Consensus on Kittyhawk's kits?

General Discussion General Modeling Discussion
1

I haven’t been able to find a recent information to this effect, so figured I’d post up and ask. Kittyhawk seems to make some interesting kits. I’m mulling over their AH-1Z at the moment. However, I keep reading a lot and hearing from other modeler’s that the kits really fight you all the way during the build. Can anyone speak to their quality now overall, and the AH-1Z kit in particular?

Thanks!

Chris

2

From what Ive seen, Kittyhawk kits are horse crap. Poor quality plastic, full of sink marks and rough texture, very poorly engineered, and awful terrible fit. This applies to aircraft though, as helicopter kits are inherently different. The Zulu kit is actually pretty good and fits well

3

Go to www.scalemates.com. Once there, type in the search box for the particular kit you’re keen on finding more about. A lot of times you will find1 or more kit review links. Some will be in German, Russian, etc…

4

I just looked at the review of said AH-1Z Viper by Kittyhawk. The reviews have been pretty positive assuming you’re talking about the new AH-1Z kit.

5

Go read the reviews in scale mates.com regarding the new AH-Z Viper kit. Several sources have given glowing reviews on the kit. Don’t be so quick to judge.

6

Did you read my whole post? I said the Zulu kit looks very positive. Their other kits are junk for modern day tooling, and for what they charge for their kits. That is my judgement…

7

That is true about the first release which was the 1/48 F101 but not the rest of the pack.

I have the F-94, and Cougar in 1/48 and the 1/32 Kingfisher and all look to be very well made and detailed.

Cybermodeler also gave great reviews on all 3 kits.

8

Cybermodeler gives good reviews on all kits. The Jaguars and Mirage kits are nasty kits too in my book, but I do hope they are on the road to improving things, as I really want a modern tooling of the Voodoo family…

9

I tried to build their Jaguar when it first was released. The detail on the kit was nice, but when I started building it it fought me every step of the way. Poor fit, bad instructions and missing parts. I have their Cobra and Huey kits in the stash and even decided to take a chance on their 1/32 P-39, but I won’t start them until I get enough spare whiskey to get me through. I would think they had got better as they progressed, but much like HobbyBoss, it seems that there is always something funky or off about their kits.

10

I have the F-35c and it is a bit rough but i think it can build into a good model.

11

I built their Saab Grippen, and must give it grade of C+. Not the best production example I have ever built, but an experienced modeler can make it come out nice.

12

I’m in the throes of the KH P-39 and I’ll never build another one from these guys.

DiscoStu has it spot on, at least in regards to the P-39 kit. Poorly engineered, poor fit, unclear instructions - I’m doing a build thread over on LargeScaleModels.

I’ve heard from people and read reviews that the latest efforts like the Kingfisher are amazing kits - I don’t know about the helicopters.

I know the P-39 was an early kit from KH, but they should pull it from the shelves and fix it. Ridiculous to spend that much money on a kit that does, literally, fight you every step of the way.

Good luck!

13

Thanks, guys.

I saw that UH-1Y kit too! I’m thinking a coupla helicopters might be nice to add to the stash. And I AM an experienced modeler. We have our share of tricks to pull a dog out of the trash bin and make it shine. We’ll see.

Thanks again! [B]

–Chris