Tamiya Early Tiger 1 #35056
My review of the ~1970 release 1/35 Tamiya early Tiger 1 kit build in today’s model building landscape.
1 Price ~$35 (fleabay + shipping). Not that many years go this kit wouldn’t sell at model contest for $5. However, it’s old enough to be rare now and commands a respectable price if you can find one. The kit was purchased for a Kitmaker Campaign build.
5 Instructions - very nice vintage Tamiya
3 Molding Quality - flash, sink marks but decent considering the history and age. I think my kit was a ~1980’s re-pop.
2 Plastic Quality - hard & brittle, guess this kit had heat exposure at some point in a storage unit etc.
3 Parts Clean Up - usable parts, easy to clean
2 Ease of Build - out box 5, very easy but the tweaks needed are excessive and complicates to bring the build up to ~2000’s level detail.
3 Accuracy - main gun way too big, wrong number of wheels, cupola no vision slits etc, would be zero but that bird bath recess around the loaders hatch is sweet and many newer kits don’t have that option. So +1 point for the old girl. Main parts like hull, turret aren’t too bad on a very basic inspection. The bones are decent.
Later, I learned the bird bath was unique to a small number of Tiger’s with snorkel. The Bovington Tiger 131 has the recess.
4 Fit - All of the kit parts fit together surprisingly well.
0 Doesn’t Require Aftermarket - every part needs help by today’s standards
0 Details built Out of the Box - very weak here
23 points out of 50 possible
23/50 => 46%
Generally Not Recommended, far too many newer kits with better everything out of the box. Kit still occasionally has a place as a nostalgia build, Campaign challenge build or test bed.
Definitely a favor once wrapped.
