1:32 Props: Tamiya or Zoukei-Mura?

[LifesGoodDH]

Morning gents,

After watching the videos where Lee and Paul gush about Tamiya kits, naturally I got excited as well and started scouring the web for what I could find. Along the way, I ran into various reviews about this other manufacturer Zoukei-Mura that looks to be eventually competing with Tamiya at the 1:32 scale. The comparisons across the board are mixed, some prefer Tamiya others prefer Zoukei-Mura. Thinking of eventually (need to save up and build ability) getting a 1/32 P51 Mustang and can't really decide which manufacturer to go for.

Any thoughts?

Links to the two manufacturers product pages:

Tamiya

Zoukei-Mura

[DC87]

Zoukei-Mura are new to me so thanks for providing a link - the kit looks very very nice.

Looking at the piccies I think the decision depends on how you want to build the Mustang. The Zoukei-Mura kit looks like it will be a pain to assemble as you need to build the skeleton then add the panels so you would have to pray it all lines up, in contrast the Mustang is reported in every build I have read to fit together with ease. The Tamiya version does have removable panels but nowhere near the detail of the Zoukei-Mura internal structure.

If it was me I would build the Tamiya one first as it should be an easy although lengthy build then get the Zoukei-Mura one when my experience and skills have grown

[Paul]

For me the choice was the tamiya one too, its a stunning kit that will be a joy to build

[Colin]

I've never tried Zoukei-Mura ... but from what I hear they like to do internal detail you might never see, but some modellers get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing they built it and its there ... and I know how they feel as I do love construction.

Zoukei-Mura may have made the mistake of going head to head with Tamiya, Trumpeter and others for a couple of subjects, for me it was a no brainer to go Tamiya P-51D and Trumpeter Skyraider and not need to worry about own brand Zoukei-Mura extra's as well.

Zoukei-Mura do have a Ho-229 in the pipeline that nobody else is doing in 1/32 ... and that looks very tempting indeed.

Its all good

http://www.zoukeimura.co.jp/en/sentimen ... g_050.html