Darren Howie

Id be in for several...ie 3 or 4

I have two sitting in my dining room its been out for almost two months. Excellent kit with two nice schemes and enough differences to be well worth the purchase. I really hope some decal manufacturers get behind it. No info at all on the HS-129 in Japan. No test shots on display at any Volks stores which is rare for soon to be released so maybe its running behind schedule. No release date up there either..

And there it is “its not hard to do it right”. That sweet chestnut the should be sent to the dustbin of history never to be seen or heard from ever again. If its not that hard id recommend you go chat with Peter Jackson about just how difficult it is to do right even with basically unlimited funds, on tap research information at your fingertips and an incredibly talented design team. IIRC the figure used was a quarter of a million in software costs in 5 programs to “get it right”. 5 tries to get the Fokker D VII correct, 5 different CAD design programs, training courses etc. Oh its insanely more difficult to get right. Whats even funnier is the Monogram 1/48th B-24 which is just as wrong in the reverse way from a nose fuselage section point of view has never seen a single bad word spoken of it. Funny that hey...

Unless you have been to Japan, seen the size of the shops and the number of kits walkng iut doors of all shapes and sizes its hard to comprehend. Still their fascination with the late Zero is almost like no other models exist. I thought Hasegawas new series would rapidly expand to cover the M3 and earlier.

I think the fundamental difference is the competition for the P-51B is non existant with the known issues of the Trumpeter kit. The ZM kit is on the other hand simply superb and HK’s high price puts it in the basket of ill take ZM every day over the HK kit as they are almost identically priced. A good P-51B would sell very well on the other hand being the only game in town from an accuracy view. Great decision to do the 48th B-17G it will be a license to print money..

I wouldnt say its just ZM..its every F-4 that has ever been released has not got the canopy area correct. That crazy Japanese modeller whos name eludes right now did some incredible work proving that everyone has got it wrong. His work was incredible. He also did an incredble job on a Trumpeter 105 rebuilding the canopy section to get the true shape and his finished kit was simply incredible. It shows up just how bad the 105 situation is in every scale. Ill dig his link out i have it somewhere along with piles of his images. Rivet counters need only apply..lol start here and crank up your translation site http://soyuyo.main.jp/f4/f4-2.html#ej

Im not sure why not. A single piece lower cowl part that could be mastered straight off the Hasegawa kit would take a man of his skills not long at all. If you build the kit nose fully opened up the problem almost disappears as well. Pastor John at Aims has already released a lower cowl mod maybe it could find a good use here as well?

I hope Roy Sutherland comes to the rescue here. As i passed on in the email some time ago the lower cowl and lower nose front below the exhausts need modification to increase the squareness of the corners. Thanks for putting up some great pics which highlight the issue. On the length it was measures and found to be almost spot on. If someone has some new info there it would be interesting to see as previous work highlghts its only the lower contours which need modification to get rid of the pointed nose look.

It comes with two quite nice pilot figures from resin. Similar in quality to the AH-6 figs in terms of quality. At least the two i have do.

Well you think if they broke down to requests for the DR1 down the track Spads are a sure thing to sell incredibly well.

I think the mistake was your post in the first place to be rather selective in your choice of subjects to attack for being modelled. The slope is steep and slippery if you start talking morals when modelling machines designed to kill. More money headed to Peter Jackson... Hope we see the W29 with Christiansen down the track...

If its not a B-26 ill be surprised. The B-25 made there name and its big but not huge like the B-17 and Lanc. However rumours circulating from a hobbyshop down here with HK contact of a 1/48th B-17 would simply be a license to print money. Whatever it is it will be interesting.

Grabbed one in Tokyo 4 or 5 weeks ago. it comes with both gun noses and decals for a couple of very nice looking Nicks. I was surprised pleasantly and its different enough to be worth grabbing.

So in short it doesnt work... :-)

I think some of the camo schemes are the most attractive. Love the camo Mig-25’s...