Hasegawa 48th Spitfire Vb & the Seafire Ib, any good?

[Col.]

Noticed Hasegawa's 'new' Seafire Ib is due out soon and been trying to find reviews on what I take to be the base Vb kit but without much success. The one review I have read was in the Modellers Datafile on merlin-engined Spitfires, where it was given plenty praise, but then I've also seen passing mention of it on this here fine forum as being a poor second to the Tamiya kit. Anyone care to enlighten me before I succumb to temptation and part with the thick end of £40?

[JackG]

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=234922046

Sounds like it is just a re-boxing of an old tool Mk.V with a few extra parts thrown in to make the seafire.

regards,

Jack

[jynski]

Saw this kit at the club meeting Friday. It's the Mk.V with resin tail hook.

[Col.]

Thanks gents, everyone seems to be of the opinion it's not a great kit but no-one mentions specific faults, if it's out on general release I'm sure there will be a review or two soon enough; perhaps the Britmodeller team will have one in as well?

Edit - Hmm, if all they've done is added a resin hook surely there's a few other parts such as the tie-down points missed that even the earlies Ib's had?

Edited October 15, 2012 by Col.

[Don McIntyre]

Now this is just MHO, as I'm not knowledgeable enough to point out the (in-?) accuracies of either kit, but for "buildability" I give the Tamiya a slight edge. One thing I especially like about the Tamiya kit is the way that the fuselage and wing assemblies almost click together, and are held in place by some pretty substantial "supports" (for lack of a better term coming to mind).

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

Hi Col - theres not much wrong with the Hasegawa Mk V ( other than perhaps price!). To my mind it captures the Spitfire's "flowing graceful" look a bit better than Tamiya's model - which captures the Spitfire's "agressive" look a little better.

if you can find one at a decent price its a good model in my book

Jonners

[Col.]

Thank you Don & Jonners, that's the type of info I was after about the basic kit, shame Hasegawa seem to have left the job half done and missed a great oportunity to give us a 'proper' Seafire Ib.

I wonder if we wait a while this kit will go the same way as the Sea King AEW2 and be heavily discounted by many retailers?

[Steven Eisenman]

Like many Hasegawa aircraft kits, the Spitfire Vb sufferes from some degree of anorexia.

See links:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/message/1201991509/1-48th+Spitfire+I-V+accuracy

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/message/1113607437/Need+opinions+on+Hasegawa%27s+Spit+V+in+1-48

http://www.network54.com/Forum/149674/thread/1335187423/Armored+windscreen+for+1-48+Hasegawa+Spitfire+Vb+-