Good aircraft model kit

[dr_gn]

lufbramatt said:

Hunt down a Tamiya skyraider- superb kit that just falls together. TBH any recent tamiya kit is a great intro if price isn't an issue.

New 1/48 Airfix Mustang and Walrus are not bad too if I'm allowed to recommend them

If you pick something with a simple colour scheme you can get a really good finish using Tamiya spray cans if you have somewhere to spray, before splashing out on an airbrush setup.

1:48 Walrus....for a beginner??

[lufbramatt]

If you're not fussed about rigging it, it goes together really nicely. Engine assembly and wing struts all self align. I've built one neatly in an afternoon (obviously without painting it), no filler etc. needed due to the square fuselage.

[Regiment]

r159 said:

Try Britmodeller, as a great source of inspiration.

I returned to modelling after a 25 year gap - Airfix Spitfire built with my then 4yr old. I started with buying old kits off eBay, basically the same as I was making in the 80s. Simple to build and great to practice on. New kits are a technically a lot better but with that they can be more complicated. Started off with brushes, now spraying.

We’re now an IPMS members go to a local club IPMS Rutland, shows etc.

I’m more than willing to take you through some of the stuff I’ve found good.

Edited by r159 on Sunday 4th February 21:55

Oh fantastic, Rutland is just down the road from me.

[Guiddy]

Murph7355 said:

I just built that exact same kit with my 5yr old. He painted most of it then helped me stick it together. Everything out of the box including paints and glue.

Fit was a bit shonky in some areas but it looks great hung on his ceiling (he specified the angle) and most of all, he loves it.

I think it will need to be a German next, being shot down

Get something German up there quickly! Looks like he's already taking pot shots at it!!!

[dr_gn]

Eric Mc said:

Airfix do a nice little 109E which is compatible with their Spitfire I.

Like this one in the lovely new box?



But dated 1976?



...with the beautifully engineered canopy?







Oh dear

[cardigankid]

robemcdonald said:

I'd recommend an airfix 1:72 spitfire. I've just built one. It's very easy as their are only a few parts. It won't take too long and build nicely out of the box with very little fettling required.
See how you get on with that before investing in lots of tools, airbrushes etc.

Here's a pic of mine

That is unbelievably good, I could never achieve something on that level. Could I ask a couple of newbie questions? What is the current state of the art in representing polished aluminium? Also what do you do about rows of ruddy great bolts, which the real thing did not have, they had flush rivets?

Incidentally the most impressive model I have seen was a shop owner who had built a display model of a 1/48 Lancaster B1, the famous PO-S. I think it was a Japanese kit, so Hasegawa or Tamika

Edited by cardigankid on Monday 12th February 21:14

[robemcdonald]

Believe me if I can do it you can too.

It's a really easy kit to build.

In regard to the aluminium question. I have been using the Vallejo metal colour range and found them very nice to use. Here's pic of a tester kit I put together.

[Eric Mc]

Regarding the 109E- I was thinking of the recent one. That was a bit misleading to show the old mould 109. Airfix released a new tooling in more recent years.

I am pretty sure the 1970s moulding has now been retired.

New tooling 109 boxings -







However, they also released a new tool 109G which I definitely would NOT recommend.

[dr_gn]

The version I posted is still available online, in shops and at shows, and indistinguishable from the new tool version if you just look at the box.

The point is that a beginner would have no way of knowing what version they're getting.

[Eric Mc]

Is that Airfix's fault or the traders' fault?

Old stock is old stock - caveat emptor/know your market etc etc.

That's why chats on forums like this are good. At least if people ask a question like the OP has they can get answers which highlight these types of issues.

I've been caught out a few times myself- and not only with Airfix.

[dr_gn]

Eric Mc said:

Is that Airfix's fault or the traders' fault?

Old stock is old stock - caveat emptor/know your market etc etc.

A trader wouldn't necessarily know the provenance of a kit, especially if, as in this case, it's in a new type box, and there's no direct replacement in terms of aircraft type (in this case "Bf109E-4/E-7") ?

I'm fine with good quality, old kits being re-released in new boxes - the Airfix Fouga Magister is a good example, as are many of the Revell/Matchbox items, but how they can justify putting a 1970's era kit with a canopy that will never fit the fuselage, in a new style box is beyond me. They're doing nobody any favors, least of all themselves.

[Eric Mc]

And Revell and Hasegawa and the rest.

At one point Revell were selling their 1960s vintage 109E in a modern box. It's not unique to Airfix - as I keep saying. It's just that in the UK Airfix are more prevalent.
In fact, I had a go at Revell's relatively new (1990s) 109G and its canopy was too small too. It's on the shelf of doom at the moment waiting for inspiration to fix.

[AshVX220]

When did manufacturers stop putting swastika's on their kits? I'm sure when I built models as a kid (early '80's) they had them. Or are they just not represented on the box?

[dr_gn]

AshVX220 said:

When did manufacturers stop putting swastika's on their kits? I'm sure when I built models as a kid (early '80's) they had them. Or are they just not represented on the box?

This comes up a lot on modelling forums...

It’s been that way since the 70’s in some cases. Basically some countries ban the display of swastikas (apart from a few exemptions) therefore kit manufacturers don’t show them on the box art, and often either don’t include them in the decal sheet, or break them up so you have to position two or more pieces to form the symbol. You can buy aftermarket decal sheets with swastikas of all sizes.

Some will argue for pages on the rights and wrongs of it, but at the end of the day it’s not really a big deal either way IMO.

[Einion Yrth]

More importantly dr_gn, what did you make of that appalling piece of (poorly molded plastic) that you posted earlier? Evidence suggests you probably won a prize with it...

[dr_gn]

Einion Yrth said:

More importantly dr_gn, what did you make of that appalling piece of (poorly molded plastic) that you posted earlier? Evidence suggests you probably won a prize with it...

Errrr, no; it'll probably end up as an airbrush/weathering practice model, or more likely go in the bin. It was actually given to my son at the Huddy model show. He was over the moon with it, and I assumed it was the new-tool version. When he opened it up later and said "the windscreen doesn't fit" I thought he'd put it together wrongly. I then saw it was an ancient version of the kit, and that the canopy really didn't fit. I genuinely thought someone had put old sprues in a new box, until I checked on Scalemates.

Luckily, he also bought this (for £5):



Which is very simple to build and appears to fit perfectly with very little clean-up required. He's already made a start on detail painting and weathering it.

To keep on topic, I've built (or helped to build) five Academy 1:72 aircraft in the recent past, all have been cheap, very good quality, and simple to build, but three of them have had terrible decals which were somehow both thick and brittle, so I couldn't really recommend them to a beginner without that caveat. Of course, if you've got an extensive stash of spare decals, it doesn't matter so much

[Eric Mc]

I built an Academy 1/72 Spitfire XIV not too long ago. It went together beautifuly. Unfortunately, it didn't look like a Spitfire (appallingly mishaped in a number of key areas).

I built their P-51 A recently - and that's lovely.

I have that P47 to do too.

[dr_gn]

Eric Mc said:

I built an Academy 1/72 Spitfire XIV not too long ago. It went together beautifuly. Unfortunately, it didn't look like a Spitfire (appallingly mishaped in a number of key areas).

If you look at it as a means to hone your skills, the Academy XIV is fine; there’s little point worrying about shape errors before perfecting the basics.

I helped my pal to build this one after he’d had a break from modelling of 20 years or so:





It went together without issue and IMO I think it looks enough like a Griffon engined Spitfire to please most people. BTW the standard decals were fine on this one.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=10...

[Eric Mc]

Yep - it's good enough for modelling practice.

As for looking like a Spitfire - it does bear a vague resemblance.

Academy kits are, on the whole, pretty good - but one or two of their 1/72 range looks like the mould makers were looking at the real things in one of those fairground mirrors.

[AshVX220]

dr_gn said:

AshVX220 said:

When did manufacturers stop putting swastika's on their kits? I'm sure when I built models as a kid (early '80's) they had them. Or are they just not represented on the box?

This comes up a lot on modelling forums...

It’s been that way since the 70’s in some cases. Basically some countries ban the display of swastikas (apart from a few exemptions) therefore kit manufacturers don’t show them on the box art, and often either don’t include them in the decal sheet, or break them up so you have to position two or more pieces to form the symbol. You can buy aftermarket decal sheets with swastikas of all sizes.

Some will argue for pages on the rights and wrongs of it, but at the end of the day it’s not really a big deal either way IMO.

Cheers