borealis

Imho they began to drop quality long ago, since the 'SuperSherman' joke.
And I can imagine the amount of work needed to put out a completely new model (design, molds, electronics, building, painting, etc.), not easier than a Japanese model kit.
And Tongde has put on the market many new models in the past 2 years, while Japan stands still.

Fsttanks

So if you don't like the modeling quality that Tamiya has chosen then why do you care if they bring out new tanks each year to compete with TD (and HL)?

Tamiyas target market is very different than TD (or HL). Tamiya is aimed at the adult model builder and hobby enthusiast. TD is aimed at the childrens toy market and those under 14. That is not speculation it is right from TD (and HL). This allows them to take a lot more shortcuts and bring a product to market faster and at 1/3 the cost of a Tamiya.

borealis

I don't care about them competing with each other, but I care for the hobby's sake that every model company does its best in what is supposed to be their business. And releasing the infamous supersherman just to spare money in molds through recycling sherman parts is not, as well as re-releasing the 'anniversary' sherman howitzer with the same low detail parts of the '70s release (hey, but with a photo-.etched plate!). That is not the 'quality' they are able to delivery, we all know that.

Fsttanks

The quality in Tamiya has always been in the hardware and engineering not in the modeling detail. It is easy to pick on a single product offering that changed little in 50 years and an off shoot of that product and say poor quality. Fact is both Tamiya Sherman's as they came in the last 10 years have absolutely the best suspension, tracks and gearbox of any manufacturer of Sherman's. Sure the upper hulls need work but that is where an individuals modeling skills come in to play. The same can be said for HL and Torro/Taigen Sherman's upper hulls and turrets.

Tamiya has always been a high priced product which when there was no competition was one thing, but today with the major improvements made by HL and now companies like TD, Tamiya simply can not afford the expense of producing something new.

Tamiya reputation would be completely destroyed if they attempted to compete at the lower "toy" price point. Heck they are beat up by reviewers every time they cut a corner to save cost and keep prices down.

Tamiya realizes the market has vastly changed and the majority of people will no longer pay high prices for their tanks. Some will sure, but not in the numbers needed to turn a profit on their investment.

I think we would all love to see Tamiya roll out something new. But then what? The WW2 tank market is flooded with cheap but good running RTR tanks and so is the modern era of tanks. Personally I would love to see Tamiya tackle the "Cold War"
era with something like an M47, M48, T62 or even an AMX30.

RichJohnson

I would love to see Tamiya finish the full option update to the Leoaprd 1 and release it as a full option rc tank. They got half way there in 2010 with the static display model.

But really, of all the accurate and excellent RC tanks Tamiya produces or has produced over the years, you pick the Super Sherman to bang on?
yeah they made an accurate turret and slapped it on the old howitzer tank. But at least we got the turret, Are you aware that there were at least 15 welded hull M51 tanks in the IDF. Their M51 is not that far off when you consider that fact. A trip to Shapeways allowed one to detail out their Tamiya M51 into a very accurate model without changing the hull.

cleong

I've seen Tamiya being bashed by guys who consider them too expensive, too slow to put out new products or too inaccurate.

But they invented IR battling, and it remains relevant 20 some years down the road from when the system and rules were first conceived.

With a vast product line, Tamiya haters can always find something to rag on the brand about, without considering that they are the pioneers in 1/16 tanking and the majority of their lineup has no other predecessor from another manufacturer. The exception may be the Panther G, Abrams and Centurion, but that's debatable and for another topic.

They foam at the mouth that the Sherman is too old, the King Tiger's track tensioners are obsolete, the Panther G's initial production run had mantlets that resulted in wobbly barrels and wrong sprockets, the Super Sherman was grossly inaccurate, the Abrams and Centurion were lacking in details. And they're all too expensive!

But guess what - a much cheaper tank from another brand could have all those issues within one single tank model. Not across the brand's entire history and model lineup. With the size of tooling and expected detail, Tamiya has to get a lot right before the product even hits the market.

I guess what they want is the latest Centurion, priced like a Sherman and with fine details like a Leopard 2A6.

But to bring it back to focus of the thread - TongDe is operating in a niche of the market that other non-Tamiya manufacturers haven't. The rest are mainly producing tanks that have already been made by Tamiya, where TongDe is bringing out new models, with low prices and toy-like levels of detail. Tamiya should neither want or need to compete with TongDe in that niche. They've never deviated from their full-option line up's value proposition by making tanks more basic and cheaper, in order to compete with the rise of Heng Long or Taigen, and they'll probably not care to change to address TongDe's entry.

And the hobby is all the better for it, to have tanks to suit every budget and preference.