I have never build a kit from Smer, From what I here on this forum they are supposed to be an ok starting point for a decent model. I just bought the fiat g55 in 1/48. Anything in particular to watch out for. All input as always is greatly apreciated.
Soulcrusher
I think many of Smers offerings are old Heller kits, though I’m not sure about this particular one. As such, they will vary in quality. Heller is not known as the state of the art kitmaker. On the other hand, they do make many kits no on else will touch, especially those funky french pre- and early WWII planes. and for an affordable price, too. I haven’t built this particular kit, but expect to spend some time on it with fit and detail issues. Let us know how it goes. Sounds like an interesting subject, especially in 1/48.
Lately I’ve been on Italian air force kick {I’m half sicilian} Like you’ve said if you want a model of a fiat g55 you can’t get to picky especialy in 1/48 scale! For years i’ve build mustangs and bf109’s b17 and such. Now it seems the more obscure tha plane is the more interesting it is to me {WWII only}. The only problems it leads to though is alot of frustration finding reference material even on the internet.
But on the other hand if you paint something the wrong shade who would know the diffence? Sometimes you just have to guess at detail and color.
Soulcrusher
as said by Jeff, a lott of the molds Smer are old Heller molds.
Their 1/48 kits however are often their own molds. They aren’t real 1/48 kits, on older boxes they are scaled as 1/50 (not that that’s a siginificant problem). These are basic kits but can be build very nicely if you put some effort in to them. And the recent boxing have Propagteam decals, which are very good.
All in all I would consider Smer kits good value for money.
I’m glad I found this topic because I just bought 6, 48th scale ww2 Smer kits and I know nothing about them. Its good to know that I didn’t waste my money.
There aren’t a lot of kits which I would consider waste of money only zhengdefu, starfix and unbuildable (for most modellers) kits such as beechnut or merlin.
Good point. But as a returning modeler after a 12 year layoff, I haven’t quite reached the zenith of my abilities. So, taking a poor kit and turning into something great,isn’t gonna happen, yet.
A kit that just falls into place is more my speed right now.
I guess the biggest thing you have to look at is value for dollars spent. If you only paid ten dollars for the kit you should expect the kit to build like a ten dollar kit In other words most times you get what you pay for. Then there is some fun in improving a meduim quality kit into a jem. You always have to push the envelope otherwise you’ll never know what you are capable of. If you screw up the kit all your out is ten bucks and a little time!!!
Soulcrusher
If I remember correctly, all the Smer 1/48 scale kits are old Artiplast 1/50 kits. I think Artiplast folded around 1970, so you get an idea of the age of the molds.
They are OK for 60s kits, and the subjects are often things that are not available from anyone else. I would put them on par with old Lindberg and Hawk kits. They’re buildable and somewhat accurate outlines, but not great detail.
Bill
You are correct I bought the smer kit thinking it was a different kit. I just received it today. When I opened it up I was very surprised. It was the same exact kit I already had in my inventory except it was in a artiplast box that looks to have box art fron the sixties. It is also listed as 1/50 scale? The model quality is not that bad for a mold of that age . The rivit and panel lines are a little heavy but the shape and fit of the parts is not to bad. Seeing as this is a rare subject with a little time I think it could be built as a decent model if you could find enough reference material for. the detail that needs to be added.
soulcrusher