But the turret's metal!

Yawn. Tamiya should release the most unpopular and least retailworthy tank ever, then sit back an' watch Taigen/HL/Torro et al trip all over each other to copy and release it, and plummet to earth in a sales flameout.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but in this case it's just laziness in hopes of quick n' easy sales.

Mike.

Can't wait to hear about this one. Hope we get an update and thread sooner rather than later!

What about the challenger and the T 90. Great looking tanks without any copying of Tamiya. Without the imitations this hobby would just be Shadow of what it is

What about the PzIII , IV and the WSN T-34? Before tammy and the only reason why I bought a non-tamiya tank. Bulldog as well but not a great offering. Also Tamiya didn't copy but wasn't the first IS-2. Built this kit at least a year or 2 before the tammy release.

https://www.modellbau-schmiede.de/english/shop/kits/

double post

Leopard??

Wonder what would that be - a metal upgraded Leopard 2A6? Or an earlier A0-A4?

Guys I know I am no where near as active as I was on here, but I just finished building the Tamiya JS-2. The kit was obtained in as partial trade for my 1/6 scale Sherman. Here is my take on this stuff. I love the fact that there are multiple options for buying a model. My personal preference is to not have a metal turret. They are difficult to work with to modify anything as well as making the tank top heavy for no reason. They also have no business being on a plastic upper hull which causes fatigue over time. With that said some guys want this. I have worked on quite a few tanks over the years and I remember when Tamiya was much more costly than the other offerings...but it was for good reason. The parts and electronics are far superior. Truth is, they still are. I think both entities have their place and I personally like the JS-2 a lot. I think it is a great looking model and a rather nice runner. My thought is offer your tanks with a plastic turret, Taigen. They are better overall and easy to work with..and you can reduce the price a bit as well. If this tank is going to be sold for 500 bucks and the Tamiya is available for 800 or so, what would you prefer?

It's not just the metal turret (which however helps to counterbalance the weight of the long metal gun): metal undercarriage and tracks are better. Add those to the 800 of a Tamiya's almost completely plastic model and the final price will be more in the 1000.