Hey everyone,
I like models to be accurate in scale and also to fit well (who doesn’t?). Those of you with lots of experience, which brands of kits are best in these to departments? ( a) fit and b)accuracy in scale e.g. wing length, nose shape etc.)
Vivian
It’s hard to be general here, as it depends on a particular model. I heard the few Tamiyas are great, Hasegawa usually fits well but sometimes has problems with accuracy. New Revells are supposed to be great value for money, the problem is telling them apart from the old ones, so look for online reviews. Which actually should be the general approach. The new Chinese, Trumpeter and Hobby Boss are supposed to be very good too.
Hope it helps, have a nice day
Pawel
All Brands have their winners & losers. Acadmy,Tamiya, Hasegawa, Revell , Trumpeter, Fujimi, Fine molds, etc. all make some very nice kits in 1/72, but they also have some not so nice in their catalogs. Best to pick the aircraft you want to model & then ask who makes the best kit of that aircraft.
Regards, Rick
You are best off reading kit reviews, or just asking for suggestions here.
Tamiya and Hasegawa generally are pretty safe, but they have been around quite a while and still rebox kits from the 1970s. These older kits are not neccessarily bad, but they are not always the same quality as the current batch. I’ve also found Hasegawa decals to be kind of funky, nothing you can’t get to work but disappointing when compared to the quality of the plastic. These two are not without their dogs either though, they have botched their fair share of subjects.
I’m a big fan of Airfix, Revell / Monogram, Italeri, Revell of Germany, and Matchbox (now reboxed as Revell of Germany), but these are even more hit and miss, some really nice kits and some that need a lot of attention. These companies have been around for decades and they are still occasionally reboxing kits from the 50s and 60s. Again not a bad thing, some of these old kits are quite nice, but made to a different standard.
There are a ton of small manufacturers, the quality of these is all over the place but they offer far more variety.
Mach 2 has a lot of interesting subjects but they are expensive and generally take a lot of work to turn out a good model.
Eastern Europe has a bunch of smaller companies ranging from crude to extrememly good. Toko, Eastern Express, Amodel, ICM, Eduard, Roden, Pavla, Sword, Zvesda and many others. These are particularly tricky because they frequently share models between themselves. Occasionally they also share with Italeri and Revell of Germany.
vaw it’s perhaps too broad a question, but I am very fond of a neat little series of kits sold by Tamiya under the “Warbirds” series. I have no idea how many there are, but I’ve built about five, and one of them was no. 46 IIRC.
You get one or two sprues of really first rate parts, a nice set of decals and good clear parts, all for $ 10- $ 20 depending on the subject. Highly recommended. A rare instance of high Tamiya quality and low prices.
I model exclusively in 1/72 scale. To be honest with you I try and get Academy kits when available. Everyone says that the Hasegawa’s and Tamiya’s are the best. But to me they all have issues as far as fit and scale, but when I look at Academy kits for $12 and Hasegawa and Tamiya kits are $22 and up, to me that’s a no brainer. The Hasegawa and Tamiya aren’t THAT much better to be twice as much money.
Just my 2cents
Thanks. I remember also liking the Academy kits years back. Seemed to be good value. Regarding scale, 1/72 is so much more economical and saves space but I would be concerned with putting a primer, and color coats, decals as well as a seal cote all on a little 4 inch-long model of say a 109 or a Spitfire as I would imagine it starts too look a little thick for the scale… I therefore sort of consider 1/48, also for the additional realism and detail that are possible but it can take up a lot of space and cost a lot more.
No paint thickness issues really if you go light. Mottled camo and that sort of thing is much more difficult, but it’s something that if you get good at you’ll be proud of.
There’s the law of cubes in effect- a kit at twice the scale is eight times as big.
Ok, thanks for the advice. I would like to start with a couple kits (already have the 1/48 Texan from Revell), but want to get two more 1/48’s. Can we perhaps see a vote for the best:
P51D 1/48
P47 1/48
Bf 109 E or G 1/48
I have a suspicion this could get interesting.
Vivian
Vivian- these are questions that do not have a right or wrong answer. There simply are no universal criteria.
Hey bondoman, that I realize but given that I’ve been out of the hobby for 20 years or so, I have no idea which kits are the “dogs”, which kits to avoid. Surely there must be some stand-outs as kits of these three aircraft that have good fit, are accurate and have good detail, decals etc.?
The answer for 1/48, really is the same as for 1/72…some good, some bad. Generaly speaking though, the most seam to swear by Tamiya and Hasegawa, some say Trumpeter has accuracy issues, to me though, they all look like what they supposed to represent. Revell has a few great ones too (F-86d, ME110, ME 410, JU-52, JU-87also released under Monograms, Pro-modeler series) Revell has also released an F-104, P-38 and the JU-87 that were Hasegawa molds, for less $$$. Academy has some really good ones too.
Those would be my top 4
Revell, Monogram, Pro-Modeller…good stuff at a GREAT price
Academy…generaly pretty good…decent price
Hasegawa…again, really good stuff…getting pricey
Tamiya…great stuff…pricey(usually)
Eduard has some pretty good stuff too! Oh, and don’t forget about Dragon. Look for the orange box!!!
For a 1/48 P-47, Tamiyas Razorback is easily the best P-47 out there, but does have a $45 price tag. For a P-51D it would be between Hasegawa and Tamiya…I wouldnt know about the Bf-109
I’ll add my two cents by saying Tamiya is my favorite with regard to fit, finish and realism. They have always been my favorite. I also found Revell to be a great buy as they’re pretty consistent quality without the big price tag. The few Haegawas i’ve done in my opinion should have fit better considering their premium cost. Just one guy’s opinion…hope it helps.
Tamiya’s Mustangs are the business. The cockpits could use a bit of work, and some people hate the -51D’s two-piece canopy, but the overall fit is staggering. I didn’t even have to cement the wing/fuselage joins.
As for P-47s, everything I’ve ever read points straight to the Tamiya twins as well.
My thoughts would be your asking a subjective question expecting to get an objective answer. So I will offer you a objective reply.
Often for business reasons kit molds are swapped, sold and leased. The only change in the kit is box and its brand name. The only reason for any difference in 2 kits from the same mold would be quality control. For example: not fully cooling the mold before the molding is ejected which warps the larger parts.
Let me add that premium manufacturers do not let loose of their molds and do not use the kit molds of another company. Vivian these premium kits have a premium price tag. I think the best answer is you have to trust in the get what you pay for rule. ~ Danny
Hey fermis, do you mean the Revell-Monogram JU-87D in 1/48?
IMO the “premium kits = premium $” is oversimplifying things. It varies kit by kit, and of course it’s all relative based on your definition of expensive. Personally, for me, in a world where cable costs $80-100/month, a video game costs $60 and a night at the movies can easily crest $40 for two people, a $30 kit that delivers 5-7 weeks of building entertainment is totally worth it (and I have yet to buy one that costs even that much), but your mileage may vary.
I’ve got a stack of these “premium” kits on the bench and in my stash. A few Tamiyas. A few Eduards. And the most expensive of them all? The two Hobbyboss Wildcats I’m working on right now. At around $26-27 each. Everything else - from Eduard’s Profi-pack Hellcat to Zvezda’s new BF-109F-2 to Tamiya’s Mustangs, cost less.
Again, it comes down to your definition of expensive, but I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call out, say, Tamiya’s Mustangs as these lap of luxury products when they can be found routinely selling for $20-23.
Now Tamiya’s Swordfish is another matter entirely. But that just goes to show that it varies by kit.
Going of of what Doogs was saying, the high quality will most of the time correlate with a high price, but sometimes you can find a gem with Revell/Monogram kits. I remember buying a 1/48 He-111 a few years ago for $6 at shopko. This kit is definitely one of monograms better kits- decent fit, recessed panel lines, good detail, etc. You just have to looka round a little bit…the deals are out there.
P51D 1/48…Tamiya
P47D 1/48…Tamiya (Both BT & RB)
Bf-109E 1/48…Tamiya for fit/Hasegawa for accuracy
Bf-109G 1/48…Hasegawa
Regards, Rick