What are the best and worst kits of these aircraft? (1/72)

[galaxyg]

Hi All,

 

Normally you can find me in the 1/24 car section, however I do have a go at building a few planes once in a while. I do plan to add to my stash here when the Telford Show comes around in a couple of months. I've done a fair bit of research online but advice from people that build often is always welcome and useful with regards to quality of kits. Does anyone have any recommendations / *avoid at all costs* thoughts on the following aircraft that confirms or corrects my research? (Assume 1/72 scale for all).  My idea of "good" is engraved panel lines where possible, fits together without a huge amount of fixing/hassle, generally has good appearance and proportions. I'd not be caring about minor "X should be this profile" unless it's really out like the early Revell Flanker's nose.

 

Hawker Hunter 1/72  - Research suggests Revell is best

F105D Thunderchief  - Research suggests Trumpeter best, Avoid Revell

Sukhoi Su-7 - Research suggests Modelsvit, Avoid KP

Sukhoi Su-17/22 Fitter - no ideas yet on best/worst

Gloster Javelin - Research suggests Airfix, avoid Mistercraft

Mig-29 Fulcrum  - no idea between Tamiya, Zvezda and Trumpeter in terms of what's best

F-14 Tomcat  - no ideas on what is best here

F-15 Eagle  - no ideas on what is best here

Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker (early Revell kit best avoided, seems to look nothing like the real plane) / no ideas on best.

Blackburm Buccaneer (RAF version not Navy) - Research suggests Revell best here

 

Thanks,

 

Michael.

 

[Evil_Toast_RSA]

Buccaneer - Not Revell unless you're jonesing for the Matchbox kit. Airfix has released a new tooled Brick in the last year or two, think the RAF one came out end last year? By all accounts its rather good. 

[Giorgio N]

My comments in italics beside your list.

 

Hawker Hunter 1/72  - Research suggests Revell is best Correct, other kits don't compare

F105D Thunderchief  - Research suggests Trumpeter best, Avoid Revell The Revell kit is actually not bad and in several aspect better, but features raised panel lines. I'd avoid the hasegawa kit

Sukhoi Su-7 - Research suggests Modelsvit, Avoid KP Modelsvit is really the only modern kit of the type, complex and expensive but worth it

Sukhoi Su-17/22 Fitter - no ideas yet on best/worst Again Modelsvit is the best here, they do not make all variants but the ones they do are great kits. Avoid the Mastercraft kits

Gloster Javelin - Research suggests Airfix, avoid Mistercraft There's no modern kit of the Javelin in this scale, Airfix and Heller maybe the best

Mig-29 Fulcrum  - no idea between Tamiya, Zvezda and Trumpeter in terms of what's best Zvezda maybe the best but they do not cover the original 9.12 variant. Trumpeter is good too and offer this variant too. Tamiya's is a rebox of Italeri's kit, good in its days but today not on a par with the other two. Avoid Hasegawa, Fujimi, Esci...

F-14 Tomcat  - no ideas on what is best here Fine Molds or GWH but, also the new Academy mould and even the Hasegawa '90s mould are pretty good kits with maybe new Academy the best value for money. Avoid Matchbox, Airfix, Monogram...

F-15 Eagle  - no ideas on what is best here GWH or Platz but I still like the '90s Hasegawa kit

Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker (early Revell kit best avoided, seems to look nothing like the real plane) / no ideas on best. Zvezda with their SM, also reboxed by Revell

Blackburm Buccaneer (RAF version not Navy) - Research suggests Revell best here The recent Airfix kit, none of the others can compare with the exception of the resin CMR kits

Edited September 28, 2021 by Giorgio N

[Antti_K]

Hello Michael,

 

Airfix kit gives you the best Javelin. If you can find an old Heller T.3 that would be probably the most accurate Javelin in this scale.

 

There is one big flaw with the Airfix FAW.9; the rear fuselage. It is far too narrow in plan view and therefore also the re-heaters are too small in diameter. Joining the the tail of the old Frog Javelin into the rest of the Airfix kit gives you the best FAW.9 (or some other version if you so choose).

 

Cheers,

Antti

[RidgeRunner]

My thoughts:

 

Hawker Hunter 1/72  - Research suggests Revell is best -YES

F105D Thunderchief  - Research suggests Trumpeter best, Avoid Revell -YES

Sukhoi Su-7 - Research suggests Modelsvit, Avoid KP -DEFINITELY

Sukhoi Su-17/22 Fitter - no ideas yet on best/worst -IT DEPENDS WHAT YOU WANT TO BUILD

Gloster Javelin - Research suggests Airfix, avoid Mistercraft

Mig-29 Fulcrum  - no idea between Tamiya, Zvezda and Trumpeter in terms of what's best

F-14 Tomcat  - no ideas on what is best here

F-15 Eagle  - no ideas on what is best here

Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker (early Revell kit best avoided, seems to look nothing like the real plane) / no ideas on best.

Blackburm Buccaneer (RAF version not Navy) - Research suggests Revell best here

 

Martin

[The wooksta V2.0]

Revell's Buccaneer is the 70s kit, with no cockpit interior, no underwing weapons and much simplified detail.  The new tool Airfix Buccaneer, in both Navy and RAF versions, is vastly superior. It's only real flaws are a simplified undercarriage, slipper tanks that are somewhat slim, and it was based on an airframe that had had all of the mods applied to the Brick in 30 or so years.

 

The CMK one looks nice in the box, but those who've built it are less enamoured of it. One friend said he reckoned it was based on the 1989 Heller tooled Airfix kit. And even the latter is better than the Matchbox kit.

Edited September 28, 2021 by The wooksta V2.0

[galaxyg]

Thanks for all the answers so far, that helps a lot. Some more that I've thought of, the "B" list.

 

Handley Page Victor

Mil MI-24 Hind D (or C, but not A/B - if there is a

Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt

AH-64 Apache

SAAB Viggen

Sepecat Jaguar

 

[Giorgio N]

Best Victor is the Airfix kit, much superior to the older Matchbox kit that Revell also reboxed.

Best and only modern 1/72 Viggen is the Special Hobby kit, very nice. The Tarangus kit is the same plastic. It's one the kits I've built recently that I've enjoied the most

The Jaguar is tricky... Hobbyboss makes an A and an E and these are the most recent kits. They seem to be better detailed and moulded than the competition but they lack some features. i don't know about accuracy of these. The older Hasegawa kit is still valid but not perfect while the Italeri/Revell offering is inferior in several aspects... I'd say HB is maybe the best with hasegawa second ? But I'd be happy to hear from those who have built the HB kit... kit that unfortunately is quite expensive

[tempestfan]

First, a couple more comments re your "A" list:

 

- Hunter: Avoid the ZTS/Master-/Mistercraft; the original Frog Mk 1 is simple as it gets but IMHO has a very decent shape.

- F-105: It's a bit tricky, as Revell's "recent" D (1987 or so) is based on the 1983 Monogram kit (which Mono never released as a D), and any later boxings of the F/G are the Mono kit - but Monogram also had a D in the early 60s that continued up to at least the mid 70s, and Revell also had an A or B (I think) dating to something around 1960 - not sure if it accidentally came out as 1/72 or was smaller (1/77?). Both to be avoided.

- MiG-29: Also avoid the Kangnam/Tsukuda/Revell kit(s) (not sure how long Revell kept it, but originally issued in a grey box; it's from the same source as Revell's Su-27)

- F-15: The Airfix kit should be very cheal and IMHO makes a presentable early A and B.

 

Now to Plan B:
- Victor: The Matchbox should be completely eclipsed by the recent Airfix.

- Mi-24: Not sure what there is anyway- the Airfix is a clunk (and I think has not been seen in some time), the Hase is said to have accuracy issues, IIRC there was an Esci which will probably be tough to get anyway, and an Italeri - Italeri used to be very good at choppers but I have no idea whether that applies to this one.

- Viggen: I don't think there is any modern kit currently (or did Special Hobby one?), otherwise you are left with the Heller, the moulds of which reside in Argentina for over 30 years. Airfix and Hase are protos, Matchbox is simplified and probably hard to get.

- Jaguar: If I remember reviews and comments, possibly Hobbyboss, with Italeri second. Not much coming in third place except Hasegawa, forget Airfix.

[Graham Boak]

The early Monogram D is also significantly underscale.

 

I have both Airfix and Matchbox Victors, the Airfix is far ahead in accuracy, fit, detail, and every other measure except perhaps price.  You get what you pay for.

 

I recall recommending the Airfix Javelin, but was scorned because it has raised details.  Shock Horror Gasp!  Obviously meaning it must be thrust from sight and not mentioned in polite company.  (That's ok, this is Britmodeller after all...)   This very particular person is still waiting for his superior Javelin.

[sloegin57]

17 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

I recall recommending the Airfix Javelin, but was scorned because it has raised details.  Shock Horror Gasp!  Obviously meaning it must be thrust from sight and not mentioned in polite company.  (That's ok, this is Britmodeller after all...)   This very particular person is still waiting for his superior Javelin.

Did Airfix not utilise and re-do the original Heller T-bird moulds for their FAW9 hence the rather narrow rear fuselage ? and also why Heller T-bird kits are somewhat rare these days (I'm OK Jack - I have a few stashed).

 

Dennis

[TomW]

57 minutes ago, sloegin57 said:

Did Airfix not utilise and re-do the original Heller T-bird moulds for their FAW9 hence the rather narrow rear fuselage ? and also why Heller T-bird kits are somewhat rare these days (I'm OK Jack - I have a few stashed).

 

Dennis

They did and it's also why Airfix T.3's are even rarer still.

 

To the OP - the Airfix Su-27 and Heller Su-27UB are actually very good representations of the type, however raised panel lines and not easy builds. For later versions the recent Zvesda kits are very nice.

[zebra]

I don't have a lot to add but I think for a first generation single-seat Su-27 the Trumpeter kit is supposed to be good, and I think I've read that the Zvezda Mi-24 kits are pretty good.

[Julien]

18 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

 

F-15 Eagle  - no ideas on what is best here GWH or Platz but I still like the '90s Hasegawa kit

 

Not seen the GWH Kit, Platz is nice but panel lines a bit to deep.

 

Agree on the Hasegawa kit.

[Hook]

2 hours ago, galaxyg said:

Mil MI-24 Hind D

Eduards Hind combo is the way to go for a D - this combines the best 1/72nd Hind kit out there, Zvezda's Hind-E, with Eduard resin D-specific parts.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

 

[Jure Miljevic]

The old 1/72 Plastikard Su-7 kit is even worse than KP. Although with a box still wrapped in plastic foil it may perhaps interest collectors. Cheers

Jure

[Doom3r]

If you are going to go with F-105 from Trumpeter please check the reference materials before applying decals: not sure if they corrected the decals today but 3 years ago they had wrong tail codes and profiles for the planes so I went with 3rd party decals. Cybermodeller's review of the kit has details on that.

 

PS: Accuracy of Trumpeter and Hobbyboss color profile research was always something that made me think few times before getting their kit. For example on their 1/144 Tu-95MS on the Russian flag they used white-blue-yellow colors (they corrected this in the recent editions of the kit but I've got the one that had wrong colors)

 

[Navy Bird]

15 hours ago, The wooksta V2.0 said:

The CMK one looks nice in the box, but those who've built it are less enamoured of it.

 

I built both the CMR Buccaneer S.2 and the Scale Resin (cast by CMR) S.1 and I thought they went together fine. Expensive for sure, but at the time (before the new Airfix kit) they were the only way to get a nice Buccaneer. I'm not sure either is readily available nowadays.

 

5 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

I recall recommending the Airfix Javelin, but was scorned because it has raised details.  Shock Horror Gasp!  Obviously meaning it must be thrust from sight and not mentioned in polite company.

 

Ha! One only has to scribe some panel lines if they'd rather have them recessed. That's what I did with my Heller T.3.

 

5 hours ago, sloegin57 said:

Did Airfix not utilise and re-do the original Heller T-bird moulds for their FAW9 hence the rather narrow rear fuselage ? and also why Heller T-bird kits are somewhat rare these days (I'm OK Jack - I have a few stashed).

 

HPM make a resin "rear end" for the Airfix FAW.9 to fix the narrow fuselage. While not entirely free of its own problems, my opinion is that it's better than trying to graft on an old Frog rear fuselage. Like Graham earlier, I'm still waiting for a modern tooling of the Javelin.

 

Cheers,

Bill

[galaxyg]

Thanks again for all the info. Though the Javelin is an aircraft begging for a new tooling, I'd pick up the old Airfix one if I saw it, just in case it never gets one. The raised panel lines are not the worst thing a kit could have and it's a cool looking aircraft.

[alt-92]

On 9/29/2021 at 4:37 PM, Doom3r said:

Accuracy of Trumpeter and Hobbyboss color profile research was always something that made me think few times before getting their kit. For example on their 1/144 Tu-95MS on the Russian flag they used white-blue-yellow colors (they corrected this in the recent editions of the kit but I've got the one that had wrong colors)

All fixable with paint or other decals, and a lot less work than correcting shape errors  

[JPuente54]

There is a Hind A available of very good quality. It is the Zvezda Mi-24A "Hind A" Kit No. 7273. It was released a couple of years ago; and, puts the old Hasegawa kit of the Hind A in "nice but, wrong" category. Zvezda does offer the Hind D and E models as well; I believe that their Hind D is a good one. HTH

[Hook]

12 hours ago, JPuente54 said:

Zvezda does offer the Hind D and E models as well; I believe that their Hind D is a good one.

Zvezda's 1/72nd Hinds are the best out there, and the only kits that correctly represent the anti-torque fuselage tilt. However, they don't make a D (yet), only the Hind-A, E & F. 

 

For a D, try and find the lovely Eduard combo - I didn't waste any time adding three of these boxings to my stash!

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Giorgio N]

I realized that I had forgotten a kit that IMHO should be avoided: the recent "recessed panel lines" Italeri Tomcat ! This is a rebox of the Esci kit from many years ago and is quite inaccurate and not a particularly pleasing kit to build in general.

Italeri had previously sold for many years their own kit, with raised panel lines, a kit that while not as good as say the Hasegawa ones, was IMHO better than the Esci one. The Esci rebox is currently sold in a box showing a VF-114 aircraft on the catapult ready for launch, other boxes included the old kit

[Doom3r]

On 9/30/2021 at 11:30 AM, alt-92 said:

All fixable with paint or other decals, and a lot less work than correcting shape errors  

Depends on when you notice such thing: before you build the model or after applying final coat of varnish.

[CT7567]

Duplicating some commentary already noted above, but summarizing the list for those of which I have fisthand knowledge:

 

Hawker Hunter 1/72:
Best: Revell AG; Avoid: Frog, Matchbox

F105D Thunderchief:
Best: Trumpeter or Revell; Avoid: Monogram (1950s tool); Frog/Hasegawa

Sukhoi Su-7:
Best: Modelsvit; Avoid: KP*
*actually not bad for its era but does not compare well to modern standards (raised panel lines, lacking/soft detail)

Sukhoi Su-17/22 Fitter:
Best: Modelsvit; Avoid: all others but Italeri/Bilek

Gloster Javelin: out of my era/expertise

Mig-29 Fulcrum:
- 9.12 "Fulcrum A":
Best: Trumpeter; Avoid: all others but Italeri/Testors*/Tamiya
*Testors reboxed Italeri but also previously reboxed the woefully inaccurate Fujimi kit; the latter boxes should include the Fujimi logo
- 9.13 "Fulcrum C":
Best: Zvezda (2015 tool)/Academy; Avoid: all others but Trumpeter, ICM (2008 tool)

F-14 Tomcat:
- F-14A:
Best: Fine Molds or GWH; Best "buy": Academy (new tool), HobbyBoss, or Fujimi/KA; Avoid: All others but Hasegawa
- F-14B/A+:
Best: Fine Molds; Best "buy": Academy (new tool A - includes all A+/B parts), HobbyBoss; Avoid all others but Hasegawa
- F-14D:
Best: Fine Molds or GWH; Best "buy": HobbyBoss; Avoid all others but Hasegawa

F-15 Eagle:
- F-15A/C:
Best: Platz (future release) or Hasegawa (1988 tool); Avoid: Hasegawa (old tool), all others but Airfix (A/B) or AMT/ESCI/Ertl (A/C)
- F-15E and derivatives:
Best: GWH; Best "buy": Academy (new tool)* or Hasegawa post-2011 releases
*Academy kit is a "snap fit" tooling but with generally excellent detailing, exceptions being weapons & exhausts - both of which are available aftermarket, and generally total cost would remain competitive with retail prices for GWH kits

Su-27 Flanker family:
- Su-27:
Best: Trumpeter; Avoid: all others but ICM
- Su-27SM:
Best: Zvezda (reboxes available from Academy and Revell AG); Avoid: all others
- Su-33 "Flanker D" (carrier-based fighter/bomber):
Best: Zvezda (reboxes available from Academy and Revell AG); Avoid: all others but Hasegawa Su-33

Blackburn Buccaneer S.2B:
Best: Airfix (new tool); Avoid: Airfix (old tool), Matchbox/Revell

Handley Page Victor:
Best: Airfix; Avoid: Matchbox/Revell

Mil MI-24 Hind 😧
Best: Zvezda; Avoid:

A-10 Thunderbolt II:
Best: Italeri; Avoid: all others but Hasegawa

AH-64 Apache:
Best: Academy (all variants); Avoid: Matchbox/Revell (AH-64A); all but Academy or Hobbyboss (AH-64D)

SAAB Viggen:
Best: Special Hobby; Avoid: Matchbox, Airfix

Sepecat Jaguar:
- RAF single-seaters:
Best: Hasegawa; Avoid: Hobbycraft, Matchbox
- Armee de l'Aire single-seaters:
Best: HobbyBoss or Hasegawa; Avoid: Hobbycraft, Matchbox