I Never Thought I'd See The Day When...

This last weekend I decided to have one of those moments we all have when we suddenly realise the stash is getting a bit large and maybe something has to go. Naturally I thought this would involve a selection of "vintage" kits being put to one side ready to be listed on eBay. But something unexpected happened.

If you're a regular reader you'll know that I've not really had a bad word to say about Tamiya kits and to a certain extent that's still the case. But this weekend the unthinkable happened and one of my pristine Tamiya kits ended up on the "for sale" pile! The kit in question is Tamiya's 1:72 Messerschmitt Bf-109E-4/7.

Tamiya's Bf 109E-4/7 Trop

 
Sometime ago I wrote an in-box review of two Bf-109 kits, one from Airfix, the other from Zvezda. I didn't include the Tamiya kit because I figured it would be a forgone conclusion that it's a good kit. And that's the thing, it is. I'm sure it'll go together well, the three colour schemes are interesting  and the addition of three spinners is typical of Tamiya's attention to detail. OK so the fuselage shape is a few millimetres out, not noticeable to the naked eye, but that's forgiveable in my opinion.

Why is it going? Well it is better than Zvezda's offering, but the more I think about it, the more impressed I am with the Airfix kit. And it's not just their Bf-109, they just keep on delivering excellent kits with each round of releases. And when you also consider my first ever review (titled: "The Worst Kit You'll Ever Build?") was of an Airfix kit, I can't help but be impressed by the continual improvement from Airfix, so all credit to them. (Revell take note, it is possible to invest time and effort into producing high quality budget kits, rather than buying up other people's old kits).

So there you go, I never thought I see the day when I'd sell a Tamiya kit over an Airfix one.

A Re-Review - Vallejo Model Air

A while ago I wrote a review of Vallejo's Model Air range of paints. I stand by my comments that they work really well and from a technical point of view they are still the best paints I've used with an airbrush. However a few months on and I feel I really need to add something to that review, a disclaimer if you like.

Disclaimer:

While the paints are excellent the colours are not. If you buy one of their themed colour sets expecting to be able to use them straight out of the box then you are likely to be disappointed. Simply put, the colours are not even close to what they claim to be.

RLM colours? Not even close.

So far I've investigated both their RLM and RAF colours and found them both to be some way of what they are meant to be. Greens in particular seem to be nowhere near the shades they should be. Want an RAF green? You'll probably need to use their Russian green. Luftwaffe greens? I've no idea where they've got the colours from. Light blue undersides for your Luftwaffe aircraft? You'll probably need to mix in more grey into the supposed blue than blue, and so on.

You can probably see where this is going, when I refer to my Academy 1:72 Me 163B build and as to why there's been little in the way of progress. Yes you guessed it, I sprayed it in RLM 81 and 82 straight out of the bottle and now it looks like something from a cartoon. The undersides are fine so now I've got to find a way of removing the topside colours without ruining the rest of the paintwork or the interior.

It's times like this when I find this hobby less than enjoyable. The kit is excellent, for once my skills haven't let me down, just frustrating paint shades from Vallejo...

Review - Vallejo Model Air

RRP - £16.99 (8 colour set), £31.99 (16 colour set)

Time for something a little different, a paint review. Vallejo's model air range are specially designed for airbrushes and to be honest I'm lost for words...!

Overall Score: Incredible, so easy to use, just perfect!

 
OK so in all seriousness I tried these out of curiosity, partly because I didn't feel like mixing Tamiya paints to get RLM (Luftwaffe) colours when I could get them ready mixed. Typically the 8 colour set consists of 6 colours, a matt varnish and thinner.

I've tried the Model Colour range, for brush painting, and I was not impressed so wasn't expecting much. The Model Air paints themselves seem to have a resin like texture which means they flow nicely and are not too wet. For me they've been an absolute revolution and have had as big an impact on what I can do as changing my airbrush did.

I've found that camouflage patterns are much easier to do with paint that is less "wet." And just to show, the picture below took me very little time to do.

The more eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that the model in question is Airfix's 1:72 Bf 109E-4, I'll write more about that later. I'm making plans to retire my Tamiya paints and starting to replace them with the Vallejo Model Air range so I'll leave you with an interesting video on airbrushing with Vallejo paints.

19/03/2015 - There's more that needs adding to this post, a disclaimer!

Build Review - Snap-Fit Hit? Zvezda's Messerchmitt Bf-109F-2 (7302)

I said curiosity would lead me to try building Zvezda's 1:72 Bf-109F-2 and sure enough it did! So surprised was I by how the initial stages of the build went that I just had to share.

This kit is designed to snap-fit together without the need for glue, however I have decided that I wish to glue it and add some extras. But that doesn't mean I wasn't going to see just how well it fitted.

To start with I assembed the cockpit front and rear walls on the single piece that formed the wings, the idea is that you then push this up through the assembled fuselage and it all snaps together. I generally prefer models that provide you with wings in a single piece (where possible) because it eliminates the need for checking angles that comes from having two separate wings.

As you can see it's a nicely detailed cockpit. Although I did use Eduard's photo-etch set, (73475), I didn't feel the need to use the whole set. Once that was done I was ready to assemble the fuselage. I painted the side walls of the cockpit and made sure I didn't forget to add the tail wheel before joining the two halves. Here I elected to use glue, while the parts snapped together I wanted a sold join between the parts, that I wouldn't have otherwise got.

And then it was time to push the cockpit up through the bottom of the fuselage which turned out to be a really firm fit and it all clipped together perfectly.

Finally I clipped in the panel to the base of the wings which contained the wheel wells, couldn't be simpler. The only thing I didn't like was already the attached pitot tube as it's far to easy to bend or break.

So what are my thoughts? To start with I think I prefer this approach to easy kits compared to the Hobby Boss approach of few simple parts. The way Zvezda have engineered this kit leads to a really well thought out kit, intelligently engineered with easy assembly in mind. The bonus is that the detail doesn't have to be sacrificed this way. Plus it gives the modeller more freedom to build the kit in as easy or as complex a way as they feel comfortable doing.

Reading a lot of the modelling forums I see a lot of the more experienced modellers dismissing this kit because it's a snap-fit kit and it appears such a kit is beneath them. It's a shame that such thinking may cause some to miss out, in my opinion (and reflected in my approach) this hobby should be all about experimentation and trying out new things.

Like I said at the beginning of this post this is only the initial stage of the build so I will refrain from any thought of scoring until it's progressed further. But so far, so good!

Update (26th April 2014)

Unfortunately this kit, although very nice fell foul of my nemesis, Tamiya's XF-2 flat white paint. For some reason I find working with white paint (via spray, airbrush or even paint brush) to be extremely difficult and in this case so difficult it pretty much ruined the model.

Completed Review – Tamiya MiG 21 (61602)

Scale: 1:72, RRP - £3.99

A while back I attempted to build one of Tamiya's largely forgotten series of 1:100 aircraft, in this case a MiG-17 which if I'm honest was a less than impressive build. So as a result I've largely forgotten this series until I saw some for sale at the Shropshire Scale Model Show the other week. As they were selling for £2.99 each I thought I might well give them another go.

The MiG-21 is a fighter I've always found interesting, back from the days when aircraft designers still tried to build aircraft that resembled sci-fi rocket ships and so I was keen to see how this one would build.

Opening up the kit and the parts looked good, to my untrained eye it certainly looked like a MiG-21. There are a choice of 4 markings, (two Soviet, one Polish, one Vietnamese) all in silver, so in reality it's a case of painting it up and then just choosing which decals to apply.

As builds go it was absolutely straight forward as there aren't many parts at this scale. Cockpit detail consists of a seat, which once the canopy is on is all you'll see anyway. Apart from that you have choice of wheels up or down. Unlike the MiG-19 the missile pylons and missiles were much less of a struggle to attach which was a relief

 Paint wise I used a base coat of Tamiya AS-12 (spray) and then masked individual panels and airbrushed them with Tamiya X-11. This was mostly down to the fact that these two colours were only silvers I had! A coat of semi-gloss spray and then on with the decals, I decided to go for the Vietnamese variant.

As it happens I know a bit about this particular aircraft, 4326, it's one of several on display outside the Hanoi Aircraft Defence Museum, it's well known as a "Phantom Killer" and among its pilots it counts Nguyen Van Coc, the highest scoring ace of the war. It is actually a MiG-21PF and because the painting instructions weren't quite accurate I made some changes. I referred to the more accurate painting instructions for Academy's 1:48 MiG-21PF kit, of which this aircraft is one of the options to build.

The changes were, a dark green nose cone, and the fin at the rear (rather than black) and the cockpit colour which I changed to that awful Russian interior turquoise. It a shame there aren't any decals for the kill markings that adorn the nose of this aircraft, I guess this version will have to be an early version!

I really enjoyed this build, it was quick, fairly simple but still, the end result is a model that I think looks really nice when on display. It's now got me looking for one in my preferred 1:72 scale!


Overall Build Score: 3 out of 5, a simple and yet good looking kit that was a breeze to build. Let down only slightly by the lazy painting instructions.

Two Times One O Nine - In Box Review (Airfix & Zvezda)

Time for another dual-in-box review, this time I'm going to look at two variants of the ever popular Messerschmitt Bf-109 in 1:72 scale.

In my last comparison in box review I chose two models at different ends of the price scale. This time we're to look at two similar priced products (even though I do have a more expensive Tamiya kit in the stash). The kits are both newer releases, an Airfix Emil and a Friedrich from Zvezda.

Modellers really are spoilt for choice, all of the mainstream companies have released many 109s, and so I had to decide which to look at. I eliminated the Academy and Hasegawa kits early on because they have some serious shape issues, especially the Academy ones. The Tamiya kit is meant to have a better shape but a slightly short fuselage. I actually compared a Tamiya Bf-109E with the Airfix one and couldn't really see any issues myself. So in the end it came down to price, and as I mentioned earlier in this post, I thought I'd compare two similar priced models this time, both retailing at around the £7 mark.

The Airfix kit is once again one of their newer releases and so I now have high expectations whenever I get hold of one of these. The Zvezda kit is also a fairly recent kit, it is however a snap fit kit aimed at beginners.

Airfix Messerschmitt Bf-109E-4 (A01008)

Airfix's 109 soon followed on from their impressive A6M2b Zero which I reviewed previously. And as is the case with their new toolings there's a huge improvement on the older Airfix kits. This particular release follows the same format and like the Zero, looking at the parts makes you want to get on and build it.

Again Airfix decided to go with the single colour scheme option, which is OK I guess if you want to build that scheme. The scheme in question is that of an aircraft flown by Franz von Werra who was famous for becoming the first (and only) Axis prisoner of war to escape from a POW camp in Canada and return to Germany. Back to the decals and being ever so popular the 109 isn't short of 3rd party decal options if you feel like doing something different. If not then the ones with the kit look to be perfectly good quality Cartograf decals.

The actual aircraft in its "retirement"

Looking at the parts, they're full of nice details for a budget kit. There's an engine for a start, but don't get too excited as unfortunately it's slightly flawed. The machine guns have been cast into the cowling rather than above the engine, so you'll have to scratch build them if you want to display the engine (and remove them from the cowl). A plus point though is the flaps. Yes at 1:72 scale you have separate flaps, which means you can show them in the down position if you want, a very welcome addition I think.

So all in all, it's business as usual for the new invigorated Airfix, which is no bad thing. And again I'm impressed with what I see. I actually think in terms of quality it's comparable with the more expensive Tamiya kit at half the price.


Zvezda Messerchmitt Bf-109F-2 (7302)

"My first model kit" the box proclaims (in Russian). This is a snap fit kit which seems to turn more experienced modellers away, and you know what, I think they might be missing out.

I opened this box and was actually surprised by what I saw, this is beginners kit with plenty of detail. Realistically it's competing with the likes of Hobby Boss's easy kit range which retail at about £1 less. But rather than going for the low parts and less detail approach Zvezda have gone for more parts, more detail but no glue approach.


And you know what? I'm really intrigued by this approach. I guess the only real question if will it actually "snap fit" and we'll have to wait until I build it before we know the answer!

There's side wall detail, cockpit floor details, an option of using a flat instrument panel with a decal or a painting a raised detail one. In the Hobby Boss easy kits you get none of this. You also get a nicely detailed pilot option (moulded into a seat) which is good to see, or good to add to the spares box as decent 1:72 pilots seem hard to come by!

Looking at the decals, you get two options. One is a standard Luftwaffe camouflage scheme, the other an all white Eastern front scheme which is a refreshing change (and obviously influenced by Zvezda being a Russian company). As for the quality, in my particular box, (and it may just be a case of this one, rather than all) they don't look too good I'm afraid. So much so that before committing to a colour scheme I have sought out a "Plan B" just in case they don't work out.

One final note is oddly enough the packaging. The bigger Zvezda kits come in rough card boxes with no plastic bags and on several occasions I've found the contents to be broken as a result of this final lack of quality control. These easy kits appear to be more tightly packed and I'm pleased to say damage free.


So which to buy?

Tough choice, really there's nothing between them and of course I've already bought them both! So I guess the real question is which to build first? In this case Airfix fully met my (now high) expectations which means my curiosity may well lead me to build the Zvezda kit first, just so see how it performs.

Airfix Messerschmitt Bf-109E-4 - Overall In Box Score: Promising. Excellent value, excellent detail. Looks like you can't go wrong with this one.

Zvezda Messerschmitt Bf-109F-2 - Overall In Box Score: Promising. Such detail! Outperforms its easy-kit competitors and holds it's own with regular kits.

So if you have a preference as to wanting to build an Emil or a Friedrich then I say choose the one you want as these both look like excellent offerings. Otherwise the Airfix kit slightly edges out the Zvezda kit at this stage. But don't discount Zvezda's offering, it's a really good looking kit.

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.

Zero Plus Zero - In Box Review (Airfix & Tamiya)

When it comes to Second World War aircraft I have to confess the aircraft of Japan are ones that I've tended to overlook. With that in mind I decided to make up for it by taking a look at a couple of Japanese Navy aircraft kits of the legendary Zero.

The Zero is a popular choice with Asian model companies, Hasegawa, Fine Molds and Tamiya have released numerous kits over many years. However they seem to be less popular with western companies, I can only dream of an Eduard Profipack version! It was a newer 1:72 scale release from Airfix that first prompted me to take a look at the Zero and soon after I followed that purchase with another, the Tamiya 1:72 version. Before purchasing I also inspected those of Academy and Hasegawa but decided what I had was the best in their respective price ranges.

The Airfix kit that I'm going to take a look at is the A6M2b version, the Tamiya kit is the later A6M5 variant. While Tamiya have also released an A6M2b (the next kit they released after the A6M5) I elected not to purchase this one as I wanted to build different versions. I did however inspect both Tamiya kits before purchase and found them to exactly the same in terms of quality.

These kits are at opposite ends of the price scale, so how do they compare?


Airfix Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero (A01005)

This Airfix 1:72 scale kit is one of their more recent new toolings. It's available in two versions, this standard kit and a starter kit with paints. The two kits offer different colour schemes, this one a Mitsubishi Green scheme from later in the war, the starter kit a white colour scheme from the time of the Pearl Harbour raid.

As is case with Airfix's series one kits you only get the one colour scheme, not too much of an issue as you can only make the one aircraft anyway. Decals in these new kits are by Cartograf and if they're like any of the other newer Airfix kits they should be just fine.

Upon opening the box I there ares three sprues of grey plastic and one clear canopy. The parts look well moulded and fairly detailed. The panel lines are a bit heavy but despite this it's a vast improvement on Airfix's older kits. There's even detail on the cockpit walls, although I'm not sure how much will be visible once you attach the single piece (closed) canopy. As with most Airfix kits you also get a pilot should you wish use him, personally I think it's always nice to be given the choice!

Manufacturer's finished product shot

I have to say I'm quite impressed at this kit, opening it and inspecting the parts really gave me a feeling of "I want to build this kit." While there are more detailed kits available it doesn't automatically mean this kit isn't worth your time. Far from it, this is decent little kit, even more so when you consider it's more detailed rivals are more than twice the price. Compare it to it's nearest rival at a similar price bracket, Academy's kit and the Airfix kit is streets ahead.

Tamiya Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero - Zeke (60779)

I think Tamiya can probably be considered the "King" of Zero kits, so it's probably not dificult to guess the direction this review is going to go. Tamiya have been releasing Zeros in 1:48 scale since my childhood (and before) and in 2008 they started refreshing the range. A new 1:32 scale release followed before we finally got a 1:72 scale version.

So what do you get? Two sprues of very nicely detailed grey plastic, a couple of polycaps for the spinner, clear parts for either an open or closed canopy and a nice little fact sheet about the Zero as well as the instruction booklet. Just looking the sprues I was blown away by the detail, I even had to remind myself this was a 1:72 scale kit! No pilot though I'm afraid, but Tamiya never have offered them at this scale which I've always felt is a shame.

The kit offers schemes for three aircraft, all in Mitsubishi Green. Decals appear to be as good as those in the Airfix kit but of course I'll only be able to confirm that after applying them.

Manufacturer's finished product shot

This is clearly a more detailed and more polished kit than Airfix's offering. However it should be, at three times the price you expect that. A more reasonable comparison would be with a more expensive Hasegawa kit and here the Tamiya offering still comes out on top.

So which to buy?

If you had to choose one I think it would come down to price alone. The Airfix kit is exceptional value and in the sub-£10 price bracket you need not look elsewhere. The Tamiya kit retails at around the £20 mark and is simply the best kit there is in this scale, if you want to pay that much.

If money's no object, (and you're not buying them to review), then I recommend you buy them both!

Airfix A6M2b Zero - Overall In Box Score: Promising. Excellent value, Airfix can be really proud of this release.

Tamiya A6M5 Zero - Overall In Box Score: Outstanding. I have no words left to say how good this kit looks!

In the coming months I'd certainly like to try build these kits and see if I still stand by these scores. When I do I'll update this post with a link to a build post(s).
 

Completed Review – Airfix MiG-15 (A02037) – Part 3

Scale: 1:72, RRP - £7.99

Following my last post I decided to make one last push at finishing this model and giving it the all important final score.

I'd decided that I wanted this aircraft to looked used, partly because I felt it would be good to try my hand at weathering. I shaded the panel lines with Citadel inks before spraying a Tamiya flat coat (TS-80 spray) to take the shine off as I wasn't looking for a factory finish. I'd found a particularly useful set of photos here which showed a couple of well weathered MiG-15s and these formed the basis for the finish I was hoping to achieve.

The next step was to add the decals and for this scheme there are a lot of them! I was a bit concerned at this scale the model would look too "busy" with all the warning signs etc. The other schemes had considerably less decals. However I think I was proved wrong, as the decals went on I started to feel like I had a good looking model.

In the past Airfix decals have had a bit of a bad reputation. I'm pleased to say those days seem to be behind them, these decals were excellent and went on easily. There was one slight hitch, one of the red stars curled and came apart when I tried to correct it. This was entirely due to an error on my part, I'd not taken enough care in fixing it.

I attempted to mask and repaint the star but this was more difficult than I first envisaged and so I reluctantly had to opt for a somewhat weathered star.

The final step was to add the canopy, before I did, I took one last look at the Eduard enhanced cockpit before it was almost hidden from view...

This was probably the most disappointing part of the kit, I already had an idea from dry fitting that it wasn't going to fit well and sadly that was the case. There were rather large gaps between the canopy and the fuselage that took some filling. I do have a Pavla vacform canopy stashed away somewhere and with hindsight I should have probably used it this time. I guess it can wait for my next MiG-15 build.

So my final conclusions: This is a surprisingly good kit and shows the steps that Airfix were making to improve their kits a few years ago. Granted their new kits are a further improvement but this one still holds up well. I think it's a good kit for beginners and experts alike, either as a straight from the box build or as the basis for a more advanced build The overall ease of the build is a plus as are the excellent decals, I just feel the fit issues of the two fuselage halves and the canopy let it down a bit.

In addition to this I should also add that the Eduard Zoom set, SS358, is highly recommended should you wish to enhance the cockpit.

And finally as this is the first completed model on this blog I decided that it deserved to be mounted in a display case. The case was one of Trumpeter's excellent cases, a 170 x 170 x 70mm size case (product code 09812) and the base was made from ICM's 1:72 scale PAG-14 Soviet Airfield Plates (72214).

Overall Build Score: 3 out of 5, a good simple build that looks like a MiG-15, slightly let down by fit issues.

Build Review – Airfix MiG-15 (A02037) – Part 2

It been a while since I last posted an update on my ongoing MiG-15 1:72 scale build. Free time has been at a premium during the last month, the modellers curse that effect us all at some time...

However the good news it what time I have spent on this build has been productive. After finishing the cockpit I assembled the fuselage. This went together fairly well, however there was a large join between the two halves which at the time I incorrectly assumed was meant to be a join between panels.

Next up were the wings, they fitted perfectly and in no time I had the bare metal coat silver coat of paint on the model, Tamiya AS-12 straight from the spray can. The nose was airbrushed red with Tamiya XF-7 and attached after I've finished spraying the silver.

The landing gear was assembled attached and then painted. The gear covers and under wing fuel tanks were painted separately while still on the sprues and then attached. Overall it was nothing too difficult, with a pair of tweezers and some careful glueing I had myself a MiG-15.


So far, so good, a fun build for novice and expert alike. My only complaint is the join between the two halves of the fuselage. It took a few tries of filling, sanding and repainting and I still could not  hide it to my satisfaction.

                                   

Despite this I feel I can already recommend this kit, baring any major issues with the decals which I will discuss in my next build post, along with my final score.

Build Review – Airfix MiG 15 (A02037) – Part 1

I know this is a slight deviation from my to do list but I've had this kit a while now and I got a sudden urge to build a cold war jet. I had originally decide to do an in box review of this kit but got carried away and started building it...


The kit itself is one of the more recent toolings, from late 2009. This is few years after Hornby took over the Airfix brand and had started to drag it out of the model kit dark ages. While not as good as the very latest Airfix kits we've been seeing it was certainly a step in the right direction when it was released.

So in the box, how does it look?

First thoughts are, it looks good, the shape looks like a MiG-15. The details are a little heavy in places but in my opinion that doesn't take anything away from the model. I did notice that a few details were mirrored on both sides of the aircraft which isn't the case in real life, but again that won't spoil the model in any way. Also I feel the wheels do look a bit small for this scale and I think one of the bars across the canopy is missing.

The marking options certainly caught my eye. There's three options, an iconic silver VVS (Soviet Airforce) one, a thin striped green and yellow variant from the Korean war and finally a three tone camouflaged Hungarian aircraft from the 1970's. I think these 3 options give a good range to modellers of varying skill levels. In addition to this there's plenty of decals, the silver option has many, should you wish to detail warning signs and instructions that seem to adorn every panel of the aircraft.

I decided to opt for the silver version myself, wanting a straight forward paint job and the chance to apply plenty of decals for a change. But before I could get on with that I had to start with the cockpit which I was going to detail with some Eduard Zoom extras (set SS358).

The cockpit was painted grey using a mix of Citadel paints to produce the required shade. I have seen some modellers painting the interiors of MiG 15s that vivid Soviet turquoise that is so common in Soviet era aircraft. However I believe that was only adopted later (probably around the time MiG-21s came in service) and so isn't correct for this aircraft.

This cockpit is tiny when it comes to super-detailing and was a bit of a challenge. I think the basic cockpit is perfectly suitable for the beginner, especially if you want to add the pilot figure. I didn't and so that was the only reason I decided to use the Eduard extras.

Apart from that I used some liquid green stuff to add a bit more detail to the seat as it would be visible, some photo-etch seatbelts (which were incredibly fiddly) and that was the cockpit done.

Silver paint was then added to various interior parts and then I was ready to start assembling the fuselage and wings. More on that in part 2.

In Box Review – Eduard Spitfire Mk.IXc Late Version (8281)

The Spitfire may be a British icon but it's certainly one that has not been as well represented in 1:48 scale as it could have been.

While there's plenty of kits out there they are largely plagued by inconsistencies or lacking the production standards that more experienced modellers demand these days.

With the Mk.IX we've most recently we've seen releases from Airfix (in 2007) and Italeri's American Aces release (from 2010). In my opinion both these kits are simple and lack the finer details but should not be discounted, especially if you want a straight forward build or if you're a novice modeller.

Elsewhere there's ICM's release from the late 1990's which if I remember correctly featured an interesting VVS, (Soviet), version but was an absolute nightmare to build and the Hasegawa's release a few years later which was unfortunately too short in the body meaning you needed an after market conversion kit to get it right.

So over to Eduard, can they finally give this legendary aircraft the kit it deserved? Recently my business took a delivery of Eduard kits from our wholesaler and I couldn't resist taking a look.

Well, upon opening the box my initial response was, "is that it"? Eduard's profipacks are usually packed with sprues and yet this box was only half full, containing four grey sprues and a single clear one.

However my initial response was a misjudged one, there's everything packed into this kit. The surface detail is beautiful, fine panel lines, rivets and they all look great, even the exhausts have been hollowed out.

As with all Profipacks there are photo-etched parts, mostly for the interior and these look to be the usual Eduard high standard. In addition the clear parts aren't too thick and there's an option of either opening or closing the canopy. Either way you should be able to show off that nice photo-etched interior.

Shape wise it looks good, add that to that the detail and it makes this the obvious choice over the Hasegawa kit which was it's nearest competitor.

Now if that wasn't enough this is also going to be one of the kits that has the option of Eduard's own resin Brassin extras. Already there's tyres, drop tanks and an incredible cockpit which I'd consider painting on it's own as a side project.

For the marking options you have a choice of six. Naturally they're all RAF markings, and five of the six are standard camouflage schemes. However there's a good choice of pilot nationalities to choose from, for me the aircraft flown by Pierre Clostermann stands out as the one I'd probably want to build.

Manufacturer's finished product shot

So back to my earlier question, can Eduard finally give this legendary aircraft the kit it deserved? In my opinion, it looks like the answer is a resounding "Yes." However I would say while it appears this kit does go together rather well it's still probably one for more experienced modellers. For the beginner out there I'd personally recommend the Airfix release mentioned above, I have an unfinished one somewhere and it's not such a bad kit.


Overall In Box Score: Outstanding. The perfect Spitfire!

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!

Completed Review - Revell Easy Kit Concorde (06642)

Scale: 1/200, RRP - £12.99

Recently my wife became very interested in Concorde, for her it is perfection in aircraft form. For her interest is primarily civil aircraft where as mine is military.

Over the past few days she's been asking me if I could get her "a Concorde." I had offered to get a model kit and build one but apparently I spend far too long building and painting a model. I decided to look a die-cast models however for me as a modeller I felt they just lacked the detail that I'm used to. It was then that I encountered this Easy Kit from Revell and thought I'd give it a try.

First of all before I begin this review I'm going to say that it's not something I'd normally consider for myself. I understand it's a kit aimed at younger and novice modellers and so my review will reflect that. I've seen an increase in such kits (especially from Hobbyboss and Zvezda) and I certainly think they offer a good way into the hobby for beginners who'd be put off by the more complex kits as a starting point.

The kit comes in a nice box with the pre-painted tail section on display. Upon opening the box you get two pre-painted sprues, a single clear piece and an instruction sheet. The instruction are typical Revell black and white drawn instruction, in this case with a total of 7 steps.

I have to say I was quite impressed with the detail of the parts upon first seeing them, however I thought it would be difficult to remove some of the parts without damaging the paint, mostly where black painted parts were attached to a sprue. Also there was a slight error in the instructions, they seemed to suggest 3 parts were needed to build the cockpit windows when in the actual kit there was just one single part.

Construction began by fitting the windows and cockpit into one of the halves of the aircraft before snapping the other half together. Overall it was straight forward however there was a slight gap between the two. I see no reason why you couldn't glue the parts together but for the purpose of this review I decided not to use any glue.

Next up were the wings, the top and bottom halves clip together and then the body clips onto the wings, couldn't be easier and already I had a model looking like Concorde, all be it with a flat nose.

I added the nose and I have to say this was the only part I felt that was not detailed well in the instructions, it was very easy to put it on the wrong way round. And then I encountered exactly the issue I feared would happen. Removing the wheels from the sprues I found I was left with some very ugly white spots on the tyres.

 
I was left with no choice but to deviate from the "easy kit" and get a pot of black paint out to correct this. There is of course an option to build the kit with the landing gear up and given the weak nature of the landing gear I'd suggest you hold on to the parts in case the landing gear ever gets broken.

After that it was on to the final stage, adding the engines. Again the black painted parts need a slight bit of touching up but apart that it was a straight forward finish to this kit. Total build time, (including taking photographs and painting) had been 45 minutes.

So what did I think of this kit overall? It was a surprisingly fun build although I felt it needed a bit of painting to finish off neatly. The end result certainly looks like Concorde and I think it's nicer than the die-cast models I'd seen. For a simple model kit I did think it was a bit expensive but then again you don't have the cost of glues and paints, something I tend to forget as I've accumulated lots of them over many years of painting and building models.

Compared to die-cast models you do get your money's worth and you get the chance to actually build something which I think would be a good thing for younger modellers and those who are new to the hobby. The finished model looks good and my wife has put it on display, she finally has her Concorde. As for me, I'm thinking of that Easy Kit Lufthansa 747 that I saw on the shelf next to this one...

Overall score: 2.5 out of 5, a fun build which is exactly what the hobby should be about. Slightly let down by the need to get out the paint.