I found this one at Hobby Lobby yesterday for $9.99. That fits well within my normal budget and I was able to pick up a few supplies I was running short on.
My first impressions of this kit are not too cordial. It’s like an upscaled 1/144 scaled kit with better details. The panel lines are shallow and I don’t think they’ll take a wash easily.
The instructions need some help. It lists one part that is already molded to the plane lol. The decal placent takes some educated guessing to interpret. First, they placement is wrong for some of them and second, the numbers given for the decals are almost all wrong. They’d like me to substitute a stars and bars for the number that goes on the fuse and I’m pretty sure that’s not where it goes lol.
Anyways, I think I may just slap this one together just for the satisfaction of completing something.
Thanks for taking a peek. I’ll try and find some time between sore and exhausted to make some progress.
It’s always good to see you working. Those HobbyBoss kits are kinda funny - mix of great detail and ultra-tricky molding with some gross simplifications. For similar reasons to yours I have a started F-84 Thunderjet. I wish you showed some pictures in this thread, because I feel like I didn’t do a Jug for too long and I’d like to know if this one is even worth looking at, or should I go straight to Tamiya. Good luck with your build and have a nice day
I have seen there range of easy assembely kits on hannants and been put off a bit. I always view stuff like this in a bad way for some reason. So interested to see how this pans out and if i may be judging them harshly.
Here are some of the sprue shots. The few EP marks are on the bay doors. There are two choices in props. The engine is alright- it lacks cooling ribs on the cylinders. The bombs, drop tanks, and wing pylons will need details added to look right, but the center line drop tank looks good enough.
The windscreen/canopy is a kinda snap-in one piece affair.
All the reviews I could find said not to bother with the pit. You can’t really see anything anyways.
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Hope that’s the info you needed. Now we’ll just have to see how it turns out. From what I’ve seen it can look pretty good if some time is put into it. My plan is not to get too carried away with the build itself. I just really want to paint something. Lol
Thanks Mike, its doesn’t look as bad as i had expected. Lack of pit detail was a given i think. As you say, good a a quick weekend build, and hopefullyfor getting kits into the hobby, big and small ones.
Mike these type of kits from Hobby Boss are exactly what you said a decent weekend project. I built the Fw190D-9. It’s really not that bad. Like you said very minimal interior. Exterior is decent as long as your not rivet counting
The only thing I’m not liking about this kit is the super shallow panel lines. I’ve given up on most of them, but I concentrated on separating the control surfaces and the cowl flaps.
I think its going to turn out okay, but not great. Still remains to be seen.
You will need a little filller along the fuselage joins. I tried getting these to go together seamlessly, but in the end I relented and pulled out the Bondo. The panel lines have suffered greatly in this area.
After scratching up a scoop for the supercharger in the cowl, I added a basic IP, IP cowl, and a gunsight. These items can be seen pretty well so I’m not regretting adding those parts.
It’s all going together fairly well. I’ve got the landing gear and bay doors left untouched still, but I’m getting there. I may have some primer on it before the day is through.
Thanks for the interest guys. It’s looking like a Jug finally lol. I’ll keep you appraised.
I finished up the landing gear last night. The gear doors are molded together, but a razor saw will separate them easily. There are enough locator pins on both halves to make alignment trouble free and it looks better.
I also painted the 150 gal. Centerline drop tank. I used a three rattle can (lazy) method that worked beautifully and gave me a gorgeous chrome-like finish. Ah, but then I got impatient and I have to start over again after I sand the finger prints off of it.
For the rest of you fellow short cut enthusiasts, such as myself, the three rattle cans were Rustoleum flat black primer, Testors ultra gloss, followed by Rustoleum Chrome.
If I’d have let the layers cure properly and not tried to test fit it so early I’d have something nice to show you, but I screwed it up.
At least I know the process works! Lol
But this is going to take days to paint in this way so the layers cure properly.
Sometimes I get a feeling that those spray can chrome silvers just never dry - they give you a nice shiny finish, put if you hold a part for too long or try to mask it with tape, even after several days, it’s going to leave a mark.
Recently I have tried Mr Color Super Metallic Chrome Silver - now this one is expensive and maybe not the most shiny chrome out there, but its perfect for NMF aircraft and most importantly - you can really mask that stuff!
Yeah, I always say good models take time! Trying to rush things (although tempting!) usually turns out the other way around… Good luck with that NMF and I look forward to seeing some nice photos! Have a nice day
Looks like your doing a pretty good job of that kit Mike! I needed to teach a new elective this year, so I decided to bring modeling to school. I pitched the idea of building models and doing historical research projects on the subjects of the kits. The administration loved the idea so I was able to purchase a bunch of these easy assembly kits. They’re not great, but pretty good for a bunch of teenagers that have never built anything before. As an added bonus, I have a small air force in my classroom.
