Opinions wanted on qual of manuf. of kits

Norm! Cheers:

My only experience is with the Tamiya Zero, which I can recommend without hesitation. It lacks the in-the-box detail of the newer, definitive Hasegawa Zeros but is a good build nonetheless with adequate detail and is dimensionally correct. As you say, an excellent value.

With the inclination and time, it can be built into an outstanding example. Saw one of these in the IPMS regional sponsored by the N. Va. chapter just a couple of weeks ago. IMHO, it was the best in class.

Steve

Norman:

I'll take them by item:

Norman Lever wrote:

Academy are a strange outfit, some of their kits are new molds, some are re hashed versions of other company's kits. I am told that this Mirage kit is simply the old 1/50th scale Fujima kit, so it will look like a Mirage when finished, but not a whole lot of detail.

Sounds like the old Monogram molds. It is outline accurate, but there is no cockpit detail.

This is the old Aurora mold, reworked by Monogram in the 1980's. If you want to try a bi-plane for the first time, it is O.K. There are some dimensional errors and not a lot of detail, but the finished kit looks like an SE-5

This is one of Tamiya's older kits. It is accurate in outline and has fair detail. It doesn't have engraved panel lines like current state of the art kits but the one sitting on my shelf certainly looks like a good representation of the -52 Zero.

I hope these comments help.

Bill Shuey

Norman:

I'll take them by item:

Norman Lever wrote:

Academy are a strange outfit, some of their kits are new molds, some are re hashed versions of other company's kits. I am told that this Mirage kit is simply the old 1/50th scale Fujima kit, so it will look like a Mirage when finished, but not a whole lot of detail.

Sounds like the old Monogram molds. It is outline accurate, but there is no cockpit detail.

This is the old Aurora mold, reworked by Monogram in the 1980's. If you want to try a bi-plane for the first time, it is O.K. There are some dimensional errors and not a lot of detail, but the finished kit looks like an SE-5

This is one of Tamiya's older kits. It is accurate in outline and has fair detail. It doesn't have engraved panel lines like current state of the art kits but the one sitting on my shelf certainly looks like a good representation of the -52 Zero.

I hope these comments help.

Bill Shuey

Got one on my shelf right in front of me and I don't have the same observation. Wings and engine shroud on mine are have nicely engraved panel lines. The fuselage has some nicely engraved details but the regular panel lines are raised. I really enjoyed this kit.

Tom

Tommy:

I wonder if they did some re-tooling somewhere along the line?? Maybe I should go buy a current release of this kit.

Bill Shuey

If you have one that doesn't, I guess I should be careful as I've agreed to buy a friend's kit so I can do a peeling green painted version with the salt technique from FSM.... Could have bagged a fresh one for $5.50 at HL last week during the coupon sale. Includes a nice page of nicely printed color artwork too. At $11-12, its a very enjoyable kit.

Tom

I've built this one back when I was in high school. Overall it fits nicely, but is VERY basic. Wheel wells are shallow and void of any details, same goes for the cockpit where I don't think there is any sign of something resembling an instrument panel. It's a kit I would give a kid to start with, with few parts, etc. Mirages are not my field of expertise so I cannot comment on accuracy

- and I can't measure the thing as I tinkered with it too much in the insane attempt of getting a Kfir out of it. The only bit left is the canopy, currently serving, after modifications, on my ESCI MiG-27. Transparencies are thin and clear BTW.

Ciao Bonehammer

I can't find any reference to a Revell kit of the F4U4 in any scale. It may be a reissue of the 1963 Monogram kit. This was severely criticised by the reviewers in Detail and Scale. If it's the Monogram kit, more recent kits would be a better starting point for a model.

Gordon McLaughlin