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Hobby World TF-4J Skyhawk is it any good?


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Hi folks

Does anyone know of Hobby World Models? are they any good?

I have the opportunity to pick up a 1:48 scale Skyhawk two seater that I would like to build into an RNZAF TF-4G or 4k, the price is quite reasonable for the NZ market.

The seller has suggested it looks like a rebox of a hasegawa? does this sound likely?

I may be visiting the RNZAF Wigram Museum that has the TF-4k (I think its a 4K, certainly its a 2 seater) later this year so can take lots of walk arounds to help with the details

Thanks for any help

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Is it this kit here ?

http://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB-652991464-avio-tf-4j-skyhawk-148-hobby-world-kit-em-baixo-relevo-_JM

If so, it looks to me a rebox of the Academy kit, that in itself is a modified clone of the Fujimi kit. Not only it's not a modern kit, it's also 1/50 scale. If you don't mind working on an older little detailed kit and the odd scale, it may be a bargain. Personally I'm not sure I'd bother..

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Wow quick response, and yes thats the one. Thanks for the info, I am not so worried about the odd scale but if I have to spend a lot of time or money to get it looking right then its not worth it.

He is asking $42.00NZD for it (about 21.GBP) and I found a company in Hong Kong selling it for about $6.00USD so I am guessing $42 is over the odds still.

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These clones also tend to have quite rough moulds, not only you would have to spend a lot of time to add details but it's likely that the whole build experience may be frustrating. A bit like it happened to me with my Seminar Kfir, itself one of these clones.

$42 for that thing is a rip-off IMHO, I'd never pay that kind of money for one of these things. :o

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I was going to say that I saw a Hasegawa 1/48 New Zealand A-4 in my local shop yesterday, in fact I nearly bought it. But when I read your post I was going to offer to buy it on your behalf and you just pay me what it cost me, plus postage.

But it's over NZ$80 here in France as well and the postage would be about another NZ$25 on top.

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Since NZ$ 80 is roughly €50, I wouldn't say it's a cheap price, but to be honest I would spend this money on a Hasegawa Skyhawk. I would not spend more than NZ$ 15 on a clone of the Academy kit though. And would rather spend the 80 for the Hase kit than the 60 for the Italeri one

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Not terribly helpful, but have you tried looking for a TA-4J vice TF-4J?

While I haven't seen the Classic Airframes TA-4J, I do have the Hasegawa kit in the stash and it is very nice. Way better than the Fujimi/Academy/Hobby World kit. I'd save up the money and get the Hasegawa kit if you want a good 1/48 TA-4J.

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Leave it on the shelf and run away - fast. If the choice stands between spending USD 6 on the HobbyWorld/Seminar/Academy/Fujimi kit and a bottle of glue, opt for the latter. The kit only vaguely captures the outline of the family-Skyhawk. I did one some years ago and it was not worth the time nor the effort IMHO.

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I was going to say that I saw a Hasegawa 1/48 New Zealand A-4 in my local shop yesterday, in fact I nearly bought it. But when I read your post I was going to offer to buy it on your behalf and you just pay me what it cost me, plus postage.

But it's over NZ$80 here in France as well and the postage would be about another NZ$25 on top.

Thanks for the thought Mark, I have a daughter in Japan so I will get her to check out pricing there too

Not terribly helpful, but have you tried looking for a TA-4J vice TF-4J?

While I haven't seen the Classic Airframes TA-4J, I do have the Hasegawa kit in the stash and it is very nice. Way better than the Fujimi/Academy/Hobby World kit. I'd save up the money and get the Hasegawa kit if you want a good 1/48 TA-4J.

Quite helpful and yes I have looked at the TA's in fact this is the first TF I have seen.

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Skyhawks in 1:48 scale are hard to find down here, occasionally the italeri ones come up at around $60+ I haven't seen a Hasegawa for less than about $80....

It may be that a typo in a google search last night wasn't as unproductive as it might have first appeared, since I accidentally discovered

https://www.acornmodels.co.nz/products/kitsets/italeri-1,48-aircraft-kitsets/72298/

Seems to be in NZ, seems to be less than $60 nd seems to be in stock...

Because I hadn't the first idea of where I'd seen it when I went 'Hang on a mo...' upon reading your post, I bumped into this while attempting to find the one above (I couldn't remember the typo from last night, so had to do a laterally-thought out search)

http://www.modelcraftsandhobbies.co.nz/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=20069&category_id=9af73185b6d041271e523be77a1756ac&

And that seems to be in stock too?

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Thanks XV107

I hadn't looked at the South Island shops much, but I will be in Christchurch in July so will have a look then, and I might have time when I am in Wellington later this month. (yes I know Wellington is technically in the North Island but anything south of the Bombay hills is foreign to us JAFA's :lol: ) if I have to get one shipped the freight costs are going to be quite high.

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Skyhawks in 1:48 scale are hard to find down here, occasionally the italeri ones come up at around $60+ I haven't seen a Hasegawa for less than about $80....

Why not just buy online? We have this wonderful thing called the Internet now :D Means you don't have waste time trawling far flung shops looking at a crap range of overpriced kits :D

For example SealModel.com has Hasegawa Skyhawks at the moment, both TA-4 ($30 USD) and A-4E/F's ($28 USD) Even with post (Surface) you'd probably be better off. And hte HAsegawa Kit is a much better kit

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