Wade’s World Review: Tamiya Panzer III ausf N w/PE & metal main gun #35290
2 Price $77 MSRP, $65 Online Discounted, pretty spicy for what’s in the box.
IIRC, purchased at a mom & pops hobby shop in Pitman, New Jersey after a work related move for $53 in early 2009.
5 Instructions Clear, concise & correct. However, references will be needed to build anything remotely close a modern 21st era 1/35 Pz III ausf N
4 Molding Quality No mold shift, no short shots, no sink marks, very little flash to speak of, very good quality. However, due to the majority of the kit being from the 1990’s it’s a bit soft and not as crisp as modern molded kits.
5 Plastic Quality Normal top notch we expect from Tamiya.
4 Parts Clean Up Parts are well optimized for easier clean up. Low parts count helps too.
5 Ease of build Goes together very well with no fuss even detailing and adding various fiddly bits. The kit is a basically a cake walk to build. There’s punch marks etc to clean up. Great kit to introduce working with basic photo-etch to new modelers.
The suspension alignment was perfect and tight as installed no adjustment required. Checked with straight edge and glass desk top being level.
Outstanding, joy to build, kits like this are why model building is FUN in my opinion.
2 Accuracy back in the day a 3 or 4 but this kit is well behind today’s standards with what’s in the box. Lot’s of missed weld seams on hull and turret plus hooks are simplified. Basic dimensions look OK to my Mark 1 
eyeball.
Needs love from the builder and the kit responses very well to the time and attention. Built & detailed this kit in less time that it took to build the Takom basically out of the box.
The cupola sucks and isn’t up to the standard of the rest of the kit in my opinion.
5 Fit Precision, head ache free
1 Doesn’t Require Aftermarket I couldn’t be happy with this kit unless the new vinyl tracks were replaced and some aftermarket fiddle bits like Aber MG’s & antenna added. The kit tracks need replacement for most to be happy in 2020 with the kit. That will add to the cost of an already expensive kit.
2 Details built Out of the Box the kit has some potential as an OOTB build but the details will be very lacking. This would reduce visual appeal to a noticeable degree in my opinion.
35 points out of 50
35/50 => 70%
Recommended with reservations The model builds well but has been surpassed in general.
Would you buy this kit again?
No, I’d buy a cheap generic Tamiya Pz III kit and use the lower hull with Takom’s Pz III upper hull and do a kit bash.
