Dennis_C

I still think that full resin kits with vacformed canopies etc are only for those Chosen Ones with straight hands and calm minds who can assemble kits without filler and with zero tolerance fit. So I mean the Chosen Ones would buy resin Wasp and Scout regardless of existence of plastic version. And those with less straight hands would not even look at that direction. At least I would not ...Maybe I still should give a try?...

Okay guys. Here I start: About 150 decals to go. This will be an unusual decalling session as I plan to try film removal tomorrow. Will apply as much as I can today and see what happens in 24 hours. First experience with instrument panel decals was 100% successful so fingers crossed and all the prayers to [Czech] decalling gods are said.

Yeah. That is sad, indeed. One thing we can't deny about Mr.Muzikant - he actually cooks out kits quickly, in quantities and covers many very obscure types. For example AZ+KP are number one in terms of quantity of 1/72 injection kits on big H with huge handicap. Not all of his kits are good, but all are reasonably buildable. You just need skill, patience and good references to fix errors. Would be quite unfortunate if his style of doing business gets his business ruined in the end.

No surprise why Eduard and ex-Gavia folks are a little unhappy

Macro photoes always look horrible. I also noted that. Naked eye sees things less critically

@exdraken a lot of pictures in this thread on Serbian forum https://www.paluba.info/smf/index.php?topic=13689.0

Isn't it typical for Eduard to have all these extra parts in every kit even weekend editions? At least my Spitfire had all the possible clear parts, multiple undercarriage options, wing tips, etc.

As I was looking through the Yugoslavian T'jets pictures - basically it's the same US made ammunition - HVARs and bombs of different sizes. Some Thunderjets were photographed with additional tanks too. I plan to use the bombs from Tamiya kit.

Decals finished. Also I highlighted panel lines a little with pencil and did some weathering on bottom side, wings and around some hatches around the fuselage. Am I on time?

Did you read the article in Eduard Info above? With photoes of the sprues? And with the explicit claim from IP owner that his design has been stolen? And yes I deal with IP protection in the US and EU in software business. I believe if Eduard wants they could successfully sue Mr.Muzikant in court for this. Questions are 1) did Valom officially buy the molds of William Brothers, 2) how many modifications are made to original design 3) and by the way does William Brothers still exist and if not what happened to their assets including IP? A&A Busler is very different to Airfix Dakota - is there 50% of changes? I have no idea about what were the changes to Commando. Buying molds of other manufacturers with release under you brand is never a problem. AZ/KP (seems) bought ex-Pavla molds so no problems when the re-release their kits. UPD: William Brothers company looks active, site and store are working. What was the deal between Valom and William Bros - I have no idea but WB does not sell their Commando right now. I also looked at the sprues of William Bros and Valom. Valom rescribed all panel lines, created full interior, made different small exterior parts such as undercarriage, provided resin engines, photoetch, etc. 5 sprues instead of 2 not counting transparencies. So basically at least this is not 90% resemblance. Maybe 50% maybe not. Experts to validate it.

Okay saves my wallet from this purchase this year at least! It feels to be a busy year anyway.

Yes, it is illegal because the kit design is intellectual property of the company that developed it. If you directly copy the kit design of another manufacturer making 2-3 adjustments - that is IP right violation. I think the rule here is less then 50% resemblance but I can recognise it's vague and may require expert review. Moreover (surprisingly) real aircraft design is also an intellectual property of the aircraft manufacturer and to make a scale copy you sign a license agreement with the owner of the design. Which all big kit producers do. And those collage businesses that do not do should just rely on unwillingness of aircraft manufacturers to sue them in remote countries of the world.

Are they planning to sell a single-kit this year at all?

What I can say... 1) sooner or later Mr. Muzikant will end up sued in a court for Turbolet story or not - who knows 2) that will likely end his model making business 3) which is quite unfortunate as although AZ/KP does quite poor models - they still do models of some aircraft that otherwise are not getting kitted ever 4) still maybe the end of AZ/KP will open opportunities for other manufacturers who could achieve better quality. 5) Using kits of others as a basis for your kit is probably not unique for AZ/KP 6) but expectation is that you improve old kits significantly such as replace raised panels with engraved, add missing details, maybe correct some flaws, add extra parts for new variants etc. 7) It's a shame that no Czech manufacturers ever made a new corrected kit of 1/72 Turbolet since Gavia stopped its production. 8) Could it be because Let did not sell the license to anybody else and Eduard purchased license from Gavia and was sitting on it for all these years? 9) Obviously Eduard was planning for a new super-Turbolet and KP release hijacked some market. 10) Will Eduard still go forward?

In fact I started decalling session last night. Here is some progress: Most Tamiya stencils behaved just all right. "No step" red sticker though did not want to stick to the wing. Instead it preferred to stick to my cloth piece and then break down along the panel lines. I do not know how would one combat those huge colourful decals... Hi-decal on the tail was a little brittle especially given it was just rectangular piece which I had to cut after application to remove excessive angles. More or less managed to soften it to wrap around edges without too much cracks. More work still to be done.

Finished with Vallejo gloss varnish for metallics yesterday and removed the last masks from canopy. And then I jumped into the decalling session. Here is what I have: Plan is as follows: - Tamiya original decal will provide me with stencils. Given my T'jet is fresh from America and is in bare metal - I think these Tamiya stencils would be just all right. - Hi-decal sheet gives me SFRJ stars and tail bar. - Identification code number '20' will come from that Techmod sheet. It is in 1/48 but I need I think 24 inches numbers and 16 inches in 1/48 scale is exactly what I need. - lastly I'll need to create a RViPVO tail serial number '10620'. I think Yugoslavian stencils were quite unique but I do not have them. RAF numbers seem pretty same so I'll just probably go with these from Xtradecal sheet.

Streak received the same treatment as my T'jet today. Aluminium painted: And masks removed: Here you do not see that much colourful inserts as on the T'jet as most stripes would hopefully come from decals supplied by Special Hobby. It's just olive drab and black sections on the fuselage as well as all those panel effects with steel, and two shades of aluminium.

The day of aluminium... ...which transformed in the day of masks removal... I'm very happy! Tomorrow is the day of gloss finish

I built several Italeri kits. The only one truly bad is their OH-6. It's interiors are just too small for the fuselage. It feels like fuselage walls should be two times thicker. They are quite thin in fact. But that leaves huge gaps. Many other kits are quite basic and simplified being originated in 1990s. Such as many their helicopters have none engine details, solid plastic with imitation of mesh, etc. Still there is some aftermarket (unfortunately also quite dated and hence OOP) that could make a difference to your Italeri kit. Still many thanks to Italeri for finally bringing in AMX. Now, ragazzi, could you please bring M-346 and retooled MB.326 and MB.339?

I think people here on forum never read what paints to use according to the instruction I personally only sometimes read that in the instruction supplied by trusted decal makers, otherwise I just know what is SEA USAF scheme or Temperate Land or Day Fighter RAF schemes or what were all IDF schemes from 1948 till 2024 Well - I do not remember everything by heart maybe but I try to keep excel file with paint references

Folland Gnat and Chance-Vought Crusader look at you from the 50s!

Progress very good! Getting YF-96A in the gallery will make it very complete!

Replaced by what? F-35 or M-346?

Very nice model! I think more formal reason not to go forward with this airplane (and with Tu-70) was lack of ASh-73 engines that were badly needed to build a fleet of Il-4 bombers. And really Aeroflot did not really need such airplane for its routes. Passenger flights were not a necessity in post-war country. Super-affordable passenger flights came in much later in 1970s with introduction of Tu-134 and Tu-154 in large quantities.

Masking for the final spray of pure aluminium is finished. I first sprayed steel colour (mix of steel and silver vallejo metallics), then sprayed aluminum with some dull aluminium addition. Now all what I want to keep in steel and duller aluminium is masked. You can see difference between steel and dull aluminium on the large plates below the canopy. Small hinges are unmasked to be painted aluminium. Painting is scheduled for the weekend... hopefully some gloriously painted colours would come up from below the masks!