1/72 F9F Panther

[hacker]

I want to build a 1/72 scale F9F Panther but unsure which one. I heard that the Hasegawa one is good and the Hobbyboss has issues. What do you guys think or know?

Edited April 2, 2015 by hacker

[LanceB]

I have read that the Hasegawa fuselage is a bit too skinny, but that said it looks like a Panther to me, and as I can usually find one for only a couple of hundred yen (a fraction of the Hobby Boss price) I stick to Hasegawa kits.

However if you want to build a -2P, your only option is Hobby Boss. Which isn't a bad thing I don't think, their Panther kits look quite nice as well, and if you do get a -2P you will also get a whole lot of pylons and ordnance that you can't use on it, but could use elsewhere!

I will caution, though: as the main gear wells are in very different positions on the two kits, the excellent Quickboost wing fold set for the Hobby Boss kit is "problematic" if you try to use it on a Hasegawa kit. Ask me how I know...

Then there is the Revell/Matchbox -5, but it is only a so-so kit, I will be bashing a Hasegawa -2 with their -8 to build a -5.

Edited April 2, 2015 by LanceB

[hacker]

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234911510-grumman-f9f-3-panther/

found this rummaging around

[-Neu-]

Tommy Thomason did a very good comparative article about their relative accuracy.

http://tailspintopics.blogspot.ca/2011/05/172nd-f9f-2-panther.html

I built the Hasegawa kit for a recent Korean War GB, which I added a ton of extra aftermarket, including an eduard set, obscureco seat and a resinart/CMK nose set. Knowing what I know now, I might go down the hobby boss route given the work it required to get an accurate model. Or at least not use most of the Eduard set, as the landing gear area was just overkill, and added very little to the model.