@@MOS6510Models It was the early-mid 1970s. The kit was in a plastic bag, no box. I think the cardboard holding the bag closed said "HO SCALE" and showed the Tiger crawling over a sand dune. At that time I became a big fan of the Hasegawa 1/72 scale kits. There were also the HO SCALE Airfix and Fijimi 1/76 scale kits.
Me when I was 5: Eeeeww! Look at all those old ladies having a bunch of wild big cats around the house! Also me at 65 with a library full of tigers and panthers: Heeeyy kitty kitty kitty! Wanna go for a ride?
This is a very good model from air fix I think it’s rather easy and simple to build a nice addition to my ever grow in eleven year old collection of armored combat vehicles
I remember buying the original kit around 1969 and it came in a plastic bag stapled to a piece of card! I think it cost about 2 shillings ( 10p). It's about time they updated the kit!
Hi.. Congratulations. You have won this model.. can you contact me on Instagram or email in my about section please so i can send it to you. Cheers. Mos
I remember building this kit as a kid, back in the late 1960's. To say the kit was a bare bones example of a Tiger would be an understatement. But....it was the mid '60's & kids weren't that fussy, me included. Having looked at your unboxing video, I have to say this is LIGHT YEARS away from the original! Very impressive, particularly the road wheels allowing 2 build options. Now if Airfix can work the same magic on their equally atrocious Panther............Lol!😅😂👍 Thanks for the video!
Really nice touch to give the option of pre-assembled wheels and tracks. An experienced modeller can go to town while at the same time it's a suitable present for a young modeller building their first tank.
Memories, the old tooling was one of the first Airfix kits I put together when I was a little nipper in the sixties. If only it had had the assembled track section then, would have saved all that tearing your hair out trying to get all those interlocking wheels on and the less said about the track sections together - remember the instruction to sew then together?
@@MOS6510Models I remember the instructions gave you a couple of options. One highly dangerous for kids was welding the plastic together using a heated screwdriver, the other was either sewing or stapling the tracks together, but who has a stapler back then?. It was a year or so later that an older cousin showed me the trick of gluing the tracks directly onto the bogie system using conatct adhesive, hiding the joining at the bottom Had to be contact adhesive as the tracks were some sort of rubber, so poly was no good
I love the fact they included multiple options for the tracks and it actually includes tools like shovels and tow cables (unlike another airfix tiger that they've been re-boxing for over six decades).
It's a good kit ,my only criticism is the fixed tank commanders hatch which is closed . Would have been nice to have the option of a open hatch ,with a commander figure .
The main benefit is that the rear turret stowage bin is included which was not included the first time around from Airfix. A secondary benefit is that wargamers will find the option of pre assembled tracks. I am going to purchase at least four of these models.
I remember building the old one and I think it was 1/76 or HO/00. The tracks molded to the road wheels IMHO is not a bad idea if you want to bring a entry level Tiger I build, assembling the overlapping and interleaved road wheels can be intimidating.
I've ordered one of these. Looks like a nice kit, and I like the options for the tracks, although the simpler one would be the harder one to paint, so it's probably six of one and half a dozen of the other. Disappointed that the hatch is moulded closed; it'd be nice to have an option there.
one of first tanks i built ( when they had series 1 kits in the blista packs in the 70's - very first i did was the Panther.. and then the Matilda..) 00/HO scale as Airfix called it for their tanks back then in the 70's.. yup, i'm old. ... good to see a new tool kit.
@@MOS6510Models I build larger scale 1/35 tanks. I think I'd Fi D the small scale a bit fiddly. Though I might try one of the new ones and see how it goes.
Notice they have molded the turret cupola shut. This means that if you want to add a commander figure it means a fair bit of work to modify. Apart from that though I like! 👍
It looks to be a good new production, particularly the chance to build up the track with the individual mouldings which is becoming the norm in many kits now and is very welcome. Certainly better than the 'rubber band' tracks of old. BUT - commander's hatch moulded closed on the turret (!) - AND no zimmerit coating to the exterior surfaces?? Oh dear.
Yes it was a very good choice from the designers to make the build easier..Thank you Nuno CB Nuno CB for leaving a comment. Please subscribe if you haven't as yet.. It really helps the channel grow.
It seems a good kit, finally Airfix is starting to remade their older kits, my only complaints are for the lack of options(close/open) for the hatches, now there are a lot of tankers' figures on the market, they give more life to a model.
I normally only ever build 1:35 armour as with my age and sight these days, 1:72 is far too fiddly. This kit, however, might tempt me back to 1:72 scale, although I don't know the price. I hope it will encourage younger members of the modelling fraternity as modelling is such a great hobby and has given me countless hours of pleasure over the years and has been a real god send in these difficult times.
Wow what a fantastic looking kit along with the Airfix new sherman they really have got some war winning models, i usually buy Dragon in 1/72 as they are the best in this scale but Airfix could give them a run for their money, very well done Airfix and well done mate.
Yep, and Revell's kit comes from previous century too. The tracks are very nice in German release, while the only significant drawback is the gun barell
@@MOS6510Models The detail overall is similar, with better gun barell for Airfix and better tracks for Revell. Revell's wheels are moulded exactly as original ones, which is common in their own tooling (see Tiger II or Panzer III/IV vehicles), so you can depict some repair/wreckage scene without any big ingeretions into kit itself. I still pick the Revell kit; the gun can be sanded down carefully to needed shape and still look nice
The "simpler tracks" even though less labour intensive would be a bitch to paint and weather, also the one gripe I do have is that no hatches open to be able to add a crew figure.
Looks like a really nice kit, I'm probably might buy 2 of them cause why not 😂 But it does look like a really great kit and I like it how you got 2 options of tracks I think that's a really nice touch and I think Airfix is getting better with their tanks, although I built their old Tiger 1 in the past and i actually enjoyed that kit, but having the 2 side by side will be interesting, nice review bud 👍 keep it up
If the model is to be used for miniatures gaming, the "simpler tracks" would be a better choice. Fewer parts to worry about falling off while moving across a game table.
I cannot believe how badly Airfix messed up the tracks on these kits. The Tiger used only one type of track link, same on both sides of the tank. That's simpler for maintenance, spare part supply etc. So, the detailing on the track would point forward on one side, and backward for the other side. That's the only way it could fit. But Airfix have MIRRORED their track parts, making TWO kinds of track. Yes, I'm talking about the detailed "link and length" parts which are supposedly the better ones. To cap it all : Airfix tell you to attach the turret spares upside down.
To be fair the 1964 tool was a reasonably accurate version of Tiger 131 in the condition as it was then at Tank Museum Bovington. Less accurate if you wanted to do a Tiger as it would be in actual service rather than as a museum piece.
I got the original when it first came out and at the time it was pretty good. Like the look of this one, the one-piece tracks are a definite plus (link-and-length was a set too far for me, I have a couple of unbuilt kits with those in the sell-off pile).
Two options for wheels and tracks? Sounds like they are on a path of redemption as they know many of us have the older models and that we cursed them for the easily broken tracks that seemed to be made too small to ever fit properly. Looking forward to them shipping these out as I have a couple of Tigers that by rights should be marked as immobilised on the wargaming table. Next on the wish list for retooling is the airfix Panther.
@@Rorynes i believe so.. i dont know if its a re tool.. but there was a rumour for it.. ive just googled and found a pre order site for it www.models2u.co.uk/contents/en-uk/p14483_Fairey_Battle_Mk._I.html
I wonder if Airfix has opted to abandon the 1/76 scale for their vehicles? Given that their aircraft were 1/72 scale from the start, I can only assume they saw their vehicles used to detail railway layouts.
Second comment....I will be honest...I am horrified....the tracks....oh god...the tracks, why are they smooth on the inner part?!?!....smooth details on the turret...flash everywhere, id be curious to get my hands on it to see what I can do with it but seriously my disapointment is imesurable, this feels like a 70s-80s molding Good video btw, your explication were top notch, my critism is only on the kit itself ^^
Tracks also have a rib running the whole length on the outside (visible at 13:05) that I think is supposed to be the tips of the drive sprocket teeth showing between the grousers, so it should only be on those front-most links, not the whole track.
They screwed up a bit on the tracks, on the more detailed version they have an off-center rib running the length of the track (visible at 13:05) that shouldn't be there. I'm guessing it's supposed to represent the tips of the drive sprocket teeth poking through between the grousers, so at best it should be on the 8-or so front links only, not on all the rest. Still a huge improvement over the dreadful springy vinyl "rubber band" tracks that ruined every tank model I built as a kid.
You can't build the black barons tank, because this tiger has rubber wheels, whereas Wittman's tiger had steel wheels, a bit pedantic maybe, but it is what it is i guess.
@@MOS6510Models you are right of course, looks perfect for beginners, i will probably buy both the cat and the firefly, victor and vanquished, build a little diorama, quite looking forward to it.
Ehhh it doesnt look very good in that it seems to be a hodge podge of details from early, mid, and late Tigers. At the minimum, the decals for 007 are not good for this version. 007 was a command tank with extra radio gear, hull fittings, and steel road wheels. Plus zimmerit.
Yes, 007 was a late production (Feb 1944) Befehlstiger, so nothing at all like this model. Once again, and completely typically for Airfix, they produce a well enough engineered kit that is infuriatingly wrong. If they really had to have a "tank ace" finishing scheme, I wonder why they didn't just do a miniature replica of Bovington's 131 and give us an option to do it as Otto Carius' 213. Still, I'm sure there are probably already web sites up with instructions on how to correct it to be a proper model of Wittmann's 007.
The box art appears to depict Michael Wittman’s Tiger I Ausf. E from the battle of Villers-Bocage in Normandy but is a bit confusing. The tank he used in that engagement was numbered 222. Tank 007 was the one he was killed in a few weeks later by a combined British and Canadian force. This kit does have the wrong wheel type and arrangement for either of Wittman’s Tigers; 222 and 007; both had the metal wheels without rubber tyres. This kit does appear to have the late style of commander’s cupola. One more thing, tank 007 had the Zimmerit anti-magnetic coating. This is quite visible in pictures of the tank after it was destroyed. Unfortunately, Airfix has not represented that feature so you’re on your own if you want to depict it that way. I will say that this is a massive improvement on the old kit but the marking options provided seem to have been letdown by poor research. Certainly that’s the case for 007. I did find images of Tigers with the late cupola and wheels with rubber tires so, apart from the Zimmerit, it should be possible to accurately depict some specific Tiger tanks using this kit. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that this kit was based primarily on measurements of the Bovington Tiger I
The Plastic Soldier Tiger I, while assembly is greatly simplified, does have parts to accurately depict most of the main Tiger variants. www.theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk/product/reinforcements-15mm-tiger-i/
A massively marked improvement on the previous one! Far better tooling and detail as a tiger should be. It’s good to see Tank ace MICHEÄL Whitman too! That’s a pretty cool context!
I recently bought the new Airfix Fw190D. What a disappointment against the original early '60s release - ! Too many extra parts had been introduced with poor fitting. I've never had to use so much filler to correct faults on one wee model - ! Not impressed; definitely my last Airfix model.
As a 1/72 Russian armor builder collector, it will make a nice target for my collection ! I like the new plastic, the top box, the new details. I just hope they make us some ww2 Italian armor, as no one makes plastic kits of them anymore in 1/72.
@@MOS6510Models Likely no, which is why no one has made them for years. ESCI/Italeri made them into the 80s from another really old mold, the m13/40, m14/41 and semovente. A 1/72 resin m13 kit is available at like $60 USD
Building a Airfix 1/72 Storch and I can tell you it is frustrating as all heck dealing with these vintage or heritage kits.. The fitment on some of the parts is a nightmare.
Airfix have made a conscious decision to produce new armour kits in 1/72. 1/76 is the same as HO railway scale and that was the reason their original lineup of kits was in that scale. However, no company is making new 1/76 scale armour kits. Companies like Revell, Trumpeter, HobbyBoss, Roden, Modelcollect, IBG, Italeri, Zvezda, and others are producing their new kits in 1/72. 1/76 is effectively an orphaned scale for armour kits.
Airfix can only make what they are sure will sell. If you say "Tiger" everybody knows what they are. If you say "Kfz 19" [almost] everyone says "huh?" (Real model vehicle enthusiasts should be scratch building for themselves anyway).
