Tamiya vs Revell vs italeri vs hasegawa vs UGHH! Which one is best :P

Hi,

I have been trying to fogure out which brand to focus on. I know that if I want to build a certain kit and only that specific manufacturer sells it, then of course my options are limited but what if the kit is manufactured by multiple manufacturers.

Which one do we choose?? I have always stuck with Tamiya but I have seen Revell doing the same kit and its the exact same car.

How do we decide?

Wolvy

It really depends on the individual kit, as quite a few, like the original BMW 6 series & quite a few Ferraris, are available from multiple manufacturers. If you have any particular model(s) in mind, then it's easier to comment as to the pros & cons of each version. :) Worth having a search on here too, as most will have been discussed in detail - e.g. IIRC Fujimi's Ferrari 250 GTO is apparently the best version, but the Revell / Protar is thought by some to have a much nicer engine.

in general, almost all RECENT models are nice to build.Look at recent revell 458, sls..dtm cars..they are pretty nice ones.

Everything depends what u are searching for. IMO real tamiya moulds (not reboxed) are always the best and worth the money.

I buy kits because of the subject, not the maker.
Very rarely is there a car/kit that I want that is made by all manufacturers and currently in production.

As said, it is all very kit dependent.
Some are good, some are bad, some are not worth the money.
Every manufacturer makes bad kits.

For instance in my sig there are
1x tamiya
1x fujimi
1x hasegawa
2x italeri
1x esci/ertl
1 x protar (reboxed by revell)
5x monogram (pre-merger)
5x revell

If you look at the list of makers, it would suggest that revell/monogram are the way to go except that would be ignoring the fact that there aren't really many other easy to get options for those came cars from other kit manufacturers. Also, if another kit manufacturer did make it, I probably bought that one too anyway.

One cannot obsess over what company is better, even when comparing particular kits. People like different kits for different reasons. Do research before buying something you think you may want, don't automatically assume company "X" does something better than company "Y". As others have said, it is better to get a grasp of a particular kit/subject and then choose the company, if you have a choice.

People like different kits for different reasons.

This is exactly right. There are people who will swear all over that the Tamiya Enzo is better than the Revell, or that the Revell F430 is better than the Fujimi. But with everyone's different criteria, who should you trust? And why totally disregard a company because of opinion about most models? A lot of manufacturers vary a lot from one kit to another even, like Fujimi.

So, if you are thinking about a certain kit, feel free to ask, we'll all happily give you our opinions. But also look at the kit (of course) and see if one has something important (to you) that the other doesn't, or look at build threads to see how the detail or fit is, or look at completed threads to see which finished model tends to look more like the 1:1 than the other....

A good example for me (which I bring up a LOT) is the Fujimi v Revell Civic kits. The Revell is far more detailed, they really covered a lot more ground way beyond just the with engine and curbside debate. The chassis is better detailed, the interior is way more detailed, the engine bay is... there. And the kit is much cheaper! By most standards, and even by my usual standards, the Revell EK is a hands down winner. But... it just doesn't look right to me. It never looks right. I've never seen a Revell Civic all built up that looked... right. So I prefer the Fujimi kit, I have and have had at least ten of these kits and only two of the Revell kit, one of which I sold. So really, you can break it down in all sorts of objective ways, but it may not outweigh the subjective opinion.

So ask around, look around, and decide when you're ready to build that car instead of generalizing now.

By most standards, and even by my usual standards, the Revell EK is a hands down winner. But... it just doesn't look right to me. It never looks right. I've never seen a Revell Civic all built up that looked... right.

...and in some people's books, this looks like a challenge that they can't refuse.

A good example for me (which I bring up a LOT) is the Fujimi v Revell Civic kits. The Revell is far more detailed, they really covered a lot more ground way beyond just the with engine and curbside debate. The chassis is better detailed, the interior is way more detailed, the engine bay is... there. And the kit is much cheaper! By most standards, and even by my usual standards, the Revell EK is a hands down winner. But... it just doesn't look right to me. It never looks right. I've never seen a Revell Civic all built up that looked... right. So I prefer the Fujimi kit, I have and have had at least ten of these kits and only two of the Revell kit, one of which I sold. So really, you can break it down in all sorts of objective ways, but it may not outweigh the subjective opinion.


And Revell's RSX looks 10X better than Fujimi's. How Fujimi could botch a Honda so badly is beyond me. And Revell's isn't particularly great, but Fujimi's is barely recognizable.

The Revell EK's all tend to get built w/Revell's OOB wheel placement. I don't know if I've seen more than one or two ever built where the builder properly placed the wheels inside the wheel openings. Revell has the track way too narrow. The front fender to front bumper fit isn't too great. Those two areas, fixed properly, should fix most of the "Revellness" that spoils so many Revell EK's.

It's really just that they look too narrow. I work on them day in and day out at work, and own both a coupe and a hatch, and I am as picky about them as most people are about their Ferraris. It's funny, their Integra looks pretty damn good in my opinion. I think they just tried to share dimensions, which would work for the EG, but not the EK.

Anyway - great illustration of the subjectivity in "which kit is best"!

Well to answer your question, if all 4 companies did a kit of the same model, it will go down like this:

1st: Tamiya with an easy win, they always get the "look" right.
2nd: Hasegawa
3rd: Revell
Distant 4th: Italeri

But to limit yourself to one brand is to limit yourself for no real good reason. Then add Fujimi (total hit and miss though most of their new stuff is a hit and most of their old stuff is a total miss) and Aoshima (same as Fujimi). There you go.

anyway guys all this is not completely true.
If u look at italeri catalogues of the past they made nearly all the old ferrari legendary cars. They are not bad kits at all (look at the old California, the 250 GTO, the 288,daytona gr4, the 275 or the merc 300 SL, the merc roadster...).
All they had minor issue to fix , quite easy today with PE detail parts as wheels rims, but I think still at today they are really great model with very fine plastic and easy to work,imho infinetly better than any resin brick priced at 200 dollars u can find on ebay.

In these days was searching for infos about another old model I found, the old Italeri Lambo Diablo.Searched inside the forum, and agree with whom said that is absolutely the best curbside Diablo model around (excluding wheels, as usual), really much more better than any Fujimi, and priced half to japanese problem fitting kits.

Dont also forget in japan many italeri models are reboxed by tamiya (cause down there tamiya is italeri's distributor).
Just a shame nowadays they lost the royalty,so we just have to pray revell can rebox at an affordable price these old italian kits.