Tamiya 1/48 plane kits, are much more expensive then most other manufacturers. Do you think they are worth the extra money?

Hi there

Sadly, I have to agree with Rod; as much as I believe in supporting my LHS, I always buy my Tamiya kits online direct from Japan. Even including shipping costs, that works out about half the UK price.

I've never heard a good explanation as to why Tamiya kits are so much more expensive over here than other comparable Japanese kits - e.g. Hasegawa...

All the best

Rowan

While Tamiya does make an excellent kit, I don't think its worth the extra money. I'd much rather buy Hasegawa or Revell and put a little xtra work into it.

I always wonder if Seattle is weird or something because in my hobby shops most of the 1/48 tamiya / hasegawa / even academy kits run about the same price. So either they are equally too expensive :-) or equally too cheap :-) (probably not that one).

Anyway, are they worth it? It matters what you are after. Some people really like Tamiya (I'm one of those) because they have good fit, are fairly simple to put together and make look really nice, etc. With this being the case extra time can be spent in trying to add to what is in the box to make it extra nice, or you can just have a nice out of box experience. While on the other side, some people dislike Tamiya for the same reasons, saying they want the bigger challenge of making a lessor kit look nice and that the other companies help make them a modelor with better modeling skills. I would suggest checking out reviews for a plane you want to build on a site like modelingmadness and compare the different companies' offerings.

Leon

Hi Rod

That would explain it...LOL! But Hasegawa Corp. is a Japanese company - isn't it? I've got a Japanese address for them... I wondered why their kits are slightly more expensive than Tamiya on HLJ.

All the best

Rowan

Tamiya kits: "Glue part A to part B. Next, glue part AB to part C. When dry, apply paint"

Hasegawa kits: "Glue part A to part B. Sand, file, sand, file, sand, file. Then glue part AB to part C. Consult Quantum Physics manual on how best to achieve this step. After dry, fill with Zap-a-Gap, putty, and sand, file, sand, and file. Apply paint, take pictures, and blame results on crappy camera.

Ok, not entirely accurate but my experiences so far. :-)
BTW, the Tamiya kits here in N.C. are usually 6 to 10 bucks cheaper than Hasegawa.

Hermon

Wow Hermon!

I know you qualify that by admitting it's not entirely accurate, but I have to say that hasn't been my experience at all. I actually prefer Hasegawa kits over Tamiya ( and not just on price terms in the UK).

I'm the first to praise Tamiya for the beautiful design and quality of their kits, but I usually find Hasegawa have a certain extra "finesse" - more delicate scribing etc. - and, with a few notable exceptions, the parts-fit is excellent.

You actually sound more like you're describing a short-run kit... which, of course, I also love building! But then I'm a glutton for punishment and welcome the chance to build some really unusual aircraft.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Merlin
Don't get me wrong, I was joking more than anything. Remember, I've only been in the hobby for 4 months so my experience doesn't really qualify me to make serious judgments on kit quality.
My main complaint about Hasegawa comes from only one kit in particular, the P-40E in 1/48. The finish was beautiful, but the all together fit was a nitemare for me. Granted, someone with experience and know how isn't hampered by most of the problems that I encountered on this kit. To be honest, If I did this kit again next year it would probably be a completely different experience. I will go on the record however, and say that inexperienced beginners (like me) would be better off sticking to Tamiya for the first few kits just to get their feet wet and get the hang of trying new techniques.
My problem is that when I started building, I jumped in and bought kits that were a bit over my head, and I'm still experiencing this. I recently tried building an Accurate Miniatures Vindicator for the Flattops campaign. About half way through the build I gave up and switched to the Tamiya F4F-4 Wildcat. It was not the fault of the kit, but rather my lack of knowledge to do it properly.

Geez....this was a long post :-)
But for the record, as much as I've complained about Hasegawa here, my stash currently contains 17 Hasegawa kits and 4 Tamiya kits. Why? Well, because someday in the near future I might be good enough at the hobby to actually do a Hasegawa kit justice.

Hermon

Hi Hermon

That's a very good point about the relative complexity of kits - and it makes me think we should reflect it in the ratings we put in our reviews. I've got a few new reviews to add once we're fully up and running again, so I'll add a % for difficulty / complexity.

All the best

Rowan

Going to put in my $0.05 (we got rid of 1c and 2c...)

From my experience, which is limited but applicable, I find that with Hasegawa you have to do your homework on the kit because a lot of them are old molds, often from other manufacturers. These can be rubbish, a lesson I learnt recently with 1/72 F-4 Phantoms.

The old, old Hasegawa kit which cost AUD12.00 was ugly to build. Other than being totally inaccurate (except for the drop tanks apparently), the fit was so poor it ended up in the trash. (I know; sacrilege but I'm a newbie and it wasn't fun)

An old but more expensive Hasegawa kit (#KA5) AUD40 fits together excellently and any problems have been caused by my lack of experience.

The Tamiya 1/72 F-4G is somewhere in between. I am actually thinking of kitbashing it with another Hasegawa Ka5 that I have.

I am yet to build either companies WWII 1/48 but there sitting in my stash.... calling me.... make the voices stop...

I cannot blame the price. Afterall, they're awesome kits I must say. Good fit, nice details. Quite balanced unlike other manufacturers that have good fit, but bad details. Others, good details but bad fitting.




Really? Over here, Hasegawas are considered gold. They are doubled Tamiya's price. Their 1/72 Hornets were about 1800 Pesos, roughly 32 USD. While the Tamiya 1/72 Hornets were priced at 600 Pesos, roughly 10 USD. See the price difference?

In the US, Japanese products have higher tariffs than products from other nations. Same reason why Japanese cars are so much more than US ones. Since Hasegawa kits are made in China and exported here from outside of Japan, they are cheaper than Tamiya. At least Tamiya has volume to cut down on the high cost. Smaller manufacturers such as Fine Molds, Tasca and others have their prices go through the roof because of import tariffs.

I dislike Tamiya's approaches to kits. To me, they're over-simplified, over-priced, and over-rated. If you want to build a kit with the least possible involvement on the builder's part, they may be what you want. Whenever Tamiya has to decide how to break the kit down into parts, they will always choose the route that most suits the inexperienced/casual builder. This is done at the sacrifice of detail and overall appearance. Look at the panel lines (I call them "Tamiya Trenches"). They would be HUGE if you scaled them up, but it's easy for an inexperienced modeler to apply a wash. Their cockpits usually have the sidewall detail molded to the fuselage halves. This cuts down on the number of parts, but the detail is very shallow.

They're great confidence builders if you're new to the hobby because they do almost all the work for you. I like to be more involved in the building process. I have a music analogy:
If you're learning how to play the piano, "Three Blind Mice" is a good place to start. Once you know how to play, you could probably play a rendition of "Three Blind Mice" that would bring down the house. But how much enjoyment would the player get from that? If your enjoyment comes from the applause, keep playing the simple tunes. But if you like to play, then challenge yourself with tunes that build your skills.

All kits have their place; it just depends what you want to get from them. Applause or accomplishment?

Looks like you have a fun little build going on there.

I have a couple that would qualify:
http://www.pix.prettyneatinc.com/futureprojects.htm ,
but they won't be built as Spanish Civil War aircraft. I've got six commission builds, two group builds, and a pleasure build (P-38) going on right now. My plate's a little too full to start something else right now.

Hi,
just willing to confuse:)
Are the Tamiya 1/72 Hornets not Italeri models? That is why they are so cheap. And a number of Tamiya models are made in the Philippines. Hasegawa is not the only one with outsourcing.

As for Hungary (and Slovakia in my neigbourhood where I sometimes buy models) the currency exchange rates make up at least 30% of the price of any Japanese model, regardless which brand. Usually there is a wholesaler in Germany or in the Czech Republic, who buys Japanese kits on USD. USD to Yen is always a delicate issue, but if you consider that the distributors sell the kits on EUR to the shops outside the Euro Zone, and I must pay for it with my own currency, you can see there are 4 currency exchanges in the whole process, always with the suitable exchange/banking commission. And the EUR/USD/JPY triangle is a deadly trap in itself.

And the biggest problem is, that European manufacturers also raise their prices, since they can reap a nice profit while still remaining slightly under the pricing of the high-end Japanese kits. I think this is one reason why 1/72 armor is gaining ground.

I hope I could increase the chaos:))