Jonny Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 Hi, everyone ... I’ve just stumbled on a 1/72 kit of the Lippisch P.13a aeroplane. Years ago I made a Revell kit of it (I think it might have been a repop of another manufacturer’s kit) but it’s long lost thanks to a house move. Has anyone any views of Unicraft kits in general and the P.13a in particular? The kit I’ve come across is on sale in the USA and although the kit isn’t THAT expensive postage is rather high. Any opinions gratefully received, Jonny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 PM Models made a 1/72 Lippisch P.13a: https://www.super-hobby.com/products/Lippisch-P.13a.html A build link: https://modelingmadness.com/scott/axis/luft/72p13.htm Revell did do a re-pop: https://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=21604&newlist=1 Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsr Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 Unicraft kits are usually shapeless blobs of resin full of a Swiss cheese of pinholes that with a LOT of work and patience can be made into a decent model. They should only be attempted if there is no alternative. Here are a couple of pictures from my YO-3A build of the starting product and here is the build thread again only attempt this if you have exhausted all alternatives. Good luck 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Russell Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 I heartily endorse the post above! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 To be honest scratchbuilding looks preferable to trying to rescue that. Getting something cast well isn't that hard. If the casting is that bad, how much diligence and finesse went into the masters? IMHO no craftsman who could make a good quality set of accurate masters would put that in a box with their name on it, but maybe that's just me... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Work In Progress Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 25 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said: IMHO no craftsman who could make a good quality set of accurate masters would put that in a box with their name on it, but maybe that's just me... It's not just you 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 I have never bought any Unicraft kit - not shy buying resin and garage kits in general, Unicraft parts pictures always scared the *** out of me. To be fair - someone here (I think) posted pictures of a Unicraft kit which actually looked OK. Not sure if they found a better resin (not too hard actually...) or just stopped mixix it with water (just kiddding. I hope...)or they let their kits cast elswhere. Anyhow - if your kit is of the old production quality it will be likely the same rough resin as in the pictures above. If it is a newer production you might be lucky... Personally I also found them rather expensive - even if the resin quality is good. The Lippisch from Revell was maybe in 1:48? Then it was the Mauve rebox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Posted December 18, 2019 Author Share Posted December 18, 2019 Thanks, everyone, for helping me avoid wasting my time and money! it’s rather obvious that Unicraft aren’t anywhere close to the likes of Tamiya, Airfix, Hasegawa, etc. etc. I knew their kit was a resin one but the photos posted by HSR make it look like hardened soap suds. Thanks again, Jonny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Russell Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 However......... if there is a subject you must have and absolutely nobody does it........... then you bite the bullet, like @hsr did and just do it...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silenoz Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 Well I've bought one kit from them, and TBH... the shown pics show a better quality then what was in my kit... Luckily they provided a CD with scale plans etc... which will be of more help then the kit parts, not to mention the instructions... As stated, you get a lump of resin and you have to carve your pieces out, next drench them in CA to get rid of the airbubbles and then sand these to get rid of the sandy finish... When looking at the kit parts on their site, it makes me wonder who had so much time to make these separate pieces so clean... These are supposed to be the fan-rings So i'm still waiting for a lathe to make certain parts... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 I've had a few conversions made by Unicraft in the stash and fortunately none was moulded as bad as hsr's kit, they were more similari in quality (or lack of...) to Silenoz kit. Still, the casting was pretty bad for my taste so I sold them all. I could probably have made the same parts from plasticard with better results... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 I fully endorse post #3, however........ They are (just) buildable. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cngaero Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 I've got no experience of your particular model, but I did tackle the Unicraft Trent Meteor conversion and that was "interesting" to say the least. All that is needed to complete on of these little devil's is a plentiful supply of hot water to straighten the parts, lots of your preferred filler to achieve a believable shape, various grades of wet and dry paper to eradicate all of the unwanted lumps and bumps and sufficient medication to keep your Tourettes at bay. Last but not least, the love and understanding of a partner who can soothe your furrowed brow at the end of the modelling session. Apart from that, perseverence and the reward of seeing the completed model on your shelf and not in the bin. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 I have their MiG 7, one of the I-220 series of fighters. It is fairly unmitigatedly awful. Every now and again I get it out and stumble a little bit further. But there are no others, and it is there, so it slowly travels on. I suspect that one day I will either realise the futility of it all and bin it, or die with it unfinished. With time travel, I'd go back and tap myself on the shoulder... 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giorgio N Posted December 18, 2019 Share Posted December 18, 2019 15 minutes ago, Graham Boak said: I have their MiG 7, one of the I-220 series of fighters. It is fairly unmitigatedly awful. Every now and again I get it out and stumble a little bit further. But there are no others, and it is there, so it slowly travels on. I suspect that one day I will either realise the futility of it all and bin it, or die with it unfinished. With time travel, I'd go back and tap myself on the shoulder... You reminded me that I also had that same kit, something I had forgotten... Interestingly my copy was much better cast than the conversions, and looked quite buildable. Guess that there were days when they could pull out some good parts. In any case I sold this one too, IIRC to a modeller on this same forum. The kit looked buildable but in the end I decided that it was better to get some of the money back and use it to buy a kit that would not test my patience too much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonny Posted December 18, 2019 Author Share Posted December 18, 2019 3 hours ago, Caerbannog said: The Lippisch from Revell was maybe in 1:48? Then it was the Mauve rebox. Ah! Yes, the kit I had was indeed 1/48. I could not recall who the original manufacturer was. I’d love to build another one ... I keep an eye on eBay and other websites but no luck so far- well, not for a sensible price. I’ve seen Revell and Mauve kits advertised for GBP50 and over. Silly money. Thank you for confirming the scale and original manufacturer. Jonny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 On 18/12/2019 at 12:28, Jonny said: Ah! Yes, the kit I had was indeed 1/48. I could not recall who the original manufacturer was. I’d love to build another one ... I keep an eye on eBay and other websites but no luck so far- well, not for a sensible price. I’ve seen Revell and Mauve kits advertised for GBP50 and over. Silly money. Thank you for confirming the scale and original manufacturer. Jonny I got mine about 10 years back without canopy and even then it was already 20 Euros... I did a new cockpit and used the Tamiya He 163 seat which in turn was replced by a Quick Boost one. Better wait for a rerelease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 On 12/17/2019 at 10:08 PM, hsr said: Unicraft kits are usually shapeless blobs of resin full of a Swiss cheese of pinholes My Gawd- that YO-3 looks like something a cat threw up! Makes a Mach 2 kit look like Tamiya! Mike 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr T Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 They do look truly awful, shame as they have done the Folland Fo117/8 and looking at the master?, starting with a Bearcat might be easier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossm Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 Hannants list a lot of Unicraft kits and some show you the parts. It's not clear if the photos are taken by Hannants of the actual kit or if they are supplied by Unicraft and show the masters. The ones I've looked at could be kit parts and don't look as bad as the YO-3 even though clearly not shake and bake. Maybe they've improved since I got hold of a Trent Meteor conversion secondhand a few years back whch is going to sit unloved in the stash or in landfill until the end of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Hugo Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 And here I thought Beechnut and Merlin were bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
occa Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 Obviously it depends ... I owned several Unicraft kits and the casting of all of them was light years ahead of that worst case example shown above (Edit: I mean the one in post #3 from @hsr ) One of the best examples was the Su-15 I (Samolet P) dual staggered jet engine prototype. http://www.unicraft.biz/on/su15/su15.htm It had fine panel lines and lots of details, tho likely it was one of the early shots that I've received as of course molds become worse after the 50th casting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 The ones shown above are not "worst case". My Mig 7 was worse than any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsr Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 I have built 5. The only one that was not "worst case" was the RQ-5B and that one was just bad. My theory is that he only makes 1 mold and then just keeps using it over and over until it is way past worn out. So if you get one of the first castings it will be good, but they just get progressively worse as the mold deteriorates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted December 21, 2019 Share Posted December 21, 2019 (edited) Apart from the problem that it would only encourage him not to improve, I do feel that everybody should buy at least one Unicraft kit in order to place complaints about kits from the major producers into proportion. Not that faults in such shouldn't be reported, but in comparison they're a doddle to put right! Edited December 21, 2019 by Graham Boak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now