hopkp

That looks really neat..... I'd also have to say that I've never seen anyone refer to the Tamiya 1/32 P-51D as a 'quick build' before; getting one of those done would take me the best part of a year!

Two very neat builds. Probably too late for you, but Eduard's set 49-1225 includes photo-etched cowling panels for the Airfix kit.

It's a strange one alright - logic would seem to dictate that there must still be an English language version, as I very much doubt that all of Eduard's retailers/distributors would be fluent in Czech? However, I've looked anywhere I can think of but like you have never been able to find them either.

Your model, your rules!

About as much work as it would take to convert a 1/48 F/A-18C into an F/A-18E - in other words, jack up windscreen and fit new aeroplane! Like the F/A-18 comparison, the Gripen E is pretty much a new plane that just looks quite like the earlier Gripen versions - kind of like a Gripen C on steroids, maybe? The fuselage looks the same as on the earlier version but is actually slightly bigger to allow a new radar to be fitted, the main undercarriage is now housed in the wings rather than the fuselage (giving more internal fuel capacity), the engine is a (licence-built) GE F414 with more thrust than the Gripen C's GE F404 and the wings have two additional hard points for weaponry. The cockpit/avionics are all different too. Those would be the 'headline items' as far as I know, though I'm sure that there are others on here who know a lot more than I do. I'd love to see a kit of the Gripen E in 1/48, perhaps Kinetic might oblige - they seem to occasionally be on for some slightly 'out of left field' subjects?

Very nice, I like that a lot - it's also good to see a build that doesn't look like a refugee from the base dump!

I completely agree that probably very few WW2 in-service combat aircraft were 'immaculate', but I also rather doubt that very many were in the sort of condition that's unfortunately 'in vogue' for models these days. As has already been said, weathering is a very subjective thing.....each to their own, I guess, but I've really grown to hate the practice of finishing everything like it was a tank that spent several winters on the Russian Front. Has no-one ever heard of the now seemingly long-forgotten 'happy medium'?

Looks very neat - is that the full set now? That's some collection, I wonder what the collective noun for a whole bunch of Zeppelins is?

If it makes any difference to anyone from Airfix who might be looking at this, I'd definitely buy at least a couple of 1/48 Austers, particularly if there was an 'Antarctic' version. The now ancient Airfix 1/72 kit was one of the first that my dad built for me (many, many years ago now) and I can still remember it hanging from my bedroom ceiling - bright yellow, unpainted plastic and all! That somehow led to a life-long interest in 'things with wings' and building models of them.....

Couldn't agree more.....I'd definitely have bought the Vampire if it hadn't been covered in 'divots'!

Very nice, both the model and the way it's displayed. I also very much enjoyed the 'WIP', the usual mix of daftness and great modelling.....more power to your tentacles!

I'm pretty sure that Mike was talking about how heavy the canopy framing on the real aircraft was, not the thickness of the canopy in Airfix's kit?

Never nice to hear that sales of a new kit aren't good, but I'd have to admit that I'd never have seen a 1/32 Helldiver as something a lot of people would buy. Hopefully the Vampire kits do better for them.....

It would indeed be very interesting to know how well those kits sell. Just from a personal perspective, I've bought all of Eduard's Zlin kits (Akrobat and Tréner) but very few of their Bf 109s and Spitfires. Why? Because I've more than enough of the latter already and am really liking getting my hands on something that's a little bit different; the kits are beautifully moulded, fit well and have some great colour schemes, what's not to like? Most of my modelling friends have bought the Zlins/Tréners too, so I think that there may be a bigger market for these than people might think. Would I have bought them 10 or 15 years ago? Maybe not, but I think that if they live long enough most people will eventually tire of endless 109s and Spitfires, no matter how 'definitive' they might be..... P.S. If Mr. Sulc's watching, I'd definitely buy a 1/48 Cmelák too if Eduard ever scales it up!

That's a beautiful job - is there a 'WIP' posted anywhere?

Couldn't agree more, the poor, bedraggled WW2 horse has now been well and truly flogged to death several times over. What about a few decent kits of 1950s/1960s jets from Eduard done to its current standards for a change?

Like you, I remember that old kit well and with great fondness, though I glued its pale blue bits together unassisted (and made an almighty mess doing so!). Mine was also unpainted and the maple leaf is as clear in my mind today as it was 50 or so years ago.....though for some reason I've never had any inclination at all to do JE-J again. Nostalgia's a great thing, isn't it?

The silver one from the Dutch Decal sheet is quite attractive too.....

I agree completely, it's definitely the one I'd go for. The WW2 RAF schemes must be the most boring of all time and have all been done to death at this stage, fair play to Airfix for offering something a bit different.

Just curious - where are you seeing a fairing ahead of the wing leading edge?

Very nice, that's something just a little bit different! Is there much 'fettling' needed to get the wings from the Mk.II kit to fit the Mk.V fuselage?

I got one delivered today, I bought it from Modellbau Koenig in Germany. MN Modelar in the Czech Republic also has them in stock.

??? I hope the people they're employing to do the tooling for the kit are better at their jobs than the people doing their English translation work! It'll be interesting to see how the two new F-16 kits compare. I'm sure the Minibase one will have far more parts, but that's not necessarily always a good thing.....

Perhaps the 'scabbed on' strengthening plates will be provided by Kinetic as PE parts? (Most of the Kinetic Gold' range includes a small frame of PE parts as best I can remember.) In reply to your question about the Hasegawa 1/48 F-16s, there's nothing at all wrong with them if you're OK with building a very basic kit that's now nearly 40 years old (e.g., as you mention, the wheel wells and intake are quite poor, you could also add the cockpit, the wheels/undercarriage and the exhaust to the list). Apart from that, none of the Hasegawa kits are representative of the 'post-MLU' aircraft used by the main European F-16 operators and which carried most of the interesting colour schemes. Only my view, of course.....a 'Stateside' perspective may well be different.

It sure is a funny old world, and if anything it's getting even more daft on an almost daily basis (and not just in relation to model aircraft kits either)! Personally, I've given up trying to figure out Tamiya's logic.....if you're only going to issue a kit of one variant, why make the tooling in such a way as to allow multiple variants to be produced - surely all you're doing is increasing your costs? It'll be interesting to see how many F-4 variants Tamiya eventually does.....