Coming soon from Tamiya, the "Queen of the Desert", previously released in 1/35 scale, now coming in 1/48 scale.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

I am really looking forward to seeing this one in person

It's great to see new 1:48 armor and figures. Is this a newly tooled kit, or a rehab of the old Bandai mold?

I dont know why people keep asking this. Tamiya have never, to my knowledge, reboxed old Bandai kits. AFAIK they only rebox the odd Italeri kit, mainly because Italeri is very expensive in Japan so it sells on the domestic market


It is a complete new tool, which is kind of obvious as it is an almost identical miniaturisation of their 1/35 matilda, right down to the figures

I spoke to the guy that owned the bandai kit tools. They have expired thanks to poor maintainance. You will not see that kit reboxed in the future under any brand

The only 1/48 armor kit that I've seen so far as a rebox is the Sd.Kfz. 222. Every other armor kit that Tamiya has put out in this scale is a new-tool kit, and even though they were good from the start they keep getting better. I still prefer the Skybow/AFV Club Tigers and the HobbyBoss T-34's and KV's, but the Tamiya offerings have all been top notch.

People keep asking this because reboxing and scaling down old kits is an intrinsic practice in the modeling industry. Bandai's German BMWR 75 motorcycle with sidecar was an exact scale-down of the 1/35 Tamiya kit, minus one of the two walking soldiers. Monogram's original 1/32 panzer commander figure still soldiers on in 1/72 scale in Italeri's 1/72 Jagdpanzer IV Ausf.F, etc. It goes on and on. That's why people still ask. As far as it being a completely new tool, it would only be obvious(not "kind of obvious"...oxymoron?)to someone who was familiar with the original 1/35 casting. I am not. So I ask questions, hoping for intelligent, courteous answers,not "AFAIK" anecdotes.

Enjoying this discussion. I too try to maintane my awareness of reboxed kits. This particular kit is a re-issue of a 1/35 Tamiya kit, not Bandai.
Thanks for publishing my article.

Bummer about the Bandai kits . Built quite a few in my teens , would love to build some now as a nostagia trip ...

The resurgence of 1/48 scale armor has brought their value down a bit, so there are still some floating around at reasonable prices. Some of them were issued under the FROG label too.

No, an oxymoron is a figure of speech which combines contradictory terms. The phrase 'kind of obvious' means it is a sort of obvious. Given obvious is a subjective term based on the viewpoint of the person making that judgement then the two terms are not contradictory, so no; it is not an oxymoron


I was relaying the status of the moulds from a conversation first hand with the owner of said moulds (and not a rumour from someone who heard from someone)

An anecdote is a partially fictional story based on a true event, told for the purpose of amusement. What I told you was the unaltered truth from the person that owns the moulds and relayed by me to you. Not an anecdote

And it does say on the actual news story that the kit was 'previously released in 1/35 scale, now coming in 1/48 scale'

The kit was previously released in 1/35 by Tamiya? As I said,Bandai's German BMWR 75 motorcycle with sidecar was an exact scale-down of the 1/35 Tamiya kit, (that would be previously released,) minus one of the two walking soldiers. I don't recall anyone announcing that. I noticed it. Not everyone does, and who knows where Tamiya got it from, or if it was their sculpt? Monogram's original 1/32 panzer commander figure still soldiers on in 1/72 scale in Italeri's 1/72 Jagdpanzer IV Ausf.F, etc. No one announced that either.I noticed it. Not everyone does.Who knows where Monogram got it from, or if it was their sculpt? It goes on and on. That's why people still ask, and they should, because that's how we learn. Just reporting that a new kit is a scaled down version of an older kit doesn't neccessarily shed light on it's origin. Where did the bigger kit come from? I want to know, and not third-hand. Passing on a story about some guy who had some moulds? "I was relaying the status of the moulds from a conversation first hand with the owner of said moulds (and not a rumour from someone who heard from someone)" Without names dates and places, yes, that is a rumour. It's still great to see new 1:48 armor and figures, whether this a newly tooled kit or not.

Jeremy...You missed one

I'm building it now for the 1/48 campaign.Jeff T.

Jeff, I just enlisted. No idea what I will build, but here goes.

Thanks for the review! The Matilda is VERY welcomed and I will definitely be getting one. I also have the old Bandai partially assembled and hope to upgrade it a bit with any extra parts I can get from the Tamiya.

The best thing Bandai still has going is the interior bits you can use for destroyed armor. Bandai kits are still pretty good overall and replacing the rubberband tracks with a Tamiya track sprue or aftermarket tracks help their looks too.

As for re-boxing, Tamiya has released Italeri's: Opel Blitz, Flak 88, 222, Puma, and I think AB41's.

Also, Tamiya is going back and replacing the metal tubs in the initial batch of kits with plastic ones (ie Panzer IV).

One of my wishes for the scale is more plastic crew and infantry figures especially from ICM, Miniart, or Dragon as their detail isn't bad.

There are three 1/48 models that are on my must have list: Matilda, M3 or M5 Stuart, and M3 Lee/Grant. Thanks, Tamiya!

Incidently, there is a wonderful review of the Bandai Matilda here: http://armorama.kitmaker.net/review/3844