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1/48 scale WW1 kits?..........


Allan31

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With shovel in hand, I'm about to embark down a rabbit hole I may never climb out of.

 

All throughout my yoot, I built all the 1/48 scale or close kits I could get my hands on. At one point, I was going to build all those old kits again to re-learn rigging, new painting techniques, etc.

 

thumbnail_(100).jpeg?width=1920&height=1

 

thumbnail_-_2022-05-04T111935.740.jpeg?w

 

I'm reasonably sure most of the kits on the left will be discarded, the kits on the right, built. That said, I have an old Aurora EIII I will do a super build on just because I always wanted to.

With the proliferation of good, modern kits available I'm having second thoughts. DML, Eduard, Roden, Special Hobby, etc. have all jumped in and given us some wonderful kits.

I have the DML triplane but disappointed in the photo-etch struts. The Eduard DVII looks perfect, decals in the Roden kits look, well, not so good.

 

Is there one or two of these kit manufactures that I should be focusing on for consistent quality? Does ones decal quality make up for a lack of something else? How are "weekend" builds different from the others?

I thought I read that one of these was known for adding extra parts in each kit, engines, machine guns, etc. but I don't know who.

 

Of all the knowledge of the internet, this is the place to ask these questions, thanks.

Edited by Allan31
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Hi Allan,

 

In 1/48 I would recommend focussing on the Eduard kits for consistent quality. They are well designed and fit well, with usually a range of decal options. Decals are very good, with the proviso that I think some of their German lozenge colours are a bit strong, and I prefer to replace them. Weekend kits are the cheapest and simplest (only 1 or 2 decal options, no resin, and no etched brass), Profipack will have 5 or 6 decal options, etched brass accessories, and sometimes resin parts. They have a big range as well. 

They sometimes have minor problems such as too short undercarriage legs on the Albatros D.V, and too small wheels on the Albatros D.III, but nothing that can't be resolved.

 

Roden are my second choice, fit is ok, but beware the separate engines, sometimes the cowling panels won't fit around them. Earlier kits had troublesome decals, but the more recent offerings I have built have had much improved decals. They do some nice 2 seater like the B.e.2c which I see you have. 

 

Glencoe are for collectors rather than builders, unless you want to do a lot of work.

 

In 1/32 it is no contest - Wingnut Wings! But they are out of production now.

The Roden kits are pretty good and well worth building. The Copper State Nieuports even better.

 

HTH, I'm sure others will be along with more thoughts & opinions soon!

 

John

 

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I’d build them all too.


Roden tend to be good but can be difficult to assemble and I always struggle with their decals.

31-B9-C94-D-D353-4-D4-F-9-F4-D-5-F4-D1-CRoden DH9a

 

Glencoe are generally the right shape but need a lot of work their decal sheet however are usually very good. I’ve built two of the albatrosses and on both ended up replacing or reskinning the wings. 
 

909A9D5A-3898-49B0-94ED-AC34E0602F35.jpg
Glencoe DIII converted to a DII

 

66158081-1-FEE-4915-945-B-7-A2-BF8630-AEGlencoe DIII 

 

 

Edited by Marklo
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Actually I suggest to build them all.

If you need rigging technic, please look in my posts, I made three threads of all you need.

If you have any question,  let me know.

 

Kit design: Good. The only ine which is much much better is: Cooperstate in 1/48!

 

Happy modelling 

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DOV,  Having difficult time trying to locate your three threads on rigging.

Could you please send me links to them so I may store for near future reference?

 

Thanks 

 

AB

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Thanks all for your help and encouragement, as I strongly suspected you were all very helpful in answering my question and you also said to "build them all" !!!

I saw a pretty need build of the old revell/monogram SE5a in an old Windsock magazine I bought from evilbay so I may give that a go. I think the 504 would be fun as well, along with all the others.

 

Thanks again all, most appreciative.

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On 5/4/2022 at 1:53 PM, Viking said:

Hi Allan,

 

In 1/48 I would recommend focussing on the Eduard kits for consistent quality. They are well designed and fit well, with usually a range of decal options. Decals are very good, with the proviso that I think some of their German lozenge colours are a bit strong, and I prefer to replace them. Weekend kits are the cheapest and simplest (only 1 or 2 decal options, no resin, and no etched brass), Profipack will have 5 or 6 decal options, etched brass accessories, and sometimes resin parts. They have a big range as well. 

They sometimes have minor problems such as too short undercarriage legs on the Albatros D.V, and too small wheels on the Albatros D.III, but nothing that can't be resolved.

 

Roden are my second choice, fit is ok, but beware the separate engines, sometimes the cowling panels won't fit around them. Earlier kits had troublesome decals, but the more recent offerings I have built have had much improved decals. They do some nice 2 seater like the B.e.2c which I see you have. 

 

Glencoe are for collectors rather than builders, unless you want to do a lot of work.

 

In 1/32 it is no contest - Wingnut Wings! But they are out of production now.

The Roden kits are pretty good and well worth building. The Copper State Nieuports even better.

 

HTH, I'm sure others will be along with more thoughts & opinions soon!

 

John

 

Thanks John, just the answer I was looking for !!!

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1/48th scale injected molded WWI kits by Gaspatch Models and Copper State Models are nearly equivalent in detail and fit to larger Wingnut kits. For rigging tutorials, there is a section titled "Rigging for Everyone" on www.ww1aircraftmodels.com

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Rigging is all about planning and careful execution, after trying many methods I can recommend two. 

 

The first is with EZ line, requires no drilling just the ezline, some CA adhesive a good pair of tweezers and patience. Cut te EZline to the approximate length, apply a little ca to the point on the model and attach one end of the line. Allow it to set, then apply a blob of ca to the other spot that the rigging goes to and using the tweezers stretch out the ezline toll its on the ca blob. Hold it there till the CA sets. 

 

1-B90-CE41-66-DD-4663-885-B-6043-A26-F3-as applied to my Handley Page

 

 

My prefeffed method is to use. 2mm monofilament (fishing line) drill a blind hole at one end and a through hole for the other, cá the monofilament into the blind hole and let it set, thread the other end through the through hole, apply a blob of ca and pull the line tight till the ca sets, trim the end with a sharp blade and if necessary fill and sand the hole. 

 

A93-EE714-703-A-4117-9517-6-D1-E20851-D8

This is the method I'm using for my sopwith Salamander 

 

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I would start with Eduard weekend edition. Excellent kits and no photo etch to worry about.  And generally they include plastic parts for some of the critical photo etch.  But if you don't mind the photo etch jump right into their profipack.  They are excellent kits.  Next up is a toss up between Roden and DML.  both are good and Roden has planes that Eduard never came out with.  Both fit very well but older Roden kits will give you guys with their decals.  Special Hobby are also good but will require more work, but subjects are very interesting.  I would check scalemates on some of the others in your stash to see who made them.  Sometime Revell reboxed Eduard kits and they were good deals. Older Gavia kits are generally good too but you don't see them much.  The others can be built but they are not where I would start.  I would bin the Smer kits for sure.  I have built them but not worth the effort.  We only can build so many kits so start with the better ones.

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On 5/4/2022 at 4:36 PM, Allan31 said:

With shovel in hand, I'm about to embark down a rabbit hole I may never climb out of.

 

All throughout my yoot, I built all the 1/48 scale or close kits I could get my hands on. At one point, I was going to build all those old kits again to re-learn rigging, new painting techniques, etc.

 

thumbnail_(100).jpeg?width=1920&height=1

 

thumbnail_-_2022-05-04T111935.740.jpeg?w

 

I'm reasonably sure most of the kits on the left will be discarded, the kits on the right, built. That said, I have an old Aurora EIII I will do a super build on just because I always wanted to.

With the proliferation of good, modern kits available I'm having second thoughts. DML, Eduard, Roden, Special Hobby, etc. have all jumped in and given us some wonderful kits.

I have the DML triplane but disappointed in the photo-etch struts. The Eduard DVII looks perfect, decals in the Roden kits look, well, not so good.

 

Is there one or two of these kit manufactures that I should be focusing on for consistent quality? Does ones decal quality make up for a lack of something else? How are "weekend" builds different from the others?

I thought I read that one of these was known for adding extra parts in each kit, engines, machine guns, etc. but I don't know who.

 

Of all the knowledge of the internet, this is the place to ask these questions, thanks.

You don't happen to have a RAE RE.8? I am looking to build one, my Great Uncle was an observer in 59 Sqn and was killed 19 Aug 1917 nearly 105 years ago.  I am trying to track a 1/48 or 1/32 model down 

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12 hours ago, MikeR-G said:

You don't happen to have a RAE RE.8? I am looking to build one, my Great Uncle was an observer in 59 Sqn and was killed 19 Aug 1917 nearly 105 years ago.  I am trying to track a 1/48 or 1/32 model down 

Mike,

 

The only RE8 kit ever available in 1/48th, I think, was the Aeroclub kit.  Emminently buildable, you can occasionally still find it at shows, around £25.00 in the UK pre-pandemic. Also on Ebay now and then, but the sense or nonsense of the price will depend on how alert the sharks are. AFAIK there were two issues, the second with a few of the white metal parts replaced by resin (certainly the prop, which is a 4 blader in 2 parts has an awkward to fix joint between the halves).

 

Paul.

 

Allan, P.S. The only kits in the left pile I'd not bother with are the DH2 (life is too short) and the SE5a. The latter has confused features apart from the simplicity inherent in it's age. All the other oldies there build okay although not that accurate . They look enough like what it says on the box, certainly good enough for testing rigging and painting skills. The Smer and Glencoe kits are also a lot more robust when refining the arcane arts of top-wing mounting and rigging, due to the cruder struts. Improving them is fairly easy, but only really worth it as a learning process. Also, unless you happen to have a handy 3D printer, if you want an Avro 504K, then until you have the proficiency to build Roden kits in your sleep, the ex-Merit kit is your only option except the Blue Max kit. The latter is a good kit, but much more challenging due to the very limited run nature, and needing to make things like struts from the material included. (All Blue Max kits were intended only for the specialist who could already build biplanes and handle limited run issues, and you'd really need to be comfort with what you have in the photo before embarking down that road. The upside is that at their time of release they were the only serious game in town, usually accurate, and possessed very nice surface details).  There is or was an Airwaves set for the 504 which is a lot earlier and cruder than what Eduard produce, but helps the Merit kit a lot.

 

Paul.

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Thanks Paul, As a trusted long time contributor to this forum, I value your learned tutelage.

I've seen the SE5 improved to look acceptable, I'm thinking of hunting up a Lindberg Curtis Jenny.

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5 hours ago, Allan31 said:

Thanks Paul, As a trusted long time contributor to this forum, I value your learned tutelage.

 

I replied a few hours ago but it seems to have got lost....so, in short.........

 

There are many far better WW1 modellers in various corners of this forum. I'm just a noisy one.

The out of the box finesse of the SE5a is better than the others left-pilers except the Avro, and it'll be okay if you want to put in the work. I wouldn't but that's because I've done it once, then built several Blue Max and Roden kits, which spoils you a bit. Then along came Eduard, which is (despite my love of Roden) by far the best. IIRC there was an early PE set for this one too, but I can't remember if it was Airwaves or Eduard. Probably the former.

5 hours ago, Allan31 said:

I've seen the SE5 improved to look acceptable, I'm thinking of hunting up a Lindberg Curtis Jenny.

 

I'm fairly ignorant of Jennies, but have built the Lindberg kit anyway. It was a fine  kit in it's day, and you don't have any other choice in this scale, so just as well. The Windsock Datafile contains all you need to add the missing details. Mine had warped fuselage halves, but that isn't a common problem.

 

Paul.

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Any of the MODERN production kits can get decent in the larger scale. simply a matter of larger parts being easier.. 

 

Have one roden, the 1:72 unkers d1. 

          Ill be doing the 1:48 version instead someday. massive damage to the fuselage

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Personally I’d intersperse the old crappy kits with the more modern ones. There’s a great sense of achievement to be had in making a good model from a poor kit.

 

909A9D5A-3898-49B0-94ED-AC34E0602F35.jpgGlencoe 1

 

66158081-1FEE-4915-945B-7A2BF8630AE1.jpgGlencoe 2.

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On 5/20/2022 at 8:24 PM, MikeR-G said:

You don't happen to have a RAE RE.8? I am looking to build one, my Great Uncle was an observer in 59 Sqn and was killed 19 Aug 1917 nearly 105 years ago.  I am trying to track a 1/48 or 1/32 model down 

 

There's a Wanted Section of the site where you can ask more widely for your RE8. Best of luck with the quest.

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On 5/23/2022 at 4:04 AM, Marklo said:

Personally I’d intersperse the old crappy kits with the more modern ones. There’s a great sense of achievement to be had in making a good model from a poor kit.

 

909A9D5A-3898-49B0-94ED-AC34E0602F35.jpgGlencoe 1

 

66158081-1FEE-4915-945B-7A2BF8630AE1.jpgGlencoe 2.

 

Detailing is fine. its a massive part of the model kit business now. However what matters is..  does it matter if i use the factory injection molded machine gun that came in my 15$ kit, versus getting the 9$ Eduard PE gun kit,  versus the gas patch kit? or simply slicing the poorly molded gun barrel off, glueing it back on correctly, and making a new gun barrel for the front of the gun because airfix was dumb enough to use the actual muzzle of the gun as part of the SPRUE... and molded it so the barrel/jacket was half off the reciver?

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On 5/25/2022 at 7:49 AM, masterKamera said:

does it matter if i use the factory injection molded machine gun that came in my 15$ kit, versus getting the 9$ Eduard PE gun kit,  versus the gas patch kit? or simply slicing the poorly molded gun barrel off, glueing it back on correctly

It’s whatever you find enjoyable. Personally I hate aftermarket plus I’m on a tight enough budget that I’d rather buy paint or another kit than a PE or resin set, so I make my own. But so long as the result is pleasing to you that’s what the hobby is about. 

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