@ Nigel - Yeah, I completely agree mate. Tamiya are doing themselves a massive dis-service reboxing older Italeri kits. The Italeri/Tamiya M24 Chaffee kit for example was pretty bloody awful, although to be fair this Crusader kit did go together very well in comparison. But still way over priced for what it is. Their Sd.Kfz.231 (6 wheeled armored car) was also another abomination that just annoyed the hell out of me and not worth the cost of the plastic it was molded from. I've yet to build their M109 Paladin, so will be interesting to see what that's like as I have both their Vietnam and Gulf war versions.
Rui S Do you have the trailer James? That will be wonderfull 👍
24 June 2020, 20:04
James C Yep. It's one of the reasons I concentrated on British armour this year... to see which one I load up on the back😉
24 June 2020, 20:13
Rui S Great, I see that the truck brings the trailer. I'm looking forward to see that big set, Mate.
Do you have a album of the Sd.Kfz.231 build? Why it was an abomination? I like that armored car.
24 June 2020, 20:14
James C No I didn't bother re-shooting it as I disliked the result so much. If it had been priced more in line with other typical Italeri boxings like their Puma kit that I also did, I wouldn't of minded so much. For what its worth, the Italeri 234 Puma (8 wheel) is better than the Tamiya/Italeri 232 (6 wheel) and just a quarter of the cost! Very dishonest marketing by Tamiya.
In comparison, I found their 232 is poorly molded, the fit of that angular hull was not the best and the fit of the rear axles to the chassis was just sloppy as hell. Tamiya included a metal barrel which given it's basic shape was a bit unnecessary, as well as a standing commander figure to pose outside of the vehicle and then quadrupled the price!
I agree that it's a cool looking vehicle, and If you can find the original Italeri (2004) boxing, I'd recommend it as it includes the overhead aerial frame, but I would not recommend the Tamiya re-issue as your not getting anything for the inflated price and they did away with the aerial frame. Given the overall quality, I'd also avoid the later (and much more expensive) Italeri re-boxing as well)
I'm a fan of Tamiya engineered kits in general as you know your getting quality... even with their older kits. But your not getting that quality with these re-released Italeri kits, but your still paying Tamiya prices.
24 June 2020, 20:32
Rui S I see, and I agree 🙁 To pay a lot more just for a nice boxart??? Tamiya shouln't overprice it.
Italeri had an upgraded kit with PE & resin parts. Sd.Kfz. 232 6 Rad (Italeri 6445, 1:35)
James C
Nigel
Rui S
