Is the Hobbycraft P-40 1/32 scale a good kit for beginners? My grandson wants to build a P-40 and I saw this kit at Hobby Lobby. I will be helping him with the model, but I want something that will not be too easy but not so hard it will turn him off.
They also had the Hasagawa 1/48 P-40E. Which kit would be better for a 16 year old just beginning?
Hey Berny,
I am not sure but I think the Hobbycraft p-40 is a reboxed Revell kit. Its an “E” right??
I would lean towards the P-40 myself just because of its size if I was just getting into the hobby(easier to work with and handle). Hasegawas Warhawk is very nice and well done, but I feel it is not really for the beginner.
I welcome your Grandson into the Hobby… I am sure with your guidance, he will enjoy it and will pass it down eventually to his children.
Flaps up, Mike
The Hobbycraft 1/32 P-40 is the Trumpeter kit and I don’t know if I’d recommend it to a beginner…
Fade to Black…
If the 1/32 HobbyCraft kit is a B, it’s a reboxed Trumpeter & is definitely not a beginners kit. The new Hasegawa 1/48 P-40E & N kits are very nice, but also not really beginners kits. For a beginner, you might consider the Hobby Craft/ Academy 1/48 P-40B.
Regards, Rick
Jinkies Steve-O… Why I be, you are correct… For some reason or other(I can not explain) I figured it was the Revell kit.
So Berny, please take back to what I said… Mmmm ever thought about the ol Monogram P-40??
Maybe Steve could shed some light on that kit and the build up of it.
Flaps up, Mike
I am taking my Grandson to HL tonight. I’ll let him pick out which kit he wants. I will be helping him build it and giving advice when needed.
The Hobbycraft 1/32 scale P-40B is a simplified version of the Trumpeter kit. It doesn’t have all the movable parts and lacks the bells and whistles of the Trumpeter kit. With a little help, I think it will be the ideal kit for him. Not so easy that he will expect each kit to be that way. It should get him started in the right direction. The Hasagawa 1/48 P-40E kit has twice as many parts as the HC P-40B
Thanks to all for your advice.
My grandson picked the 1/32 scale HC P-40B “Flying tiger” aircraft kit. We set down and looked at the parts, went over the instructions, picked out which one he wants to build, put everything back in the box and went for ice cream. He can’t wait to get started, but I told him he had to do a little research on the aircraft befor he started building. I told him I have everything needed to build the kit with the exception of the Sky under surface color.
Tomorrow, we will start assembly, after he does his research. Fun time ahead while the wife takes two granddaughters shopping. It don’t get much better than this for a Granddad.[:D][:D][:D]
Congrats Berny! Sounds like you guys are going to have a ton of fun.
Can anybody give any insight on the decals that are in a Hobby Craft 1/48 P-40B? They have to be better than the new Revell, which look like somebody printed off a cheap printer. Not to mention, with the Revell decals, the Flying tiger looks more like Tony the Tiger…way too much orange and no yellow.
Hobbycraft has a marketing agreement with Trumpeter and is re-releasing a number of their kits in their own boxes. Hobbycraft has never released any of Revell-Monogram’s molds. Modelcraft got ahold of the mold for the 1/32 Mosquito and did a special edition limited release, but they are a different company.
The Revell 1/32 P-40E might be retired at this point. I’ve heard that most of the old 1/32 scale kits are being put out to pasture. The recent re-releases of the P-38, P-47, and Zero by Revell Germany are the last runs on those molds. Others may be trotted out for one last run before disappearing forever. Or at least that was the rumor I heard.
I see the question of which kit to buy has been settled, but if someone wants a good beginners P-40, I would recommend the Otaki/Arii kit. It’s not the Hasegawa kit (or the Mauve/Eduard or AMT kit), but it’s a reasonable kit and fantastic compared to it’s peers from the 1970s. The fit is fairly tight and the detail is good. It also has the option of being very inexpensive compared to the newer mold kits. (AMT released this kit in an orange box just before releasing their own P-40. I think Airfix may have released it too.)
Bill
I don’t know about their 1/48 P-40B, but their 1/32 scale decals are great. They are thin and come with white decals to place under the tiger. We haven’t used them yet, but they are some of the best I have seen released with a kit. The kit also includes RAF decals, as an extra sheet, if you want to finish it in the RAF version.
A little update on the HobbyCraft 1/48 decals…they weren’t the best I’ve used. I initially had a problem with the decals “crumbling” as I tried to slide them off, but I was able to salvage the sheet by spaying a couple light coats of clear coat over them. This held them together fairly well, but I had to use alot more Micro Sol to get them to lay down. Overall, not too bad, but I’ve seen better.
I am glad the post came back up again. My grandson and I were going to work on the kit this Saturday. He called me last night and said he couldn’t make it this weekend. Something about taking some girl to a school dance.
Now, who in their right mind would pass up a day of model building so he could be with some long legged sweet smelling creature? [;)]
ME![;)]
Oh dear Berny. Save him now. That’s precisely the reason we all left the hobby in our mid-teens & re-discovered it later in life. Am I right everyone? It’s a timeline set in stone. Drop the hobby to spend time with the opposite sex; get married; get house, countless chores; pick up hobby again to get away from said opposite sex & countless chores.[:)]