best 1-48 WWII aircraft kits?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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Hey there,

Just finishing a Mosquito (the Revell Kit). Really enjoying 1-48 scale and I think I’ll do another several in this scale.

Of course I’m very impressed by kits like the Tamiya Spitfire and P51 in the 1-32 scale, but these are a) very expensive!! and b) not 1-48…

I’m hoping for recommendations for WWII kits where you’ve found the kit quality to be really high - esp with basic details and fitting together. Anything approaching those kits mentioned above, say.

I like the fighters but I’d also be interested in medium bombers or, well, anything really. Metal finishes (or partly) are fine because I’ve found I enjoy foiling!!

Many thanks! - Tom.

2

Tamiya P-47, absolutely beautiful kit, amazing cockpit detail. The accurate miniatures tbm avenger is also a great kit, but may be hard to find. Both kits can be exy though, but if money’s not a drama, I’d check them out.

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Thank you. Yes, A P47 would be fun. Cheers! I’m hoping to save a buck by going for a 1-48 scale rather than 1-32, which is what I prefer anyway. The 1-32s are lovely, but 1-48 is a little more practical! :slight_smile:

4

You pretty much can’t go wrong with 1/48 Tamiya aircraft. The newer ones will cost a bit more but older ones like the Mustang, Spitfire, Bf-109E and FW-190’s are still wonderful kits that practically fall together.

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The best kits are the ones you can afford.

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The ‘Best kits’ are indeed Tamiya’s, if you are willing to pay for 'em.

But Trumpeter is pretty awesome to, but not so many WWII in 1/48
Hobby Boss gives you a bit ‘bang for the buck’, the newer ones are awesome but they have a few ‘issues’ but nothing serious.

Hasegawa has some nice ones, but might want to watch out which one you’re buying and how much you’re paying…

Italeri has some nice kits like their recent Hurricane and they have the same mold from accurate Miniatures for their Avenger, the prices are good on those but could be better on some…

Revell/Monogram is the one you really need to be carefull with, they have really nice kits but as many as they have nice kits, they have some ‘horrible’ old one (yea sorry but I find some of them horrible, no offense). You need to buy the newer ones, these have great detail for the price asked!
To mention some, you the Dornier Do 217, Junker JU 52, B-26 Marauder, Curtiss Helldiver, Heinkel He-111, Focke-wulf Ta-154, Messerschmitt me 410 and their new Pv-1 Ventura…
There are probable more but these are allready great to start with!

There are some more brands out there that have really hard to find subjects but those are a bit harder to find and make and they will ask some more but if you want that one plane you pay for it…

But at the end, the best kit is a subjective matter, one guy will say this is better because it is cheaper and at the end, what’s a good kit? one that fits right or that nails the authenticity of the aircraft?
Anyway,
Hope this gets you somewhat in the right direction!
With regards, Ninetalis.

7

I have to second the Tamiya P-47. Get it! You won’t be disappointed. One word of caution though. Don’t leave the open box too close to a bottle of glue when you go to bed at night. If you do you’ll likely find it put together the next morning. That is how much of a dream it is! It builds itself.

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Ditto the Tam P-47. Great kit. I also liked the Hasegawa Airacobra,

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Thanks for all the replies… even after I act on this thread I’ll be returning the next time I need a new model. In fact, I went out tonight (late night shopping) and bought the Tamiya P-47 D Thunderbolt “Bubbletop.” I’ve wanted to do a P47, and as I said I’m happy to give foiling a go (did a 1-32 P51 a while back with fair results). Well, just from looking at the pieces it looks like a dream… e.g. holes in the front of the gun barrels, all individually vertically molded… Great detail inside the gear bays… cockpit looks great… etc, etc.

Just finishing off a 1:48 Revell Mosquito… I’ve had fun with it and it will look good, but the kit itself had annoyances. The canopy was flawed (although I e-mailed Revell and they sent me another, no questions asked); the cockpit assembly DOES NOT fit cleanly inside the fuselage; and there’s a lot of overhanging excess molding on most of the sprues. It’s still going to look nice, but this Tamiya kit looks like it won’t have the same sorts of issues. So cheers!!

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p.s. Anyone put up any nice blogs about the P-47, or any threads here? (I’ll have a look anyway). There’s so much detail in the existing molding, it’s hard to decide whether anything needs changing… p.p.s… (to anyone who has built this kit)… is there some way to be able to keep the engine cowling removable? Would like to spend some time on that engine as it has some lovely detail, but it mostly won’t get seen if the cowling stays on.

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A great place to start would be the “Big Beautiful Jug” Group Build in that respective section. It’s probably a few pages down since its an older thread, but I imagine that there are some of the Tammy’s being worked on. It’s been a while since I built one, but I bet you could rig something to make the cowl removable.

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I heartily endorse any of the 1/48 Tamiya Jugs. Built the Razorback and Bubbletop myself and will probably be starting another soon. In my opinion, it may be the single best 1/48 mold out there, brilliant combination of detail, fit, and thoughtful engineering.

Other kits I’d recommend (really depends on subject, on what you’re willing to spend, etc, but here goes):

A6M Zero - the newer Tamiya A6M3 and A6M5

Lavochkin La-5 - Zvezda (amazing kit, and cheap)

P-51 - Tamiya. Cockpit is kind of lacking, but the fit is extraordinary

PV-1 Ventura - Revell

F4U Corsair - Tamiya for the -1 variants (-1 Birdcage, -1A, -1D). Honestly the new Hobby Boss -4 looks decent enough, too.

F4F Wildcat - Tamiya’s F4F-4 is a marvel. For the earlier -3 or General Motors-produced FM-1 and FM-2, Hobby Boss. These are solid, but canopy size and fit issues can be frustrating.

F6F Hellcat - Eduard. Unless you want wing-fold, then the Hobby Boss is a good choice, if you can live with the over-size canopy (me, I don’t care as long as it fits).

Most Japanese fighters - Hasegawa. I’ve built their N1K1 George and it was phenomenal.

Bf 109 - Ugh. Too many choices. Eduard’s new 1/48 Emils look really nice. So do Airfix’s. The Zvezda F-2 is a gem, and cheap, but has more parts than a Dragon tank. Tamiya makes some older but well-engineered Emils, and Hasegawa’s your go-to for late-model variants.

Fw 190 - See Bf 109. Eduard’s 190 kits are nice, but have a reputation for fussiness. Hasegawa and Tamiya also offer various 190s. The Tamiyas aren’t as detailed, but man do they build up quickly and easily.

SBD Dauntless - old Accurate Miniatures kit.

Avenger - old Accurate Miniatures kit.

TBD Devastator - the recent Great Wall Hobby release is really, truly something to behold.

P-61 Black Widow - if you’re willing to drop the coin (and the extra coin for some aftermarket corrections) the GWH P-61 series is similarly impressive.

Spitfire - Tamiya for the Mk. I and Mk. V. Airfix for the Mk. XII. The ICM Mk.IX is supposed to be the best of that mark, but it’s a PITA from what I’ve heard. Personally, I figure someone else will get around to it soon enough.

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Newtothis,

Here are some great companies, Tamiya, ICM (Alanger is cheaper and are the same exact kit as ICM’s), Accurate Minatures, Hasegawa, Great Wall, Trumpeter, Hobby Boss and Eduard. there some others but it’s hit or miss, Revell-o-Gram, Revell Germany (They Have some of the best 1/72 scale Kits), Hobbycraft, Academy (again their 1/72 line is far better), so be aware that some of the good name kits may have a dog or two but also the pocket book dictates which kit you could purchase over another.

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As Doogs mentions above, I can highly recommend the AM Avenger and SBD. e-bay has 'em. Also Eduard’s Hellcat and Me-109 are top notch.

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Thanks everyone. Doogs I’ll be returning to your post periodically… As I mentioned I ended up picking up the Tamiya P-47D Thunderbolt "Bubbletop.’ Just looking at the sprues I can tell it’s a gem. Thanks so much everyone.

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Hey Doogs, checking your website - wow, that’s fantastic!! Many modelers like you achieve a level of detail in cockpits which blows my mind… I’m looking at your Tamiya Thunderbolt build and checking my own kit, and I’m stumped how to get such fine detail. Need some help here…

For example… your picture here (below)… the red switch elevated on a stand above the floor on the left (engine switch?) , it appears to have a rotating motion and so it’s in the centre of a white circle on a black background. Now looking at my own kit, that circle is (at an estimate) about 1 milimetre in diameter!! So my question is, how did you paint such a small and neat circle? Just one example of very fine detailing from your image below. If anyone can help me with this technique I might approach the whole task differently.

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Heh - thanks, but I can’t claim credit for that one, exactly! It’s part of Eduard’s P-47 Placards set, a gorgeous little PE set that’s about half the price of the standard interior set. Though if I recall, placing the red dial switch on top was a bit of a pain…

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Oh ok, so that’s placed on right, not painted (don’t worry, still impressed!!)

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Eduards P-39 ProfiPack went together pretty nice.

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I can second Eduards Hellcar, it’s simply amazing in ever respect, the same goes for Tamiya’s more recent Zero. They are both like a wet dream in terms of detail, fit, and ease of assembly.