Has anyone ever build one of Mach2’s kits. They have some rare A/C like the North American Savage and the B-45, but how is the quality of their kits? They’re not cheap, but the boxes do look cheap.
Thanks,
I built their F2Y Sea Dart. It was a crude but complete (except for the decals - they were useless) and servicable injection molded kit with engraved panel lines. Getting a reasonable fit took some trimming - the kit instructions actually recommended removing the vertical fin for a better fit of the nacelles! The canopy windows were a little small and the not flat panes as they should be. The intersection of the canopy and the fuselage was not quite accurate. The upper piece of the right wing was warped which I corrected with scoring, heat, twisting and clamping to the lower surface.
That said, it was a Sea Dart, and miles ahead of the AirModel vacuform. It looks pretty good, if I do say so myself.
I have their AJ Savage, TBM-3W, H03S, and a HUP yet to build. The reviews I’ve read aren’t very complimentary and a glance at the kits show them to be about Sea Dart quality - thick soft plastic that looks about right in overall shape. I’ve actually done a pretty good AJ and HO3S from the AirModel vacuform kits (of course, less than half the plastic in each is from the kit). The Rareplane’s AJ vacuform looks pretty good but I haven’t built it.
As a friend of mine once said about another modeler he admired, “He could make an F-14 out of Renwal’s Visible Woman”. Mach 2’s kits aren’t quite that bad. But they are expensive, and if there was any alternative…
Run Away!!! Save yourself!
I did the Do-24, what a POS. I will never buy another Mach 2 kit, ever!
Hmmm, I think I’ll just wait for other manufacturers then. I’m not experiented enough for those, I guess.
I’ll second Turtles opinion on the AJ, while i don’t have the Mach 2 kit I have seen it and I do have the Rareplane kit which I think is nicer. In Ginter’s book he says the same thing.
Our club president, Rob Humphrey, built both the B-45 and Savage for our Korean War display we did for the Fort Douglas Museum in Salt Lake. He said both kits were very trying (as in trying not to throw them against the wall). Here is a pic with the B-45 in it.
No, but I like the subjects they model!