Back After a LONG Hiatus

Hello! Just returned to building scale model aircraft after almost 35 year break! In the iterim I’ve built some tanks, and Garage Kits, but even that was some 20 years ago. But finally returned to my favorite subject, aircraft.

Wow have things changed! From brands to how the models are finished! When I was building back then, I remember Monogram, Airfix, Revell, and Tamiya. Today there are SO many manufacturers. Hard to tell which or who makes the best model. When I say “best” I mean quality and engineering.

Since being back I’ve built the Trumpeter 1/32 F-35A, 1/48 Tamiya F-14A, and Hasegawa F-18F.

Gotta say Tamiya still makes the best engineered model. The Trumpeter was fun with ok engineering, with the Hasegawa F-18 being an absolute PITA. The Hasegawa fit was awful requiring alot of putty. Instructions were bad causing me to glue parts in the wrong place cause it wasn’t clear. I hope not all Hasegawa kits are that bad. If they are, I won’t be building another Hasegawa kit.

F-35

F-14

F-18

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Welcome back to the hobby! Welcome to the Forums! Glad to have you aboard.

Very nice builds! Only one problem. The workbench is too clean.[;)] Oh, the photos are good and clear. Makes it easier to see the great work. [Y]

Stay safe.

Jim [cptn]

Welcome back to the hobby and welcome to the forum! I look forward to seeing more of your builds.

Best regards,

Brad

Welcome to FSM

Welcome! Great finishes on those birds - let’s see more!

Hello and welcome back! Always nice to have new old members or is it old members a-new, or whatever…

Great looking builds, and its nice to see another WW1 bi-plane builder (just kidding). While early war birds looked more like blunt instruments, your modeling of the new era aircraft shows just how sleek and beautiful modern aircraft really are.

With the large variation of skills levels here in the forum I hope there are things some of us can learn from you and other things we can show you. I think that is a big part of modeling forums, the friendship of people with similar interests. It’s good to have you back…

Most newer Hasegawa kits are quite good, but you are not the first to have issues with an F-18. And it’s not just Hasegawa that has issues with that airplane.

Welcome back! Looking forward to seeing what’s on the bench. Be well

This can be hard to track. Back in the 80s & 90s Hasegawa were some of the best kits to buildin in any scale. Italeri, Heller, and Airfix were notorious for being fussy or poor fit, or just poorly moulded.

Since then, Tamiya has really upped their kit engineering–there are maple reasons we can joke about “just shake the box” fit of those kits. Other companies have emulated this–like Meng. Airfix has, recently, become a very reliable company for parts fit. Even Italeri’s most recent offerings are marvels.

Sometimes tracking a given kit’s history through Scalemates is very useful.

Welcome back to the hobby and to the forum @F35Bart !!

Lol dude posted this a year ago, and hasn’t posted since June, I think he’s on another hiatus fellas…

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Oops!! 6LnXAP