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Giving up 1/48.


At Sea

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Having done a survey of the stash, and then looked at my house I have decided to thin out my collection and am looking to abandon 1/48 jets.

 

The main period I build is Nato Cold War, so my question is what do you think the best kits are to look for in 1/72?

 

British Phantom:  Hasegawa/Revell in 1/48 replaced with Airfix or Fujimi?

 

Tornado:  Revell in 1/48 replaced with Hasegawa or Revell?

 

Harrier: Kinetic in 1/48 replaced with Airfix?

 

Any other gems in 1/72 from this period appreciated.  Thanks.

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4 minutes ago, John Masters said:

So...1949 to 1990?  

 

So many to choose it boggles the mind...🤪

I know, but mostly British jets or British built.  

 

The joy of 1/72 is I can fit more stuff in my cabinets, and I can also build an entire Ark Royal air wing with Gannet, Buccaneer, Wessex, Sea King, Phantom without going into vac form or resin.

Tornado variants can be explored and US stuff like the F-111 are far more manageable.

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Off the top of my head:

 

Lightning: Airfix for the F2A and 6, Sword did the early variants and twin tubs. From memory they have a few accuracy issues but I've never built one. Avoid Trumpeter like the plague.

 

Hunter: Revell still the best bet.

 

Swift: Airfix do the FR5 very nicely.

 

Vampire: Special Hobby for the single seat variants (Apparently there's an issue with wing chord but it looks close enough to my eye). Airfix for the twin-seater.

 

Meteor  - Special Hobby for the F4, T7, F8, and FR9 (older tools with rather thick trailing edges but generally OK outline). Special Hobby are also mid-way through releasing the NF11-14 which look very good and much more detailed than the earlier kits.

 

British Phantom - Airfix is by all accounts very good but there a few missed details (vents on intakes for example). I have never seen a Fujimi kit in the flesh but they are said to have aged very well and still be competitive.

 

Canberra: If you can get hold of the S&M kit I think it's the best bet for the "fishbowl" variants although there are some accuracy issues I think (tip tanks too small, wing chord marginally out, B6 wheels in the B2 boxing - there may be others). Airfix did the B (I) 8 and PR9 in the early days of Hornby ownership (about 10-15 years back) - they're supposedly not bad but a bit clunky. There is also an Xtrakit PR9 which has finer detail but is probably not an easy build. I haven't seen one in years so probably hard to get.

 

All three V-bombers have been or are about to be done by Airfix with modern tools. The 2011 Valiant is a little clunky by modern standards and has a few detail issues like the shape of the fin top and fictional detail on the gear bay doors. I have never heard a bad word about the Victor, except perhaps some challenging fit along the upper fuselage-wing joint. Don't get the Revell/Matchbox Victor (crude by comparison, intakes miles off). and really don't get the Mach 2 Valiant unless you really hate yourself.

 

Two significant British combat types that are a real challenge to and very badly served by 1/72nd kits are the Sea Vixen and Javelin. For the former your options are a gravely inaccurate if easy to build Dragon/Cyberhobby kit about to be re-relased by Revell, a fairly inaccurate and hard to build Xtrakit, the ancient and inaccurate Frog kit, and the probably quite accurate (but by all accounts very challenging) High Planes kit. We are crying out for a 1/72nd Vixen with accurate shape, decent detail and buildability.

 

For the Javelin there are two basic tools - Heller/Airfix and Frog, both pretty antique. Heller only released the T3 for reasons best known to themselves - Airfix modified the tool to represent an FAW9 but missed the fact that the rear fuselage of the real FAW9 was wider than the earlier variants - result, comically undersized exhausts.

 

The basic Frog FAW9 kit kit is pretty, well, basic. The nose is less accurate for the FAW9 than the Airfix (too short and fat if I recall) but the rear end is much better. I grafted it onto a rescribed Airfix to make a passable FAW.9! There are various other kits (ZTS Plastyk and Mistercraft, from memory) - to my knowledge these are all based on the Frog kit with some rescribing etc.

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1 hour ago, At Sea said:

I know, but mostly British jets or British built.  

May I suggest either (or both!) of the Cyber Hobby Sea Venom or Sea Vixen?  Stunning kits.

As you said, most of the newer moulds from Airfix are also quite satisfying to build.   I enjoyed their Vampire among others.

Special Hobby has some good offerings.

 

That should get your juices flowing!

 

Model on!

John

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2 hours ago, At Sea said:

Having done a survey of the stash, and then looked at my house I have decided to thin out my collection and am looking to abandon 1/48 jets.

 

The main period I build is Nato Cold War, so my question is what do you think the best kits are to look for in 1/72?

 

British Phantom:  Hasegawa/Revell in 1/48 replaced with Airfix or Fujimi?

 

Tornado:  Revell in 1/48 replaced with Hasegawa or Revell?

 

Harrier: Kinetic in 1/48 replaced with Airfix?

 

Any other gems in 1/72 from this period appreciated.  Thanks.

 

Another vote here for the Italeri Sea-Harrier (ex-Esci)...lovely kit

 

British Phantom: If you can find one, the Esci F-4S (UK) is tidy. The Fujimi Royal Navy Phantom is also now reboxed by Italeri

 

Tornado: Revell is easy to find but the nose gear is a little too 'tall' out of the box - easy fix 

 

Harrier GR3: Airfix is really nice kit,.gives you the option of the dropped intake doors

 

A4 Skyhawk: Fujimi is lovely but can be scarce, Airfix new-tool is a joy to build

 

F-16: Again, Revell is a cracker, 

 

F-14A: Hasegawa (later boxing, pricey), Hobby Boss, Fujimi all great

 

Happy shopping, look forward to seeing some your builds. 

 

 

Dermot

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Esci/Italeri for both Harrier GR Mk.1 and GR Mk.3 and Sea Harrier FRS Mk.1 (could also be used as the basis of a conversion to the F/A Mk.2)

 

I don't think anyone else has mentioned them so Airfix for both land based and sea going Buccaneers and more endorsement here for Fujimi's RAF Phantoms although the Hasegawa offering may be a better option for the F-4Js operated by 74 Squadron.

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Thanks for the replies.

 

I'll bear them all in mind.  I figured the Fujimi Phantom kits would still cut the mustard, after all they are almost as detailed as the 1/48 Hasegawa kits I have built for so long!  Good to hear the Italeri reboxing is the same kit too.

 

 

 

 

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A few random thoughts on 1/72 kits of aircraft of this era...

I share the view on others on the Harriers and Sea Harriers: personally I still prefer the Esci/Italeri kits to the Airfix ones. Now for the GR.1 and 3 the Airfix kits have a few advantages (better cockpit, opened auxiliary intakes, some details more accurate) but for the Sea Harriers the Airfix ones are very poor.

Similarly for a Spey engined Phantom I still prefer the Fujmi ones although the Airfix kit seems to be more accurate. And yes, Hasegawa for a J(UK) but the Academy kit although designed as a simplified kit isn't bad either.

Where Airfix can't be beaten is with the Buccaneer, a pretty good kit. Just try to avoid the earlier mould, that is much inferior to the new one.
Of course Airfix also offer the only modern Swift and Gnat kits, worth getting both.

 

Vampires... the Special Hobby/Azur/Revell/Xtrakit kits are nice and surprisingly easy to build but some are better than others... in particular the early FB.5 kits had very bad looking intakes. The F.3 boxing introduced revised intakes that look much better. They build quite easily but accuracy wise the old Heller kit still seems to be the best... Airfix has a T.11 that while annoying in terms of fit looks pretty accurate.

 

Tornado: Revell without a doubt, much better than the hasegawa kit. The radome is a bit off, there are resin replacements on the market. The F.3 is a different story... there's either Hasegawa (better moulded) or Italeri (more accurate) with none particularly detailed when compared to the Revell GR.1

On a similar note, there's still no really modern kit of the Jaguar around. Hasegawa is the better one but it's not particularly detailed.

 

I may throw in the fact that Trumpeter have a nice Wyvern and a decent Gannet, with Revell also offering a Gannet that is maybe better, this is you want to add some FAA turboprops. On a similat note, the Sword Gannet AEW while a short run kit is also not bad at all.

Really these subjects remind me that one big advantage of 1/72 is the choice of available subjects. Not all may be good kits (Sea Vixen, Javelin and Scimitar for example are represented but not by great kits) but I believe that all British types of the era are available in this scale.

 

 

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Someone mentioned the Cyber Hobby Sea Venoms. They are a modern kit but unfortunately they got the span of the wings completely wrong (by the width of the tip tanks) and consequently they look like a high altitude extended wing version. To get the correct span the tip tanks need to be hacked off and moved inboard by their own thickness but that then throws other things like the ailerons and chord of the wing at the ends out of kilter. It's a lot of work to get them to look right if you are worried by that sort of thing however if you are happy to accept them for what they are then they build up nicely (into a U2 cross Venom mongrel lol).

 

Duncan B

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We really are lucky to have such a great selection of 1/72 RAF/FAA kits these days, as mentioned in above posts.

The really obvious one missing is clearly a good up to date Canberra. Hopefully Airfix will eventually release a nice accurate and reasonable priced B2. 

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3 hours ago, Duncan B said:

Someone mentioned the Cyber Hobby Sea Venoms. They are a modern kit but unfortunately they got the span of the wings completely wrong (by the width of the tip tanks) and consequently they look like a high altitude extended wing version. To get the correct span the tip tanks need to be hacked off and moved inboard by their own thickness but that then throws other things like the ailerons and chord of the wing at the ends out of kilter. It's a lot of work to get them to look right if you are worried by that sort of thing however if you are happy to accept them for what they are then they build up nicely (into a U2 cross Venom mongrel lol).

 

Simple rule of thumb: if the manufacturer is Cyber Hobby/Trumpeter, the scale is 1/72 and the subject has "Sea" in the name (eg Vixen, Venom, King), do not expect it to bear any more than a passing resemblance to the real thing.  They appear to reserve a special toolmaker for their FAA subjects who urgently needs a visit to SpecSavers and/or to leave off the wacky baccy.  

 

Fortunately Wyvern does not have "Sea" in the name and the Trumpeter offering is a lovely kit, mainly because it was slavishly copied from somebody else's resin kit, even down to the (minor) errors in the transfer sheet.  Gannet similarly does not have "Sea" in the name and the Trumpeter kit is at least fair.  However its radome is quite seriously undersized and the whole lower rear fuselage less corpulent than it should be.  It also misses some features like the flap actuator bulges on the wing upper surfaces so my vote, on a majority verdict, goes to the Revell kit.

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As we pass the 30th anniversary of Operation Desert Storm/Granby et al and the end of the Cold War, there are a number of types from that era with recent and outstanding kits in 1/72, while some others have inexplicably lagged (best, or only, representations dating back farther than their time in service). Many types have already been covered sufficiently in this thread, but to elaborate on a few more:

 

Jaguar GR.1/A has been mentioned, Hasegawa's tooling still being best overall but not an outstanding kit by current standards. Italeri has a much more recent but less accurate/detailed tooling, also reboxed by Revell AG. HobbyBoss has done the French Jaguar A to more modern standards, but thus far no sign of the British version.

 

The F-111 series was done exceptionally well by Hasegawa in the late 80s/early 90s, but most variants have only been reissued rarely and at eye-watering prices outside Japan. Sadly the only alternatives most modelers could consider are the Monogram/Revell AG EF-111A (an excellent kit despite raised panel lines) or the ESCI family, reissued by Italeri but only representing the definitive F-111F variant in a singular AMT/Ertl boxing.

 

The Sea King is rather well-served of late, particularly if your preference is for the Westland variant. Airfix's newer tooling rates very highly, its main critque from many being a lack of any rivet detail. Revell AG and Cyber Hobby (Dragon/DML) both have the rivets but miss a few other bits on accuracy. The comparatively antediluvian Fujimi kit, recently offered in a new Italeri boxing, is also quite serviceable for Sikorsky variants, mainly lacking interior detail compared to its competitors.

 

Other notable types not specifically mentioned above:

 

Hawk T.1: Newer releases from Airfix and Revell AG get top marks, though you may have to sort through myriad toolings and reboxings to ensure you get the latest plastic.

 

F-15: Hasegawa (later tooling) is probably still the best for "albino" fighters, with decent kits from Academy and ESCI. Platz does an F-15J family that may be better than Hasegawa's, but seems to be specific to the JASDF variants.  As for Strike Eagles (borderline to fit your desired timeframe), there is an outstanding, albeit expensive, kit from Great Wall Hobby, and Academy's newer tooling in their "easy build" category that mainly needs just a new set of exhausts to compete with GWH in quality. Hasegawa's latest few boxings of the Strike Eagle finally included updated parts to accurately represent this variant, but there are still a multitude of older and less accurate releases muddying those waters. Revell has announced a new Strike Eagle tooling for 2021, which is awaited by many with great expectations 😊

 

F-16: Tamiya has issued the definitive 1/72 F-16C, however its initial release was tainted by a lack of pylons and stores (later addressed, albeit at an even higher price point). Also, Tamiya only represents a late version (Block 50), leaving the lovely and generally affordable Revell AG family to cover nearly all other marks from A to forthcoming D, including the European MLU upgrades.  Hasegawa's vintage kit still holds up reasonably well, and its ADF special boxings are the best choice for that variant.

 

F/A-18: Academy is the clear leader for "legacy" Hornets, having the advantage of a tooling that predates most of its competitors by give or take 25 years! Hasegawa's kit is probably second best, and can often be found on the secondary market for very little money.

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Are you really sure giving up 48th scale in favour of 72nd is such a good idea model-accuracy wise for jets/ fighters?

I have the feeling that the bigger scale is the more innovative in at least the last 10-15 years...

Concentrate on quality vs quantity?

Sorry for bringing up this here!

 

Especially looking at your latest Tornado F3..... that is top notch and hard to achieve in 72nd I guess...

 

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8 hours ago, exdraken said:

Are you really sure giving up 48th scale in favour of 72nd is such a good idea model-accuracy wise for jets/ fighters?

Burn the heretic! 😈

 

Seriously though, if you read the earlier posts it's quite clearly stated the goal is to have smaller models and/or wider variety of subjects. While I accept the premise that most types generally have a newer model available in 1/48 than 1/72, I would steadfastly disagree that there is some universal "improvement" in accuracy or detail. In fact there are many cases where the later, larger kits are actually *less* accurate than their elder brethren in the "One True Scale."

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Thanks for the advice and the kind comments from @exdraken!

 

I would like to build a wide variety of subjects and am hoping to be able to improve my 1/72 kits to the standard that I build 1/48 to.  Given the availability of aftermarket and improved moulding I'm sure that is possible.

 

I have a Fujimi Phantom FG.1 to trial, as they are effectivly a scaled down Hasegawa FG.1 it will be interesting to see how it pans out.  🙂

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On 15/01/2021 at 20:57, Dermo245 said:

A4 Skyhawk: Fujimi is lovely but can be scarce, Airfix new-tool is a joy to build

 

The Fujimi Skyhawks are being currently re-released by Hobby 2000, so bagging a few of those might be a good idea.

Hobby 2000 also promised to re-release the Hasegawa F-111D/F this year.

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There are a lot of beautifull kits of the cold war aera out there.

The wonderfull MiG-21 Series from eduard.

The Special Hobby Mirage F.1 and Super Mystere Kits.

The stunning F-106 from Meng.

The really nice MiG-17 from AIRFIX, esspecially in the new boxing with East German Airforces markings.

The Mirage III from Modelsvit is an absolutely gem.

 

So many Kits to build....

Edited by Taylor Durbon
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On 1/15/2021 at 11:49 AM, At Sea said:

Having done a survey of the stash, and then looked at my house I have decided to thin out my collection and am looking to abandon 1/48 jets.

 

The main period I build is Nato Cold War, so my question is what do you think the best kits are to look for in 1/72?

 

British Phantom:  Hasegawa/Revell in 1/48 replaced with Airfix or Fujimi?

 

Tornado:  Revell in 1/48 replaced with Hasegawa or Revell?

 

Harrier: Kinetic in 1/48 replaced with Airfix?

 

Any other gems in 1/72 from this period appreciated.  Thanks.

Hi!

 Of the three main issues of the Tornado, Hasegawa, Revell (G) and Monogram , the Monogram Tornado has the best overall shape. The Hasegawa kit has the cockpit too far forward and too low, the Revell (G) kit has an odd shaped nose. The original Monogram kit came with bad decals, no drop tanks and a lot of cluster bombs. The Desert Storm Boxing has some extra ECM parts. Revell of Germany released the Monogram kit as an ECR version with lots of stores ( this is the boxing to get). The Hasegawa kit comes with lots of stores, but that cockpit. The Revell kit also has lots of stores. The Revell (G) issues and the Hasegawa Kit have nice decals. Perhaps by putting the Monogram nose on the Revell (G) kit is the best. Hope this helps!

Bruce, Fan of the Fin

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