Still a Classic?

Transcript*

Intro

This kit is often considered by many to be one of, if not Tamiya’s best beginner friendly kits. Is that even remotely true? Yeah, probably actually. And let’s find out why.

Hey there, name’s Paul. Welcome to the Loisirs vers le soleil YouTube channel. And today we will be starting up a brand new series called Classic Model Kit Reviews. Classic Model Kit Reviews. You guessed that right. Very aptly named. And in today’s episode, episode 1, we’ll be discussing Tamiya’s Sherman offering, one of many. They have a lot. And this is specifically the M4 Early Production Sherman.

This is item number 32505. Put that down in our website, links in the description down below, 32505 specifically, and you’ll find this kit. this kit. We will be discussing why it’s so beloved. Three main takeaways as to why people like to start up this kit when first starting the hobby or just, you know, maybe starting over again.

You haven’t done the hobby in maybe 10 years, 15 years. This is a good place to start. Maybe stretch your legs a little bit, right? This might even be your first ever kit. Uh comment down below if it is. So yes, let’s get right to the meat and potatoes.

Unboxing – Sprue Count

So first thing going for this kit is when you open this box, you’ll notice the amount of sprues or the distinct lack of sprues cuz there’s really only one, two, three, and four. There’s two in here. Three bags, four sprues. Incredibly beginner friendly. Not to mention these are Tamiya parts and they I have inspected them and there are no warpages whatsoever. Uh yeah, they’re perfect fits which means this further enhances to Tamiya’s online reputation as a shake and bake company.

What that means is there’s a joke online where if you just shake the box out comes a perfectly assembled kit because that’s how easy Tamiya kits typically are. Um, it’s not really some sort of derogatory statement to Tamiya. In fact, a lot of people welcome it, including myself. Here’s the decals if you’re curious, of course. Um, so it’s not a negative. And if there are some people out there that say that you’re not a hobbyist if you build Tamiya, uh, you can safely ignore them. That is a nonsense comment.

What Makes This Kit Beginner Friendly?

Tamiya is beloved for a very good reason. With the amount of parts reduced from its 1/35th counterparts, Tamiya is basically telegraphing and telling you to your face that this is a very beginner friendly kit. And yet, they didn’t compromise on the details. I’m not sure if you were paying attention, but they look crispy.

Die-Cast Chassis

Wo! What is that I spy? That, my friend, is the second reason as to why this kit is so beloved. You’re looking at that correctly. You’re like, “Is that metal?” Yes. Yes, it is, my friend. This is a solid diecast metal block. This is the chassis of the kit itself. A highly detailed metal block. Diecast metal. And yes, this uh is included in the kit for less than $40. I’m not going to say the specific price in case there’s like a future price increase, but right now this kit is less than $40 Canadian. And there’s a solid diecast metal part as the chassis for a 1/48 scale kit.

I want you to grasp that this kit is unbelievable value. [laughter] And yes, those are slots for screws which you briefly saw in here floating around. It’s not really floating around. They have little tiny bags there. Yeah, there we go. Wow. So, yeah, incredible value for just less than $40 Canadian. So, if you’re American, uh, convert that because it’s Canadian. To be fair, this is not the only kit of its kind to have a diecast metal chassis offering and in the same sort of price point. Not even close. There are a lot of tanks in that scale that have diecast metal offerings, least of which the other Shermans, funnily enough. But this is just, you know, the classic 2004 offering.

Uh, right. This kit specifically is one of the first generations to have this feature. And uh it’s that 2004 sort of generation new tooling that first received this offering a diecast metal. That’s why this kit is so beloved and so remembered because for a lot of people in that era, this is their first kit.

Sprue Close Up

Here’s a cleaner look at the sprue and the parts without the bag. Yes, I will be building and painting this kit, but I don’t know if I’m I’ll build this on camera. Definitely I’ll be painting this on camera, but the building part, I’m not so sure. But regardless, you see it’s just simple, you know, simple and clean. Very clean lines and no mould issues as far as I can tell that would result in any sort of fitting problems. It’s pretty perfect. Tamiya’s QA is spot on. Quality assurance or quality control QC.

Track System – Link & Length

The third and final reason as to why this kit is so well loved, especially by beginners, is its track system. You have the track system called Link and Length. This is the most popular track system in the modern day. Uh but it’s one of three systems, right? So you have the older one, you have the rubberized tracks where you literally have to stretch it into place. Uh either wrap it around or it’s one whole band.

Stretch it and then glue it in place or cement it in place. Uh and then you have the highly detailed uh workable individual links that you uh genuinely have to attach either piece by piece or sometimes if they’re merciful tiny segments by segments but it’s still insane. Whereas Link and Length is a sort of midpoint uh where it’s just one whole segment like this versus another whole segment and you just attach them to the tank and to each other.

It’s very simple like that. And in my opinion, this is much better than the older option, which was rubber. Rubber is terrible. Even when glued down, rubber tracks are under constant stress. Maybe 5, 10, 15 years from now, you touch your tank with a rubberized track, you’ll never know. It might snap right then and there because it’s under constant stress. It’s always being stretched. Uh, and it ages terribly. This won’t age terribly at all. So, yeah, it’s the best of both worlds, both ease and uh detail. Perfect for beginners.

Track Close Up

Here’s a better look at the parts. Yeah, thank god this kit is Link and Length. [laughter]

Final Verdict

Final verdict. What do I think of this kit? Oh, well, I don’t know if you can tell by my commentary. I think I really like this kit. Uh yeah, I really like this kit. Basically, detail. Let’s get over that real quick. It’s not the best, but it’s definitely far from the worst. Uh in fact, it’s very much a good detailed kit. Just not the best. Uh I wouldn’t even say great.

It’s good enough, especially for the price you’re paying and the scale and then the shortcuts they’d had to do to uh have this sort of build ability and approach ability for beginners. So, I’d give that a 7.5. The details, uh, when it comes to the ease, and, you know, for beginners, I’d give this actually about an 8.5. The only thing holding this back would probably be the diecast metal parts and the screws. Um, not because they’re hard to do. There’s actually a very well detailed instruction manual on how exactly to build that specific part of the tank.

It’s just that um there’s this sort of fear that a lot of beginners have that they want they would waste their money if they somehow mess up the kit. And a big factor of that is the metal part itself. Uh but once they get over that hurdle, the rest of the plastic kit is a breeze. They could finish that in under an hour. So again, 8.5, maybe even a nine. Uh but when it comes to overall value, this kit’s a 10 for sure. Again, I’m not going to say the exact price, but it is less than $40 Canadian at that. So, yeah, this is insane value. Metal parts, Link and Length, uh, and decent to good enough details to carry.

Plus, even with the decent to good enough details, the rest of it, well you know, with the painting and what not, the detailing, battle damage potentially, that’s all going to come down to skill. So really, when it comes to the value, this thing is borderline a 10 out of 10. Overall, I’d give this kit about an 8.5 with all is said and done. And I highly, highly recommend this. What did you think? For the first episode, I’m going to review a bad kit.

The odds of me reviewing a bad kit for the classic review series is pretty astronomically low. Just because, you know, it’s a fan favourite doesn’t mean it’s a classic. There’s a difference between fan favourite and classic. Because I know for a fact there are fan favourite kits out there, Star Trek kits that are absolutely terrible kits if you think about it even for longer than 5 seconds. Whereas classic kits are classic for a reason. We’re not going to call Thriller by Michael Jackson a terrible album, right? It’s a classic. That’s a terrible analogy. [laughter]

Regardless of a terrible analogy I just did there, you get what I mean. Classics are classics for a reason. fan favourites may not be classics. What do you think of the kit, guys? Was this your first ever model kit? If so, what do you think of this kit? And if it wasn’t, would you be open to building this kit or is it too small of a scale for you? Regardless, let me know in the comments below.

If you enjoyed this video, like and subscribe. Also, down below are the links to not only our social media. Follow us on your preferred social media platforms or all of them, but also is our real time inventory. sunwardhobbies.ca. Every single product, including the tank, uh is available on our website. Uh listings. If they’re out of stock, like this one is probably because we took it out of inventory. It was the only one left. Uh we we restock Tamiya like every two weeks.

So, you guys are okay. Uh regardless though, that’s it for me today. My name is Paul. Signing out. Bye-bye.

About the Author:

Paul Catindig As someone who’s been building model kits since he was 8 years old, Paul is very knowledgeable and adept at model kit building! When he’s not building or painting kits, he spends his free time cooking, playing video games with friends, or at a restaurant patio somewhere. Hopes to make his very own movie one day.

*Video by Paul Catindig
Video Edited by Daniela Castellano
Transcript generated by youtube
Edited by Angelo Castellano