Tamiya stuck in the 1970's?

[Tankbuilder]

I just got a couple of Tamiya M4 Sherman kits the M4A3 with 75mm gun and the M4A3 with 105mm howitzer. I got those because they came with figures that WAS going to use to show the scale of the tank but WOW! they're midgets. Plus the two kits of the tanks are the ancient M4A3 with some new parts and accessories but with all the flaws of the earlier kit such as no sponson shelf which equals the outside being visible if hatches are left open.

A while back I got 2 sets of Tamiya WW1 figures to go with my WW1 tanks. Again, 1 set of the Tamiya figures were midgets and thus useless for showing a tank's scale whilst the other set of figures were NOT Tamiya but ICM! Oh, and the figures in these 2 Sherman kits have half of 5 of 6 arms molded to the torso which severely limits any SIMPLE arm swapping. Plus 2 of the 3 infantry figures in one of the tanks are the same as the ones in the other kit.

Gads but you really need to be careful with Tamiya these days. In so many kits they've simply reboxed old kits, added a few new figures or figures from other old sets (undersize by quite a bit) or a few new accessories. I've just about given up on Tamiya figures sets as they just aren't worth the risk of getting figures so far undersize that they can't be used with armour.

Is Tamiya still stuck in the 1970's early 1980's?

There are a lot of other styrene figures out there now that are a lot better than those Tamiya ones I've bought in the past few months.

Sorry for the rant but I'm really disappointed in Tamiya as of late.

Cheers

 

[errains]

The sort answer is...yeah they are. :huh:
Figures are definitely not there bread and butter. That being said some of their newer sets are not too bad. I picked up the below set awhile back and was surprised, they were not to bad at all. So I get the impression the newer Tamiya fig set are better, but not as good as they should be.

:v

 

[Tankbuilder]

The sort answer is...yeah they are. :huh:
Figures are definitely not there bread and butter. That being said some of their newer sets are not too bad. I picked up the below set awhile back and was surprised, they were not to bad at all. So I get the impression the newer Tamiya fig set are better, but not as good as they should be.

:v

I've got 2 of those sets and they aren't too bad in scale height. the dude standing and wearing coveralls is about 5'9" in height. That's a lot better than the 5'2" or 5'4" heights common to most other Tamiya figures i got including that Tamiya specific WW1 set (not the ex ICM ones).

Btw, notice that the tank commander looks a lot like Brad Pitt? I wonder if the movie FURY was the inspiration for that set of figures?

Cheers

 

[moon puppy]

I knew a tank platoon commander who was in the 3rd army from D-Day on. He took his GI Bill benifits and went on to be a very successful accountant. He stood 5 foot nothing and maybe 125 Lbs. Lot of the WWII vets I knew were not big brutes, none of them very tall. Just sayin'.

 

[Tankbuilder]

I knew a tank platoon commander who was in the 3rd army from D-Day on. He took his GI Bill benifits and went on to be a very successful accountant. He stood 5 foot nothing and maybe 125 Lbs. Lot of the WWII vets I knew were not big brutes, none of them very tall. Just sayin'.

Oh I realize that there were a ot height challenged people in the military. LOL It just makes it very hard to use Tamiya figures in order to give a sense of scale when the figures scale up to well below average height of 5'8" or so. I used to use some 1/32 scale figures to represent tall troops but gave then 1/35 scale gear and weapons.

When I was a young lad and built my first Tamiya M4 Sherman model and a standing figure to go beside it I though that the Sherman was HUGE! It wasn't until I saw an actual Sherman tank that I realized that those tanks were not nearly as large as i thought they were. Another Tamiya kit with figures that makes the item look a lot bigger than it is in real life is their original 88 Flak Gun kit with Crew. Those guys are small too.

What I wanted to do with the troops from these two M4 Sherman kits was used them close in with some Japanese infantry I have from Tamiya. However the US troops are at least as short as the Japanese figures if not even shorter. Hardly conducive to a realistic scene is it?

Then again, maybe Tamiya thinks that EVERY US soldier was an Audie Murphy? VBEG LOL ;<)

Cheers

 

[moon puppy]

I don't think he was ever considered "height challenged". My contention is people were shorter then, my Father-in-Law was 6' even, he said he was one of the biggest guys on the foot ball team at the time and during the war.

 

[Tankbuilder]

I don't think he was ever considered "height challenged". My contention is people were shorter then, my Father-in-Law was 6' even, he said he was one of the biggest guys on the foot ball team at the time and during the war.

That's why I added the VBEG, the LOL and the ASCII Smiley.

Yes, a lot of men ere shorter than the average of 5'8" during WW2. However it still means that Tamiya doesn't do many figures above that height of 5'2" - 5'4" in Allied troops. Ah well, now there is Dragon, ICM, Master Box, and MiniArt producing figure that are 5'8" or taller. It's a good time to be building 1/35 styrene figures.

Cheers

 

[Iron Mike]

So don't be stuck in the 70's and hit the bench.

 

[Tankbuilder]

So don't be stuck in the 70's and hit the bench.

Oh I'm the bench alright. Got a couple of Tiger 1 tanks kits on the go as well as a Tiger II some Japanese armour and some Sherman tanks. I just wanted to get some figures started so that i could use them to help layout my proposed dioramas or scenes. That's why I was so disappointed that these Tamiya figures are so small. Now I have to order some figures from somewhere else and it takes about 5 weeks average for them to get here.

Cheers