Salvatore Bertocci shares with us his thoughts on a recent Tamiya release, the German Horch Kfz. 15 North African Campaign.

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Good first look!

It's maybe a good thing that Tamiya and Italeri have this collaboration going on - as it serves to bring some of those Italeri kits out again after some years being very hard to find (like this Horch). But sadly, it brings an OLD kit back out, and what would be much nicer would be to get a NEW Horch Kfz 15 kit with new-tool body and stuff!

The Italeri kit is actually pretty OK - given as we have little option for a styrene 15, it at least is buildable and can be fiddled with to get a nice-looking car. The newer tires may be a good thing, as the old tires were, I think, among those that folks sometimes had melt-down issues with.

I have a very old copy of the original Italeri kit in a rather flabby and much-squashed box (does not speak well for my stash organization ) - I'll have to at least peek inside one of these newer Tamiya releases to see whether I should add this - the car itself is certainly something some of us want on our shelves.

Bob

Sometimes the Revell boxing can also be found. but I agree, a new tooled kit would be preferred over constant recycling of ancient kits.

$60 retail, WOW!

The base kit is well over 30 years old--I still have one I built in the late '70s. Tamiya has blanked off the part of the sprue with the original driver figure, which was crude even by the standards of the time.

It would be nice to see a styrene kit of the later Typ 40 version of the Horch 901 with the wider passenger compartment. From photos, I'd guess they were produced in greater numbers than the version represented in this kit. I guess modelers who want a Typ 40 will have to bash this Horch 901, maybe with Tamiya's old Horch s. gl. Einheits Pkw.

Looks like a nice kit, but unfortunately not justified with a $60 price tag, being a 1970's rebox, along with some reissued Tamiya figures. Apart from Revell and Italeri, the "Bilek" reboxing can be found online for $15-20 and this kit actually includes the Nebelwerfer.

$60 is better spent on buying the recent Masterbox and Miniart car kits I think, even though they aren't Horches.

I would not get too hung up on the price as we all know that it can be purchased for a lower price.

I have a couple of the original Italeri Kfz 15 kits in-stash...and really, they're STILL unbuilt because I really was kinda un-inspired by them. Hoped for better, but it is old Italeri after all..
Tamiya re-selling 30 year old Italeri kits with a few upgrades?? Has the budget collapsed so far? I'm disappointed with them. This release smells of cheapness and desperation. But that's just an opinion.

Meaning if the "suggested retail" price was around $30, the street price would be a more reasonable $15?

The $60.00 price tag was MSRP. The site that I use often has it listed for $40.39

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/219740

There are not many products that sell at full retail in these days of the internet.

Not for nuthin', but you guys who are in love with Tamiya need to get your heads out of your seat cushions and realize that most Tamiya kits are simply out-dated by today's standards. There is a definite market for them with modelers who find all the detailing in DML kits to be "fiddly." So we're talking about two different consumer profiles here: the modeler who wants accuracy will go for the DML/Bronco/Tasca kits, while the one who wants a nice build that goes together without any issues is going to buy Tamiya.

There's a feller on the BST forum looking to get a Tamiya Abrams. Are you kidding? The DML 3535 M1A1 AIM is perhaps one of the best modern kits out there. But preferences are preferences.

So let's stop the ladying (auto-censored) about the old Tamiya kits, because THEY SELL.

Here endeth my sermon for today.

If it's a M1 it's a totally different beast and only Tamiya made a good one.

That Tamiya M1 is a rare kit nowadays, don't believe it was ever re-released.

It's a moot point anyway as the Horch kit is an Italeri rebox, not a true Tamiya kit.

As for "real prices" I believe $40 is way too much which is why I mentioned $15. $15 to $20 would be a fair price I think.

Since it's the only game in town for this vehicle, which is very common in wartime photos, you don't really have much choice. The Italaeri offering, despite it's age isn't that bad - the plastic is quite thin on the body parts so not as clumpy as some of the Tamiya cars. However I see no reason to buy the Tamiya version, much better to seek out an Italaeri or Revell boxing.

This is a $20 kit...Tamiya is way over priced for old kits.

If you don't like it, don't buy it.

Thank you Unca Bret for your words of wisdom. I don't have to buy it; I already have it from Italeri.