G
I've almost finished this one & although it's only my 2nd build, it compares poorly to the Tamiya Tiger I (late version) that preceeded it. The kit is supposed to be a 'Premium' release, which means it's an older 'updated' kit of an earlier release. In this case it's a re-release of kit #6051, released years ago. Of course, this isn't shown so many modellers will be taken in by the 'extras' that come with the kit! And there are many nice bits inside the box-aluminium barrel with rifling, etched tool clamps, engine grilles, metal tow cables & some of the smallest metal parts I've ever seen, designed to be stowage brackets but the carpet monster had a few of them so I gave up and left them off!
My main gripes about this model are as follows:
1) the plastic seems softer & less crisp that the Tamiya Tiger. This shows in the detail on the roadwheels although detail on the upper deck & the manlet is very good.
2) there are far more seam & mold lines than on the Tamiya kit. This means a lot of sanding & scraping. So much so that I felt the majority of the time spent on construction was doing stuff like this.
3) the instructions are very poor-it doesn't even mention the AA MG34 mount on the engine deck even though the parts are there! Likewise the PE tool clamps and many of the pictures show the assembly until about 3/4 of the way through & then stop.
4) the way the parts connect to the sprues are poor-very thick sections of plastic (sometimes as big as the part you're trying to remove!) abound here & also many of the parts are connected in a bad place, such as the outboard front fender which means a lot of unnecessary sanding & filling.
5) poor fit of certain parts-bogie assemblies & the upper to lower hull took a lot of sanding and cursing! The exhaust mounts wobbled around like mad when dry-fitting & took a while to get them ok & upright. The side fenders need to be glued just at the back first, then after the glue is dry, stick the rest down otherwise it just won't look right. Also the fitting of the manlet to the gun assembly is difficult as it's a tight fit (oh-err missus!) so I recommend sanding the inside of the manlet first.
6) The tracks!!!! the kit comes with about 900 parts in total and about 600 of them are trackage, I kid you not! I've attached a pic to show one of the many sprues-basically there is one main track link & to join 2 of them needs a connection comprising of a small link & 2 tiny bar links. This is fiddly beyond endurance (as the actual construction doesn't take into account the cleaning up needed first!) & One of the reasons that I wouldn't recommend this kit.
Overall, this is a poor kit & not worth buying when you consider the alternatives. Dragon themselves do a much better 'Henschel' kit & Tamiya have also released & new Jagdtiger kit. Unless you're a masochist, avoid!
Patrick
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My main gripes about this model are as follows:
1) the plastic seems softer & less crisp that the Tamiya Tiger. This shows in the detail on the roadwheels although detail on the upper deck & the manlet is very good.
2) there are far more seam & mold lines than on the Tamiya kit. This means a lot of sanding & scraping. So much so that I felt the majority of the time spent on construction was doing stuff like this.
3) the instructions are very poor-it doesn't even mention the AA MG34 mount on the engine deck even though the parts are there! Likewise the PE tool clamps and many of the pictures show the assembly until about 3/4 of the way through & then stop.
4) the way the parts connect to the sprues are poor-very thick sections of plastic (sometimes as big as the part you're trying to remove!) abound here & also many of the parts are connected in a bad place, such as the outboard front fender which means a lot of unnecessary sanding & filling.
5) poor fit of certain parts-bogie assemblies & the upper to lower hull took a lot of sanding and cursing! The exhaust mounts wobbled around like mad when dry-fitting & took a while to get them ok & upright. The side fenders need to be glued just at the back first, then after the glue is dry, stick the rest down otherwise it just won't look right. Also the fitting of the manlet to the gun assembly is difficult as it's a tight fit (oh-err missus!) so I recommend sanding the inside of the manlet first.
6) The tracks!!!! the kit comes with about 900 parts in total and about 600 of them are trackage, I kid you not! I've attached a pic to show one of the many sprues-basically there is one main track link & to join 2 of them needs a connection comprising of a small link & 2 tiny bar links. This is fiddly beyond endurance (as the actual construction doesn't take into account the cleaning up needed first!) & One of the reasons that I wouldn't recommend this kit.
Overall, this is a poor kit & not worth buying when you consider the alternatives. Dragon themselves do a much better 'Henschel' kit & Tamiya have also released & new Jagdtiger kit. Unless you're a masochist, avoid!
Patrick
View attachment 19949
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View attachment 132475
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