sroubos

The Roden decals are useless, the red stars are completely translucent on anything but a white background. I got a PrintScale set to finish my model. The kits themselves are very much short run stuff; terrible fit of the wings to fuselage, oil cooler and air intake at the front. Still, with patience and lots of sanding you can get an adequate result.

I like the Hasegawa kit. Goes together very well. Not sure what version it is and it’s not all that easy to find for a reasonable price so a new one is very welcome.

Good to have a new U-2 available. I still have the old Academy kit in my stash which seems to be quite rare and no doubt has its issues. A shame it carries such a high price tag, 33 quid at the big H. I'm not fully understanding Hobbyboss' pricing strategy, they make really nice and cheap easy-built kits that can pass for proper models with a little bit of extra work, and then they have their other 1/72 kits which carry fairly high price tags despite not being all that more complex, like the P-61 and the Bearcat.

https://www.aviationmegastore.com/uss-boxer-korean-war-cruise-f9f-f4uad-ho3s-flevodecals-fd48-014-vliegtuig-modelbouw/product/?action=prodinfo&art=110548 They still have the 1/48 set.

Flevo Decals did a nice decal set for this in both 1/48 and 1/72. https://www.modelwereld.eu/en/accessoires/decals/schaal-172/fd72-014--uss-boxer-korean-war-cruise-quotcvg-101-march-1951---octo

If you want to guide youngsters into the hobby, any of Airfix recent Series 1 toolings are cheaper and much more enjoyable to build. For the 11 quid this old Val cost I got my son the Spitfire MkV gift set over Christmas which is essentially a slightly simplified Series 1 kit and comes with paint, a hairy stick, glue and a stand. One of these is value for money, the other is... well isn't, let's put it that way.

It always make me wonder how many people, who do not know as much about new releases as people on a forum like this do, end up getting a kit that is totally dated. It gives a wrong representation of what this hobby is about in this day and age and may make people, and specifically folks new to the hobby, give up on it. At least Airfix have the decency to label them clearly. Plenty of other manufacturers that sell these old kits with 'NEW RELEASE' on the box top.

What is the point of this release? Are there really that many people out there that want to fork over 11 quid for a nostalgia hit on a Val? Airfix have plenty of kits in their back catalog that are still worth building but this isn't one of them.

I wasn't that interested in this plane before I got the request to build it, but I've grown to really like it. If a new tool came along I would certainly build one for my own collection. As it is, kudos to the Airfix desingers of old; this kit is basically free of any vices, they got things right that plenty of kits nowadays still get wrong. I was expecting fit problems with the landing gear and canopy but it's all faultless.

My 12th and last build for this year. I set a goal to build on average one kit per month and I made it This is also my first commission. I hope its new owner will be happy with her, I'm quite pleased with how this kit turned out. One of Airfix older ones I think; it goes together quite easily. I built it OOB but added some Albion Alloys bits and EZ-Wire, which I think makes a massive difference.

Major facepalm moment! I've seen that movie at least six times and I've never noticed this. It's not like it's not really obvious too... [hangs head in shame].

Three nights? That's barely enough for the paint to dry. I take my hat of to you.

Oh dear, fatally flawed it is then. Recall and destroy all copies of this kit

Assuming the manufacturer visits forums like this what's wrong with expressing interest in another scale? I whined about wanting the Fokker G-1 in 1/72 when MikroMir released their 1/48 and now I have two in my stash. So it worked

Quite a read, this thread, and such a handsome aircraft. Added to the wishlist.