New Box, Old Mould - The Pitfalls of Kit Selection

A few days ago I was involved in an on-line discussion regarding the re-issuing of old moulds which I thought I'd revisit on this blog.

The discussion started with a commenter's experience of building, in their words, the awful Airfix 1:48 scale Hawker Fury, which contains plastic from 1980. It then turned to whether or not it was an underhand tactic by model makers to sell kits that are well past their sell-by date and is such practice unfair on customers?

New Box, Old Plastic

To start with lets look at things from the model companies point of view. They have a product to sell, they exist to make money. Straight forward and to point I know, but that is the reality and I see little point in blaming them. It's easy for us to shift the blame to them, to call them underhand but in the end it's up to us, as customers, to make informed choices.  If we do then we won't be buying the inferior products and they will cease to sell them.

Certain companies seem to have different approaches to re-boxes, in my experience they are:

• Academy - For years Academy have been producing budget kits of a mixed quality. In recent years they've started releasing more expensive and higher quality kits but I've not yet seen any of their range retired. They've changed the catalogue numbers of some their older kits but released them exactly the same as before so I'm not even sure that counts as re-boxing them.
• Airfix - The near bankrupt Airfix of a few years ago quite obviously couldn't afford to do much else other than sell their old models. But now there's been a significant cull of older models. Although some still remain I suspect that there will be replacements in the pipeline.
• Eduard - A newer manufacturer with an emphasis on quality. There kits seem to retired fairly quickly.
• Hasegawa - It feels like Hasegawa never change. I've bought many of their kits and sold them all on, never actually building a single one. Alongside their steady range of new releases new box, old model seems to be what they do.
• Revell - The re-box kings. I rarely buy Revell models for the reason so many of them are so old, and in many case not even their models to begin with. I think their recent Star Wars licence will keep them earning for the foreseeable future along with the loyalty of the American market toward the old Monogram kits. But Revell just isn't a name that's associated with quality in my opinion. Which is a shame, because the few new kits they make are actually very good, if you can find them.
•  Tamiya - Like Hasegawa they never seem to change, we see a few new kits each year which are of a high standard. However their older models were years ahead of their competitors when they first came out so they seem to still hold their own against today's kits. Interesting in my preferred scale, 1:72, I have noticed a reduction in the range recently (mostly the Italeri kits they re-boxed for the Asian market) so they obviously feel some of the older kits are no longer of a high enough quality.

I do believe it's no coincidence that that model kits have moved in terms of quality so much in the last 10 or so years alongside the growth of the internet side of scale modelling. By participating in forums and groups, by writing blogs and posting photographs and so on, are we already driving the change so many of us desire?

And then there are on-line resources such as Scalemates. This site is a model kit database which gives a complete time-line of many kits, allowing us to see just how old the plastic inside that box is.

One counterargument I often hear is the argument that bad kits will put off beginners from continuing with the hobby. I can see the point, after the first kit I built for this blog you may wonder why I continued. Well I do believe this is a hobby that requires a certain amount of perseverance and patience anyway. Anyone who quits after one setback will never be a modeller, so that's one reason. Secondly the majority of model companies have already figured this out which is why we have the starter kit. These are the kits I always see younger modellers with in my local hobby shop. Interestingly this seems more common among companies targeting Western audiences, maybe those beginners in Asia have the character I referred to in my first point or maybe model making is more embedded in their culture?

So with all that in mind I guess it's time to wrap this post up. To finish I will say, if you really do want to build an Airfix 1:48 scale Hawker Fury from 1980 now's your chance. I very much doubt this kit will be around for much longer.

The Airfix Revival Continues – 2016 Releases Announced

This morning I received an e-mail from Airfix. Normally I delete such e-mails without reading them but this was one I actually wanted to read as it contained details of their 2016 release schedule. I’ll get back to what they have planned for next year in a moment, but first I wanted to say something about how impressed I’ve been with Airfix as a brand in the last few years.

Airfix's 1:48 Defiant Box Art

Regular readers may recall the first ever build featured on this blog was an awful Airfix kit; in fact it’s still possibly the worst model I’ve ever attempted to build. I followed this up with a more current kit of theirs, the MiG 15 which showed some promise, but the space of less than 3 years even that looks somewhat dated. All these kits have since been dropped from their range, thankfully replaced by an increasing number of new and improved kits.

And that’s the thing, these are not re-boxed kits, these are brand new tools. Something which, in my opinion, has elevated Airfix far above the likes of their immediate competitors, companies like re-box specialists Revell.

It’s all a far cry from this time 10 years ago when Airfix went into administration; the turnaround has been fantastic, especially in the last few years. The investment in quality and the desire to progress, rather than rest on their past reputation is clear to see. Hopefully many more generations will get a chance to build that first Airfix Spitfire, just like I did all those years ago.

So onto the 2016 releases, there’s a good mix of WWI, WWII and Cold War aircraft. Although not my main area of interest the 1:72 scale Handley Page Victor looks like a bold release. However I’m looking forward to the end of 2016 when I hope to have my workbench clear ready for their B-17G (I had been trying to decide between Academy and Revell’s releases for some time but now I’ll wait).

B-17G CAD Image

Also, if time and hobby funds allow, I’m tempted by their JU-87 Stuka / Gloster Gladiator dogfight double release. I really like these double sets they’re well thought out and sensible way of bundling a couple of themed kits together. In fact I’ve recently bought one, (the Defiant / Do 17z set) but as I’ve not updated this blog in a while it’s only featured on my Instagram, along with another Airfix build that’s currently in progress.

So here's to the new and improved Airfix, long may they continue!

What's On The Workbench? #4

As you might have guessed by now, my "What's On The Workbench" posts are mostly filler posts when not much progress has been made on my current projects.

So what's on the workbench?

To start with, Academy's Me 163B is now assembled and has been base coated in Vallejo Model Air's silver. I had a bit of trouble with the horizontal join around the nose, which took a couple of attempts to fill to a point where I was happy with it, but it's now there.

Why a silver base coat? Well I intend to try the hairspray technique of weathering so I want the silver to show through the paint scheme. I believe the wings of the Me 163 were wooden but I decided to keep a uniform base colour so when I add further layers they too stay uniform in colour.

However I'm not going to try a previously untried technique on this model so I've quickly mocked up an old scrap kit, in this case an Airfix Spitfire, with a two colour camouflage scheme to practice on.

Again I used a silver base coat followed by a coat of Tamiya semi-gloss clear from a spray can. Once this had dried I airbrushed hairspray over the whole model, let it dry, before over spraying the camouflage scheme.

So now I just need this to dry before applying warm water and attempting to rub off some of the paint. If it works, then I intend to repeat the process on the Me 163.

Build Review - Academy Me 163B/S (12460) – Part 1

At the end of my previous post I mentioned Academy's 1:72 scale Me 163B/S kit, so time to get on with it. Experimental aircraft from WWII / the early Cold War period are an area of interest to me (something I'll probably write about in the future) and so this seemed like a good kit to get me back into modelling after my break.

Academy kits seem to have a reputation as a bit hit and miss but generally I like them. Opinions on-line tend to suggest that this is a good kit so my expectations were raised. Time to have an opinion of my own.

First impressions were that this looked like a really nice kit, I especially liked that there was a choice between the standard single seat Me 163B and the two seat glider trainer, the Me 163S.

I decided to opt for the Me 163B, enhanced as usual with an Eduard photo-etch set (SS256) for the interior and some small exterior details. Colour scheme wise, I'm probably going to deviate from those offered in the box, we'll see how things go before I decide.

So to start with I built the cockpit. I took the twin seater cockpit tub, filled down the consoles, cut away the rear seat area but left the rear floor. Two reasons, first, insurance in case I made a mess of the photo-etch. It's been a while since I'd worked on something this small. Second was that I felt the longer floor would settle in the base better as cockpit slippage seems to a caused a few problems on previous builds.


However in the end my fears were unfounded. The photo-etch built beautifully and the cockpit fitted fine.

I will say one thing though, it's really small, less than 1cm x 1cm and that includes the full width of the side consoles. Yes I knew it was a small aircraft, I knew I'm working with a small scale, but still, it was tiny! However a plus side is that nice bubble canopy really opens up the cockpit compared to many aircraft of the time, so all that detail is going to be on show for a change.

Next up was the tail section, two halves together with a tail wheel assembly at the base. It appears the tail wheel is meant to be moveable but that makes it quite difficult to glue around.

I also found there was a bit of gap at the base. Pushing this together tight seemed to impede the movement of the wheel assembly so I left it. I then filled and filed it while it was dry fitted to the fuselage which ensured the wheel still moved.

As for the wings, they went together as wings should. And there we are, all the main parts assembled,ready to be put together. So far, so good. I'm really enjoying this kit, which is how it should be.

A Little Bit of History Repeating?

Back when I started this blog I gave myself a “to do” list of Academy kits to build but despite the best intentions they didn’t really get built.

The P-39 was built, but if I’m honest I did not build it well, in fact it was awful and my inexperience was showed up somewhat. The P-51B looked like a good kit but I managed to make a series of mistakes which consigned it to the scrap pile, likewise with the Hellcat. The P-47 went the way of eBay and the Ju-87 remains unbuilt and may well be sold at some point in the future.

Now don’t get me wrong here, this isn’t an Academy bashing post, I was so keen to get back into modelling that I rushed, bought a stack of kits, made far too many mistakes and never achieved the original goals that I set out to achieve. And of course, I wrote off a whole lot of kits in the process.

Recently I took a break and decided to spend a bit of time going back to basics, practicing and taking a more steady approach to modelling. Of course this doesn’t make particularly good reading, which explains the absence of blog posts in the last few months, but it has been useful. Not feeling the need to do something with half an eye on how I will blog about it afterwards has also been a relief.

So back to the here and now.

Regular readers, (I’m surprised, but the stats do show that there are still some of you checking in), will notice that this blog has had an update. A new look and a new beginning. And you know what? I’ve just gone out and bought another Academy kit…

Incomplete Review - Academy P-51B Mustang, Old Crow, (#1667 or #12464) - Part 2

Scale: 1:72, RRP - £6.99

I know what you're probably thinking. "Incomplete", this isn't going to be a good review, but stay with me.

The non-completion of this kit is more due to my own mistakes, all of which were avoidable, rather than the kit itself. I'd made the rather stupid mistake of using the wrong glue for the rear windows which had caused them to fog and to be honest I was never happy with the replacements that I'd made. Also as I was building Tamiya's F-51D at the same time and it was progressing better than this build I've decided to call it a day with this one.

Despite my personal failure with this kit I do have some positive thoughts about it. For a start it's the most accurate P-51B that I've come across. I also have a limited edition 1:72 scale Hasegawa RAF Mustang combo kit (2 aircraft in one kit) which retails at around the £30 mark, (so £15 per aircraft) and they have the wrong wings, those of a P-51D! As a result my Hasegawa kit is probably heading off to eBay some time soon...

When it comes to decals and marking options I think the 3 options are good range. Two USAAF options, one with the standard hood, one with the domed Malcolm hood and an RAF option, again with the Malcolm hood. For a budget kit this an excellent selection. The only issue is, as always, the decals are a little on the thick side.

Detail wise, it's a little lacking in places but the shape is correct and with the availability of 3rd party accessories it can be as simple or as detailed as you like. The Eduard photo etch set (SS250) which I used is highly recommended.

The only real let down were the ever present Academy fit issues, the cockpits never seem to fit easily on all the kits I've tried and I'm sure the wings for this kit wouldn't have fitted if you tried to fit them as the instructions say.

But overall I have say, I like this kit. If I didn't have so many other kits to build at this I would just buy another one and start again.

Overall Build Score: 3 out of 5, for a budget kit it's an excellent representation of the P-51B with a good choice of decals and alternative canopies. As long as you are prepared to deal with some fit issues!

WIP - Academy's P-51B Mustang & Tamiya's F-51D Mustang

Carrying on from where I left off I realise that my Christmas Mustangs project is rapidly becoming an Easter Mustangs project.

So here's some work in progress shots, both kits are painted and ready for decals. Since getting my new airbrush I've managed to actually paint the white stripes on the wings of the Tamiya model while the Academy one was painted with my old airbrush.

Academy's P-51B

Academy's P-51B

Tamiya's F-51D (as a P-51D)

Tamiya's F-51D (as a P-51D)

Actually; I couldn't resist starting on the decals for the Tamiya kit before writing this post...

Completed Review – Academy P-39N/Q Airacobra (2177) – Part 4

Scale: 1:72, RRP - £6.99

So 7 months have passed since I last looked at Academy's P-39N/Q Airacobra and finally, half-heartedly, decided to finish this project off.

I previously stated that I like Academy kits, they might be cheap but they tend to pack in a reasonable amount of detail for the price. However at the budget end of the market the new Airfix range seem to be surpassing them and after completing Airfix's A6M2b Zero I somewhat lost my enthusiasm for the Academy kits in my stash.

With this particular kit it was the fit issues which almost killed it off. The cockpit was difficult to fit and the two halves had a particularly ugly join which spoilt the whole model. I was also going to attempt to remodel the front wheel to be the correct size but in the end decided to leave it as it is. On the plus side I did like the option of modelling the cockpit door open, however to do so meant you really need to purchase a third detail kit (in my case one from Eduard which was to the usual high standard).

So here it is. I'm not really proud of this one, I just wanted it finished so I could move on to something else.


I combined this kit with the decals from the ancient and awful Airfix kit but really I find hard to recommend either kit. Here's hoping to Airfix issue a newly tooled P-39 to match the standard of their most recent releases!

Overall Build Score: 2 out of 5, too many fit issues and a lack of attention to detail spoil what had the potential to be a very nice budget kit.

Merry Christmas (And A Mustang Update) - Part 1

First of all, Merry Christmas to all the readers of this blog, I hope your Christmas modelling endeavours are going well!

As promised the Mustang build has begun with Academy's 1:72 scale P-51B. Construction begun with the cockpit, which to fair to this kit is pretty decent straight out of the box. However as I was using an Eduard photo etch set, (SS250), to enhance it I had to file away a fair bit of it!

As you can imagine at this scale, things are small, but that was nothing compared to constructing the side walls. The Eduard set make a more 3D effect to the cockpit which looks much better, after some very fiddly bending and folding of parts which almost too small! Well worth the effort though.

So after waiting for all that glue to dry then it was onto putting the two halves together. Experience has taught me that Academy kits don't tend to go together well and this was the case again.It took a fair bit of filing, pushing and cursing to get them together with a small but fillable gap between them.

Once they were together the next stage was to attach the wings. The wings consist of a single bottom half with both wings and two top halves. The instructions say that you should build the whole assembly and then slot it onto the fuselage. Given the fit issues I'd experienced I decided to slot the single bottom half onto the fuselage with a bit of cutting and filing. Once that was in place I attached the two wing tops. As it happens that's exactly the way the Tamiya F-51D kit is meant to be built and I think it works much easier that way.

So all in all, a productive day. Only thing was that I was careless with the glazed parts, again! Fortunately the plastic box my breakfast croissant came in was a lifesaver as I was able to cut out a replacement window from it!

Christmas Mustangs

After the complete failure of trying to build Academy's F6F-3 Hellcat I've decided to get straight back into action with a dual build.

I've been running short of a few essentials but fortunately a delivery arrived for me, primer, paints, a few detail sets and some decals, just in time for Christmas!

So what am I building next?

I've decided to attempt to build two models at the same time, two 1:72 scale P-51 Mustangs.

First up is Academy's P-51B Mustang, Old Crow, (kit #1667 or #12464) with the addition of an Eduard photo etch set (SS250). First impressions are that this is a nicely detailed kit, I hoping that it goes together better than the last Academy kit I tried.

As well as that I'll be building Tamiya's F-51D Mustang, however I'm planning on converting it back to an earlier WWII P-51D. The main reason for this is that I bought this kit second hand and the decals have perished. So I've got some replacement decals from Kits-World (set #2049). I have to say I'm really impressed with their sets, check them out! Finally, as luxury item, I've got a resin interior set from CMK (#7172). I've been curious about the products they offer so I thought I'd try out a fairly simple one with a view to buying more in the future.

So a few more days of work and then the Christmas break arrives and with it some quality modelling time and more updates!

Simple Scratchbuilding - Academy's F6F-3/5 Hellcat (2224)

After my last build I decided that my next model would be an opposing aircraft, also in flight. Naturally I decided on the Zero's rival, the Grumman F6F Hellcat, of which I had a couple to choose from in my stash.

Opening up Academy's 1/72 F6F-3/5 kit (2224) I was surprised to find that there was only the option to build a wheels down version.

Any way you like as long as it's gear down

Oh well, I thought, guess I'm going to have to build Eduard's F6F-3 (kit 7076, also 1/72 scale). But once again, only one option is offered, wheels down.

I imagine the reason for this is that the Hellcat had hydraulically actuated landing gear struts which rotated through 90° and retracted backwards into the wings (instead of sideways like many other aircraft of the era). I presume this was because the wings folded up to save space when been transported on aircraft carriers. From a modelling point of view this would mean manufacturers would have to produce more parts so in these cases it's appears they didn't feel the need to.

So with the parts I had, I decided to try and model the gear up. This wasn't a straight forward as I expected. For a start the gear covers don't actually fit the space where they'd go if they were up, so some trimming was be needed! Fortunately there was enough space within the wing for the wheels, the finishing touch was to added the struts. These were made from small pieces of cocktail sticks, sliced horizontally.

Finally I cut a hole in the base of the aircraft for the stand. One thing I learnt from my last build was, doing this on a completed model is a somewhat nerve-wracking task, best avoided if possible!

Update 16-Dec: Unfortunately this particular build was consigned to the scrapheap soon afterwards. While trying to fit the clear parts I damaged several of them which meant I would not be able to finish this model to the standard I'd hoped for. (I later realised that the fumes from the glue I used to stick the two fuselage halves together above the clear parts had caused them to fog).

Build Review – Academy P-39N/Q Airacobra (2177) – Part 3

So the clamps came off (see part 2) and as expected some filling was needed along the join between the two halves. So after filling, respraying I was ready to add decals.

As mentioned before I was going to use the decals from the Airfix P-39Q Airacobra (A01039).

Comparing the two they looked similar. A nice touch on the Airfix decals is the green backgrounds, a slightly different shade to the green of the actual aircraft. This reflects how the US insignia was often painted over with whatever green paint the VVS had to hand at the time.

However here I learnt an important lesson. Just because the scale is the same don't assume the decals are the same size... The Airfix ones seem slightly too big for this scale, or at least the Academy P-39. But as I'd started with this scheme it was too late to go back.

Despite the size issue they went on well, a bit of decal softener helped them settle into place and ensured the panel lines showed through where they should.

Next up was more construction, time to add the tricycle landing gear.

The instructions tell you to add the nose wheel when joining the two halves of fuselage. This to me seems impractical and far too early in the construction process. So I'd cut a small hole in the side where the gear attached to allow me to add it at this later stage. Using a slower setting glue I attached the nose wheel, positioned it and let it set in place

So with the rear wheels added it was time for the moment of truth, was this one going to be a tail sitter?

 Looks good to me and I still have some backup weight to attach (in the drop tank)!

Build Review – Academy P-39N/Q Airacobra (2177) – Part 2

It's been a while since I last posted about Academy's P-39N/Q. I have to confess this is partly due to dry fitting indicating that there was likely to be trouble ahead.

As seen in the previous post the cockpit went together nicely and I continued adding photo etch to the the exhaust vents, I'm not sure how visible little details will be on the fished model but it's all good practice at working with photo etch.

I'd decided to paint the larger parts before assembly and so was hoping for a good fit. As much extra weight as I could manage was pushed into the nose as anyone who's built a P-39 knows, they're notorious tail-sitters.

However after this I began to see that the two halves of the fuselage weren't going to go together easily, especially around the cockpit. This would mean lots of filling and repainting. I'm not sure if the fit issues are due to the kit, my assembly of the cockpit, or the weight. Whatever it is, no amount of filling and trimming seemed to make it fit.

However I'm not prepared to write this project off just yet so out came a large set of clamps and the hope that a bit brute force would persuade it all to got together.

So until part 3, lets hope that it does go together!

The to do list

So a quick look at my to do list for the rest of the year.

This lot comes courtesy of Academy Hobby Model Kits, (and my wallet), all in 1/72 scale, all Second World War aircraft.

First up is the P-39Q/N kit. I'd like to do this one in a VVS (Soviet) colour scheme as Soviet aircraft from this time is an area of particular interest to me. Second will be a P-51B Mustang, I'm undecided between a well known USAAF scheme or a lesser known RAF (Polish) version. Truth is, if the build goes well, I'll probably end up getting another one and doing both.

After those two comes the F6F-3/5 Hellcat kit, typical US Navy colours but by then I figure it'll be fun to paint something different than Olive Drab. And rounding up I hope to finish with the infamous Hans-Ulrich Rudel's JU87G-1 Stuka and a bare metal P-47D Thunderbolt.

Plenty to be getting on with and of course they'll all be appearing here as work progresses.