koho

Well, it may be not that bad. Although there's one detail that bugs me about Trumpeter/Hobbyboss kits, as they claimed to be made out of the same basic 3D model - middle upper section of fuselage, right after the cokpit, seems to be narrowing too rapidly towards tail. Again, Italeri and Revell both seem to get this thing right, where this section is more rectangular in top view (Kinetic's Intruder and Prowler seem to be OK in this aspect too). And I believe that's the one of reasons why some modelers ultimately decide to go after ancient "revellogram" kits in 1/48. Even if they require rescribing and tons of another additional work, in order to catch up with modern tooling standards. Of course I'm aware this kind of nuance in geometry may not be important for majority. BTW - just check this thread on ARC out: http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/243416-monogram-a-6e-tram-148/ It's definitely the most amazing build I've ever seen in my life. Sure, the project already took over ten years, and it's not done yet, but craftsmanship is too crazy here to not share. And, as I stated above, it is based on Revell's Intruder. So yeah. Having Revell's EA-6A on shelf, I'm still waiting for some nice new tooling of A-6 in 1/72 or 48. Considering all circumstances, this may be long, or even terminal waiting. Aaaand pardon off topic.

I'm not sure if it's something worth of waiting. There was a time that discontiuned Fujimi kits were one of my modeling holy grails, until I actually got them - they turned out to be a major disappointment, because fuselage is suprisingly flatten at the bottom, hence whole kit is rather "intruderish". Seriously it's something hard to "unsee", once You realize the flaw is there. I got rid them all. Even crude Italeri kit is superior in terms of basic shape and geometry.

Yep, 3D scanners/lidars will change modelling market by cutting costs of researching and 3D modeling stage of creating new moulds.

Well, although Tam's Supebug is anyway unlikely, the scheme You mentioned doesn't has to be always true. Somehow Tamiya released their own F-35B, despite reboxing Italeri's kit.

Sad, but true. J or E/EJ variant at best... If ever, they won't go for something more exotic, like RF or G for sure.

Well, I have to say, that cockpit is modeled definitely more accurately, than Hase did. And don't mean only details, but general geometry. We will see - perhaps I will be forced to withdraw my initial, sceptic impression. Those rivets thou... Yeah. Hase' Super Hornet kits family suffers from the same issue. Attack edge of vertical stab is strangely thick. That's how the Hase is. Bittersweet. But back to Skyhawk - what will be interesting to see is how MF did blend between the intakes and fuselage. Hase did not make this great at all too...

Your move, Tamiya

Great model! But - as for the Grumman blueprints. Well, this has been discussed on other forums too, and I would be extremely cautious with assumption, because obviously these are merely some sort general schematics. Definitely not production/construction drawings of any kind. It's really hard to believe, that whoever the author was, created them with an absolute accuracy, comparing to production documentation. The may be spot, they may be not... But yeah, FM wings do not even have a proper outline ;). Nowadays the ultimate way of creating perfect geometry on a kit would be 3D scanning. But I have no idea if any modelling company has ever used it. Tamiya on F-4/14/35?

99% 3D CAD display thing. There's no way Minibase would f*@# the canopy up this way :), judging from quality of their Flanker series.

Pics are not visible anymore.

Pictures are not visible.

But it's still akward solution. There should be just two optional separate inserts, for both configuration. This kit seems to simply mimicking old Hasegawa release, with some additions, but actually doesn't seem to be much of an improvement when compared to Hase kit... Which is one of the best Hasegawa'a oldie but goodie. Personally I'm not that much about opening everything. It's a god damn trend in scale modeling these days, but in fact it visually destroys aerodynamical elegance of aircraft's shapes and curves. Oh, and rivets. Did I mention rivets? They are not visible on pics apart from flaps, but being chinese model making company obligs, so I'm pretty sure there will be plenty of them ;).

THIS.

Considering Tamiya new yellow duck kit we got instead of e.x. new Phantom variant, I don't think FM's gone too far 🤣

Great Scooter! You just made me to change my mind, and I going to reposition horizontal elevators/stabilizers, in my A-4M build. Very nice, subtle nuance. I wish I did this in my first Skyhawk build, even though they are also ease to be spotted in neutral position as well, as Hase did in the kit.