Recommendations 1/72

[Gwart]

Hey BM looking for kit recommendations  to do :-

 

RAF Tornado (scheme from the last 10 years)any help on payloads also would be much welcome.

 

Finnish Hawk (in the recent 2 grey scheme)

 

A-7E (Late 80's almost 90's).I've had a nosey on this one and it seems a toss up between the hard to get Fujimi or the Esci mould?.

 

Super Etendard (most current scheme/variant) any help on payloads on this one too.

 

Harrier GR.3 (Falklands maybe post Falklands).Any help on smart bomb loads would be great too.

 

Thanks in advance

 

 Shane.

[tsepajev]

Finnish Hawk (in the recent 2 grey scheme):

If the engraved panel lines of otherwise remarkable Airfix kit are too massive to your taste and you do not want to fill and rescribe them, use Italieri kit instead.

The FiAF seat belts and are different from the RAF ones. FiAF uses later type ejection seats only with boxy headrests.

I recommend Avalon 7001 BAe HAwk in Finnish Air Force decal set.

Hawk on the ground usually has fully extended landing flaps: you can use CMK set.

 

Super Etendard:

The only game in town is Academy kit.

 

 

[Giorgio N]

My favourite for a 1/72 Tornado is the Revell kit. Not perfect (the shape of the radome is not great but there are resin replacements) but IMHO better than the rest and a modern kit. Some have bad caniopies unfortunately. Second best is probably the hasegawa offering. IIRC no revell box includes all parts for a GR.4, while hasegawa issued boxes with some specific GR.4 parts

 

I've commented on 1/72 Hawk kits in the past, can't find the thread right now. Anyway the best today is the new tool Revell kit, that unfortunately features the early style rear fin fillet. There is a resin replacement around but it's also not too hard to do the correction with plasticard and filler.

Second best depends on what you're looking for in a kit: the Airfix kit is accurate but is let down by things like landing gear and wheel well doors. The cockpit is not really that accurate and fit is not good in some areas. The Italeri kit is less accurate in outline and suffers from a non existing frame moulded on the canopy but is a better build than the Airfix offering and is more detailed in some areas. The Italeri kit can still be found around in Revell boxes, if the box includes both Red Arrows and Swiss decals then it's the old Italeri tool, if the box only has the Red Arrows option it's the new Revell one

 

The best A-7 around is the hard to find Fujimi kit, Esci is a distant second. Actually the Hobbyboss kit is better than the Esci one in most aspects except accuracy, as the overwide canopy spoils the lines of the aircraft.

 

Can't comment on which Super Etandard is best between Academy and Italeri, but I can say that for the Harrier GR.3 you have a choice between Airfix and Italeri. Each has pros and cons, the Airfix kit suffers from the wrong fin (should be taller, there are resin replacements), the Italeri kit has a totally fictituous cockpit and seat and features a couple of fairings under the outer wing pylons that must be removed (the fairings are only in place if the pylon is absent). Both are good kits overall

[Seahawk]

47 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

My favourite for a 1/72 Tornado is the Revell kit. ….  Second best is probably the hasegawa offering. IIRC no revell box includes all parts for a GR.4, while hasegawa issued boxes with some specific GR.4 parts.

Do the Hasegawa 1/72 Tornadoes still suffer from the short nose noticeable when they first came out or have they corrected that?

[tempestfan]

59 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

Can't comment on which Super Etandard is best between Academy and Italeri, 

Nothing to choose, it's the same mould, originated by/for Sunny (I suspect by the same toolmakers as the Esci F-4/5/100 etc.) and I think in the Italeri programme only for a year or two in the mid 80s. In fact, that mould is not the only game in town as Heller also has one, though it has raised details, and the one I have of that kit (or of the Et. IV which shares one sprue) had a very nasty mould defect.

Given Esci's track record from around 1988, I'd not be surprised if it has foreign genetic material in it... in any event, it was released almost simultaneously with the Fujimi kit I think, and one reviewer of the time compared them side by side and came to the conclusion the Esci is some 2 % or so smaller.