In 1973 Bandai began releasing large scale German tanks with full interiors. The Sd.Kfz.173 Jagdpanther is one of three.

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Thanks!

I am commission-building a 1/30 Hummel for someone, and it is an awkward size. It was also set up for a motorized drive so making room for that did bad things to the gun compartment.

The figures look like trolls.

The kit is of questionable overall accuracy as it was designed; first & foremost, as a R/C TOY and not an accurate model as that wasn't important where this kit was concerned. That being said it was big fun back in its day as it chugged through the dirt in my friend's backyard. I think that we blew it up a few years later during our delinquent days...

Indeed! I had a few motorized models (Tamiya 8-ton halftrack, Leopard I) and a couple RC (Jagdtiger) and some I can't recall. They were a lot of fun!

That is a cool odd scaled kit. Thank you for the nice review. Back around 1972 or 1973 when I was 8 or 9...….yes, they had kits back then......I received a large scale Flakpanzer IV "Wirbelwind", could have been an "Ostwind", but I am pretty sure it was a "Wirbelwind". I don't remember the manufacturer or anything and it was way too much of a kit for me at that age so I didn't build it. Not sure what ever happened it. Wish I still had it.


Thank you,
Randy

Motorization threw off the measurements and proportions of a lot of early kits. Scale fidelity wasn't a big thing then either.

Tamiya settled on 1/35 because it best fit their standard engine.

I had the motorized M36 Jackson that I did on the 1980s. As a kid I had all the 1/40 scale friction motor halftracks and armored cars until the rubber all cracked apart.

You know some of the first kits not meant to be motorized and mostly true to scale were the Monogram 1/32 kits. That Whirbelwind was probably the Monogram one. The early 1970s were the heyday of the photo boxes with the Shep Paine builds and diorama flyers.

I had seen the Tamiya 1/25 Tiger and been underwhelmed compared to the 1/48 Bandai one. I saw a built up Bandai 1/24 Panther and was blown away by the level of detail. That was amazing and mind blowing back then!

But proportions and measurements were always off even in kits that didn't originate as motorized. Designers went with photos or one set of scale plans. Some of those plans were really far wide of the mark. Measuring the real thing was a big deal to be trumpeted on the box top.

And even then you'd get oddities that rigidly adhered to the specific museum vehicle used like the Tamiya diesel Stuart or the US tow points on the Aberdeen T-34 slavishly recreated on Tamiya's kit.

Stephen, thank you. Just recently I found that answer to years of speculation about 1/35. Mr. Tamiya's book MASTER MODELER, CREATING THE TAMIYA STYLE Mr. Tamiya said that the success of the motorized Panther led to scale 1/35. It allowed his gearbox and batteries to fit; he wanted to expand his range with like-sized models so he measured it and it scaled out to 1/35. So the speculation that 1/35 was a mathematical mistake or fluke is wrong.