Jump to content

Piotr Mikolajski

Members
  • Posts

    1,191
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Piotr Mikolajski

  1. Rather: if they make a Mustang I, there will be at most one Polish marking from 309 Sqn. But I don't really know what versions will ultimately be made. It seemed to me, they are supposed to do all the early ones plus the A-36 Apache and the corresponding F-6 versions. But if they release P-51B and C only, I assume there will be one Polish marking for Mustang III, FB166 PK-G, personal mount of S/Ldr Eugeniusz Horbaczewski, with famous scoreboard.
  2. This is Ukrainian company which relocated twice, in 2014 from Crimea to Kyiv, recently they moved to Poland.
  3. The model offers older P-40F/L shortrun parts, but the moulds have been overhauled to incorporate milled aluminium components. You will also find 3D printed parts in the box.
  4. Mirage F.1 is from 2016, so it is already 8 years old. If, 8 years after its premiere, still not all versions have been released, it means that the F.1 is not some kind of exception after all. Same with Viggen - Tarangus released AJSF/AJSH five years ago, Special Hobby still hasn't released these versions. Jets are selling worse than WWII aircraft and this is not some recent trend, it's been like this for years. Which means that all these versions will be released for a long time to come. I won't be surprised if we wait until the 2030s for the last one.
  5. If the release is in May, we should know a few by mid-March from the Eduard Leaflet. If the release is in June, then mid-April and so on. Polish markings? Perhaps one in Mustang I and one in Mustang III, I wouldn't count on more. Techmod has available three 1/48 sets for Polish Mustang IIIs: 48002, 48028 and 48033. Because parts are not created by sputtering atoms onto a surface, so the there are such annoying things in the world as the physics of liquids, variable quality of plastic, technological parameters, manufacturing processes, durability and similar trivialities.
  6. SH does not want to saturate the market with one type of jet. This is why the release of more boxes of the Viggen goes so slowly.
  7. From what can be seen in the photos and from what Czech colleagues write, it seems that AZ/KP copied the Gavia and slightly corrected a few errors. The parts are of inferior quality because they are made in a hurry to get ahead of Eduard. The original Gavia moulds are in Eduard's possession and we will see what such Eduard will add to the model. The reissued SM.79 in 1/48 received not only PE parts, but also a lot of resin parts. It will certainly be more expensive, but by how much?
  8. Considering how long the design process (even with the existing 1/48 design) and mould production takes, these two novelties have long since been selected and approved for production. As for the SE.5a and Camel - the Fokker D.VII was released in 2019, the Albatros D.III is due in 2024, so I'm guessing at least one of these will be out by 2030. Maybe even both?
  9. Technology is allowing the production of moulds with better and better details, the market is demanding better and better details, the competition is making models with better and better details, so for market advantage the manufacturer has to make models with better and better details. And these are all constant factors. If someone expects the whole industry to go back half a century in development, he might be disappointed. Usually at this point someone uploads a photo of a museum exhibit that has been standing outdoors for thirty years to show that you can see all the rivets and they are black But you're right, it's dousing the whole kit with black panel liner that gives such a ridiculous effect. I call it dousing with liquid manure because that's more or less what it looks like. We have many colours of panel liners on the market, giving a much softer and almost invisible effect, but black is the best seller. I don't know if this is an influence of Hasegawa's 1980s catalogues or the so-called 'Spanish school', but it doesn't matter, this has been the trend for several years. I don't like this finish, I think such a model doesn't look good, but in the end it's not my model and not my problem. From my point of view, if afterwards someone still wants to take a bath in black panel liner himself, I won't stand in his way. It remains to be seen how many versions they will make and how many options there will be with different details. The pictures of the first sprues suggest an interesting family of models.
  10. I quoted this passage: 'the primary objective, (should be) a reasonably realistic facsimile' There are no "should be" in the hobby, because it stops being a hobby and starts being a profession. So arguably the primary goal of the hobby is to have fun, regardless of how each person is understanding the 'fun'. If I want to ride my bike, I get on my bike and go. Whether the motivation for this is a daily dose of exercise, the desire to get to know the area, the wind in my hair, it doesn't matter. And somehow it doesn't occur to anyone to tell me that I should buy another bike, I should ride more miles, I should choose different routes. At best I would consider it rudeness, but far more often I would tell such an 'advisor' that he is an idiot and to sod off. If you want to buy a bike for €5,000, then buy it. If you want to ride 100 km a day, then ride. If you want to ride through the forest instead of on a bike road, your choice. Yours, valid for you, unrelated to other people's choices and irrelevant to those other people. For some 'fun' in our hobby is 'to create a reasonable facsimile'. For others not because they have fun in other things, like bringing out rivets and panel lines. Or they have fun in painting and weathering. Or in building collection in the same scale. Or in assembling the kit straight from the box with default decals and, what a blasphemy, without painting it with proper shade studied for years. And even those, for whom it 'is to create a reasonable facsimile' will understand it differently. And neither approach is more right or better than the other. It is simply different. Well, it existed. All the vehicles in the original Star Wars trilogy were built as working hardware, mock-ups or models. What modellers building these models are arguing about is correcting the confusion LucasArts has created by building different models of the same spaceship or providing different sizes in various official publications. The famous 'Millennium Falcon' was given two different lengths, although a 1/1 mock-up was built, so it was known what dimensions it had. As was the 'Executor', Vader's flagship, of which a model was built. LucasArts gave two lengths, 8 km and 17 km, so the difference is noticeable, especially if someone wanted to build a collection of Star Wars capital starships in the same scale. So yes, they are discussing, but about something completely different. But it still doesn't make any difference when it comes to enjoyment in the hobby. There is no single determinant of what that joy is. Nor is there one single and true way of being a modeller. And if someone thinks that he is the One True Modeler Who Is Always Right, as opposed to those pesky gluers or assemblers, then he should probably rethink his approach to life and to other people a bit. Modelling has always been and will always be a matter of convention. We can't downsize paint thickness in proportion to scale, we can't downsize panels or fuselage sides in proportion to scale, and we can't do many other things. And we accept all of that because that's the convention. If someone demands 100% scale correctness, then he should buy the original aircraft or tank. Preferably straight from the production line, so there will be no complaints that previous owners have made some modifications. Exactly the same convention, that we accept for the thickness of a coat of paint or metal sheet, applies to rivets, panel lines, tread on tyres and so on. Modellers have always wanted these details, and an entire aftermarket industry has been created thanks to this desire. Current technology allows models to have more detail, so that's what is being manufactured. Similarly, modern aftermarket sets have more detail than those of 15-20 years ago. Most buyers want to see this level of detail, even if it does not meet the Strict Requirements of Holy Realism, as in the kit below. They want to bring that detail out with whatever dusts, fluids, magic and paint tricks are available. Time to accept it and move on.
  11. I was hoping they would release it in 1/72, but after reading all this I'm not sure I have any desire to buy it. I'm leaving aside the ridiculous price, because that's what I can be sure of.
  12. The primary objectives of the hobby, which are regularly forgotten by those who complain, are enjoyment, pleasure and satisfaction. From what modellers get these is an individual matter. And here it should be recalled that roughly 20-25 years ago we had quite a few of such short run kits, at least in 1/72. For some reason companies have moved away from that.
  13. Eduard has not officially announced this version, but a few years ago when discussing the development of the family, it was reported that the MiG-21bis and MiG-21R would appear in 1/72. No date or catalogue number was given, so we may have to wait a little longer.
  14. If someone has already released them in 1/72 and AZ/KP can be 'inspired' by them, they might appear. But these are not the days when this company actually designed from the scratch and there were kits of such quality as the Breguet XIV.
  15. Because it's AZ/KP's marketing 'strategy', repeated quite regularly and for a long time. If word about the release of a new kit gets out early enough, they will ride the wave of someone else's marketing. The moulds cost them very little, so the release will sell easily. It is also part of a battle with Eduard that has been going on for years. The story is interesting but long and I don't know if anyone would care to describe it in detail.
  16. These are steel moulds, where the plastic is injected under high pressure, everything lasts too short for the plastic to have time to circulate. As you can see, there is a bit of a frame next to each piece, which is not connected to anything. It's a cavity that makes sure the plastic properly fills the entire area of the piece. This is a question for the engineers and technologists, because only they can expertly explain the various processes that take place both during the production of the moulds and during the injection of the plastic. I have some understanding of it, but I'm far from being a professional, and there's no point in telling some nonsense just because it will sound good. The MiniArt team knows how to design, they have several hundred moulds behind them (if I remember correctly, approaching 500). I am also sure that they are not happy about that flaw. On the other hand, I have no idea if it can be fixed somehow, that's again a question for the professionals.
  17. It can't. Plastic only meets somewhere when it flows from two (or more) directions. On top of that, each time the shape of the line of meeting of the two streams of plastic will be different, and here the shape is the same, I've checked with my samples. This is most likely some sort of micro flaw on the mould.
  18. TBH they skipped more variants than they released.
  19. Because they have access to the aircraft and they can do that. All the information collected in this way stays with the company, so if, for example, they wanted to do the P-40 family in 1/32, starting with the P-40B in 2031, for the 90th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, they would not have to collect the data once again. The 'they would have not needed' bit is false. CAD speeds up work on a project because you get a finished shape of the object. But CAD does not mean you get a perfect model. In this case, means a model with details at 2016-2017 level. Eduard wants to make his model at 2024 level, on top of that at a larger scale, so he needs additional information. And while we're on the subject of costs - companies can be hired to do this. I've just checked the offer of one of them - scanning an object the size of an aeroplane, MESH, NURBS & CAD + texture, is a cost of 75 USD / 70 euro per hour of scanning. The bigger problem is finding a well-preserved aircraft agreeing to scan it, rather than the cost of scanning.
  20. Looking at the models that are being prepared at the moment, that are in development and the whole list of promises (because I won't call them announcements), it's rather closer to 2030. For steel moulds, this Fw 190 would still have decades of work ahead of it. But AFAIK the moulds for the Fw 190 are made of a lighter metal alloy, which is not as strong as steel moulds. How long they will last is another question entirely. Eduard certainly won't be throwing away good moulds, and for the moment some reissues are announced.
  21. I would say: the initial one. In case of Zero from Eduard it was 6,000 boxes plus some overtrees but certainly not thousands of sets. If a kit is already available on the market, standard production runs start from as little as 1,000 kits. The Chinese market, both on the modelling side and on the manufacturers' side, is governed by its own rules and is so different that it should not be compared with the market in Europe. From what I have heard, when it comes to models, the vehicles and aircraft used by China are popular. Unfortunately, I have no way of confirming this, contacts with Chinese modellers are virtually non-existent. At this point we can recall the words of Mr Sulc from the January edition of Eduard Info: At the end of last summer we were at 260,000 sold sprue sets of all versions of the Bf 109 we released in all scales. Which kits is Mr Sulc talking about? About these: 2003 - 1/144 - Bf 109F/G Family 2009 - 1/32 - Bf 109E 2012 - 1/48 - Bf 109E Family 2014 - 1/48 XXL - Bf 109G-6 2016 - 1/48 - Bf 109F/G Family 2022 - 1/72 - Avia S-199 Family 2023 - 1/48 - Bf 109K-4 These 260,000 units represent seven Bf 109 model families in four scales, sold over 20 years.
  22. Parts for D were prepared for reboxed Zvezda only. All you have to do is to ask Eduard to release this set of resin parts separately.
  23. Probably whole family of short-nosed: A, F and G. But still, old moulds are still OK, so I wouldn't expect this kit next year.
×
×
  • Create New...