0h, what model shall I build for this tribute? Which way is the wind blowing? I can’t make up my mind. However, I do plan to build some of the earlier simpler kids. Not that today’s Tamiya kits are 500-part affairs that require an engineering degree.
If I get the time, I’ll build land, sea and air. I read somewhere that Mr. Tamiya the founder flew J1Ns. If that turns out to be correct, then I’ll build Tamiya’s Gekko.
For the land and sea choices, my thoughts are going back and forth like a ping pong ball.
For sure, I wasn’t expecting perfection.I’ll just build it OOB.Possibly using the Revell’s tracks if they will fit , then I can use the aftermarket ones I bought for the Revell.
The main thing as always is to enjoy the build (I am not a master modeller as some of you are here)building AFV’s is for relaxation.
However I hope it will be a loving tribute to Shunsaku Tamiya san.
The Academy M2 and M3 kits, yes, sort of. Academy copied them but moved some of the parts around, so the sprues are different. The Academy M2A2 Bradley Iraq 2003 kit sort of. It has all-new Academy-designed parts added to Tamiya-copy basic parts.
It’s not going to be easy for me to decide. My first memory of Tamiya was 1/700 waterline kits. Something might tickle my fancy doing one of those. I remember three early Tamiya 1/35 armor kits: the panzer iiim/n, the sheridan, and the jagdtiger. Maybe the updated version of the Sheridan would be worth doing? The 1/72 Tamiya 109 made me serious about airplane modelling about 7 or 8 years ago, which then led me back to 1/35 armor modeling, so maybe a pair of those?
So many choices…
I’m loving the trips down memory lane folks are sharing.
My LHS has a couple of those on their shelf right now. And it’s not an expensive kit either.
One day I might grab one, although I would be tempted to put a little Jeremy Clarkson figure steering it. If you’ve seen the Grand Tour special you’ll get what I mean.
Vosper! That’s one that I keep rattling around in my brain that I should build. I still have the one I built back in the seventies. It’s not in terrible shape but it’s also not going to win any model contest. It’s got a few parts knocked off of it and I wonder if the propeller shafts are still water tight because I made it motorized.
I found one still shrink wrapped a few years ago and bought it. Right now, I’m just not certain where it is since we moved.
Just for the record - and I clearly can’t enter this one as I have no pics of the construction process - but as I say, more for historical chat than anything else, back in 1972 I purchased this kit from a model shop in Bielefeld:
I had recently obtained a Profile Publication all about the beast, often the only references back then, and that was my first introduction into the exploits of one Michael Wittman. The booklet had, as a centre-piece colour-spread, a picture of his mount in Russia. With great eagerness, and not that much modelling skill, I set to (I was 17½) and it wasn’t easy in a busy barrack room.
Of course, the medium was never going to travel well, and somehow I got it back to my home in the UK; built but not finished. I’m afraid it still isn’t (no surprise there perhaps to those that know me); I believe I painted it around 30-odd years ago, once I had secured my own home, basing it on the Profile image.
As I say, it is still unfinished, and of course, has been eclipsed by much better models, but to me, it has a certain charm, and I really must finish it all, even though, as I say, it’s not eligible within the campaign. I have said elsewhere, that I cut my 1/35 AFV teeth on the Tamiya Leopard, but that must be wrong; it was this one by around 5 years or so.
Anyway, for what it’s worth, and clearly a trip down memory lane - forgive some of the glaring errors:
What is the limit for started kits I have about 50 kits that are prebuilt (by me) and that is my cue right now. They are all done to have all the subassemblies done and need to have the build finished up and paint done.
I don’t have much in the way of Tamiya as I am heavily committed stash-wise to Dragon and Trumpeter/Hobby Boss but I have the Goliath set and the diorama with the German soldiers eating a meal on a street. I do have the FAMO but I’m not ready to start a another large project until I finish my current one.
