I’ve come across 1/48 B-24 turrets that Koster has made on several different sites, but those articles are from several years ago, and I was wondering if he still makes products for people via email request?
apparantly so. i spoke to him last year and a lad in my club spoke to him in the summer.
Do you know of an email he can be reached by?
I got is information at home. I can PM you it when I get home from work.
Dunno…who is he?
He used to work for Revell and designed a lot of the 1/48 bomber kits, including the B-17, B-24 and B-29. He had plans to make an early B-17, but Revellogram decided not to produce it, so he started his own company, with conversion sets for the 1/48 bombers. Also has some complete kits, all vacuform.
Wow, if he designed the ancient Monovell B-17 he must be at least 150 years old…
I must respectfully offer a correction; if I’m not mistaken, he worked for Monogram. I don’t recall whether he stayed on after the merger.
A minor detail, and I’m a fan of both companies, ever since I was a kid. But I’m more of a Monogram fan, so I couldn’t help butting in. [;)]
Best regards,
Brad
Either way, he must really be old, especially since the ancient Monovell B-17 is now celebrating its 60th birthday----the model molds, not the real thing…
Ummm, no… According to Old Model Kits DOT com, Swanny’s site, and my own experience, the Monogram and Revell B-17G/B-17F kits have only been around since 1975, Manny… That makes it only 35 or so, and the Visible B-17 came out in '79, followed by the Pro Modeler version in 1996…
Revell’s B-17F “Memphis Belle” came out in 1975 shortly after Monogram’s release, with a LOT of similarities to the Monogram kit, which was rather suspicious to Monogram but rather than sue, a warning from Monogram to Revell of “Don’t do it again” settled it…
According to Swanny, the molds are still in good shape, and they re-issue one every couple of years it seems, so with all the After-Market stuff available for either of the Monogram or the Revell “F”, limited only the size of the builder’s wallet, I don’t see any new 1/48th release of the B-17 in anything resembling the near future… Eduard’s got the bombbay kit for it, Cutting Edge has masking sets, decal packages and resin conversion sets. Decals from Decals Carpena J. L, Eagle Strike, Flight Path has PE parts, Paragon has gobs of resin parts, the list goes on & on…
Also from Swanny:
Gonna just have to continue to pull out the sandpaper and X-Acto knife to get those much-lamented “raised panel lines” off the old kits, if that’s you bag… Of course, those “recessed lines” some are clamouring for would be less accurate than the raised lines on the Revellograms, but that doesn’t seem to matter to “Recessed Lines the Only Accurate Ones” crowd… Dunno why they do it, but it’s gotten so out of hand with the “modern” kits, that they won’t go away…
What are you on about, it’s only a week until your 123rd birthday!
… Reminds me of Sogen Kato, Japans “oldest man”.
He’s still alive and kick’n.