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1/48 - North American P-51D/F-51D & Mustang lV/P-51K by Airfix - released


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6 hours ago, AussiePhantom said:

Unless it has the fillet less tail which sprue shots shows it doesn't I won't be rushing out to buy one as its won't better than the Tamiya kit. Typical of kit manufactures these days release a subject that already exists yet isn't any great improvement or they miss details that the older kit had down to simply copying parts of original kit. I will keep dreaming to build Hurry Home Honey without a conversion.

It seems strange ^_^ but as a business Airfix will make what will sell. When they brought out their new tool Lancaster just after Revell had done theirs, they were asked why? the answer was "a Revell kit makes no money for Airfix!"

 

I am pretty sure whether you buy one or not that this will sell bucket loads, it is byall accounts a very nice kit, and who is to say it wont be better than Tamiya? lets wait and see.

On ‎27‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 23:30, Mike Esposito said:

I'm sure this kit will sell...8+pages in this thread:o

 

Would much rather see a 1/48 British subject...Vampire, Venom, Javelin just to name a few...or a Canberra early mark.:smile:

Airfix did the Javelin and lets just say finacially for them I dont think it was a success.

 

Julien

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28 minutes ago, AussiePhantom said:

Unless it has the fillet less tail which sprue shots shows it doesn't I won't be rushing out to buy one as its won't better than the Tamiya kit. Typical of kit manufactures these days release a subject that already exists yet isn't any great improvement or they miss details that the older kit had down to simply copying parts of original kit. I will keep dreaming to build Hurry Home Honey without a conversion.

How can you say that just because it lacks a certain feature it won't be better than the Tamiya kit?  Airfix appear to have tooled the kit in such a way that a number of options can be introduced in the future as they've done with the 1/72nd Lancaster, Blenheim and Victor and 1/48th Meteor for example.  

 

Also which kit have they copied?  Their researchers and designers went out and examined a number of UK-based Mustangs: they've no need to copy someone else's kit.  The main wheel wells at least are going to be a vast improvement over other manufacturers' efforts, including Tamiya's: for example I was very disappointed to discover that the Accurate Miniatures Apache's main wheel bays follow the outline of the doors rather than the front spar.  

 

I'll also bet that the Airfix canopy will be easier to deal with than Tamiya's which was a regal pain to assemble as the frame was a slightly different shape in plan view to the transparency and took forever to align whilst the PVA cured.

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56 minutes ago, AussiePhantom said:

Unless it has the fillet less tail which sprue shots shows it doesn't I won't be rushing out to buy one as its won't better than the Tamiya kit. Typical of kit manufactures these days release a subject that already exists yet isn't any great improvement or they miss details that the older kit had down to simply copying parts of original kit. I will keep dreaming to build Hurry Home Honey without a conversion.

All you are doing is looking at a picture.Unless you actually have one of the Airfix kits in front of you and, you have built it then I suggest you have no valid point(s) of comparison with any other kit. Without a valid comparison, your comment is, at best, wholly presumptious.

 

Allan

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14 minutes ago, stever219 said:

Unless it has the fillet less tail which sprue shots shows it doesn't I won't be rushing out to buy one as its won't better than the Tamiya kit. Typical of kit manufactures these days release a subject that already exists yet isn't any great improvement or they miss details that the older kit had down to simply copying parts of original kit. I will keepdreaming to build Hurry Home Honey without a conversion.

The Hasegawa 1/48 P-51 was issued as a fillet less variant as was the 1/32 Dragon complete with Hurry Home Honey decals but I suppose that is unbuildable? I see no reason in the world why aifix would want to rip off some other manufactures kit.

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It does look like Airfix have done their research with this, and talking to a couple of people who have test shots it is a very good kit. It is nice to see a non Europe decal option in there as well (along with a nice local to me one). As mentioned this is a complete new tool from Airfix and they have not copied anyone.

 

Julien

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2 hours ago, AussiePhantom said:

I won't be rushing out to buy one as its won't better than the Tamiya kit

How do you know it won't, I think I'll wait and see before I make my judgement.

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Are both propellers included in the standard kit? Airfix will undoubtedly release the kit as a P-51K/Mk.IV at some time, with the Aeroproducts  propeller on the extra sprue. I just wonder if this is included in the first P-51D kit boxing.

 

Nils

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On 10/22/2017 at 7:41 PM, ocatlub said:

The Hasegawa 1/48 P-51 was issued as a fillet less variant as was the 1/32 Dragon complete with Hurry Home Honey decals but I suppose that is unbuildable? I see no reason in the world why aifix would want to rip off some other manufactures kit.

You have to cut the tail or use an aftermarket tail for the Hasegawa kit. 1/32 is not my scale as I have a beautiful set of decals in 1/48 of Hurry Home Honey I would like to build without the use of cutting or modifying kit parts. I said that as more of a blanket statement and never stated Airfix in anyway.

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On 10/22/2017 at 6:45 PM, Julien said:

It seems strange ^_^ but as a business Airfix will make what will sell. When they brought out their new tool Lancaster just after Revell had done theirs, they were asked why? the answer was "a Revell kit makes no money for Airfix!"

 

I am pretty sure whether you buy one or not that this will sell bucket loads, it is byall accounts a very nice kit, and who is to say it wont be better than Tamiya? lets wait and see.

Airfix did the Javelin and lets just say finacially for them I dont think it was a success.

 

Julien

I would expect it to be a better kit than Tamiya's seeing as their Mustang is twenty five years old. However Tamiya set the bar and in some cases are yet to be beaten by other manufacturers. Its a bit like the Airfix Mustang in 1/72 good kit yes and really nice but better than Tamiya's? I would say close but not superior.

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23 hours ago, Wez said:

How do you know it won't, I think I'll wait and see before I make my judgement.

History repeats itself. Just because its new doesn't make it the better kit. Tamiya and Hasegawa set the bar twenty five years ago and have really yet to be beaten. With the advances of technology this kit should blow the Tamiya kit out of the water but highly unlikely to happen.

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41 minutes ago, AussiePhantom said:

History repeats itself. Just because its new doesn't make it the better kit. Tamiya and Hasegawa set the bar twenty five years ago and have really yet to be beaten. With the advances of technology this kit should blow the Tamiya kit out of the water but highly unlikely to happen.

 

I think where Tamiya and Hasegawa set the bar - decades ago - is in fit and ease of construction. Not something that Airfix has quite mastered. Yet.

 

In other areas - accuracy, detail, decals etc - there are many other contenders for the crown, including Airfix.

 

The idea that one is better than the other depends on which criteria are most important to the individual.

 

But I'm betting on the Airfix P-51 being an absolute corker.

 

 

 

   

 

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59 minutes ago, AussiePhantom said:

History repeats itself. Just because its new doesn't make it the better kit. Tamiya and Hasegawa set the bar twenty five years ago and have really yet to be beaten. With the advances of technology this kit should blow the Tamiya kit out of the water but highly unlikely to happen.

No 'advantages in technology' are needed to get the rear of the main wheel well / main spar representation correct.  Yet only Airfix get it right! 

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1 hour ago, AussiePhantom said:

I would expect it to be a better kit than Tamiya's seeing as their Mustang is twenty five years old. However Tamiya set the bar and in some cases are yet to be beaten by other manufacturers. Its a bit like the Airfix Mustang in 1/72 good kit yes and really nice but better than Tamiya's? I would say close but not superior.

That depends how you define better and this will be different to everybody, the hasegawa and tamiya kits have simplified boxed in wheel wells, airfix blow them away in that department, the tamiya canopies are certainly not user friendly having only the glass as transparencies for the main canopy so it hard to not have an unseemly glue mark and the windscreen is difficult to fair in on hasegawa and tamiya as again there is no frames on the canopy to hide glue marks, airfix have tackled both these problems in a better manner so another plus 1 to airfix, airfix will bring out a non fillet tail at a later date so thats another plus, i think you are being a bit quick off the mark to judge this kit without plastic in hand and only from it's initial release, further versions will come with different options in the future  .

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4 hours ago, Vingtor said:

Are both propellers included in the standard kit? Airfix will undoubtedly release the kit as a P-51K/Mk.IV at some time, with the Aeroproducts  propeller on the extra sprue. I just wonder if this is included in the first P-51D kit boxing.

 

Nils

There's only one propeller, (Hamilton Standard Cuffed) in my kit.

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8 hours ago, AussiePhantom said:

History repeats itself. Just because its new doesn't make it the better kit. Tamiya and Hasegawa set the bar twenty five years ago and have really yet to be beaten. With the advances of technology this kit should blow the Tamiya kit out of the water but highly unlikely to happen.

The problem with advances in technology is that Airfix are doing this on a smaller budget than companies like Tamiya.

 

As for Hasegawa and Tamiya not being beaten in 25 years well no one has had a serious go until now. The Meng kit seems an overall better kit ( i dont own one yet ) than Hasegawa and Tamiya - in accuracy and construction and I'm sure the Eduard kit will be as well. As for the Airfix kit let's hope it is also.

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Hasegawa and Tamiya set the bar 25 years ago and both have been beaten by Meng. Meng is now new champ to be compared with. I presume Airfix will be accurate. But can it have panel lines as fine as Meng (or Hasegawa or Tamiya)? 

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9 hours ago, AussiePhantom said:

History repeats itself. Just because its new doesn't make it the better kit. Tamiya and Hasegawa set the bar twenty five years ago and have really yet to be beaten. With the advances of technology this kit should blow the Tamiya kit out of the water but highly unlikely to happen.

I wish I had a quid for every one of these "it wont be better than the previous (insert name here) kit"

or the "its no good because it doesn't have the option I want" . I'd be quite well off.

 

 

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Tamiya’s P51D kit is a great kit. It fits beautifully and has nice levels of detail. Which when you consider it’s age is quite remarkable. Meng’s kit is a bit nicer and corrects a few of the ‘faults’ of the Tamiya kit such as the wheel well / wing spar. It also builds nicely with few vices. 

 

One the Airfix boxing turns up here I’ll have a look. I expect it to be accurate + nicely detailed. I’m not expecting the fit to be as good as Meng or Tamiya based on my experience of recent Airfix toolings.

I’m also hoping it free of quality problems which unfortunately blight Airfix far too frequently.

 

Fingers crossed.

 

Plasto

 

 

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7 hours ago, Stephen said:

There's only one propeller, (Hamilton Standard Cuffed) in my kit.

Thanks. This means that the Aeroproducts propeller most likely will be included in a later RAF version of the kit.

 

Nils

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Tamiya kit is good, and 25years later, Airfix should be best, but, probably the plastic will let it down, Tamiya kits let them selves down in one area, Instruction sheet, same type as they did in 1970, that's 47years ago, Hmmm, colour and information is needed, Airfix and Revell, have improved 100%, Wingnuts and Eduard show the way,

and we all know, Eduard will have the best P51D, can't wait😊

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