By Patricio Delfosse | 14.06.2013 10:55
Until this Tamiya release, other companies offered us the Hetzer in 1/35 scale. The oldest mold comes from Italeri and leaves much to be desired Later Dragon flooded the market with different early and late versions among them the flamet...
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 ...
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 Guy Golsteyn | 15.11.2012 10:31
It has been a while since I built my last Formula one model car. But seeing how promising the Ebbro Lotus kit looked, I couldn’t resist building it as soon as I got my hands on a sample. It’s Ebbro’s first attempt to re...
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 Eduardo Andreoli | 08.10.2013 17:55
Since time ago, I wanted to make an early version of M7 in North of Africa. I had kept one from Italeri waiting to get some good M3 bogies since the ones from the Tamiya Lee/Grant did not convince me at all. To correct these bogies, I had to make a homemade conversion which would take a lot of time) or buy an expensive resin aftermarket.
COMMENTS
By Mario Covalski | 02.10.2013 11:21
I have been building the 1/12 Caterham from Tamiya since 1994, right now I don’t remember how many of them I have built but think I did 14 of them. Some were sold other remains in my showcase. In fact I built more as I use to disassemble the old ones and with new techniques and / or inspiration I make new ones, always letting my imagination fly freely.
COMMENTS
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes | 22.09.2013 12:33
The aim of this article is to give the reader a detailed and comprehensive guide. Here you’ll have typical indications for the most experienced modelers but very useful for newcomers or for those about to take their first steps into scale model cars. In spite that this kit is simple, it’s very important to follow the instructions to avoid unexpected surprises. In spite that modelers use to skip or change the order in the instruction steps, I’ll build this kit as per instructions.
COMMENTS
By Martin Klein | 22.09.2013 11:25
The Tamiya Ligier is like all the early kits, basically a curbside one with a removable cockpit cowling. Before starting the kit, I was planning to detail it with removable front wing, sidepods and engine cover and with movable skirts, so the first step was to check my books and magazines looking for reference pictures. The result was pretty poor, so, I decided to surf the net, and this was a great success.
COMMENTS (1)
By Patricio Delfosse | 22.09.2013 11:15
The 15 cm Schwere Feldhaubitze 18 or sFH 18 (German: "heavy field howitzer, model 18") was the basic German division-level heavy howitzer during the Second World War. Until now to accomplish this model, you could only find resin or metal kits among the available brands. My intention was to assemble this sFH18 in combat mode without limber. Let’s see which surprises this kit will bring…
COMMENTS
By Eduardo Andreoli | 19.09.2013 11:41
The DV ( Direct Vision) was always one of my favourite tanks but up to the Dragon release, the only options to build it were the conversion from Formations or the old one from Verlinden. As I don’t like to work with resin, I waited in the hope of getting a plastic injection kit. Fortunately, today is possible to assert that Tasca and Dragon offer nearly all the versions of the Sherman (with guns) that saw service during World War II.
COMMENTS
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes | 15.09.2013 12:15
During many years, I thought that Tamiya was the only manufacturer of Japanese 1/12 car kits. And, until the arrival of the Internet, I used to go to local hobby stores to purchase the kits I wanted. Then, surfing the net, I found sites as Modelersite where I discovered lots of new things and brands, other scale models, and above all, different ways of seeing and developing this activity.
COMMENTS
By Fabrice Marechal | 13.09.2013 12:30
The Lexus LFA is one of the so-called “supercars” conceived as a racing prototype and a production model. One of its main features is the extensive use of carbon fiber, its V10 engine, and the chassis which is separable from the monocoque for maintenance purposes. Tamiya has done something really remarkable in reproducing some of the aerodynamic and mechanical features, such as the adjustable spoiler, which makes this kit the “flagship” of its 1/24 sports car line. Our main goal in this note is to help the novice modeler in the building and finishing of this Tamiya super kit.
COMMENTS (1)
By Gary Wickham | 13.09.2013 12:13
The infamous Dragon P-51D in 1/32. This model was started before Tamiya announced their kit, and I have to admit that during this build I did consider scrapping it more than once. In the end, I am very glad I did not. Despite the challenges and limitations of this kit, I am very happy (and proud) of the end result.
COMMENTS
By Gennaro Zappa | 13.09.2013 11:50
Kawasaki had high expectations for 2006 Season. The new Ninja ZX-RR was a motorcycle that had nothing to do with its predecessor. New inline four cylinder engine, higher speed, and torque. New clutch re-designed as well as the gear box to provide more power.
COMMENTS
By Patricio Delfosse | 09.09.2013 11:03
After 30 years of the Tamiya old mold, around 2002, and nearly by the time AFV Club and Skybow announced two new molds of this important light tank. Both kits (Skybow and AFV Club) are excellent, but the Skybow´s includes a mantlet cover made out of soft plastic, a similar material used for the tracks. Though this mantlet cover was not obligatory (in the real thing it was a dust cover and could be removed to leave the metal mantlet exposed), most of the pictures show it placed.
COMMENTS
By Mario Covalski | 05.09.2013 13:36
My objective when I built the PM4/2 was to have a depiction of that car, with the quality aspect of Tamiya's McLaren MP4/6 kit, due to the similarity of both cars, and the building materials. The purpose of this note would not be to tell you how I built the model, because this kit has been discontinued more than ten years ago, so it is quite difficult to get one. I don't think it is reasonable to write a thorough note on specific details; so I will concentrate in general detailing that can be applied to other models with similar characteristics... and quality.
COMMENTS
By Patricio Delfosse | 02.09.2013 11:30
Until the arrival of this Trumpeter Strv 103, we only had one available option of resin from Accurate Armour and I believe that one from S-Model too. Both kits are out of catalogue and difficult to build for nowadays standards. The 00309 reference (subject of this note) corresponds to the Strv 103 B, first version of this vehicle that saw service.
COMMENTS
By Patricio Delfosse | 28.08.2013 19:54
For those fans of modern Soviet hardware, there are not many opportunities to be pleased about. There are just a few releases of this kind of vehicle and in general they are from brands which offer low quality products. This Gainful is an exception, since it’s quite a good kit (though not superb, as we’ll see later on) from Trumpeter, a company that since several years ago, have been offering quality products for a very reasonable price.
COMMENTS (1)
By Mario Covalski | 26.08.2013 21:01
When I began building this model, my aim was to build it "out of the box" with minor and easy to do modifications, and make it look colorful. The building is quite simple, the only real problem is in the chassis. The car's body is in fact the monocoque, it is painted in white and orange colors; the challenge was, building the whole chassis with the two previously painted parts. After giving it a good thinking, I decided to paint the two body/chassis parts and build the rest in a later stage.
COMMENTS
By Crescenzo Consolato | 24.08.2013 09:29
Since time ago, I had in mind to build this Tamiya kit with a higher level of detail trying to replicate the F189 which ran in the 1989 Portuguese GP. Although it’s widely known that the Tamiya kits come highly detailed offering a very good quality, I had to make several improvements to match this one to this Portuguese GP version. The reason is because this Tamiya kit represents a F189 of the early season.
COMMENTS
By Patricio Delfosse | 21.08.2013 09:23
The T-34 is one of the vehicles with longer operative life. Even, many are on service today in some third world countries, and until a few years ago, in Europe, they were seeing action in the former Yugoslavia. Among all the versions developed, this accomplished by the Egyptian, is the one that seems more attractive to me. In the ‘70s with the surplus of T-34 chassis, surpassed by more modern tanks, they decided to mount the Soviet 100mm BS-3 gun...
COMMENTS
By Edgardo Azzollini | 17.08.2013 10:10
Both MFH kits are very well done and well match the real cars. They could be mounted OOB, but some little changes could be done to improve these kits. There are few mistakes on painting scheme and, for D50 only, I had to make modification on the body-work to get the right GP version. Since kits are almost the same, mounting process is the same for both: any difference will be underlined on the article.
COMMENTS
By Laurent Rolleri | 17.08.2013 10:05
I spent several years waiting to build the Somua S35 from Heller #81134, for one reason or another I didn’t do it, probably due to the kit errors. I had to find a half built Tamiya Char B1 bis in a trash can around the corner from my house, perhaps thrown by a beginner scale modeler; that I finally started this mythical tank adopted by the French Army during the 30s.
COMMENTS
By Mario Covalski | 13.08.2013 11:49
This article aims at providing the beginner a complementary guideline, apart from the Tamiya instruction's manual, including photos of a detailed and quality enough model to encourage him/her in what we could call a hard and laborious work.... facing for the first time with a Tamiya's box.....with a 1/12th inside.
COMMENTS