HobbyBoss: anyone know this brand

i hae some of there 48th armour, the T34 has amazing detail, how acc i dont know...the Shermans are suposed to be great, but with niggly faults....not heard anything bad...odd comments but nothing bad but im no expert

It's a new Chinese company, reputedly linked in some fashion with Trumpeter. They have reissued some 1/35th scale track sets from a now- defunct manufacturer, and are releasing a decent but not spectacular series of 1/35th scale Leopard 2 tanks. They have promised some interesting subjects, including up to date kits of the WW2 M4 gun tractor and a Fast Attack Vehicle.

Hi Rob,

there is a review of thier new A-10 kit up on IPMS Deutschland:

grtz, Sven

"eyeball" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Second this. 'Almost' snap-together kits, but using glue. All the ones I've seen run 8-10 parts - the fuse is moulded as one part with a hollow for the cockpit (like a resin kit), the wings are one piece (upper and lower, left and right all moulded together), u/c is one plug-in module etc. BUT, very nice to look at in the box and it seems they'll go together well. I saw a review on one of them (F4F-3, IIRC) that said the shape was a little off, but nothng the average modeller would worry about. GO FOR IT - great to practise weathering and painting skills on, and a quick build, too. I'm waiting for a Hurricane...

Rob.

innews: snipped-for-privacy@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

I have the easy 8 sherman, and glued most of it together. I got to a point where I needed to paint, and put it away for a while to work on more pressing subjects. The use of photo etch is very good, and the shape looks pretty good to me, although I'd heard criticisms about it as well. Unlike the T34, which has a complete interior in 1/48, the Sherman in 1/48 has no interior. That's fine by me; I'm not interested in building the interior anyhow.

Although the hobby boss Sherman may not have gone together as seamlessly as a Tamiya kit, I appreciated that the hull was styrene. That means you can use liquid glue to weld it rather than CA and filler. Tamiya die-cast hulls are a gimmick; it adds nothing but a bit of heft to the model.

---Stephen

"Tamiya die-cast hulls"

Stephen,

I'm not an armor builder, but this caught my eye. When did Tamiya start this? Is there a cost differential versus all plastic kits?

Wonder if they'll do die cast a/c fuselages next.

Art

this is the ballad of the hurricane the man the authorities came to blame,

Didn't get enough rain yet? ;)

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

Rob, they're OK, small number of parts that go together real easy with good detail for the scale (I'm talking 1/72 aircraft) and price ($10 Australian pesos). Good value for building a few for display, or as a base for extras. I've stuck my hands up for a 1/48 Mirage IIICJ theyr releasing soon too . . .

yeah Art; the models are more realistic if they weigh more? (the detail is softer, so I don't get it) I believe they started doing that with the Tamiya 1/48 series, but Dragon had been doing it first (someone may correct me) on their 1/72 armor series.

I don't know about the difference in cost between casting in metal or injection molding. Someone else might chime in on that. As for the price difference that us modelers see, it's fairly negligible. The Tamiya 1/48 armor retails between US$25 - US$30 per kit, and I'd expect roughly the same if they used styrene vs metal. The Hobby Boss Easy 8 Sherman ran me about $25, if I recall correctly.

Seriously, die-cast metal hulls add nothing to the model itself. If you're a modeler who feels that some weight is good for the model, then glue some metal inside the hull.

See you, Art!

--- Stephen

I've done about ten of them and they look great on the shelf. The F4F with silver fuselage, yellow wings, green tail, white cowling and fuselage band is stunning. Tme to build? About ten minutes. It's the Easy Model F4F, pre-built, pre-painted, same parts as the Hobby Boss kits. :-)

Another surprisingly good pre-made, pre-painted model is the Forces of Battle P-40B Tomahawk. Engine access panels are removed with nice engine showing. Paint scheme is a Pearl Harbor fighter. Their figures are pretty good, too, at least n 1/72 scale.

Tom

messagenews: snipped-for-privacy@mail.com...

Not that it really matters to me, but *supposedly* the Mirage IIIs are copies of Eduard's Mirage. Read it on Hyperscale, I think. One of those statements that caused quite a debate. That being said, if I can find one (or more) I'll pick it up.