Finally, what I have been waiting for, a proper JS-2... I think I will shed tears for the price but still get it, hopefully with some AM tracks.

Now, I too agree with Andras. When it comes down to Dragon/Trumpeter/AFV vs Tamiya, I will probably not pick Tamiya. Yes, I know most of the Tamiya kits are shake&bake, etc. But more than half of the Tamiya kits themselves have serious accuracy problems. Generally they are oversimplified. You don't get goodies with them. Need I say more?

Some local examples... If I want to get a Tiger, locally I have 3 options, DML, AFV and Tamiya. The oldest Tamiya Tiger sells for 28 Euros, while the rest goes up to 40. As you know, then you need the engine grills, and some decent tracks if you please... The AFV Tiger is around 20 Euros and has the same qualities,albeit with grills(so you can build OOB). The DML Tiger 3in1 kit (the old one) was selling for 30 Euros, the new one when it arrives will sell at most for 35. You know the goodies it contains. Tamiya? Sorry, no. Same goes for KV series, Tamiya's KVs are more expensive than 15 Euros here, while I can get Trumpeter KVs for 12. True, Trumpeter KV requires more work, however is much more worth the money in question to box contents. If you are talking about "Reboxing", don't tell me Tamiya does not rebox. They reboxed their Sdkfz 222, put PE grilles in it, doubled the price and put them on the shelves. They put some Afrika Korps in their old 88 and it is slightly more expensive than Dragon 88s. I can ramble on but I think this is enough.

1/24 scale cars? I will worship Tamiya. 1/48 airplanes? Tamiya is my brand. Modelling tools? I love Tamiya. 1/35 Armor? Sorry, Tamiya is losing me altogether...

Looking it over, it certainly has the feel of a proper IS-II. It appears more accurate in terms of hte fender height and the turret welds than the DML kits, and I have built a few DML kits! I also appreciate the "open" engine air intakes with PE screens and the choice of the different "nose" over the most common DML kit makes it a winner as well.

Overall, though, it looks...plain. The tracks are a problem as they do not look correct in rubber and the bear over the red star in the decals looks wrong...maybe it is a problem with the pictures? And what is with the headlight...non-clear plastic?

I know, it seems we are already criticizing a kit that has not even hit the shelves but I think there is a bit of "shot fear" with this one...it is not significantly more advanced than other models but it will have a scary price tag (for various reasons). I look forward to buidling one, but it may not be until the price is reasonable by my terms as there is nothing about this kit that makes me want to pay a premium.

I think if you go back and read the details of the kit you will find that they are offering both the single piece vinyl and individual track links as well as grill PE parts. I think it is great that Tamiya hasn't totally stopped making 35th scale Armor. Lately their offerings though rare have been truely fine kits (T-55a, Char bis). As to the Dragon Tamiya debate. Well I saw in Dragons offerings at the 2007 show a Tiger 1 and a Porsche KT. Gee....how many does that make of each of those.? Dragon is more prolific, but lately some of thier offerings are getting stale...kinda like how many Bismarck kits do we need. It would be nice if they did some middle aged Soviet Armor to go with all the M1 series they are putting out. I'ld love to see a really nice T-62 and T-72 varieties.

Tamiya IS-2 will include vinyl and link and lenght tracks, so AM replacement is not a 'totally' necessary (at least I think most people that will replace them would do the same with Dragon indy links).

About Tamiya debate IMHO they have a better AVERAGE quality in NEW kits than Dragon. I´m refering to Leopard 2, Challenger II, T-55, IS-3, Stug III, Char B, Lecrec, Hetzer... not the re-pops. I rate a company for their new products, not for twenty -or more- years old kits. If they continue releasing them is because they sell it. Dragon don´t have injection facilities of their own like Tamiya so it´more profitable to sell some of their old 'dogs' to other companies than re-realese them without changes.
For me this is less offensive than Dragon policy of copy other companies news to destroy their competitors. I can´t say it´s morally wrong. After all is a bussiness. But for me is less irritating than selling old kits.
And also you should note Tamiya kits are made for a wider audience, less concerned for accuracy than Dragon ones which are for die-hard modellers.

I´m sure that the best from Dragon -like the Panzer IV F or Abrams- is better than the best from Tamiya. But they release their rate of flawed kits like the Panzer IV E -which I have- and then they may correct them in future editions -sometimes without a different reference number- or not.

It´s also true that Dragon listen to the modellers unlike Tamiya, but this also have a negative side: I don´t know of another model company that has get so low to publicly call names to an individual.

Don´t get me wrong. I think dragon is the most important model company today and make some of the best kits available, but my point is that Tamiya is still a very good maker that provides consistent, although basic, good kits. I prefer that to a kit with a lot of extras but otherwise dimensionally wrong. And still are the easier and more enjoyable to build. If you see modelling forums there are more finished Tamiya kits in relation to the number of references they have in the market than any other company.
Tamiya continues doing the same than ever, even in the 80´s they realesed less kits a year than today. It´s the other companies which have increased their new kits dramatically. But remember: this boom won´t last forever and maybe in a future, when other companies stop doing armor, I´m sure Tamiye will continue doing his 2-3 kits a year.

Also is of interest to note the rants about Tamiya news. To me this is indicative of the fact that people still like Tamiya a lot and for that reason get dissapointed when they didn´t release the model they were waiting for.

Almost forgot it: Tamiya is almost the only maker that keep his release dates and don´t announce models that still are in the designing stage and maybe never will be released.

Foe me Tamiya IS-2, Tasca M4A1 and Bronco Staghound are the more exciting news.
I still have to see Dragon Premium edition IS-2 -if realesed- but if it follows other Premium edition kits it will add a ton of photoetched parts but will don´t fix all the errors in the original kit.

Tamiya has sold Italeri 1/72nd scale aircraft in Japan for years.
AFAIK, the "re-boxed" Italeri AFV kits are limited releases and are only available in Japan and maybe the Far East.
I've never seen any of them here in Canada but would like to.
Just my $.02 worth.
Cheers

jjumbo

Tamiya's reboxing of Italeri kits is a unique situation. I am not privvy to the details, but Tamiya reboxing is the ONLY way that Italeri kits can be sold in Japan (not mail order, but as a import). So it is more than just Tamiya tryying to do a switch-a-roo.

As to the tracks, I forgot that they said LNL. I went off the rubber-bands in the photo's. I am really trying to reserve judgement on criticism until i actually have a kit on hand...I am mostly making coments off the pictures shown from the trade show.

Maybe I am spoiled. I am used to Tamiya hitting homeruns with their releases. This is a strange kit for them, moving into new territory, and it feels like their heart just isn't in this one. However, a new tool ISU-152 sounds good...

DML? Well, I can only hope they are reworking/retooling the JS-II Premium kit they were promising because of this.

Hm, if the separate styrene tracks are mad of same master as the flexible ones, they definately have to be replaced the outer pattern detail is a undersized. Personally, I doubt polar bear on this kit is a decal, but can't say for sure. Best thing to do is to wait for in-box review before going fanatical about who tops who. Tamiya does its best whenever the subject presents high interest to them, that is handful specific tanks ( can't comment on their aircraft kits, after paying 50+ for Hasegawa Super hornet and getting bubbles in canopy an cracked wing, I'm thru with Japanese AC kits), just as DML does its best whenever they do Panzerwaffe cats- 5 Panthers in just over a year, with only 3 T-34 in over 4 years and fidelity of detail nowhere near that in German kits. After all, objective criticism is beneficial to the manufacturer as it helps to improve the kit before going public (Trump's BMP caused multitude of critical responses all across the world and so they decided to overhaul it). The only way Tamiya can screw themselves up on this one is to price it so badly that getting DML's kit, a new turret, tracks and so PE will be more favorable idea.