Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tamiya Tiger I (Early)


Y'all know Tamiya has released a passel of Tiger I kits over the years. I think maybe executives at Tamiya get a bonus for how many new Tiger I kits the company creates.

Well, this one might be the best. It's not a new kit or anything, but these days I'm actually digging deeper into my kit stash than before, and dusting off some of these kits that might have a few years on them.



The subject: Early Production Tiger E, a German heavy tank serving from 1942 to 1944. It was biggest and meanest production tank of its day, and was much feared by its enemies - but it suffered from serious mechanical issues, mainly due to its size and weight, and the complexity of its design.

The kit: Tamiya kit number 216 (35216), which generally retails for around $35.00. Back in the day, I remember Tamiya Tigers having hopelessly inacuurate roadwheels and overly simplified suspesion systems, but this kit is a huge improvement on all that. The roadwheels and tracks, etc., are nicely detailed and are accurate, at least as far as the interleaving system goes.

For a stock kit, the detail is acceptable, if not a bit simple. I built it OOB, which basically means that I was somehow able to resist the urge to add tons and tons of aftermarket doo-dads. By some odd twist, I did not replace the two-piece, split-down-the-middle plastic barrel with a nice, shiny, turned aluminum one. I also did not use Modelkasten or Fruilmodel aftermarket tracks, but instead settled for the kit-supplied one-piece rubber-band tracks (actually the rubber-band tracks don't look half bad in this kit). And contrary to popular belief, proper track sag can be achieved using the rubber-band tracks. It just takes a little cyanoacrylate and a little finesse.

The kit provides detail and decal options for four or five different actual vehicles. I chose one serving in North Africa with the DAK in 1943 (the turret numbers are the only marking for this vehicle, according to kit instructions).




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