What are the 1:48 kits you think everyone should tackle?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
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I’m a 1:48 fan, mostly because I have huge hands and smaller builds are a pain in the rear. My next build will be the Tamiya Corsair I just picked up. But I’m fairly newly back to the hobby after about 30 years. So I’m really trying to gain skills and improve my outcomes.

I’ve been bouncing around learning and researching techniques, tricks, etc and I’m left wondering, what are the builds that someone like me should have on my near future builds? For whatever reason, what’s a kit you’d recommend someone take on fairly early in their modeling career?

im sure many will want to say “take on whatever interests you” or something equally simple. But I’m really looking to build a list of good projects, from any manufacture, that modelers have enjoyed and think others will have a similar experience.

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts and knowledge.

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Air brush or hand painting

Props or jets

The Tamiya 1/48’s are pretty straight forward.The Spitfires,109’s,FW-190 are camo,so they present a challenge,while the mustang and P-47 and Zero have simpler schemes.

Eduard,Airfix,and Revell have straight forward kits of the same subjects

Tamiya makes nice but pricey jets also

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Tojo, thank you for the thoughts.

I’m a brush painter for now. Im just learning to use acrylics instead of the Testors enamel that I grew up using exclusively in the 80s and 90s.

i enjoy both props and jets.

I was thinking a Supermarine Spitfire should be on my list of upcoming builds, specifically to take on a camo challenge.

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You really can’t go wrong with any modern kit.

If I had to say one kit it would be the Tamiya Zero M6A5. It is just a perfect little kit.

https://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/2/t/191578.aspx

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Yes,then camo is less of challenge hand painting

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Thank you, Tcoat, that’s one I hadn’t even considered. I’ll take a closer look.

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Not sure why links to this site won’t work for me but at the bottom of my first post is the build thread for mine. It’s sort of cool in that they are so so small compared to the US aircraft they fought. It is probably one of my favourite aircraft kits now.

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Very cool, I just went through your whole post. Love the weathering you did…esp with the silver underlay, instead of the chips I see added afterwards in most cases. That’s definitely on my list now.

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I build mostly 1/72, but I think for 1/72 or 1/48 it’s tough to beat any of the new tool Airfix kits for value for money. They have a very nice series of 1/48 Spitfires.

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I would suggest going to Scalemates.com once you have found a kit you MIGHT want to build and see when it was first produced. You will find kits made back in the 60-70’s are very plentiful, cheap and look good, can be a very frustrating mess for someone who is not used to older molds. Newer kits from the 90-current are ususally far better (easier) to work with. Look up reviews on Youtube on certain kits you have interest in and avoid those that have griped about fit etc. Many builders have fallen trap to kits that are inexpensive only to hate the process before they get done. There are many kits that will make you want more and more, and many that will suck the life right out of you. Avoid the latter.

BK

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Thanks Willy, I haven’t attempted anything from Airfix yet. For some reason I initially had a negative perception of the brand at the start, which I now realize was unfounded. Are there any kits that Airfix is specifically known for doing a great job on that should be on my shortlist?

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This is very good advice! I pretty much always check Scalemates for the history of any kit I buy now since I have been trapped before. Even the best model companies will rerelease some old school kit made from molds from the sixties or even fifties in a pretty new box. Some of those old kits are actually really nice but it is best to find some reviews before buying. A while back I got the Round 2 release of the old AMT '66 Corvair without looking up reviews and was completely disappointed when I opened the box and saw a vaguely car shaped lump of plastic that will take a massive amount of work to make look good.

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Thanks, Brandon. I definitely understand the “sucking the life out of you” comment. I wear an XXXL glove…can you imagine how frustrating a 1:72 or smaller build is for someone with hands this big? LOL Thats why I stick to 1:48. I did a smaller F18 and was ready to throw it across the room.

So what’s a newer mold that’s been really well received by the community, in your opinion? I’m trying to make some smarter stash purchases wih Good insights, rather than my usual criteria of “oh that looks cool”.

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Yep, this is where research comes in. Many of the old Airfix molds are pretty nasty but their new stuff is top notch. Airfix prices are generally very much lower than other companies and when the new kits are as good as they are they have great value. They also have some aircraft that nobody else does which is nice.
I recently did the Silver Wings Walrus. Beautiful kit that could be brush painted nicely. The wing rigging may be a bit much for jumping back into the hobby though.

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The Tamiya 1/48 P-51D and P-47 razorback or bubletop are fantastic kits. I highly reccomend both.

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I like to build Monogram kits, the same ones I built as a kid in the Seventies. The 1/48 scale kits are still pretty good models (sorry, Hyperscalers!), and can be good simple builds, just for enjoyment. My favorites among those are the P-51B and P-40B kits, the P-39, the P-47 (razorback and bubbletop), the Typhoon, and the TBD.

I also like Monogram’s old original US Navy planes, though I concede that they’re still closer to toys than scale models. But again-they can be built for enjoyment. And even with the operating features, when you’re finished, you have a good representation of the subject.

I’ve got some old pre-merger Monogram and Revell kits in the stash, too, that I never built back then, but which I’ve picked up, out of curiosity. Both companies made P-51Ds, for example, and both made Spitfires, albeit different marks. Revell also made a P-40E, scaled down from their 1/32 kit. That kit was the basis for the ProModeler P-40E kit, by the way. I never built any of those, but I’m building them now, in my 50s.

I also like Monogram’s large 1/48 multiengined aircraft kits-the B-17G, the B-24D and -J, the B-29, and the B-25 kits. Again, today’s modeler might turn up his nose at those, but if you’re getting back into building, those are good kits to work with.

I’ll also recommend Tamiya’s P-51B and F2A Buffalo. Tamiya kits are good, generally, for their engineering and fit, and for the look of the finished model. You can’t really go wrong with those.

Airfix has good 1/48 scale kits, too. Airfix has been issuing new-tool versions of subjects they produced years ago, and they are also worth picking up. Not over-engineered, not tricky for someone getting back into the hobby, and build into nice models.

Eduard has good kits, too, for the same reasons. I like their P-39 series, particularly.

Hope that helps!

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Not going to lie, that Walrus looks super interesting and intimidating. Good on you for such an impressive build.

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Very cool, I’ll check those out! Thank you.

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Oh the Monogram approach is fascinating. In the mid-80s I lived in Seoul, S Korea, and that’s when I first started building models with my friends. I remember being at the little Korean shops and being very excited to buy a Monogram kits, mostly because we’d get English instructions. I wonder if I can find one of those old sets that I built…if memory serves the one that sticks out was an F-4 Phantom design. Of course this time I won’t test the airworth and launch it off the top of an apartment building with my friends.

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