Tamiya F-4J Kits - Just how accurate are they?

[John1]

2 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

BTW, if anyone wants to see how undersized the Tamiya “long” exhausts are, look at this photo, surprisingly from Tamiya themselves.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10011409/20/4

 

Good god.  I get that this kit is a bit old but how the heck could T have let that issue get by them?  

[Gary Needham]

5 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

BTW, if anyone wants to see how undersized the Tamiya “long” exhausts are, look at this photo, surprisingly from Tamiya themselves.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10011409/20/4

 

 

Yes they are awful and incredible in equal measure and especially so being Tamiya. The Eduard 1/32 resin (and expensive!) burner cans for this kit are just super-detailed copies of the kit parts with identical dimensions. I took photos of the resin ones fitted with the same cavernous gap all around them and sent them to and asked Eduard how they could have undersized them exactly as Tamiya did and if anyone actually had QC test fitted them.

 

I got no reply so draw your own inference!

 

Gary

[mattcour]

I have built three short nose Phantoms of Tamiya. They are the king, because there's no other king currently.

Not perfect, not bad either. Aftermarket improvements would make great differences and there is plenty of options thankfully.

 

[IvanVasili]

You would have very positive answers if you ask this at your local modeling club.

But here at LSP, with so many modelers who are capable of writing an academic thesis on the subject, the answer is rather less likely what you would wish to hear 

It is not the most expensive kit on the market, there are many thousands built you can find on the internet. Go build one, you'll see it better with your own judgement. You'll not regret it anyway... Just add some aftermarkets, these guys got to make a living, too