Tamiya quality is a slippery slope...

[TankDriver]

I'm pretty happy with my modified Futaba 4YF four-channel 2.4GHz controller
viewtopic.php?p=380361#p380361

[r32]

The Tiger is Tamiya’s first full option tank designed from scratch (the King Tiger and Sherman were retrofitted for full option) and there are nice things and not-so-nice things in the Tiger.

The nice things:
The screws to that allow you to open the hull are well concealed
The entire turret and hull top can be opened and the space you have to work with is cavernous
It has prototypical torsion bar suspension
The hull is plastic but reinforced with steel plate from within
Track tension is easily adjustable externally and huge improvement over the King Tiger

The not-so-nice
The earliest release came with gearboxes that made the tank too fast. They can be identified as having white gears. Later gearboxes feature a black plastic cover and have gears made from nylon, cast metal or brass gears. Those became a standard Tamiya tank gearbox for quite a while.
The gun recoil gearbox is bespoke to the Tiger. It is a poor design as the rack can warp easily if your gun barrel hits stuff. It was never used in any other tank.
The gun barrel elevation arm is plastic and can strip. Metal ones are easily available aftermarket.

Thank you for sharing this r32

Dumb questions since I'm at such an early stage, does the kit come with a metal or plastic barrel? and if not metal does someone offer a good metal barrel aftermarket?

And as per replacing the plastic gun barrel elevation arms with metal, could you share a link to a company that you'd suggest looking at for these types of parts? I'm only familiar with Heng Long and Taigen Tanks so I don't quite know where to look for Tamiya aftermarket and upgrade parts.

Thanks

It comes with a plastic barrel as standard. It is no bad thing as paint sticks better and it taxes your elevation gearbox less unless you add weights to balance it. For my other tanks that come with metal barrels, despite priming it, they shed paint easily exposing the shiny machined aluminium beneath.

Carson at DKLMRC out of Hong Kong is my go-to - the arm is just US$6.

https://www.dklmrc.com/product/ta-un

[Meter rat]

Our friend Dave, has them . Used one in my grey tiger mash up.
https://www.forgebeartanks.com/store/p7 ... _Tank.html

[Stormbringer]

Nice 1 mate

[Dogberry]

Having given some thought, you can never have too many tigers, you really do need at very least 8 tiger 1's
DAK tiger
Eastern Front Initial production run
Eastern Front Early
Eastern Front Mid
Eastern Front Late
Western Front Early
Western Front Mid
Western Front Late
Now if you also include whitewash Camo variants and Befehlstiger variants that number spirals.

I do not include the minelaying tiger that people confuse with a Bergtiger.

Seriously the Tamiya tiger 1 is a very good model I have got 4 . I would concur about the white topped gearboxes, they had plastic gears that failed very quickly avoid at all costs or replace they are rare I have never seen one. You could get 3-1 reduction gears for the Black top gear boxes however whilst it produces a realistic running speed when coupled with metal tracks they can put a lot of strain on the gearboxes and cause failures. However metal tracks make the model look good when moving.

If you can find a genuine Tamiya metal gun barrel ( sold as an aftermarket hop up part) it is well worth it. It is just a straight replacement. The Aber one is nice but expensive. I like metal gun barrel I think they look better. I must confess I have never had any problems getting paint to stick to them, perhaps it depends on the paint.

My only bugbear with the Model are the hatches. The drivers hatches have no hinges so have to glued shut unless you buy or make hinges, there is nothing to see underneath, but it is a good place to hide the on/off switch and when on display figure can be staged in them. The engine bay hatch is made to be openable but if do there is nothing but the speaker beneath and if you fit the air cleaner tubes you cannot open it

If you have been offered it at a good price get it you will not be disappointed.

[tomhugill]

Tamiya tiger 1 and the tamiya Pershing are two of my favourites in the full option range. You'll enjoy it!

[MrChef]

I'm pretty happy with my modified Futaba 4YF four-channel 2.4GHz controller
viewtopic.php?p=380361#p380361

Thank you for sharing this.

I also spent some time reading Rad's writeup on the radio topic. Now just gotta see who sells what I'll need.
https://radindustries.wordpress.com/2020/06/25/radios/

[MrChef]

Our friend Dave, has them . Used one in my grey tiger mash up.
https://www.forgebeartanks.com/store/p7 ... _Tank.html

Good to know. But I'll likely go the Carson DKLMRC route since I have several other parts to order from him for the Leo as well.

[MrChef]

Nice 1 mate

The universe is telling you to give that kitty a home! I love my Tamiya Tiger

Tamiya tiger 1 and the tamiya Pershing are two of my favourites in the full option range. You'll enjoy it!

The Tamiya Tiger is the only one on the market that has the turret and its rotation axis in the correct place on the hull Taigen and Heng Long have the turret incorrectly moved forward by a few cm.

Yes it's time to try the gold standard.

It will be nice to appreciate all the details and savor the build.

[MrChef]

Having given some thought, you can never have too many tigers, you really do need at very least 8 tiger 1's
DAK tiger
Eastern Front Initial production run
Eastern Front Early
Eastern Front Mid
Eastern Front Late
Western Front Early
Western Front Mid
Western Front Late
Now if you also include whitewash Camo variants and Befehlstiger variants that number spirals.

I do not include the minelaying tiger that people confuse with a Bergtiger.

Seriously the Tamiya tiger 1 is a very good model I have got 4 . I would concur about the white topped gearboxes, they had plastic gears that failed very quickly avoid at all costs or replace they are rare I have never seen one. You could get 3-1 reduction gears for the Black top gear boxes however whilst it produces a realistic running speed when coupled with metal tracks they can put a lot of strain on the gearboxes and cause failures. However metal tracks make the model look good when moving.

If you can find a genuine Tamiya metal gun barrel ( sold as an aftermarket hop up part) it is well worth it. It is just a straight replacement. The Aber one is nice but expensive. I like metal gun barrel I think they look better. I must confess I have never had any problems getting paint to stick to them, perhaps it depends on the paint.

My only bugbear with the Model are the hatches. The drivers hatches have no hinges so have to glued shut unless you buy or make hinges, there is nothing to see underneath, but it is a good place to hide the on/off switch and when on display figure can be staged in them. The engine bay hatch is made to be openable but if do there is nothing but the speaker beneath and if you fit the air cleaner tubes you cannot open it

If you have been offered it at a good price get it you will not be disappointed.

Well I have 3 out of the 8 on your list already done so I don't feel so much pressure

I'll be sure to check the gearboxes but the kit was bought brand new in the last few years so I'm hoping for the best.

The barrel is just a curiosity or preference of mine but I'll build it as is to see where I stand first. I do understand taxing the recoil unit with more weight from a metal barrel though.

The hatches I can work with. I have plenty of spare Tiger parts floating around to fabricate something as I agree that opening hatches are an appreciated benefit.