Wondering for some insights on Tamiya in the 70s and 80s

[花火]

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all doing well.

I have been collecting Tamiya's 1/12 big scales for some years and I have collected many of them. Although, most of the kits are way older than me. I want to ask for some insights here since I know most of you are very experienced modelers throughout your lives - How good were those kits? for example, the 1/12 935 martini, 1/12 934, the several 1/12 70s F1 series, 312T, M23, P34, lotus 78, and more, and the MP4/6, fw14b - Were these full interior kits considered kind of SUPER KITS at that time?

And also, what about Tamiya's military models in that same time?

 

Thanks!

[Nacho Z]

Larry, I currently have a build thread on the Matra. You can see the parts that I have had to deal with.  I also have threads on the Lotus 78.  The Lotus 78 is a much better kit than the Matra.  I have collected most aftermarket items for the Williams FW14B.  Although I have not started it, it looks to be even better than the Lotus.  My take is that the Tamiya kits get better with each passing year. 

Edited May 1, 2023 by Nacho Z
Typo and added info

[花火]

1 minute ago, Nacho Z said:

Larry, I currently have a build thread on the Matra. You can see the parts that I have had to deal with.  I also have threads on the Lotus 78.  The Lotus 78 is a much better lit than the Matra.  I have collected most aftermarket items for the Williams FW14B.  My take is that the Tamiya kits get better with each passing year. 

I totally agree with you, John! and thank you for your reply.

I have built tamiya's 1/12 Porsche 910 years ago and it wasn't that good an experience. 

[jaymcminn]

I have built several of the 1/12 scale 70s Tamiya kits. For their age they're absolutely wonderful. Out of the box they're good, with some TLC and detail work they can be superlative. 

This is the Porsche 934. Probably 90% out-of-box.

 

The Datsun 240zg. 

 

The Lotus 72... wish I had some better pics handy.

 

Be prepared for some weirdness... Tamiya was overly fond of molding interior parts as well as some trim parts in a soft black vinyl. Sometimes the working features , umm, don't. Many of these kits have been reissued frequently and later issues include additional PE and detail parts. Additionally, newer Tamiya decals are vastly superior to the old ones. 

[BlackSheep214]

I've built a few Tamiya aircraft kits as well as armor kits. They are good kits overall. I've done only one Tamiya auto kit and that was the Lancia Strato. I recall having fun buildng it as a teen in the 80s

[Richard Bartrop]

I built the 1/12 Lotus 7w many moons ago, and what struck me was how painlessly it went together, despite its complexity.

[mr moto]

On 4/30/2023 at 8:48 PM, 花火 said:

I totally agree with you, John! and thank you for your reply.

I have built tamiya's 1/12 Porsche 910 years ago and it wasn't that good an experience. 

Wow! I didn't realize that Tamiya was making kits 910 years ago!