Italeri News 2004

Why do they keep teasing me with this promise of a 1/72 scale P-47N? :-)

Ron

A 1/48 Gripen? Is that some re-issue? TIA Pavlos

Ron<

Yeah! I have several schemes picked out for it when it is finally released.

CB

Well lets face it most of the kits are Esci Re-Issues, Most are very welcome though, Between these and Airfix I should have plenty to keep me busy this year, Darren

Got to be a brand new kit, the Gripen has only been kitted in 1/72 as a plastic kit.

Basically the same JAS39A kit (different weapons and/or decals) has been issued by Italeri, Airfix, Revell and Tamiya. There is also an Italeri 1/72 JAS39B two-seater.

(Please do not bring up the old Revell 1/72 or the Revell/ACE 1/32 caricatures... ;o)

Sten

Well, I'm certainly excited to see the Gripen. It looks like the 1:48 Hawk has disappeared though. I guess they either decided not to compete with Airfix, or were going to release a rebox of the Airfix and decided against it when they saw how bad it was.

Matt

Do you mean the Airfix is as bad as that earlier 1.48 scale Hawk from a manufacturer whose name escapes me at the moment?

Bill Shuey

That would be the same "bad" Airfix 1/48 Hawk kit that won an award from a German model magazine?

I find myself thinking, we don't have it so bad... do we? I've got two Hawks, and they look pretty good in the box. And, yes, I might have to do some work putting 'em together, but it's not a huge amount.

My main theme is RAF 1937-today, and, I'm pretty well served in 1/48. The occasional vac-form that I need is by Aeroclub or Dynavector. Most of the types that I want are available in "there or thereabouts" injection kits from Airfix/Heller, Italeri, Classic Airframes, Eduard or Sword/MPM. Where the kits are lacking in detail, there's usually some Airwaves etch, or Aeroclub white metal (or resin), or Neomega resin to fill the gap.

My NASA aircraft collection has got more kits in it than I can build in this lifetime, and I've got most mainstream USAF/Navy/Marines post-war planes in one 1/72 or 1/48 form or another. I've got a B-1 in 1/48, a B-52 and X-15 in

1/72, a DC-130 drone controller Hercules in 1/48, a Type VIIC U-Boat in 1/72 and a Saturn V in 1/96...

Not all kits are perfect. "Some assembly required" may have to appear by law. But on the whole, _I_ can't complain. Someone has made kits of most of the things I want to build, and they're mostly OK kits...

Bestest, M.

premier, the minute i heard that the airfix kit was coming out i sold mine, i felt bad as i put it on ebay and got the eq of 50 bucks or just over for it

I'm not sure what it could have won an award for, apart from 'Most Anticipated Model' or 'Most Disappointing'. The plastic is thick and the detail is soft ... it's general quality is on par with a limited-run injection kit. The kit really said to me "We don't need to do a good job here, we can slap 'Red Arrows' on the box and sell a shedload of them."

On the upside, it's accurate, and if you're willing to invest in a resin cockit and resin wheel wells ... possibly a vacform canopy when one arrives ... and sand down the pebble-effect plastic, it doesn't build into a bad model.

Matt

Strange that this desperately wanted and eagerly awaited kit has been out for several months now and we've yet to see a comment from any of the UK magazines.

I believe that the latest issue of "Military in Scale" has a build-up review.

dvh

DBatt56523 wrote:

one before i think, one of the build ups looks like it was done by a 10 year old, very poor modelmaker, the light gray plane

I showed someone one of my Airfix Hawks the other ay, SFTB and sprayed in grey primer - I told them it was test shots of the Italeri 1/48 Hawk.

"Oh yes" they said "that's much better than the Airfix kit".

Hmmmm!

IRRC, the Airfix Tucano received scant notice from the model magazines when it was released in 1990 - the first new Airfix kit since their "demise" in the mid 80s and revival by Humbrol, a kit of a frontline RAF aircraft and beautifully done as well.

It barely got a mention anywhere.

Uhm, there's also the Tu-22 Blinder (almost surely the old ESCI kit as they already released their Tu-22m3).

A lot of work for "plastic surgeons" :)

The 1/72 UH-1D? ESCI would be nice!

Burkhard Domke Aviation Images - Aircraft in Detail