Nocoolname

Sorry?

These over the last week. The CMK detail sets actually came with a U-Boat kit but since they're to complement the Platinum version of the same that I bought earlier in the month I let the kit go. Worked out at more than £150 cheaper than buying the sets new on their own. The books arrived today. Looking to build my kit as U-242 - a modified VIIC/41 which still retained the deck gun and part of the net cutting device. It was either that or a VIIF.

Not quite, since I've seen both the Revell (Hasegawa) and Academy Phantoms go for less than the Italeri kits. Age of the kits is generally more of a useful guide than price. This is where the likes of Scalemates.com can be handy for learning the history behind kits and their molds.

An oldie but a goodie. Raised as opposed to scribed detail but a nice kit nonetheless. Back in 1987 I converted one of these to an F-4B VF-111 and got a pretty good result.

I 'think' it might be based on the old ESCI mold which is pretty basic by today's standards. In fact it was pretty basic by the standards of the 1980's when the Monogram model was my kit of choice, especially as the Hasegawa was beyond the reach of my pocket money. Depending on what variant you're interested in (a British or US version?) and what your budget can stretch to I would suggest trying for either the Revell (Hasegawa) FG.1 kit (I've seen some go for under £25) or the Academy F-4B or J.

Since when has having a 'stash' put us off from buying more? What's wrong with you? Give that wallet some exercise!

Nice one Ben! It's great isn't it? My five remain on the shelf for the time being. Paragrafix are to release a PE set for this kit so I'm waiting on that and will be reworking some of the parts I designed for my own Eagle several years back so they can be included with one of my kits, such as interiors for the CM, walkways and passenger pod. I'm really hoping R2 bring out the cargo and science pod variants.

The Phantom is a good choice. Lots of decent kits available these days - Academy, Hasegawa, Zoukei Mura - and lots of variants/schemes to choose from that can be built well out of the box. The Lightning and Hunter mentioned above also make nice choices as would one of the F-14's - Tamiya, AMK, Hobbyboss. I guess being spoilt for choice these days can bring its own problems.

Oooh! 1/48 Operation Granby GR.1! That'll do nicely!

Yep! Tried there. Nearest I found was a VIIC/41 that still had its deck gun plus the expanded flak platform but no snorkel.

Tell me about it! Wish I'd never discovered it. Thanks to sites like that, online modelling forums and my own total lack of self control, I now have a model shop inside my house

The face on that driver though!

Tamiya for being simple while beautiful. And gives you the option for the swingy-wingy-thingy. Detail-wise I actually prefer the AMK to the Tamiya for what it offers out of the box as well as the scope for additional details (for instance, the separate nose makes it easier for me to add the spare radar set), but I can't fault the Tamiya for overall niceness. That being said, I'm still waiting for what GWH will (hopefully) be bringing to the party this year.

Thanks Ewen I've struggled to find any references so might use the idea as a 'what if' for my VIIC 41 build, perhaps reflecting the boat of an eccentric, if fictional, commander, who decided to keep both features.

Was hoping there might be a U-Boat expert out there who could tell me whether there was ever an example of a Type VII U-Boat having both a deck gun and a snorkel? Thanks in advance! Nocoool