Been looking at the Tamiya and Dragon offerings. Only posts I could find online dates back to 2004 asking this question. So what would you guys say the best 1/35 Panzer IV kit would be? Interior detail doesn't matter, I model tanks buttoned up with no figures. Looking for later model preferably, decent build, nice detail.

Pz IV come in many models or Ausführung. The last was the J, and the H, which was the most common, before that. That said, Dragon have more detail, usually individual link tracks, etc, and more different variants, and I'd go with Dragon without hesitation, especially if you're looking to maximize detail.

If you don't suffer from "parts-ophobia", definitely go with Dragon.

Dragon all day long.

Any of the Dragon kits have any known innacuracies? I don't mind small stuff. I do know in some kits Tamiya had a better one due to things out of scale or incorrect on the Dragon kit. I'll do some reading on Scalemates as well. Usually if one kit had a known issue it would have been mentioned early on.

Really. Could you be more specific.

Apart from the high parts counts there are some issues with virtually all Dragon kits as regards the instructions in some way, large or small.

Also Dragon 's business model is to pack the box full of sprues from existing kits to obtain the version they are marketing. This can be confusing at times as sprues can somethings have the same identification letter and often the whole sprue is redundant apart from a couple of small pieces.

In their more later releases they have been reducing parts and substituting other parts which some modellers are not happy about. Such things as metal barrels options removed, individual "magic tracks" replaced with single "rubber band style" DS tracks. This has resulted in people paying much higher prices on Ebay for the "older" kits from what some regard as Dragon's heyday, the early 2000's onwards.

"Best kit" can be looked at through many variables....

Most accurate, best for price, best for engineering and fit. It really depends on what your perception of "best" is.

If you are looking for detail don't go with the J model. That is simple stripped down version being push out the door by the Germans as resources were running out.

Best to me is accuracy, build (parts fitting without having to trim them to fit), and detail. Price doesn't bother me much as long as the kit is decent. As for barrels, if it doesn't come with a metal barrel I buy one. Same with tracks, pretty much Friulmodel for everything. One example of me being told to go Tamiya over Dragon was the IS-2 kit. Several here told me the Tamiya kit was much better than the offerings from other makers. I have several Dragon kits in my stash, so high parts counts don't bother me. I view it as a good thing having lots of extras. I used to enjoy kitbashing back in the day. I will do it again eventually, so the parts may come in handy.

I have the Tamiya H *fruhe* and J. Both are very nice and simple kits. The Dragon H with zimmerit and Befelspanzer IV J are in a whole other class. They are fantastic. The Befelspanzer was reviewed on Armorrama.

Avoid any Dragon Pzkpfw that has a 90-- stock number as they are the old Gunze kits or first generation Dragon PzkpfwIV variants.

By the way the last PzkpfwIV J is my personal favorite as it is all stripped down and all business. I think the three return rollers give it a whole different look.

Have to agree with Bravo1102 on both avoiding the 90xx kits and the last IV J. I've built an H, kit 6300, and a J, kit 6575, and both are great kits. The 6300 has metal schurzen and you might enjoy assembling the Thoma shields on the 6575.

Good info guys, thanks!