JamesP

Well plenty of time for more speculation because it’ll be at least two years before anyone gets their hands on any plastic.

I've been going through the same pain with this kit. I think the engineering is a bit fussy but there was evidently issues during the tooling, lots of steps on edges where there should be none. The weapons sprue it is misaligned too. My canopy was also twisted, but Airfix Spares service delivered a replacement within a week.

Note that though though the wheel bays are displayed open in on the museum pieces, in fact the all the main doors closed after the wheels come down. If you are doing a bombed up operational aircraft then I would build the doors closed and not bother with bay detail. It took me 6 yrs to finish my 1/72

Lovely build of an attractive aircraft.

Masterpiece!

I concur, I've built the Dragon kit, overall it's really nice but the intakes have flattened sides and aren't circular.

Hopefully will spur Caracal into releasing their scaled down Hustler sheet.

"I'm willing to spend hours building models, packing models, booking and paying for a hotel, driving a hundred miles, and pay for the petrol to got to SMW... .. oh you you want me to spend 10mins sorting our my Covid vaccination passport, well I'm not going then!"

Surely the Merc 280SL! The Porsche did a get a limited re-release as a Hobbycraft special ~10yrs ago.

I've built the Regult Pod ( have you finished yours? ), the Macross SDF 1, Queadluun Rau and a Gerwalk VF1-J, and more in the stash. Recently found Hobby Link Japan have number of the Destroid kits available re-popped by Bandai for £5, so my stash will soon swell! An excellent resource on the old kits here https://macrossworld.com/macross/models/_models_plastic.htm

Thanks Mike. This is the "little" one, the larger 1/160 scale kit was from ARII and though larger is not as detailed or accurate. Was "Arts & Crafts" the one in the arcade with the models in the basement? My memories are of the IMAI kits in John Menzies in Wrexham.

I've a thing for the original Macross Anime kits from IMAI that appeared in the early 80's. The kits were available in the UK even though Macross or even the bastardized Robotech version from the the US wasn't. This a 2010 repop by Bandai of the orginal IMAI kit of probably the coolest looking mecha in the series. The boxart is particular captivating and adds a lots of character to a machine that only appeared occasionally in the series. Had great fun building this and rather pleased with the finish. I enjoyed experimenting with weathering techniques chipping (airspray and painted) and oils. The dull weather and basic photography skills means a the pictures don't show it all. Painted and partially weathered with Humbrol Enamels which suit the early 80's origins of this kit. Even in my late 40's I still think this looks as freaking awesome as I did in my teens

Great though this is first prototype which was for low speed testing, according to a quick glance at Wikipedia to produce the more significant hi-speed version a new nose and cockpit is required and technically increasing the wing sweep from 43 to 45 degs. I guess the high speed version has been available as a vacform and resin kits, not sure about the first prototype. MikroMir and AMP though continue to release some interesting and overlooked aircraft and helos.

...and the Panigale is available now.

Hope you've been saving in the meantime as the price is now £719.99 for the Lotus and is due Winter 2022. I just looked at their website https://uk.pocher.com/products/lotus-72d-1972-british-gp-emerson-fittipaldi-hk114? ...and the Panigale is available now.

Crikey you've summoned a familiar name from the past there Matt. I had to look it up but I read The Summer Tree in my early teens (and probably the other books in the trilogy) - not sure if the books are somewhere, I think I must have been lent it or borrowed it from the library.

To use a generalisation - aunties don’t buy Eduard kits … I have a lot more faith that Airfix know their market more than anyone on here does; a representation of a very small part of the model kit market. If they aren’t planning multiple versions then they have their reasons.

At last!!!

rethought

Who on Earth though uses the word "kitsets"?

That's hugely impressive and gives me a real sense of "Oh, &%#!"

The turnbuckles add a nice extra element. Are you sticking to the kits rigging instructions or going the full hog?

You did well cleaning up kits legs which are horribly moulded. I used those from the Special Hobby kit with the AZ scissor links,

This is totally a class act. Amazing work.

Like many I was excited by AZmodels release of the DH Hornet with the promise of an accurate and buildable model. I'd had the Special Hobby F1 kit in the stash since it's release and had heard complaints about it but not really looked at what they were. I'd also built the Magna F3 (Frog clone) many moons ago, so thought I'd get the PR2 boxing from AZmodels. I was disappointed to learn that the PR2 never really went into service, and thought about using the markings from the SH kit. Then I decided I should build them together with AZ kit as an F1 with and the SH wheels up as the PR2. I then added the Aerocraft replacement engine and props into the mix. I ended up using the best bits of both kits to build the F1 as well as I could. In summary AZmodels as F1 used: Aerocraft engines and props SH resin gun trough SH main legs with scratch built oleos and axels SH resin main wheels Additional Details: Fuel dump pipes Hole for gun camera Tailplane tab actuators Landing light Special Hobby PR2 AZ engines and spinners Tail wheel from Matchbox Beaufighter Additional Details: Corrected canopy shape Corrected wing dihedral Corrected cockpit opening (too small!) Camera ports Landing light Replaced incorrect AZ roundels and flash (really?) I followed @David A Collins excellent series of builds of the AZ kit. Personally I still think the AZ kit is a missed opportunity with some indifferent moulding (the legs are awful),many mistakes of the past repeated (panel-lines everywhere) and details missed (actuators). AZmodels as the F1 in 'spurious' Chevron markings but looks cool as... Here is the Special Hobby as the PR2 Here with my now yellowing Manga F3