Manufacturers What Ifs - Models that looked nothing like the real thing

[theplasticsurgeon]

On 7/11/2021 at 9:22 AM, KevinK said:

There was an "F-19 Stealth Fighter" by Testors in the mid '80's. It was a mythical aircraft which looked more like the offspring of an SR-71/D-21 drone than the real F-117, but it appeared before the F-117 shape was known publicly. A good "what-if".

 

On 7/11/2021 at 2:12 PM, AWFK10 said:

The Testors F-119 was later re-released by Italeri,

This one - mine Italeri 1/72.  A very lucky model shop find - which I've never seen since.

There was another similar in 1/48 - without the canards.

[Ngantek]

32 minutes ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

 

This one - mine Italeri.  A very lucky model shop find - which I've never seen since.

Wow my childhood was all a lie! Funny how one model kit found its way into many other products 

 

Anyone remember ring raiders? 😫Wow what an awful name in retrospect.

[theplasticsurgeon]

On 12/25/2021 at 2:32 PM, Hook said:

Hasegawa's first 1/72nd F-117A kit was based on the deliberately misleading first DoD photograph:

That's another completed model, hidden away in my loft - that will be brought down for photos soon.

[theplasticsurgeon]

On 12/25/2021 at 2:32 PM, Hook said:

Hasegawa's first 1/72nd F-117A kit was based on the deliberately misleading first DoD photograph:

And here it is - from 1989

Strangely, I could get the tailplanes to look right - and flattened them down a lot.

 

And a passing spy-satellite shot.

 

[JosephLalor]

On 7/11/2021 at 10:04 AM, malpaso said:

I have a 1/144 Mig 23 that isn’t!  It’s a reasonable match for one of the Ye152 types that were published in the West as Mig23 years before Mig had the idea!

Is that the one that supposedly had the NATO reporting name 'Flipper'?

[theplasticsurgeon]

New photos after I brought this model down from the loft today.

Another part of the story around this design: 

A model-shop somewhere near the Skunk Works, did a roaring trade in this kit, probably selling more that any other shop - which validated the accuracy of the shape in some quarters🤣. 

 

[Hook]

Perhaps stretching it a bit, but there's the Esci F-14A+/B with VF-41 markings - a unit that never flew that specific variant. 

 

Then again, there's always the Zhengdefu F-14D Fighting Falcon US Air Force trainer! Hey, the box says "authentic", so....

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

 

 

[Hook]

Oh, and another one - the Aeroplast AV-8B.

 

It's sort of vaguely Harrier-ish shaped, but only if you squint from 30 feet.

 

In the dark.

 

And look the other way.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

Edited June 8, 2022 by Hook

[Lewis95]

On 10/03/2022 at 02:18, VMA131Marine said:

Revell was the first to produce a model of the B-2 Spirit but very little was known about it at the time. It’s cool looking, but wrong.

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/revell-4577-stealth-b-2-advanced-technology-bomber--158443

 

 

 

 

If you follow the link and have a look at the Gallery on the Scalemates page, it's actually a damn cool model 😆 Not a B2 for sure but definitely good looking IMO

[alt-92]

On 6/4/2022 at 8:37 PM, Hook said:

It's sort of vaguely Harrier-ish shaped, but only if you squint from 30 feet.

 

In the dark.

 

And look the other way.

 

It's somewhere between a Kestrel and a Gr.1. 

 

Still available in MisterCraft boxings, now branded as a Gr.7.

[Hook]

19 hours ago, alt-92 said:

Still available in MisterCraft boxings, now branded as a Gr.7.

Surely that must count as false advertising?

[alt-92]

But it has Super Decals!

[Hook]

4 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

But it has Super Decals!

Super small perhaps, like my Mistercraft Heller Mirage III/5 knockoff that has lovely decals... only in a scale of around 1/100.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Hook]

9 minutes ago, Hook said:

Surely that must count as false advertising?

Oh. Just answered my own question, the same kit is available as the wellknown Royal Navy Harrier GR.1.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Paul J]

On 11/07/2021 at 10:05, Aeronut said:

Airfix's first attempt (1956) at a bf 109 was so rotund in the fuselage it looked as if someone had attached wings to Herman Goring.

I've  still got one in its original header wrapper and poly bag. Pale blue plastic

 Also had one built but not sure where it is now some bits wrre missing. Probably binned( aaaarfh!!!!!)

 

[Paul J]

On 27/05/2022 at 20:19, theplasticsurgeon said:

New photos after I brought this model down from the loft today.

Another part of the story around this design: 

A model-shop somewhere near the Skunk Works, did a roaring trade in this kit, probably selling more that any other shop - which validated the accuracy of the shape in some quarters🤣. 

 

Had one of those. Italeri also did Russian  one of sorts. Mig something or other Ferret

 

 

 

 

 

[Moggy]

The PM Mirage deltas - the similarities with the putative originals are purely coincidental 😝

 

Cheers, Moggy (who loves Mirages)

[alt-92]

51 minutes ago, Paul J said:

Italeri also did Russian  one of sorts. Mig something or other Ferret

Ah yes, the spurious MiG-37 Ferret.
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/italeri-162-mig-37b-ferret-e--1104946

 

Still, my favouritski is the Aurora MiG-19
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/aurora-66-79-russian-mig-19--1148105

[Giorgio N]

On 5/29/2022 at 11:27 AM, Hook said:

Perhaps stretching it a bit, but there's the Esci F-14A+/B with VF-41 markings - a unit that never flew that specific variant. 

 

 

 

 

To be fair to Esci the kit represents an F-14A and all decal options are correct for what's in the box.

No idea why they named this issue "Tomcat Plus", as it was not a kit of the F-14A+ and there was nothing more in the box compared to their "normal" F-14A issue

[Hook]

9 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

No idea why they named this issue "Tomcat Plus"

Perchance "Tomcat plus a tube of putty since you'll need it on this one"?  ;D 

 

[TonyW]

The first Airfix 109 wasn't the most accurate of models...

 

 

 

It was streets ahead of the Airyda wartime wooden kit though.

 

[Moggy]

KP's horrible MiG-17 nightfighter -the wings är pure fantasy

 

Cheers, Moggy 

 

 

[Wulfman]

On 16/07/2022 at 18:08, alt-92 said:

Ah yes, the spurious MiG-37 Ferret.
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/italeri-162-mig-37b-ferret-e--1104946

 

Still, my favouritski is the Aurora MiG-19
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/aurora-66-79-russian-mig-19--1148105

The Aurora MiG-19 looking like the missing link between the Ta-183 and the MiG-15.

Wulfman

[charlie_c67]

Could be worse. It could be the Frog Gloster E.28/39 with its 1/64 body and 1/72 wings, or something like that. Even the pilots are wildly different! 

[kapteenipirk]

On 3/10/2022 at 4:25 AM, VMA131Marine said:

I’m surprised nobody has mentioned any Starfix kits yet:

Those kits look like if somebody built a few Fiddlersgreen papercraft kits, got them slightly wrong, and turned them into plastic.

 

 

Tough they may be fairly simple in terms of detail and getting the fuselage shape can be rather difficult, they are a lot of fun to make and include a miniscule amount of parts.

 

 

On 8/6/2022 at 3:45 PM, TonyW said:

 

It was streets ahead of the Airyda wartime wooden kit though.

 

 

Evidently somebody had access to a time-machine, how else could have they so accurately replicated my early terrible attempt at a BF 109 in KSP

 

 

 

 

 

Having built quite number of kits over these past 18 - 19 years, i knew i had to have something laying around that would fit this category, and there are certainly a few.

 

First is this fella from Revell.

 

 

The local toy store had these sitting in their model shelf for as long as i can remember, and there came a day when i finally decided to pick one up. It cost only a few bucks at that point, partly due to the age, and the fact that somebody had nicked the baggy with the glue and paints (one's that would have most certainly been rock solid anyways, due to sitting in the box for at-least over a decade if not over a couple decades).

 

I customized the guy a bit after i realized that what the kit is clearly supposed to represent (Armstrong taking his first step on the moon) is not correct.

The suit they clearly used as reference for this model, was that of Michael Collins, the one who was in orbit around the moon while Armstrong and Aldrin where on the surface.

 

 

Now lets get to some real "What if" stuff.

 

 

 

Ran into these at a fleamarket some time ago and thought why not as they where like 12€ per set. And yes, unfortunately there where no launch stations left, just the supporting stuff.

List of stuff wrong with this is too much to get to, but yes, i do plan on building all of this some day, and to do that i will be 3D-modelling/printing quite a few bits.