There is a picture of this kit with crew on the Tamiya Canada site at www.Tamiya.ca. Click on the 1/48 scale selection under collections at the top of the list on the left hand side.
Glenn

Oh no! the tracks are even worse than the 1/35th ones

http://www.tamiya.ca/32516%20british%20universal%20carrier.htm

At least Tamiya's questionable accuracy keeps AM firms in business

Memo to Tamiya:

Universal Carrier tracks look like this

http://tanxheaven.com/ljs/universalcarrierljs/universalcarrierljs.htm

you would think that they could have at least fixed the faults they have known about for years before releasing it.

I feel we are seeing a once great company coming to the end of it's reign and becoming a 3rd or 4th class model company....that is if it survives at all!

OK this is silly. Static models are a tiny part of Tamiya's business. They probably see them as a sideline. They are hardly likely to threaten their survival.

Vinnie

Yeah, I read somewhere that static scale models make up 10% of all sales for Tamiya.

The tracks on the 1:35 Carrier looked a bit like T-38 tracks. Now these 1:48 ones don't look like anything! :-)

Vinnie it is not silly mate. My source says they are being hurt very badly in the pocket book by the Chinese maufacturers and I know the info is relieable as well. So it is possible that they may go belly up the same way a lot of 'supossidly' solid companys have in the past.

You also must remember that Tamiya started as a model company as well and while they have deversified they have never forgotten their beginnings.

I'm sorry Cliff, but in this instance I am convinced that your source is wrong. Examine the evidence. Compare sales of non-static model products to their static sales. Relate this to their almost total capitulation in the 1/35 market. Even if the origin of the company was with static models, they are too business savvy to let this swing the company towards liquidation. All the evidence indicates they don't care about the 1/35th market. It almost seems as if the older generation is beginning to hand over to the younger generation, and certain factions within the board are being allowed to 'play' with certain product lines to see if anything can be made of them, hence the 1/48th foray.

Vinnie

I frankly do not see any evidence of that. It's not as if they were releasing dozens of 35th scale kits a year before Dragon and Trumpeter and others came around and started taking market share away. They've always released a handful of 35th scale models a year. They apparently will be releasing two or three this year as well -- a Leclerc and one or two other new kits.

I think this actually supports your point -- that 35th is not the foundation of their business. But I don't see a big decline in their 35th commitment, as they have never been a company to crank out the 35th models in the first place.