Hello all, haven’t posted in about a month although I’m always using this site, great source. Anyway for my next build I’d like to purchase a Douglas A-26 Invader. I’d like the kit to include a good amount of detail out of the box and also be molded “clean”. If I add any aftermarket parts it would be in the cockpit as I’d like to display this one with open canopy and no pilot. Can anyone recommend a kit brand in 1/48 scale? Thank you, Ted
I have built the Monogram and Monogram Pro-Modeler A-26 Invader kits in 48th scale. They are good kits but you’ll have to find them via eBay or similar sellers.
I also have the ICM 1/48 release, a more modern kit, but I have not built it yet.
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I agree with aggieman about the Monogram/Monogram Promodeler kits as being nice kits. I believe that a recent(5-8 years ago) one of the options was to build the A-26 as a fire bomber.
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Those old Promodeler kits are amazing. My F-86 kit is a Promodeler kit and I have one or two more in my stash. I’m looking forward to building them. I try to pick them up when I see them.
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Does Revel still make a good kit? Last time I built a Revel kit it was 40 years ago when I was 15. So I really don’t know. Thanks for the help.
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@hh60gblackhawk That kit began life in the Monogram factory. Revell bought Monogram in the 90s, thus acquiring many of their molds. Revell has put that one out a few times since, and it is a good kit.
I’d also say that I’ve built many of the newer Revell releases, currently building their big 1/32 Ju88A-1, and these are good kits. You get a lot of detail for less than Tamiya prices.
Ahhhhh okay, I did not know that Revel bought out Monogram. I’m glad to hear that Revel makes a good kit-less expensive Tamiya also. I like the Tamiya kits but I’m going to purchase this Revel and give it a go. Thanks for your input.
I also have Revell’s 1/32 He-111 and P-51D Mustang kits and aggieman is correct, a good amount of detail for a lower price.
Cool, thanks guys. Will purchase it soon. Thank you.
Actually it was the other way around. Revell & Monogram merged in the late 80’s, but the name change didn’t take place until the 90’s. Many kits were still issued under each label separately until then. Revell was based in Venice CA, while Monogram was out of Morton Grove IL. Once the merger occurred, Revell left CA and moved their offices to IL.
Regarding kits of the Invader, this is what Scalemates shows for the type in 1/48
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Neither company bought the other. Rather, they were both owned by 1986 by an investment company called Odyssey Partners. Odyssey had bought Revell previously, and bought Monogram as a further investment. They merged the two companies. Monogram was profitable, whereas Revell had never been as profitable. The Revell name was chosen because it had recognition overseas as well in the US, whereas Monogram was strictly a US company. So the Revell label was chosen but the organization was really Monogram.
Thomas Graham’s books on Monogram and Revell are interesting ones to have in your library. So is his book on Aurora, too.
To the post’s topic, I second it that the Monogram/ProModeler kit is a very good one, and the new ICM kit is also a very good kit. Both can be recommended. Get one of each and build 'em side by side!
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lol, maybe I will! Thank you!
I haven’t started it yet, but recently got this one from ICM:
Seems like a pretty nice kit!
Edit: I bought this exact kit because I was looking for a specific set of nose + dorsal turret arrangement, but from my research, it’s the same base kit as all of the other versions, so happy to open it up and take pics of sprues or anything if you’re interested. ScaleMates has instructions for all of the different versions, so you can see which sprues are in which kits and which kits have what leftover parts included.
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