gregers - Very cool that your working on the full size item!! Show us some pics??
T Terrific - Loops in a YB49?? Also very cool, especially since you witnessed it yourself!!
I had forgotten about the “visible” engine thing. I once had the Renwal Wasp model, but it disappeared from my mothers attic ages ago. I was watching them on Ebay for a while, but it seemed that one particular person was paying outrageous prices for every one that came up, and now he is seemingly the lone buyer/seller of all of them, and still at outrageous prices. Oh well…
For me, I think I have most of what I ever wanted in models, especially the 1/72 B-52 w/ X-15 by Monogram (I have two[:)]), but I’m sure I’ll come across, or think of something in the future that I just have to have[:P]
It’s been great to see what the rest of you long for. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and, keep the ideas coming!!
here is a link to pics of the 1/1 scale Jet Provost. as you will see from the pics there has been lots of work done but there is one heck of a long way to go yet. me and the rest of the team are also having a huge learning curve for this. none of us have worked on jets before, aircraft wiring is new to us (fortunatly we have good sources of info / help we can tap into. one of the lads was an armorer in the RAF, i have worked on civil stuff (but this ain’t no Cessna LoL) and the team leader, and owner of the JP has experience in restoring a de Havilland Vampire NF10 fuselage that he used to own, and has his microlight licence. if any of you guys need any close up shots of the aircraft i will be happy to oblige but you may have to bear with me time wise, also. the engine hasn’t been fitted yet and the instrument panel and bang seats are out and have ben re-furbished. hope you like the pics.
this is a question that you get as many “grails” as responses. i am no different. i have been pretty vocal in the past what i think is my “grail”. an injection b-18.
as for the 1/24 b-17, how about just under eight foot in length and just over eight foot in span.
the numbers escape me. (read i wrote them down and now cant find the notebook) but they are close. the thing would be just longer in the wingspan than what it was nose to tail. the only reason i know is i plan a project with the b-17 as the subject.
This is a very tough question. I am sure it is hard to find a common answer. There are many kits out there having excellent details, fit and accuracy. Nevertheless no matter how good a kit is, it can be (sometimes usually) outclassed by another manufacturer a few years later. For example, the Monogram 1/48 P-51B released in the late 60’s (or 70’s?) was an excellent kit at the time it was released(BTW it’s still a fine kit), yet I have to admit the Tamiya P-51B today is better. Therefore, who knows, maybe a ABC company could release a P-51B that outclass the Tamiya one day! For me, I have talked with many modelers and there is one kit that everyone, who has built it, loves: The Monogram 1/48 B-17G with interior. It is indeed a great kit with great details. I can’t imagine how much impact it made when it was released in the mid 70’s.
i saw a while back while searching online some huge kits like a 1/16 B-17&B-24 and the monsters were a 1/24 B-52 and 1/32 C-5A now they were HUGE and they FLEW they were RC models
My Holy Grail will be the perfect model, not from the manufacturer as so many of them make excellent kits, but from my own hands. The kit I put together and paint without ANY mistakes. Damn that elusive Grail! So close, and yet so far, far away!
I just wish I had a “perfect” model on display. My mindset on every new build is to end up with that perfect model but I’ve found out that it’s a long row to hoe.
Not really a Holy Grail to most, but it took me a lot of work to get one…The testor’s 1/72 AC-130 Spectre Gunship. It has always been a huge favorite of mine.
And a true holy grail in my book would be a 1/35 scale AC-130 Spectre or a 1/35 C-130 Hercules.
One of my favorite topics! I think among model collectors, the aforementioned F108 is acknowledged as a true “Holy Grail”. As another member pointed out, many of the Aurora products are also considered precious. The 12 O’Clock High B-17 formation is quite desirable, and I am lucky enough to have one. Aurora had some molds that were destroyed in a trainwreck, and any of the kits from those molds are considered very rare and collectible. Examples are the French Breguet, German Albatros C-111, and Halberstadt. The “giant size” P-51, P-40, SE5, Fokker D7 screwdriver Aurora kits in 1/24 - 1/28th (misidentified as 1/32 by another poster) are also highly sought after.
But I haven’t answered the question. My personal Holy Grail is the Aurora Fokker Dr1. This is one of the least rare of the Aurora kits. I have around 90% of all Aurora aircraft kit types made, but not this one. For some funny reason, something always gets in the way when I’m trying to buy/bid on this kit!
Then it’ll go back to being something easier to acquire, like a Revell Electra!!!
Isn’t the DR-1 one of the Aurora kits Monogram issued? I know Revell Germany has recently reissed the WW I Aurora kits that were saved and reissued.
Just kind of an FYI, I think some people have wandered off the original topic. I believe it was which old kit was considered the holy grail among collectors. Wish lists and personal favorites are kind of different.
To my knowledge, Monogram and R/M have released the D7, Camel. and Se5, but not the Dr1. Even if they had, the original box is important to me. To be sure, I’ll get one, but it just seems that something always gets in the way.
As for the subject of this thread, I agree. I think there is a difference between a wishlist and a “Holy Grail”, although they are both great topics. A wishlist would be a gret topic for another thread, even though it pops up a lot anyway. It is nice to see what everyone thinks is the most desirable rare and collectible kit.
I would lean towards the 1/48th Monogram Visible B-17 also. Great kit for it’s time and plenty of room to detail the interior. Another favorite from the late 60’s was the 1/32 Revell P-40E.
I’d personally love to see a good 1/32 scale P-47 Thunderbolt (any variant) with the level of detail of today’s current Tamiya offerings and the accompanying aftermarket items to make it a super-superdetailed build.
Stringer, ? I see everyone replying to this post has gone straight to “their Favorite A/C” or a side course about Aurora. Aurora original Kits are rare and do command some high auction prices for the fact the toy company being an american icon of the era and out of the business now it’s kits command a high collectors price. But remember there are even Box ART Collectors who may pay the same high prices for a piece of Cardboard with or without the Kit simply for the origianl prinited packge covers. You asked about a Holy Grail of “KITs” ? Really I see since everyone was concentrating on their own thing they really have missed what you were asking for. I beleive the Answer and not becuase I happen to be partial in my own way to the ACFT themselves, BUT from purely a KIT perspective I beleive they were and still ARE the BEST for several reasons. That is the Hasegawa 1/8 Scale Museum Series of WWI ACFT, Fooker Dr.I, Sopwith Camel, and Se5a, there also is a 1/16 Scale Wright FLyer that completes this series. Only the Wright FLyer and Fokker Dr.I have been released and are in production. THe others are strictly OOP, RARE to find, and on average any wheres from $500.00 to $1200.00 in market value. They were near on average $600 to $700 new. The Re-released Fokker DrI an excellent kit BTW retails now for near 500 today. But Price is NOT the qualifing Quality to which I am referring which in my opinon makes this series KIts “THe Holy Grail of Kits”. Lets think back a moment to the previously mentioned Aurora Kits. Many of us have sunch fond memories of them for the fact that they at the time were “state of the art” injection mold process kits, where there were or hardly were no alternatives unless you were going to build a balsa kit. So At the Time these Haseagwa Kits were Originally released Early to Mid Eighties there were NO major manufactuers producing PE much less resin or other Aftermarket materials and Parts we so easily take for Granted today as an integral Part of our hobby. Hasegawa Introduced to the Industry thru this series what I beleive to be the First Truely Original “MULTI-Media” Kits. These Kits Include pre-packaged and inventoried, SPun Aluminum, White MEtal, Brass fittings and PE, Injected Molded Plastic and Basswood PArts. All very High Quality Produced without a Sprig of Flash, Nare a Burr to these pieces, hundreds of which BTW make up the Kits. THe Product the Model itself they Produce Truely IS a Musemum Peice worthy of dispay in such. I actually Have seen examples of the In some Museums. For instance the one above I found completed and on display in the Famous Kermit Weeks Fanstasy of Flight Museum in Orlando FL. SO Regardless of the Subject of this series weather you are into “WWI ACFT” or NOT from a “Kit” Perscpective I think these TOP the LIST of “HOLY GRAIL” Not only for what they are but for coming out in an ERA before thier Time When this sort of Detail achieved thru the use of ALL Sorts of Scratch Building Materials Professionaly produced in a commerical Product Make them the Holy Grail of Kits. They came out in a time which preceeded the Hobby Era we live in today where we take for granted the availablity of AM PE and Resin Detail PARTs which we struggle to adapt and fit to other Manufaturers Kits. We still are not at a level where ALL these Pieces have been Put in to one Kit from the inception of the Model and Included not only in the box but instructions as well as an intended piece of the Kit by the Original manufactuer. Not that the way things are bad. Far from it. It is very good to have the option to add PE, Resin Parts and Decals which ARE NOT supplied with the Kit. It makes it individual. It presents a quasi scratch building challage to the hobby and is a lot of FUN. Notice also expensive in the end even if it is not al spent in the same place. But I digress. THE ANSWER IS AS ABOVE HASEGAWA 1/8 Scale Museum SERIES !!!
Very interesting answer. Of course no answer is wrong. These Hasegawa Museum kits are probably the most detailed and realistic model kits ever made for general consumption. However, of all of the avid, obsessive, serious (and I do mean serious) collectors I deal with on a regular basis, I know not a single one who has any interest in these kits from a true collectors standpoint. And again from a collectors viewpoint, I wouldn’t trade a 29 cent Aurora F-100 for all of them.
Everyone has their own vews of what makes something collectible, and I have mine. I think people desire to have the things they loved growing up as a kid. I think that’s why Hot Wheels are so collectible. Us older guys built Aurora as kids, so we have a strong desire to “re-acquire them”. Younger guys probably could care less about Aurora and Revell “S” kits (and that’s good for me!). I never knew anyone who built a Hasegawa Museum kit. As far as price goes, I realize the Hasegawa kits are expensive compared to their original issue price, but they are NOTHING compared to Aurora percentage-wise. You’re talking 50%-100% for the Hasegawa kits, and literally hundreds to thousands of percent increases for the truly collectible Aurora, Revell, Monogram, etc kits.
Please understand that I’m not diminishing the value you’ve placed on the Hasegawa kits. I’m just stating that from a true collectors standpoint, they just aren’t especially prized.