I dont usually complain about many things, but I am in the middle of doing the Italery Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhon 2 seater…
When the box arrived I was excited, and when I opened it, the kit looked sweet to say the least!.. Thats until I started building it… First off, the fit of the thing is all way off… big gaps when you place the main body to the delta wing… To line the thing up was a nightmare… And then to make things worse, the canope is about 2-3mm too small for the area it has to cover… The front piece is fine, but the main canope piece simple will not line up to meet the lines of the aircraft…
In trying to get it to sit in the position needed, I ended up using super glue, just to get it to sit, so I could push on the other side ect… ended up breaking the front corner off, and had to then glue it back together… not noticable because of the way I will be displaying it. But am a little dissapointed in the fit, and the weakness of the plastic…Then not knowing, I had a little bit of glue residue on my thumb, and well, I got a little bit of fogging on it… aaaahhhhh I take alot of pride in building my models, so when they are poorly manufactured it makes life difficult… I wont let it get on top of me, and will make it a nice piece, but still… Why do we pay money for poor quality items. And why do the companies think that we will?.. I havnt built many Italeri kits, and so this will just about do it for me!..
Sorry to hear of your misfortunes with that kit. I hope it still will be a nice piece. I have a 1/48 C-130 made by them and I hope it fit better. Good luck to you.
They make some interesting stuff… But I was pretty turned off by the 18F that I tried… I went through half a tube of putty on that thing, and finally gave up. So I feel your pain. Dave -DPD Productions - Featuring the NEW ‘Military Aircraft’ Photo CD - http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/
Their 1/72 Bf 109F is terrible also. Tried to build it recently; panel lines on the fuselage halves didn’t anywhere near line up. The lower wings were too deep for the fuselage, and would have left a prominent “step” in the underside–IF they had even fit into the space provided, which they didn’t. This was the first Italeri I’ve ever had, and doubt I’ll try another.
Well, was just sarting to think it was only me that had a bad experience with them… I only chose Italeri because it was all I could find for the 2 seater Typhoon… I must say that the model is starting to take shape, and will be fine when finished. But the work has been a chore… Does this company have any quality control at all?..
I am starting to get tired of Hasigawa’s over pricing, but was looking at greener pastures… I guess I will just have to be a little more choosy with what I buy and save for the more expencive kits…
I guess I’m really getting old. I still remember the days when anything new was a great kit.
Until you have struggled through an old Hawk or Aurora kit and the joys of Matchbox, Airfix, Heller and Frog then you’ll never appreciate how far this hobby has come. Things get better as time goes on. I never thought I’d live to see an Eastren Euorpean Model company ( Eduard) take the lead and set the standard for new kits but hey what was I thinking. LOL. I’m sure The folks at Tamiya never though it would happen.
For the price and their subject matters Italeri is okay for most of us, just work it out.
I second that sentiment. Like you say Chris, it IS the sole two-seat Eurofighter available. BTW, what scale is your kit and what scheme are you doing it in.
Personally I’ve never had a problem with them. Right now I’m building their Cayuse - small but pretty - and the harshest criticism I’ve got is that the skids meet the fuse with a butt joint. Not too strong, so I’ll have to try a hot paperclip or something similar.
Like mention above, Italeri comes out with some interesting subjects that can not be found anywhere else. I notice their 1/72 kits usually get low ratings due to fit problems and sometimes inaccuracies. Then I’ve heard good things. There are quite a few online reviews out there on italeri kits. If you see an Italeri kit that you’re interested in, just do a search on google for a review.
I have their Ta-152 kit that I’m planning on building sometime soon. Right now I’m trying to build my skill before for attempting on building it.
The Ta-152 is the old Trimaster/Dragon kit simplified a bit (they eliminated the engine and the PE parts).
Italeri is a mixed bag. Their molds come from all over the place. They have Testors, Hawk, AMT aircraft, ESCI, some Accurate Miniatures, some Dragon, and some Russian molds to draw on. Some of those molds are terrific, while others are probably best put out of their misery.
I have built several of the Italeri 1/72 F/A-18 E and F models and found them to be fairly decent. They were the only thing available at that time, so I accepted the less than perfect fit and some inaccuracies in the kit. The big dorsal speed brake as found on legacy Hornets was a big boo boo.
I have also built several of their 1/48 and 1/72 SR-71s and found them to be very good. They did require some putty on the lower fuselage joints, but the flat surface is easy to do. The overall accuracy is the best of any on the market for this plane.
It certainly is a mixed bag… As for the scale of my Typhoon, it is the 1/48 version… And yes, its the only one out there, so I have to make do… As for the scheme, it will be a German Luftwaffe Typhoon…
I did their A-1 Skyraider and wasn’t real impressed with it. I would probably rank it among older RM kits. Detail was a little soft, and the fit wasn’t great, but it can be turned into a good looking model with some work. I bought it to practice my camoflage skills on, and they still need more practice[:D]
Has anyone ever built the Italeri 1/72 B-25H? I remember it being a real peach of a kit and it looked nice when done. I don’t know if it was a reboxing of another manufacturer’s kit but it was quite pleasant to build. Generally I don’t build their kits but somehow I ended up with this one and was very happy with it.
Was it the 1/72 or 1/48 scale kit? I think the 1/72 is an original Italeri mold, but the 1/48 is probably the old ESCI kit. The ESCI kit was originally released in the 70s. Not a bad kit, but dated.
Italeri is a late comer to the 1/48 market. A lot of their 1/72 kits are their own, but most of their recent 1/48 scale kits are other people’s molds.
Bill, its the 1/48. It is dated, raised panel lines, things like that. One thing I did notice was that it didn’t come with all the landing gear cover doors. I wanted them closed so I could make it look as if it was coming in for a bomb run, so to do that I had to make a couple of the smaller parts of the doors, not a big deal, just diffrent compared to today’s kits that have every tiny piece in them.
I’m just finishing up the Testor/Italaeri 1/72 B-25B kit. Granted, it’s the first airplane I’ve built in more than 30 years, and I’ve had the kit for so long (at least 10 years) I can’t even remember who gave it to me, but it went together fairly well. There were some ugly gaps around the engine nacelles in the rear that needed putty, and HUGE gaps at the wing roots that needed lots of putty, but the kit has nice raised panel lines and decent detail and fit.
There are some compromises - the canopy is definitely for the later G-version on, and not all of the correct window cutouts were included for the B version, but for all that I’m happy with how it looks structurally. Now as for my paint job … mumble …
i have built quite a few Italeri kits and must admit, never had much of a problem with them, the ones i have done that spring to mind are the aforementioned B25 (thought it an exellent kit, and was then the best B25 on the market). the HE111 and HE111Z Zwilling, the Cant Gabiano and the Cant twin engined bomber that i can’t remember the name of, was the same as the one Ray Rimmel did for “wings” magazine though.and two versions of the Kfir too amongst others. got to admit though i havn’t tried their 1/48th offerings and their more modern stuff.
Many of the Italian aircraft in 1/72 scale go back to the founding of the company in 1972. A couple of years after starting the company, the founders had a disagreement about which direction to take the company and one of the partners took half the molds and started Supermodel. I think Italeri eventually bought back the Supermodel molds.