Are Tamiya 1/16 scale tanks the most accurate?

[43rdRecceReg]

I just wonder how much more accurate Tamiya models are across the available range, than those from Hobby Boss, Trumpeter, Taigen, Heng Long and others..where each produces a version of the same tank (e.g. the Tiger 1)? I'm also wondering why Tamiya have never included a smoker in their Full-option kits, unlike their main competitors? It seems to me that tanks, and great clouds of exhaust emissions go very much together. An accurate tank ought to make smoke.. Or should it?

[Ad Lav]

Never been a fan of smokers, take up valuable room in a tamiya hull as they still use bigger speakers and two boards.

I think they are fairly accurate. Doubt they would be 100% as the need for reliable running is more important.

[PainlessWolf]

Good afternoon, 43rdR&R,
Even tho' I had a neat 1/35 Tamiya rc Tiger 1 and had built one of their 1/16 R(emote lead wire)C Gepards back when Dinosaurs ruled the Earth, I was firmly in the 'They cost a lot for what you get' Camp...until I built Mikes Tiger 1. The accuracy of the kits over HL and even Taigen, Hobby Boss, etc is immediately noticible. While not as detail rich as a static Trumpeter tank, Ad Lav noted that they have to be a little different if expected to be a Runner. Even the guys who build the Trumpeter tanks into runners usually use a Tamiya inner hull and running gear to do so. Make no mistake that companies like Torro, Taigen, Mato and even Heng Long are catching up. Still, sometimes major structural details have to corrected on those tanks before you start addressing things like the ever present frog eye headlights and ( for some models ) molded on tools, etc. With aftermarket details available in greater quality and quality thanks to things like 3D printing, it's hard to go wrong with any Manufacturers tank as long as you are ready to put the time into a little research and alteration\detail.
regards,
Painless

[43rdRecceReg]

Good afternoon, 43rdR&R,
Even tho' I had a neat 1/35 Tamiya rc Tiger 1 and had built one of their 1/16 R(emote lead wire)C Gepards back when Dinosaurs ruled the Earth, I was firmly in the 'They cost a lot for what you get' Camp...until I built Mikes Tiger 1. The accuracy of the kits over HL and even Taigen, Hobby Boss, etc is immediately noticible. While not as detail rich as a static Trumpeter tank, Ad Lav noted that they have to be a little different if expected to be a Runner. Even the guys who build the Trumpeter tanks into runners usually use a Tamiya inner hull and running gear to do so. Make no mistake that companies like Torro, Taigen, Mato and even Heng Long are catching up. Still, sometimes major structural details have to corrected on those tanks before you start addressing things like the ever present frog eye headlights and ( for some models ) molded on tools, etc. With aftermarket details available in greater quality and quality thanks to things like 3D printing, it's hard to go wrong with any Manufacturers tank as long as you are ready to put the time into a little research and alteration\detail.
regards,
Painless

Many, many thanks, for the Insight, Painless. I'm beginning to see how the most authentic looking models are often an admixture of the best features- cherry picked- from disparate brands (Trumpeter + Tamiya+ Taigen for example..), as you say. Then, they're enhanced with bespoke add-ons from the likes of Aber. Well,... by experienced tank tinkerers, that is... Some of us still sport 'L' plates.. and, for the benefit of out US cousins, who may not know it, learner drivers in the UK must have an "L"- for- Learner' plate attached to the car they're attempting to wreck...er..drive.
My brief fling with the Tamiya 1/35 Cromwell, demonstrated just how precise components can be in a quality brand. That's why I now have the Tamiya Panther G waiting in the wings; still in it's precision wrapping.
I swear it calls to me at night..urging me to assemble it! ..and you're immersive thread, on the Tamiya Tiger 1 build, is partly responsible for this extravagance!

[tomhugill]

My take is tamiya stuff is usually a case of omitting detail rather than it being inaccurate

[Rad_Schuhart]

Yep, I agree with Tom. My tamiya kits (king tiger and sherman) lacks details.

I still cant understand for example why most of the hatches came closed. (Be prepared to hard mode them if you want them operational) and even you need to add a hinge to the tank commander hatch, the manual says to glue it open or closed.

I like the smoke machines and I never use the tamiya electronics.

[43rdRecceReg]

Well, I suppose in the case of the Pz IV they at least managed to get the slope of the rear engine deck right, as well as the position of the rearmost return roller. I only wish the competition had too.
If the basic structure and form of the tank is at least accurate, then you can tack on details to your heart's content. But when some of the basic proportions are wrong, or bits are embossed in the decks, you're backing a loser from the outset, I expect..

Just found this comparison, and though it's not connected directly with 1/16 scale models, it does say something about the rival kit makers..
http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_su ... 50997.aspx

[43rdRecceReg]

Just unearthed this ancient piece from the RCTW archives on fitting a smoker to a Tamiya... Like Rad, I'm totally convinced of the need to have a smoke generator in a tank (and it doesn't have to be ganja flavoured either)

viewtopic.php?f=113&t=7916

[jarndice]

In earlier days when the OEM smoker failed which it inevitably did I would take it out and use the space for a bigger board/speaker/battery that was simply because I reasoned that a serviceable Tank engine would not smoke, at least not in the amounts that most of us seemed to want,
Perhaps a brief plume of black on start up and a smear of grey on heavy acceleration but not the constant egress of smoke which even the best smoke units are putting out.
I favour Tamiya's attitude in that respect,
And as Roy says the annoying niggles that we are expected to fix because Heng Long/Taigen and Torro are too cheapskate to fix themselves.
Why cannot these makers when a new Tiger 1 body mould is being cast remove the second spare aerial holder from it ?? After all most of them are now selling their Tanks free of moulded on Tools and in the case of the PZ4 finally getting the rear roller at its correct hight,
Tamiya have actually spent time and money researching the Models they sell whereas given the matter of the excess spare aerial holder as an example the other company's seem to save money by just copying the opposition.
That keeps the price down to us but raises the blood pressure in old men
Shaun.

[Rad_Schuhart]

Just unearthed this ancient piece from the RCTW archives on fitting a smoker to a Tamiya... Like Rad, I'm totally convinced of the need to have a smoke generator in a tank (and it doesn't have to be ganja flavoured either)

viewtopic.php?f=113&t=7916

When I used the tamiya electronics, I connected the smoke generator to a free channel in my radio receiver with an electronic switch (3 euros at hobbyking). So I can switch on an off the smoke machine from my radio.