the engine bay and, for the first time, I’ll use a Crazy Modeler product, a specific etched upgrading set intended for the Fujimi tool. Let’s go on.
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By Jorge Juarez | 04.12.2013 10:48
After having been withdrawn from the US Army, it was transferred to the Argentine Army arriving to the country on December 24th 1992 piloted by Lieutenant colonel Carlos Spika. It was assigned to the 603 squadron for pilots’ training purposes. Then, it was destined to the 601 Squadron, first operative unit of this airplane.
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By Patricio Delfosse | 28.11.2013 11:38
The M115 is the not very attractive brother of the M59 Long Tom. It’s not a kit we see every day, perhaps we, modelers choose to build the M59 Long Tom with which it shares everything but the gun barrel. Anyway, I was interested in building it for two reasons: first, I had already built the Long Tom when I built the M40, that is not more than a Long Tom but self propelled, and second, because the AFV Club Long Tom kit has serious problems with gun’s size. But that’s a topic for another article. To improve several kit parts, I decided to add the old Eduard PE set 35792, the only option available today for this kit.
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By Hugh Rockwell | 25.11.2013 11:30
I purchased at HobbyLink Japan a set of Studio 27 Nurburgring decals and had planned to build the car in that silver livery but when I was looking through old Excellence magazines for reference, I found an article on a 904 which was privately campaigned by Ben Pon in 1964-65. His cars were finished in a bright orange in honor of his home country, the Netherlands. I decided that would be a good livery for the 910....
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By Francisco Rivas Pose | 10.11.2013 11:06
This kit was announced as Schumacher’s last F1 car and represented the single-seater he raced in 2006 Brazil GP. Except for a few details, it’s a faithful replica. My intention was not to build an exact version that ran in one particular Grand Prix but to give my model as much detail as possible, in fact, I neither had the intention to show the model with the wings and cowling in place since I wanted to leave the engine with plenty of detail visible.
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By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes | 03.11.2013 10:48
First of all, it’s necessary to take a look inside the box to be sure if the content is complete and in perfect conditions. One of the most common and discouraging problems is that once the project has started, we can find out that there are broken or missing parts.
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By Jaime Pastor Pueyo | 03.11.2013 10:44
Vought Corsair Mk.II 'Pacific Pirate' - sub Lt Don Sheppard, 1836 sqn, HMS Victorious, January 1945. Not all the Corsairs sported the USAAF markings during the Second World War. Lots of them fought with the Fleet Air Arm from the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious, Victorious or Formidable: they were the fearsome “Pacific Pirates”. And one of their best pilots, the Canadian Lt Donald J. Sheppard was the onlyone that achieved the As distinction with the Corsair, obtaining four of his five confirmed shoot downs from the Mk.II JT410 and his fifth one from the Mk.II JT537, 4th, 1945.
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By Mario Covalski | 30.10.2013 11:22
Three years ago I bought Chevron's conversion trilogy for the Ferrari 312T to T2 '77, the Tyrrell '76 to '77, and the M23 '74 to '76.
Within a year, I built the two first kits and let the McLaren for the "proper" moment (inspiration, motivation, etc.).
A few months ago I had the opportunity to convince a Japanese modeler, Mr. Kenji Yagi, to translate a few pages of the instruction manual for me. This translation is available to any modeler interested on it, I will gladly send it by e-mail.
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By Patricio Delfosse | 23.10.2013 12:02
The arrival of the Tamiya kit to the market was a partial surprise. Although, it’s true that outside of Japan this was not a subject that modelers were crying out for, due to their history Tamiya felt that it was almost a must to manufacture the most recent Japanese MBT. In spite that it is not an interesting vehicle for the occidental modeling world, the new Tamiya kit is always welcome.
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By Christian Franke | 23.10.2013 11:54
Doyusha offered both in the 90s and later only the Monte Carlo’s, making finally the San Remo Rally with the Pirelli team livery.
I’ve been trying to get this kit but it’s discontinued although still it’s possible to find it from some online stores/shops and on ebay. I bought one that had been partially built, which involves double work, missing parts, etc. This article aims at sharing with pictures the experience to rescue and old odd kit, improving it to the best of my skills.
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By Martin Klein | 22.10.2013 10:59
The Model Factory Hiro kit is a full detail all metal version and most parts are packed in a plastic box so that they are not damaged during transport. MFH recently increased the price significantly but after inspecting the content of the kit I think the kit is definitely worth the money. The M2 is the last of the ’84 versions that has been released by MFH and so many parts are carried over from the early versions. The M2 was only raced in the last 3 races of the season in Italy (Monza), European GP (Nürburgring) and Portugal (Estoril). With the kit you can build the Monza version. (For the races in Portugal and at the Nürburgring the front wing was changed from the delta shape to a square version similar to the one used the following year on the 156/85)
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