Tamiya starts a whole new chapter in scale military modeling with this all-new Tiger I in 1/48! While they've done other subjects recently in this "Military Miniature Vehicles" series, they've all been light vehicles related to air forces. This kit is a far cry, of course, from the ancient (and long lost) Bandai military kits in 1/48. Tamiya has pulled out all the stops on detail and produced something rivaling their own 1/35 offerings (see the size and detail comparison photo below!). What's more, the kit also has a die-cast metal lower hull piece to give it a very hefty feel when completed!

Scott's Editorial: When I first heard about this kit, my quick initial reaction was "What is Tamiya thinking? Tanks have got to be 1/35." But after careful reflection, I think this new scale for military kits is a brilliant move. Not only does it match a major aircraft modeling scale, opening up all kinds of unique diorama possibilities, it also gives Tamiya a chance to show off just how good their tooling ability is by giving us all the detail we're used to seeing in a scale that's quite a bit smaller. While Chinese firms may be cranking out huge items, such kits are impressive only for their size; complete detail is expected at those scales. But not when the kit is this small. Nevertheless, Tamiya delivers, and in a size that will let a collector do a number of vehicles without having to supply a huge amount of storage space. As a business move, it makes sense for Tamiya, too, because the number of economically viable armor subjects that have not yet been tooled in 1/35 scale is next to nothing.