The summer is over which means it's part work season. This years offering from Hachette is a model of the German WW2 Tiger Tank. As usual part one can be picked up for 50p and comes with parts to make the gun, a DVD and some paperwork.Looking at the contents I can honestly say that the resulting model will be breathtakingly detailed, very impressive and IMHO a bit pointless.For over 700 quid and 140 magazines you end up with a 1:16 sale static model. For that sort of cash I want radio control. I want to be able to drive the thing around.
The problem is that a lot of the detail will be hidden. All the engines, interior etc. disappears under the bodywork which is a great shame. Assembly looks pretty idiot proof and my Dad's experiences with the same firms Bismark kit show that it will generally be well thought out and manufactured.
I'm sure the marketing men have done their stuff. Focus group research will have shown that there are a large number of people out there who fancy filling their sideboard with miniature German armour but won't they be happier with one of the excellent Tamya kits ? You can buy a R/C version in the same scale for only a couple of hundred quid more than the partwork. I suppose that the static versions aren't that much cheaper than the partwork and the laters instructions will probably be better - they usually are excellent but you do get instant gratification.
One thing I cannot forgive the firm for though is the poster inside the pack. Quite who thought taking a photo of the model and applying the Photoshop watercolour filter was a good idea ?
Visit the official website.
It is going ot be a nice model I think, and I agree completely about the poster !
ReplyDeletesubscribed on the 20-8-2010 and have not see anything yet, I really dont trust these people dont reply to emails and call centre lies about issues not being out when I have seen them in the shops , nice model doesnt come to mind when they take your bank details and run
ReplyDeleteHachette sucks
Mr Durn
Interesting - My Dad's experience with the Hachette call centre has been excellent with missing issues supplied very quickly. Maybe it's because this is a new mag ? Or maybe they are having secret supply problems.
ReplyDeletei have had no problems with hachette as such, but their call center staff must be south african as their english is awful, the first delivery was a little late but was ok, i thought this would be an ideal project for me as it is quite large and parts are easy to handle being quite big, i lost the feeling in my hands sometime ago and it has only recently returned, and as i used to do military modeling i thought i`d try this i know its expensive but monthly is not to bad and so far i`m well chuffed with the results i have managed to do, even though my skills are a bit rusty, all the parts so far have been of a high quality and i`m impressed, the finished thing whilst not mobile will be quite a sight
ReplyDeleteregards to all
paul barton
so far so good i`ve had no problems getting on with the turret interior and have even made some adjustments like adding loaders mp40 by the escape hatch and correcting the loaders periscope the only slight problem that i had was when i knocked my toolbax tray over whilst hoovering and lost the little bag of screws to assemble the turret so i had to improvise from the box of bits i have in the shed still looks damn good anyhow
ReplyDeleteregards to all
Do you know for a fact that you hoovered the screws up. I came to assemble the turret and could'nt find the screws and decided I must have thrown them away by mistake. I eventually found enough scres that fitted in an old keyboard
ReplyDeleteAlthough fun I'm sure for the cost involved it would be much better to just buy a 1:16 scale rc tank. You can always do your own paint job and customize it yourself. I have several heng long rc tanks they are much cheaper than the other brands priced between £69.99-179.99 with free delivery from some sellers.
ReplyDeletehello, can anybody help me..i have just started to build the tiger tank and found wrong bits in issue 17...can you still back issues or am I fighting a loosing battle
ReplyDeleteBest bet is to get in touch with Hachette (https://www.hachettepartworks.com/) and see if they can help. If not, trawl eBay for back copies people are selling off - you might be lucky.
ReplyDelete