well, i got their Mk.XVI in the white boxing and it had the wrong fuselage halves. i ended up returning it for a special hobby Mk.Vc.
i decided to snag this kit again but it was in the red boxing. this time it has a LARGE wing root gap. sprue spreader won’t fit the problem either.
i was told some use two or three boxing to just build one because their parts are so inconsistent.
this true?
i may be done with ICM. only other XVI in this scale is the italeri kit.
persist with the icm kit; you’ve been unlucky. i’ve built a few and they’ve been enjoyable. also, the italeri kit is the old occidental kit (i think!) which is decidely sub-awesome. i think airfix did a limited run on based on their mkIX; i’d leave this alone, too…anyhow, good luck with the next one, whichever you choose
the nose on the italeri kit isn’t accurate and I can honestly care less. not worried about that. ehh, i’ll figure it out.
Strange the wrong parts!
I built the ICM 1/48 P-51d ,absolute pleasure to build with good detail and fit. Then I built the ICM 1/48 BF 109 F, absolute nightmare to build! Massive wingroot gaps, engine cows did not fit either.
Luck of the draw I guess.
Theuns
Icm is known for its quality control issues. The old blue boxing where quite bad, the newer ones should be better. And their 1/72 kits get better reviews then their 1/48. All in all, icm qualtiy is inconcistent. And it should not be.
I built ICM’s P-51B, a copy of Tamiya’s kit. Not so bad, but the interior parts didn’t fit well, took a lot ot test-fitting, and eventually, I had to sand the instrument panel’s sides to get the fuselage to close. Also, the instructions were not very clear on installing the piece that makes up the cockpit floor, radio deck and the bottom of the fuselage where the radiator vent is located. But for $10 on sale from Squadron, with an extra fret of ground crew and pilots, I took the problems in the bargain. And the experience drove me to buy the Tamiya kit, to see how the original goes together.