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Bad news- for the wallet?


AnonymousFO98

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Don't want to pick up on you, but it is not typicial "czech" but "AZ" limited run kit; fortunately, a typical czech limited run kit is far better. This is just pirated mix of revell, hase and airfix kits mastered in hurrry and quickly sell to hannants to feed their "pre-orders. Unfortunately, there are still hundreds of people out ther who buy this s**t and support this 'robbery'.

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The AZ guy told me, personally... :( He stupidly tells his stories to a broad audience at hobby shows etc. I dont care that much about the rip off, but what really bother me is poor quality of his kits with no sings of improvement... That unfortunately the case with the Mk IV, too.

Edited by Redboost
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Agree. That's the same with the Spitfire I-V kits, just imagine how nice the world would be, if they have played with the masters and moulds litttle bit longer... I struggled once with the early Spitfire I and I'm not gonna to repeat it. And they announced the Spit IX, Mk.21/22/46 etc. OMG!

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Which kits did he "rip off" to do (e.g.) the Seafang, Tutor, Gauntlet or Hind? If the Hurricane is as bad as the Hind, I'll be rushing to buy several.

I've seen only good about the Spitfire so far, what were the problems you had with it? And what are the problems with the Hurricane? Does it, for example, have a decent nose with enough room for a Merlin? Unlike the new Airfix.

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This is why I am surprised at the news.

Looking at the shots on Aeroscale the wing and fuselage breakdown looks like the Revell ionly on the seperation point of the upper wing.

The panel lines are looking like the universal wing afaik, but also, it has a correct looking raised reinforcement over the join which is absent on the Revell.

The panel lines and rivetting on the nose looks diferent to the revell and hase kits, maybe someone else can confirm/deny.

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To Graham Boak: did you ever tried to build a single AZ Model kit or are you one of those theoretical modelers that now every srew on Hurricane but never built a kit? It was just enough for me to see the unpainted presentation kit to know I will never bother with AZ Model Hurricane.

Did you built the Hind? How did you corrected the warped upper wing, short struts and milion other small things? Can you show me picture of the built example? If you are happy just because the parts look nice in the box then please donť say anything more...

Edited by Redboost
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Just few examples of AZ Model Hurricane IV kit's features:

- the wheel wells, of dear, where I saw them last time, yes exactly the same like the Hasegawa. Unfortunately, completely wrong. The picture shows the original parts removed by motor tool and CMK resin replacement.

- starboard fuselage halve is shorter, correction has been made by inserting a plasticard. Look at the rear cockpit part behind the pilot head, again see Hasegawa kit and again completely wrong

- the awful duct - an example of AZ Model quality after ten years in plastic modelling

(pictures made by a colleague of mine)

P9250003.jpg

P9220021.jpg

P9220027.jpg

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Thats really sad to hear Libor as being a complete Hurricane nut I`ve just bought two of these AZ Kits and was going to buy a couple more. but thanks very much for saying it as it is from a real modellers perspective...looks like loads of work needs to be done. I agree that many AZ kits look nice in the box but the high price usually puts me off unless I`m really interested in the type. I must admit that I`m looking forward to their 1/48th Vengeance and I cannot see what that could be copied from, if its ever released?

All the best

Tony O

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So far I haven't assembled an AZ model, no, but I have been making models for over 50 years, and if you think that warped wings and short struts are somehow unique to AZ - or even short-run kits in general - let me disillusion you. You will find such in many kits from varied producers, even the top mainstream ones do this sometimes. After reading your post I went to look at the Hind (and Hart). First impression was "What warp?" but I was looking from the rear, which is straight. The leading edge is a bit wonky, although a little sanding and some bending with the fingers improved matters. Might have another try later tonight.

You are right to draw notice to these matters, but if you think these pose serious problems, try a vacform or one of the 1980s resins.

However, it looks as though I won't be getting the Hurricane. Thanks for that.

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This is scary stuff but one does not lightly disregard the views of a modeller of Libor's quality.

How are people getting on with their Martlet I builds? I've on the verge of ordering two for the Nats but am now getting very cold feet. Mustn't let my love of the subject blind me to any serious flaws in the kit.

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I've seen only good about the Spitfire so far, what were the problems you had with it?

I've seen one assembled and it looked pretty good, although superseded by the new Airfix kit at a third of the price.

One modeller I know HATED it and simply couldn't build it. IIRC, he reduced it to spares. The only things that I needed to fix were removing one ejector pin on the underside of the cockpit interior and sanding the mating surface of the wing at the trailing edge joint. The instrument panel will need replacing as the cutout isn't centered.

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...I've seen only good about the Spitfire so far, what were the problems you had with it? ...

I only need to attach IFF wires to complete my AZ Spit II. From all I have read and comparing with the original Airfix Spitfire I, the AZ kit is quite accurate. There was a build in SAMI (I think that was the mag) a few months ago where the builder got the cockpit too high and as a result, the canopy didnt fit. There are no alignment indicators inside the fuselage for the cockpit regarding height so it takes some fiddling. I went too far the other way and had to trim some off the bottom of the floor to get the wings to fit. I had actually purchased a couple of additional AZ Spits because the detailing was better then the old Airfix one, but I suspect future early Spitfire projects will be centered around the new Airfix Spit I.

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To Graham Boak: I'm sorry, I feel my previuos post was too offending, but all I wanted to say is the AZ Model kits feature again and again so fundamental quality issues that it is time to give the matter the right name (to be fair, shapewise they are usually acurate, e.g. the Spit I is fine). One of the most famous AZ guy statement is that he made one of the previous kit's master within a afternoon (I mean a complete kit's master patterns!) - that's selfpeaking. This is the way he works. If you compare their kits with similar producers, e.g. RS Model (they started the bussines approx. in the same time, making the resin kits first, then switched to plastic - same as Legato/AZ Model), the difference is several light years, besides excellent moulding quality the building comfort is the most noticeable. I really do not understand why people are so excited ove and over again, i think they should build a kit and only then comment on, unless they are box collectors.

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The Legato Spitfire F.22 was definitely a pirate job and had bits from everywhere! Fujimi fuselage, with the PR.XIX intake in situ, CMR/Aeroteam wings & wheels, Academy wheels... Casting was nice though.

Libor, thanks for the warnings. I'll tak AZ stuff under advisement in future, although the range of promised Spitfires is tempting...

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Walrus: it is 'new' tooling, see the pictures I attached above, they show the parts included in the SEAC boxing.

Wooksta: yes, they have many tempting subjects, e.g. the Vildebeast. The new late Spitfires range (Mk.22/24/46) under Admiral label together with Bü-181 and 1/48 scale Vengeance is due within two weeks, so let's see if the miracle will happen :)

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Redboost

I'm interested in how the AZ and others make their limited run tools - are the tools made from metal or are they some sort of resin? If they are metal are they copy milled or spark eroded from the masters you mention?

Regards

DP

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They all use sort of resin molds except MPM group, that use for certain range (usually directly under MPM label, not Special Hobby or Azur) so called galvanized molds - a thin metal layer is applied on resin molds in a bath using electro-chemical reaction.

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