I was looking for a Mig 15 and found that HobbyBoss has a 1/72 scale for under $10.00. I was wondering what the quality is if this thing is only $10.00? HobbyBoss also has a couple of other aircraft I would not mind having but I do not know a lot about them. I alway try to build either Tamiya or Hasewaga when it come to planes.
Before I begin, I am sure someone here will rivet count it and say it’s inaccurate… O’well[:P] Now to answer your question…
I have about a half dozen 1/48th HB kits and let me tell you, they are really nice and over all the detail is right up there w/ Tamiya & Hasegawa… Yeah you may have to do a little more clean up but it’s worth it.
A friend of mine built their quater scale FJ-4 Fury, and let me tell ya what…!!! Very impressive once built up with little hassel from what he had told me.
I have not seen any of their 72nd line but from what I have mentioned above, I’d say get it…!!
Good hunting
Flaps up,
Mike
Rangers Lead The Way
they are not bad kits for the price. I have all of their 1/48 wildcats and I am pleased.
Thad
I have built one or two Hobby Boss kits, and they are pretty good. I also have quite a few still to build.
1/72 F-84 (easykit)
1/48 Mirage IIICJ
1/72 Corsair (easykit)
I’ve got the 1/72 Mig and I think it’s a pretty nice looking little kit. There are things you can add for sure but the test fitting has been promising. When I first opened the box I was surprised not to see all the pieces like the other HB kits i’ve got. They’re under the tray. Whew! For the price you can’t go wrong.
I recently picked up a Hobbyboss 1/72 scale F-15E . Upon opening the box I found each sprue frame was individualy bagged . As you can see from the pic the upper and lower wings are molded onto the fuselage bodies . I’ve built a lot of old tooled Hasegawa F-15’s where the wings have been seperate and always spent a lot of time dryfitting the wings to try and get a nice neat join . Hobbyboss save you some extra work . Sorry I forget to include the Decal sheet in the pic . I’ll try and post another pic . My only criticism with this kit is you dont get any weapons , also there’s no small missle bracket attatchment pieces to go along the ‘CFT’ . I’ll have to borrow some from a Hasegawa F-15E Strike Eagle kit if I want to attatch some AIM 9’s. Kind regards John
I forgot to add that the intakes are molded in one piece as well . John
And the canopy is in one piece as well . John
We’ve seen several HobbyBoss kits at FSM and built a couple as reviews and so far the verdicts have been positive. The armor is getting better all the time and I’m impressed with the Mi-8 I’m working on at the moment.
Cheers,
I just checked out modeling madness and they happen to have a review of the 2 seat Mig 15 which i’m sure is very similar to the single.
http://modelingmadness.com/reviews/korean/ussr/alcott15uti.htm
Here’s the decal sheet . The othe side of the glossy A4 decal placement sheet shows an overall Gunship FS.36118 gray color scheme for the USAF . I’ll be building mine for the Israeli IDF/AF .
Kind regards John
I’m building the 1/72 MiG 15 right now, alonside the F-86. For what they are, they’re pretty decent kits. And at that price, it’s hard to go wrong. I think that I’ll end up getting the F-84 kit at some point.
I purchase two kits, an F4F and a P40 earlier this year.
The fuselages and wings were moulded as one piece. The larger parts were packed along with the sprues for smaller parts in a plastic tray, so that the pitot tubes would not be broken. I could dry assemble the wings to the fuselage, cowling to the fuselage, and props to the cowling so that most of the assembly was finished. The decals and clear parts seemed good. The only criticism I had was that the cockpit sidewalls are very thick, because of the moulding of the fuselage as one piece. So if you’re a guy that doesn’t fret too much about details under the canopy, you can slap this puppy together and paint it relatively quickly. I will probably saw these out and replace the sidewalls as I am somewhat of a stickler for accuracy - these sidewalls would scale out to a foot to two feet thick. As far as exterior accuracy they seem to be a very good deal for the money. I wish Hobby Boss would push these for younger modelers, as they are relatively easy to assemble and cheap.
I did see a review ( might have been Scale Aircraft Modeler ) of the TA-7. The tailpipes and nose intakes did not match up very well, according to the test shot review. Maybe they have tightened quality control to avoid this. Even slight inaccuracies are really not a major setback for kits priced at this level, though.
I got their Easy kit of the F4U Corsair, and really enjoyed building it. It looked right and only took a day or so to do. Great way to relax and have something to show for it during the weekend.
Glenn
I have the Hobby Boss F4F Wildcat and although I haven’t started it yet, it looks like a very nice kit. It may not be a Hagasawa, but certainly better quality than most of the Revell stuff I have. Looks like a nice easy build too.
I have their 1/48 scale FJ-4B Fury. It is a very nice kit with a few problems. As for weapons they have four Bullpup missiles (No guidance pod), two AIM-9 Sidewinders (Wrong version) and two drop tanks. It can be built as a FJ-4 or a FJ-4B with addition of a few parts. The decals have the Marine version flying the FJ-4 and Navy version flying the FJ-4B. Overall, I would say it is a very good kit, and for the price, you can’t go wrong.
I’ve built a couple of their 1/72 Bf109 kits and for the money, they’re excellent. Sure, the 109 aficianados will be able to find faults, but if you’re interested in getting to the paint stage quickly and having a reasonably accurate representation, the HB kits fit the bill.
Great work there Mike. nice to see those two 109’s getting an airing online. I’m sending you a PM on the UAMF about decals btw. got a couple of questions.
All the best.
Greg
Hi, one of the guys in my club has built several of the HB 1/72 and really likes them. We have a few guys who meet on Sat. at the LHS where we talk to the customers, tell lies, and build and I’ve had a chance to look some of the kits over. They are not bad for the price. Don’t expect a high parts count or Eduard/Tamiya/Hasagawa quality. They are clean, well molded, and seem to go together well. If there are any younger modelers out there who want to go beyond snap-tite kits and want to get into glue and paint, these things are just the ticket. This guy from my club has built about 5 or 6 different kits and with neat, careful assembly and a good paint and decal job they all look great. I think you said you were looking at a MIG-15 and except for the old Airfix and a couple of bad kits from the old eastern bloc this HB kit might be the best way to go. I’ve got a DML somewhere in my stash but I think its OOP now. Give it a try they’re not too bad and their more expensive kits are just as good as some of the older mainline companies.
RickMartin
Snoopy,
I’ve built a few HB kits most of which are in 1/72 scale for the Lackland AFB H & T Museum and I have a couple of their 1/48 FJ-4 Fury’s. The 1/72 kits are the easy build and are pretty nice, the interiors are lacking but for that scale who really cares when they’re in a display case with the canopies closed, the ones I’ve built are the F-84G, P-39Q, P-47D-25, P-51B, P-51D and the AT-6G and have the F-86F-30 waiting to be built. The only problem I’d had with them is that when I use AlClad II/Krylon paints the plastic blemishes surfaced after the planes where preped for the lacquar finishs, to correct this is paint the kit first with Floquil Bright Silver as a plastic primer, then the Krylon Gloss Black as the AlClad lacquar primer, then AlClad II Lacquar