Hi Jakko,
Right. I agree partially with you and disagree partially with you also.
Yeah, Tamiya kits from the 1970s and 80s are usually bad - many were made for motorization so not accurate. Tamiya Leopard 1 is probably one of the worst from Tamiya.
Italeri’s Leopard 1A4 from the 1970’s was a surprisingly good kit.
I’m looking at the Italeri’s homepage for 1/35 offerings, and some kits listed there are some of the least accurate kits I’ve dealt with: https://www.italeri.com/en/category/3/21
HMMWV M1036, all M1A1 Abramses, M109A2/A3, M109A6, all its Shermans, M113, all LAVs, T-55, all M900 series trucks.
When there are plenty of other brands’ offerings with better reviews, I’d certainly avoid Italeri’s. That’s all.
I partly disagree about the Shermans The original M4A1 is a decent kit, and again, better than the Tamiya equivalent, their old M4A3. All the other Shermans, though, are 1990s+ and therefore usually worse than the older kits. But the ones from similar vintage as the Leopard 1A4 are also similar quality to that — like the M4A1, M47, 105 mm howitzer, etc.
I have to stand up for Italeri. They rereleased their PzKpfw IV Ausf F/F2(or early G) /G as completely new mold kits that are quite excellent. Their US M 47 Patton is also excellent. They have also teamed with Tamiya on a few of their kits, Dragon with others. If you haven’t tried them recently, do so.
