Who hsa a better modler for the Tiger I tank? Tamiya, Dragon or AFV Club.

Here's one opinion:
It depends on which one you want to build and how much experience you have building armor kits. Suppose you are a relative newbie who wants to build an Early Production 1/35 scale Tiger I Ausf E. Tamiya's kit #35216 would be the one (which is currently on sale at Great Models Webstore for $27US http://www.greatmodels.com/~smartcart/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=TAM35216). If you want to build the Late Production 1/35 scale Tiger I Ausf E with Zimmerit already molded on, then Dragon's kit #6383 is the way to go. Dragon also has the best 1/35 Initial Production Tiger I Ausf E, kit #6252, not currently in production, but might be found on fleabay.

Other Tiger kits in 1/35:
Tamiya Late Tiger I Ausf E, kit #35146 - good engineering, ease of assembly, but you have to apply the zimmerit yourself, and with old-style vinyl tracks
Tamiya Mid Tiger I Ausf E, kit #35194 - same deal, but currently the only mid-production version in 1/35 scale available.
Tamiya Initial Production Tiger I Ausf E, Afrika Korps, kit #35227 - not totally accurate for an initial version, but good Tamiya quality, although old-style vinyl tracks also
Dragon doesn't make an Early or Mid-Production 1/35 Tiger yet
AFV makes the Late Production Tiger I Ausf E, and is a good kit, but I don’t think it’s as good as the Dragon or Tamiya offerings.

1/48 or 1/72 scale Tiger I Ausf E’s? Couldn’t say.

Best bets:
Tamiya 1/35 Early Production Tiger I Ausf E kit #35216 – add Friulmodel meat tracks and Aber metal gun barrel
Tamiya 1/35 Mid-Production Tiger I Ausf E kit #35194 – same as above, and Cavalier resin Zimmerit
Dragon 1/35 Late Production Tiger I Ausf E kit # 6383 – optional Friulmodel metal tracks and Aber metal barrel
Dragon 1/35 Initial Production Tiger I Ausf E kit #6252 – add Friulmodel tracks and Aber Barrel

Just in general I would say that the Tamiya kits have better instructions and ease of assembly,while Dragon's are more detailed and sometimes a more complicated build.

in 1/48 AFV Tigers are superior to Tamiya and pretty easy to build.

If you want accuracy, detail, and the most bang for your buck the Dragon kits are the way to go.

Thanks for all your input.

These both have individual link tracks. If you care for accuracy, these should be tossed, as the guide horns aren't hollow. Also, Academy has several Tigers. Stay away from these until your spares box is filled with Dragon Tiger parts! Pretty much all of the detail suffers from chunky toylikeness. The Dragon kits are really nice, and if you can wait, they are releasing an Initial Production Tiger soon.

SCOTT

EDIT - here's a review of th AFV club kit. http://www.perthmilitarymodelling.com/reviews/vehicles/afvclub/afv35079.htm

Oops - quite correct. The Tamiya Tiger I Late (35146) and Mid-Production (35194) have styrene single track links (with solid guide horns that should have hollow spaces at the bases) that have to be assembled. It's the Tamiya Early Production (35216) version that has the vinyl one piece tracks. Speaking of single tracks, Dragon's most recent Late Production Tiger (6383) with Zimmerit has DS plastic one piece tracks that are accurate with hollow base guide horns, while the other Dragon Tigers have styrene single track links also with solid guide horns. I recommend Friulmodel metal tracks as a good replacement, although they are pricey.

Good catch.

Dragon has already released an Initial Production version, kit 6252, a great kit (with styrene single track links, solid guide horns). They have been promising an Early Version for some time now, but it has yet to appear. Soon would be nice. Dragon did release an Early Production Tiger I in 1/35 under it's subsidiary Cyber-Hobby banner as kit 6350, Michael Wittmann's Tiger at Kursk in 2006, but there’s been no Dragon follow-on release of the Early Production version since.

But I digress from what was a simple question.

I generally concur with my colleagues ("bang for your buck" hee, hee, hee) - the Dragon 1/35 Tiger I (6883) for a Late Production model as the best bet, with the Tamiya 1/35 Tiger I (35216) for an Early Production model (or wait for the Dragon release, whenever that may be).

"So let it be written, so let it be done."