One of my greatest passions is aviation and first began my serious modeling on aircraft…(you would never know from my lack of posts in this section) But have built many…I have learned so much since and think my aircraft will be much improved now…anyway, have always wanted to build a Hellcat and buy chance won one at a recent model show…must be fate…I have always built 1/48 scale, usually Tamiya or Hasegwa, but this bird is a HobbyBoss 1/72 Hellcat…any feelings on this brand? Any feedback is much appreciated.[:D]
Hobby Boss has two product lines. Normal kita and easy assembly. Their easy assembly kits are reasonably accurate in outline, have very little parts but have very little cockpit detail (often boxed in with no dashboard)
The Hellcat is one of those easy assembly kits. So, if you want a quick and easy build, take it. If you want a more detailed Hellcat, buy th Revell of Italeri kit.
Thanks Borg! thats what I needed to know…it does look like a easy kit and no cockpit detail…fuze detail is ok though…think it will be fun and a good scratch building kit though…thanks again.[:D]
I personally like the HB kits. I have built two of their 1/72 Wildcats. And the detail is pretty good, and the kit itself is fairly accurate. I’ve also built one of their 1/48 wildcats, which is far superior to Tamiya’s. My Early Wildcat has also won several awards, a testament to the HB kit.
If you are looking for a very quick build (no cockpit detail, minimal landing gear detail) then these are great models and cost effective. Its fun to get to the painting and detailing stage quickly and the models look good finished. I’ve built three of the HB 1/72nd in the past couple of years.
I’m a big fan of their stuff, as the other posters have said the Easy-Build range is a little simplified, but overall once painted and decalled they look the business. I’ve always been more of a painter than a contstructor, so to get around to my favourite part in a matter of hours is great.
I’ll ditto the praise on their 1/72 scale kits. I’ve not built their 1/48 scale stuff, but it looks nice. Here are their P-40M and Spitfire Mk. Vb. Quite enjoyable, and very reasonably priced!
Thanks fellas! Great looking builds! I am really looking forward to building the Hellcat now…I think where the detail ends you guys made up for it with OUTSTANDING paint work…again all of the planes look awsome and thanks for such informative feedback!
I wholly agree, I recall there was something slightly odd about the Fury build, but not exactly what it was. I do recall that is was a cheap, fast, painless and fully ejoyable [enjoyable = !filler] build.
The only HB kit I have built, but I would have no hesitation on purchasingHB again…
Having seen the Fury kit, its a little beauty, be nice if they scale that down to 1/72. Their A-7s are also very nice, especially the two-seater.
The only HB kit I’ve come across that I thought was a bit weak was their Spitfire Vb, the overall shape is fine for my purposes, but the canopy, weedy prop and lack of u/c legs let the side down, though easily fixed as I had plenty of Airfix Spitfire Vb bits in the spares box.
Their Hurricane IIC is a nice built, the nose is a bit skinny, but as a sit-down-make-model project, very enjoyable, and one of the schemes was for a Charmy Down aircraft which is just over the way from here.
The Me 163 is a peach though, really nice, I must snag another sometime.
Truthfully - didn’t notice [though it should be more evident in my case]
I’m pretty sure it was something odd about the construction,… maybe the wing leading edge was a searate piece?
Maybe I’ll try to locate the instructions and see if that jogs my wetware.
-sean
UPDATE:
Yep - found em,… yea that was it, the leading edge is part of the top half of the wing so that on the bottom the seam is actually a panel line [no filler/sanding!] - and of course now I remember thinking how clever that was and why I had not seen it before.
and oh yea - the struts… now that you mention it they are, but don’t look to difficult to modify if you wanted to lengthen them, as I remember they were quite sturdy.
While not familiar with the F6F, I have their Wildcat and Mustang III. If the pit area is anything like those kits, you’re gonna have to grind out a whole lot of plastic to get a decent pit in there. If you want to do a full pit, get a different kit. They do build up pretty nice though.
Exactly. If folk want a cockpit, there’s other kits to choose from. I see these easy-builds as a nice rapid canvas for paint schemes and markings. There’s enough of a cockpit in these kits get by a canopy closed with some painting cheats.
looking at the Hellcat a little this weekend I think you guys are right on the money with the “don’t bother with the cockpit” stance…With the canopy closed it will be fine…the only thing that even resembles a cockpit is a little outcroping that would serve for instument panel…As Jonathan said a canvas for paint and markings…looking forward to a low impact build…Thank you all for the great advice!!!
While I’m at it…what company has the most detailed kit OOB…I have never used detail kits on a plane, although would love to!..I had a acurate minitures TBM once that was awsome!
Accurate miniatures by far fo IM only, all the Classic Airframeskits I have built come with resin for cockpit, though they can be quite a challenge, the newTamiya 1/48 Zero also Tamiya’s swordfisy is really impressive…
