I seem to remember some years ago someone made a 1/32 scale kit of a Cessna single-engine. Does anyone remember this or did I just hallucinate it? I’m an armor guy (and please… no jokes about “targets”… a flying aircraft is a target to someone with a Stinger!!), so my knowledge of aircraft kits is a bit limited. I had someone ask me if anyone made a large-scale Cessna kit that wasn’t balsa, and I wasn’t sure. Any info you can offer would be appreciated, especially if you can tell me where I might find one! Thanks.[:D]
A 1/24 Scale Cessna 180 was released about 15 years ago. I tried to order one through my LHS when they came out with it and never got it. The owner of the store kept it and built it because they would only let him have one.
That doesn’t sound like a very good way to do business. Not your LHS owner, but the company that was sending the kits? You would think they would want to sell their kits, not delegate who got what? Strange?
I wouldn’t have thought that was a terribly smart way for the LHS owner to do biz either. I certainly wouldn’t hand over my readies to a dude doing that s*$# to me - not exactly relationship building, especially when there’s a whole lotta stuff you can get on the www, CHEAPER. One of the few reasons I use my LHS, is coz he uses his retail powers for good instead of evil.
Yeah, this is true, but I guess if he is only going to get one? I see your point though, sounds like you would want to sell it to make some money, but I guess most guys built models before they owned hobby shops?
Whoa. I hope you stopped giving that LHS your business. That sort of inconsiderate behavior doesn’t speak well of his business ethics. On the other hand, he was kind of foolish to admit he kept it for himself!
On the third hand, “business ethics” has become an oxymoron.
The reason why he was only allowed to have only one is his credit was so bad with the suppliers, they would only take cash. I prepaid for the kit and when he kept it, I demanded and got my money back. He left town oweing a lot of people money, including me. He was there one day and gone the next. I had several models on display at his shop, which were never to be seen again.
He would rather build than sell. Not a very good way to do business.
The Cessna 150 by Minicraft is junk, but it does give you the basic airframe if you don’t mind doing a lot of scratch. The landing gear is very basic and the interior is extremely basic. If you put enough time and effort into it it will build into a nice plane. This applies to all of the Minicraft GA aircraft.
The Hobbycraft Cessna 172 is a fairly decent kit. I haven’t built one yet, but I have seen one built up. The guy who built it said that if you watch what you’re doing and pay attention to the details, it’s easy to build. He also said that it doesn’t come with the regular landing gear. Hobbycraft also has a J-3 Cub in 1/48.
The Revell Germany Citation I is a new tooling. This one is on my definate to get list. They also have a 1/48 Dassault Falcon 10. I haven’t seen any info for these yet, so I don’t know how they build up.
At one time Heller had some GA subjects that included a Cessna 150/152 in 1/50th scale but, once again, I know nothing about how well they depict the real thing. Monogram had a Cessna 180 that was available with floats and regular landing gear, and a Piper Tri-Pacer that was close to 1/32.
We need some new tools of GA subjects. Badly. I would love to see some kits of the new breed of GA subjects.
Berny, sounds like someone is due a head thumping.