By Mario Covalski | 03.01.2022 11:26
Since I built my first Tamiya 1/12th kit, a certain number of years ago, around 30, I was fortunate enough to build many times the same models in different stages of my hobby modeling “career”. The Tamiya Wolf WR1 was released in 1978, after a good campaign of the 1977 season considering it was a small motor racing team. On those times Tamiya owners were F1 fans and in less than a year this incredible kit was already into the market Of course this kit have been superseded by newer technology, nevertheless, it still astonishes us. As soon as it appeared, I built two, with both versions of decals; at the beginning of the ‘90s, I built the third and finally, in 1998 the last one I put here for your consideration.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 07.09.2019 10:01
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 Ian Stair's scale drawings published in the Fokker Dr.1 Special by Albatros Publications. These scale drawings, although are correct in dimensions, have some mistakes like the absence of the opening for the oil filling on the starboard side of the front decking and the lower panel where is located an access hatch to the engine and the incorporation of a detachable axle wing, correct for some versions of the Fokker D.VII, but not for the Dr.1 which its axle wing was fixed.....
By Claudio Kalicinski | 04.01.2017 17:47
The DeHavilland Mosquito was a British combat aircraft that excelled in a number of roles during the Second World War. Originally conceived as an unarmed fast bomber, uses of the Mosquito included: low to medium altitude daytime tactical bomber, high altitude night bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, maritime strike and photo reconnaissance aircraft.
By Michael Schneider | 04.01.2017 10:09
Looking through my photos of a Porsche-Alfa-Meeting in Hockenheim in 2004 I found an Alfa Giulia with wide fenders. It was then when I pulled the Tamiya Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA* off the self to take a closer look at it. The kit is great and includes an engine, but I wanted a body with wider fenders. Of course, it is possible to widen the fenders with sheet and putty, but I would not need to do so since there was another Alfa from Gunze Sangyo* on my shelf, not so accurate to my eyes, even without an engine, but comprising wide fenders.
By Pablo Raggi | 11.17.2015 10:41
When I bought this kit, over two years ago, the IDF S’hot Centurion1967 version was not announced yet. Actually this was the model I wanted to build, perhaps I acted hastily and this was my first mistake. The Voyager 35110 etched set was excellent, it was thought for the Australian Centurion Mk 5/1 instead of the Mk 5/2 Nato, for which there was no specific PE available. This was the second mistake. To make things worse, I bought the etched set before purchasing the kit, so I didn’t know whether I would need it or not.
By Patricio Delfosse | 10.01.2015 10:06
I’ve always been building military vehicles. My paint box is full of greens, grays, ochres and browns colors; and sand, gray and beige pigments. My shelf is full of Trumpeter, Tristar and Dragon boxes. Thank you, Verlinden for having launched the aftermarket industry for superdetailed kits for military vehicles. But however…sometimes I wish to build something different. Something glossy, with a lot of decals. Something fast. It’s not my intention to teach to build cars. This note is simply an experiment to see how somebody who doesn’t use to build cars, does it I admit that what scares me most, is to get a smooth and gloss paint finish. I hope to reach a decent final result in the end!!
By Robert Hughes | 06.01.2015 12:17
On the 7th of September 1975 Nikki Lauda would drive into the record books with a well driven 3rd place at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The race was won by Team mate Carlos Reutemann but all eyes were on the number 12 of Nikki Lauda because finishing 3rd was enough to secure the Drivers Championship for 1975. All of Italy rejoiced at Ferrari's first driving title since John Surtees in 1964. I had this Tamiya 1/12 scale model in my to do pile for quite some time and considering that 2007 was Ferrari’s 60th anniversary year there could be no better time to start work.
By Dan Parrat | 05.28.2015 20:24
By Roy Fitzsimmonds | 04.01.2015 11:49
he large scale Airfix Bentley is a great model, if sometimes a little hard to find nowadays. There are often a few on eBay but you need to be patient to get one at a good price. I’ve seen them go for as much as £100, and as little as £35. I paid £45, which is a pretty good deal. First off, let me say that this isn’t a super-detailing article in the truest sense. I haven’t gone overboard, machining various bits in ally or brass, or re-making pieces in high tech workshops, but there are lots of fairly simple things you can do that will vastly enhance this model. Everything I’ve done can be done by the average "Joe Bloggs" at home.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 01.16.2015 11:19
There are manufacturers that get better with every kit they introduce in the market, and each one is better than its predecessor in quality, detail, fit, etc. Of course, there are exceptions and sometimes a new kit can be worse than the previous one. In my personal thinking, this is what happened with the M706 Commando Armored Car from Hobby Boss (also known as V-100). Though it was released after the M4 Truck, its overall quality was lower. Something that we have to admit is that this company use to surprise us with different models and at reasonable prices.
By Martin Klein | 01.07.2015 11:54
The 1/20 Tamiya kit provides full engine detail in contrast to the 1/24 version also available. Another difference between the two versions, is that the 1/20 kit also provides the decals for the 1978 version with red and white colour scheme (instead of blue) and so, I decided to build the 1978 version mainly because of the colour. One thing very difficult if you intend to detail such old kits is to find good references. So, I dived into my pile of old racing magazines and found a 1978 issue with a detailed development report of the car, containing several photos of car details.
By Felice Ferriello | 10.17.2013 09:55
I think that this is a very beautiful kit any Ferrari lover will appreciate especially due to the fact that it was the first testarrossa of the series, besides of being a very attractive car full of magic as a classic and collectible car. You can get this kit for a cheaper price than other ones offered in resin. As a point of fact, it makes an excellent addition to any enthusiast’s collection. Hasegawa has offered us the chance of having this nice car which has been well engineered in spite of a few difficulties and, I believe it’s worth building it.
By Patricio Delfosse | 10.17.2013 09:45
Impressive as is, this howitzer must be among the first places of an endless lists of classic weapons of Second World War. Its big caliber, strange tracks and its participation in the famous film about the fall of Berlin in 1945, are their letters of introduction. However, it went unnoticed for the most well known injected plastic kits manufacturers. Just the resin kit companies had it in their catalogue, but so pricey as the howitzer itself.
By Patricio Delfosse | 09.22.2013 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…
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.
By Patricio Delfosse | 08.21.2013 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...
By Claudio Kalicinski | 02.28.2013 18:50
I decided to scratchbuild this plane after seeing the scale drawings by Mike Fletcher in his web site: The Nieuport Pages. I sent an E-mail to him and he kindly sent me pictures and larger resolution scale drawings. Once I enlarged the plans to 1/48, I noticed how big the plane was....
By Pablo Raggi | 02.28.2013 12:20
The version I chose to represent one of these vehicles, is the one I found in a picture of the book Soviet Armor Wheeled Vehicles from Concord Editorial. There, I could see two BTR-152 arrived at Syria during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. I guess they’re new since they don’t have the typical hand painted markings, as can be seen in others pictures from the ’73 and ’82. In the picture there is another BTR-152 captured which has two interesting markings: the numeral and the divisional marking painted on the mudguard. The idea was then to make a two tone vehicle belonging to the Syrian Army of the mid ‘70 but with the numerals placed as in the second picture of the book.
By Francisco Rivas Pose | 02.28.2013 12:14
Once the model was finished, I realized about the importance of having good reference material and how this is essential to get good results. I would be glad to send everyone who needs some pictures. I used Tamiya acrylics for all the painting job except for the body. First of all, the grilles were washed with soapy water while flashes and mold marks were removed from parts.....
By Mario Covalski | 02.01.2013 12:02
By Eduardo Andreoli | 01.12.2013 18:59
When I face this type of project and there’s no commercial kit available, I try to gather as much information as possible, written information and references pictures with the purpose of giving myself the idea of the different parts I’ll need to build the puzzle. Later, I start looking for the kits from which I can take parts from. In this case, I took as base some parts from the Tamiya Ford Quad (Ref.#35045). Besides, I noticed that a feature of this Ford F30 is that it has Chevrolet axles, this was why I had to go to the Italeeri Chevrolet kit. (Ref.#6233)
By Roland NG | 11.15.2012 10:21
I’m a great Ferrari fan. Ever since the Enzo Ferrari was released by Tamiya, I have always wanted to build an Extreme detailed Enzo. My dream was finally realized in 2008 when I spent almost 6 months, test-fitting, scratchbuilding, recreating almost every single detail. Actually, this car was supposed to be ready by the end of 2007 in accordance to commemorate the 60th year of Ferrari history but unfortunately, I was unable to do so due to my busy schedule.
By Mario Covalski | 04.01.2011 12:19
Over the years, I’ve been tempted by those 1/6 engines from Revell, all of them were reproductions of icons of the North American automotive industry. I feel strongly attracted to these models not only due to their scale but also cause I’m a huge cars fan. Of course these kits don’t represent a full car but, in my opinion, the main part, the engine. This note aims at leading the reader to the construction (very simple) of one of the best of the series, the Hemi Drag, with minor modifications that will improve the final aspect of the model.
By Patricio Delfosse | 04.01.2010 12:16
This new version of the Nissan GT-R has been painted with the Calsonic Impul team colors and features the aerodynamic modifications of this team itself. This point makes the difference between this and the previous kit Xanavi Nismo (#24308). The body mold captures the complex lines of the car and at the same time it offers a well engineered array of parts and is not very difficult to assemble.
By Martin Klein | 04.01.2010 10:54
As it seems Tamiya lost interest in 1/20 Formula 1 kits and so I am happy that Fujimi is now stepping into fill this gap. There are several versions available of the 126C2 including one with clear body cover. The reason to choose the Long beach version is that it has a unique rear wing configuration arranging 2 smaller wings covering the whole body width. Gilles Villeneuve raced this car to 3rd place in the ’82 Long Beach GP but was disqualified after Ken Tyrrell protested claiming the rear wing configuration illegal.
By Modeler Site | 12.01.2009 0
By Modeler Site | 11.01.2009 0
By Sergey Torkhov | 10.01.2009 11:34
The box art from Italeri is beautiful as usual. I was particularly impressed with the sight of the white stripes on red, especially when the truck was standing on the sunrise. After its release in1995, this was the first model I wanted to build. But my dream came true until now. That’s better, because now I have the skills to build it in a better way. I liked the box art so much that I decided to build it according to it.
By Mario Covalski | 10.01.2009 11:25
When I was a child, probably motivated by some TV series; I often dreamed about a time tunnel where you could go back or forward in time. If this tunnel had existed and a person born in 1800, settled in one of our cities, living together in our environment, eating our food…and spending some time with our hobbies, he would have probably got seriously ill.
By Claudio Kalicinski | 10.01.2009 10:51
The kit (8110) was made by the Czech company Eduard and as a "Profipack" release, it does include photo-etch details such as seat belts, machine gun fretted jackets, wing walks, radiator shutters, control horns and small interior details, along with a sheet of masks made in kabuki self adhesive paper.
By Eduardo Andreoli | 10.01.2009 10:36
Going on with the saga of vehicles used in the African front during the Second World War, finally, it was the turn of the SdKfz 253, a small command tank that coordinated the actions in the battle front. To accomplish this project, I used the only kit available on the market, a Dragon release which original mold was manufactured by Gunze. (Ref.#G-744)
By Modeler Site | 10.01.2009 0
By Dario Risso | 09.01.2009 11:12
The options of Panzer IV in 1/35 scale is wide and to fit all budgets. This Dragon kit (Ref#6080) is among the average price. Being neither an excellent nor a very expensive kit, it’s not one of the worst ones and it’s not difficult to build, of course, with the addition of some improvements which will be described in this note.
By Modeler Site | 09.01.2009 0
By Modeler Site | 08.01.2009 0
By Mario Covalski | 07.01.2009 11:22
In 1978 I discovered the 1/12 Tamiya Ferrari 312T, when I saw the box I stuck to the shop window wondering if it was a kit or a puzzle. Imagine my excitement when I viewed the box content, with sprues full of parts and details that seemed to be coming from a sci-fi novel, and though such an expense was not within my budget at that moment, I decided my purchase without hesitation. The following weeks, during my honeymoon with the kit, I built it using the best techniques I could: Testor spray cans and Humbrol with brush.
By Modeler Site | 07.01.2009 0
By Dan Parrat | 06.01.2009 11:03
By Modeler Site | 06.01.2009 0
By Modeler Site | 05.01.2009 0
By Pablo Raggi | 04.01.2009 11:49
This is a typical Skif kit, bad fit, poorly detailed, too thick plastic. However, Skif offer a catalogue with vehicles that are not marketed by any other brand and this deserves some recognition and effort on the part of us, the modelers, since in the end, we will have something exclusive in our display cabinet.
By Modeler Site | 04.01.2009 0
By Modeler Site | 03.01.2009 0
By Jose Angel García Martin | 02.01.2009 12:27
Everybody knows the story of the battleship Bismarck sunken by one of those beautiful biplanes. Perhaps in the world of airplane model builders, this kind of airship are the most beautiful to replicate, I don’t say that the modern fighters are not admirable, but the complexity of the old biplanes due to the rigging, the wings assembly, the effects that pigments of that epoch caused on the fabrics they used, oil and fuel leakage…etc make these subjects an attractive alternative to build....
By Pablo Raggi | 02.01.2009 12:03
A technical is a type of improvised fighting vehicle, typically a civilian or military non-combat vehicle, modified to provide an offensive capability. It is usually an open-backed civilian pickup truck or 4x4 on which is mounted a recoilless rifle, a machine gun, a light anti-aircraft gun, or another relatively small weapons system. Since time ago, a technical fever which started with the Toyota Land Cruiser release from MIG Productions, lives around the world of modeling...
By Keiichi Aoki | 02.01.2009 11:59
This is not a building work for a brand new kit but a restoration work I built over 30 years ago. The Lamborghini Countach LP400 or LP500 models were released by several manufacturers including Tamiya which offered the 1/24 scale model just recently. However if you look for a big scale kit, Tamiya only offer a 1/12 radio control kit which doesn’t replicate neither interior nor engine. The kit I built is an Otaki 1/12 scale with cockpit, full engine, open doors, and retractable lights, etc. Doyusha as well as Testor offered the kit coming from the same Otaki moulds.
By Modeler Site | 02.01.2009 0
By Modeler Site | 01.01.2009 0
By John Horst
By Patricio Delfosse
Working with resin kits calls for certain precautions and techniques somewhat different than the ones used for the plastic kits we’re used to building. These kits comprise fewer parts but are more difficult to build. Resin kits technology is suited to short runs, and we could say that they are not pure commercial kits but collection pieces even before being built.
By Patricio Delfosse
The BS-3 100mm antitank gun was designed and successfully employed in the late stages of World War II, remained in service into the 1950s and was also sold to a number of other countries and in some of these countries the gun is still in service. A number of BS-3 pieces are still stored in Russian Army arsenals.
By John Horst
By Pablo Raggi
I can’t remember exactly when I started to build middle-east models. But I’m sure that nowadays there are many more options available to choose. Recently, Trumpeter released three versions of the PT-76, among them, the PT-76B (kit #00381) which fits perfect for the Middle East theatre.
By Giulio Marrucci
By Dario Risso
The kit represents a KV-2 as a "beutepanzer" (literally "trophy tank," meaning a captured vehicle). Modified by the Germans with a Panzer III cupola, Bosch light, convoy light, horns, tools, and rear storage racks for additional 152mm main gun ammo and fuel cans, this version makes an interesting comparison piece to the original Russian version, particularly in its German standard three-tone camo.
By Nicolas Perez Fiorentini
I wanted to build the “early” version of the M1 2005 which ran the first four races of the 2006 Championship. This version has a completely new cowling, nose, tank, rear cowling, rear fender, etc, and until mid of 2006 there was no transkit. Building this version would allow me to build the 2007 one that used the same cowling for nearly half 2007 season with minor modifications. Studio 27 launched the transkit that captures the lines of the late version of the 2006 model that has the same Tamiya seat and tail and modified tank...
By Patricio Delfosse
The PaK 43 is the natural evolution of the Flak 36 adapted for its anti tank role. A number of armored vehicles also carried versions of this gun, under different designations, including: heavy tank Tiger II (KwK 43 L/71), self-propelled gun Nashorn (PaK 43/1), as well as tank destroyers Ferdinand/Elefant (PaK 43/2) and Jagdpanther (PaK 43/3 and 43/4).
By Alessandro Prini
By Giulio Marrucci
By Nicolas Perez Fiorentini
By Michael Schneider
When the Revell Dodge Charger SRT8 kit arrived to the model-shops, I had to buy one. However, opening the box, these big wheels and the Lambo-style doors didn't hit my taste very much, I was more looking for a style similar to the former musclecars.
By Edwing E. Merlo Paredes
By Giovanni Galvan
By Pablo Raggi
As I usually build vehicles used in Middle East conflicts, when I purchased this SU-100, I chose to build the Egyptian version captured by the British forces during the Operation Musketeer, headed by British Army General Charles Keightley, it was conducted in October 1956 in coordination with the Israeli armored thrust into the Sinai, which was called Operation Kadesh.. Egypt's government, led by President Nasser, was seeking political control over the Suez canal. This Egyptian decision produced a conflict of interests with the British French allies who sent troops towards Port Said and saw combat with the few Egyptian armored units. The Egyptian vehicles were T-34/85, SU-100 and JS-3M, all of them were almost new.....
By Thomas Halvarsson
By Giulio Marrucci
By Giulio Marrucci
By Rad Fismistr
In 1979 Tamiya produced their first true off road chassis. The model came with fully dampered independent suspension, sealed gearbox and radio box, allowing it to run through puddles and in muddy terrain without water getting into the electrics and gearbox. All the bodies were made from highly detail injection moulded plastic. The Sand Scorcher is now one of the most sought after kits from that era. Most Tamiya RC collectors dearly want one of these Vintage models in their collections. Many collectors love the standard looks of the Sand Scorcher and some collectors modify the body and the chassis. This article is about one such modified Sand Scorcher and how it was done.
By Roger Knight
A client recently acquired a Lotus 24 and commissioned a 1/12 model of the car. This example has over the years been ‘modernised’ to comply with modern safety requirements with higher roll over bars and fire equipment, seat belts etc but otherwise is pretty much unchanged since the early sixties. The car original was raced by Reg Parnell Racing, a privateer entrant from that period and is still painted in the Parnell colours of dark blue, red noseband and white wheels. It is fitted with the 1.5 BRM engine.
By Pablo Martelli
To represent this model, I used the reference # 6221 from Dragon in 1/35 scale. Overall this is a superior kit to the older Italeri one especially regarding the interiors. This is an important detail considering this vehicle has no roof.
By Claudio Kalicinski
As you probably know, the Smer kit is a reboxing of the old Heller kit. It’s very basic (as was the real aircraft itself) and molded in a rather soft light grey plastic. As you might expect from a kit of this era, the panel lines are all engraved, but a bit heavy and the fabric surfaces were represented by an inaccurate very rough surface. A bit of sanding will cure that.
By Giulio Marrucci
By Giulio Marrucci
By William Chan