Darren Howie

I think your best bet may be stealing a closed exhaust from a Trumpeter F-14D or B. I think most resin 110’s are all open and the only closed one in 32nd is the closed option in the Tomcat kit. im not sure if the Academy F-16 has a closed burner can someone else might chime in...

What i was referring to was the lower section of the leg which is not internal but external and blends with the plastic main leg. In the first review it looked somewhat undersize in the blend with the upper leg section. So the lower leg looked telescoped where the lower brass meets plastic. In another it almost looked identical radius at the join so was wondering if the shrikage was widespread or was it simulating the shock strut? In another it looked similar in diameter at the lower plastic to brass meet point..

The SAC landing gear is out anyone have one? The brass one released looked in a review far undersize compared to the main gear leg yet another review they looked ok. Interestee to see if anyone has the SAC set yet?

Agree the market now has plenty of grey helicopters where are the Vietnam Cobras adorned with stunning nose art you can weather to your hearts content? When they put out one of those ill buy 4 until then none. Ok maybe one...lol..

Be looking forward to these! great work!

Thanks for the work Dave. i have one coming for a close look. Dmold might be up for a fix on the spine as they already do a soine fix for one kit. Sure someone will do it...

Yep all two seaters but some nice schemes and imagine the F wont be far away!

DXM have a big sheet of Jolly Rogers Superbugs on the way...

One! One! Cmon Tony your a Phantom Phanatic id expect no less than two of each! Lol

I dont believe the posts by Eric etc are condescending at all. If anything they are trying “encourage” people to try rather than insult anyone by some margin. Did anyone pick up an airbrush ever and paint a perfect German mottle on their first go? Ever? Skill is earnt not given. Talent is one thing but no amount of talent ever sent any pilot solo on their first flight. I can guarrantee not trying is a certain way to NEVER improve. If there is no mainstream injected detail set come then the method demonstrated might be our only choice. Having polished many centreline seams on modern fighter canopies realistically can it be any more difficult or critical than a huge line in the middle of a bubble canooy?

Spine has not been fixed on the Revell kit...it still looks nice but you are going to have to round off the square corners on the turtle deck behind the canopy. From some angles it does look very flat but it does have a curve on shots from up close. Revell really overdid the flatness but it looks savable with some heavy duty work with heavy sandpaper. To me rounding the corners a lot will make it ok. Its a pity its in such a visible easily seen location. Take a look through Star Wars Canyon F-18E images as some do look flat and the E has a very different spine to the classic and F directly behind the canopy. Revell kit is well priced so ill pick one up to compare with my Trumpy one which i think has a spine closer to the classic than an E.

What you mean shops that had numerous of them in and no longer have them did what put them out the back? Get serious mate...when shops had kits and no longer do that means they have SOLD.... In the mere 12 months i worked in a large hobby shop i dont remember hiding kits out the back... So when you go in one day and there are 4 on the shelf then there are none left means at “least” 4 sold depending on if they had stock out the back. Its quite easy to determine a kits popularity from shops sales, asking them and seeing how restock goes on sale. Sorry to disapoint you but its selling well unless you dont believe store owners now? You better not believe that according to the same guys the HK Lanc is going well to...

Given the way the kit has sold id say the reverse. An aircraft nobody ever thought they would see for half the price of the competition and selling out everywhere. Funnily enough an oppurtunity exists for someone like HK, Kinetic, Meng etc to put out a B-24 accesory set with multiple turret variants etc for those wanting 100% accuarcy for glass, turrets etc. maybe slide molded? Even Trumpeter mght be conviced with the right contacts. Just not sure it would sell for differences many would not know or care about. You mght get what 25 preorders from modellers here? Guys who would care...if anything its perfect justification for not pumping the base price up for a load of parts that you would never use on a single B-24. I doubt the B-24 would justify multiple boxings of the J to split the extra parts to be model specific. Hence we end up with a great selling generic B-24 at a great price as opposed to a HK specific B-24 that doesnt exist...

Cheers Chek thanks for posting that! Good work on the scaled comparison..

That main gear casting is very undersize and looks like a telescope not a continuous diameter leg. Nose gear looks ok but the main leg looks pretty poor. SAC have done a whole gear leg set to come that looks pretty good if the white metal is not soft. Hope Eduard go all out but not holding my breath..Brassin gear legs would be awesome. Great work on the B-24!

The reason very clearly Hobby Boss did not do that was to supply the entire line of possible B-24 variants would push the price up to double that of the HK Lancaster by the time the research, extra moldings and sprues are done...oh plus the box already packed wil be huge hammering shipping costs. All pushing the price to unaffordable levels all to satisfy modellers who cant think outside a very small square. Its funny we continually hear about what they left out keeping it afforrable but people are buying them left right and center. First 98% of people buying this kit will not even be remotely aware of the multitude of variants, turret options nor care. Model forums are full of people who are vocal and arrogant expecting their personal favourite aircraft is done to the nth degree and if not we hear all about it page after page. This negative “oh it doesnt include xyz turret” etc therefor it should “never” of been released is what, lets find reasons to “not” release kits now? Maybe HK should not of released the least most popular B-17G we could all be happy then using that attitude. Or maybe the F should never of been released as the nose is still wrong, its lacking numerous F gun arrangements and clear parts. So how many people are unhappy to have a 1/32 B-17F?...none. So how many are unhappy to have a 1/32 B-24....none...sorry one..Jennings he would rather have nothing than something. People criticising a kit for what it “isnt” is just simply glass 98% empty mentality that damages the hobby. The kit is under half the price of the HK Lancaster and has already sold out twice at our local stores yet the initial HK Lanc shipment still has not. Gladly not everyone thinks a B-24 kit need have double the sprues, three times the price to satisfy the 3 modellers who want every B-24J option in one box. Im more than happy with that decision keeping the price down the only disapointment being the split turrets its almost as disapointing as HK and their cheapskate canopy blisters.

Im sure there was an extensive post comparing Trumpeter and Hasegawa Stukas here several years ago where dimensionally Trumpeter was found after much normal bashing to be more accurate.. Searched to no avail... Are there any reputable plans verified to compare with?

There is about another 25 WW1 aircraft that people would love just to start. There is plenty of green pastures for WNW to graze through yet..plenty...

Agree...if it was Trumpeter there would be 3 threads two of which would be shut down of guys abusing them for another massive error so blatantly visible. ”How did they miss that” et al...are they blind etc etc..lol. But its Revell so its ok... Hopefully we finally get some resin that will fit the Trump kit though..

After picking up a pair of CE’s F-4B conversions Garys(i think i bought 3)are so far superior to them in every aspect i would buy two or three big UK F-4’s without hesitation. I have his G conversions, Standards..in fact i have heaps of his stuff, all very very good! Rethe F-4H the CE set is quite good prob the best CE conversion released think the cockpit was its onky shortfall. Still have Sageburner plans but some of the prototypes are very cool! I have always wondered what has stopped the model community getting behind a system used in several other hobbies. You sign up put up a credit card number to secure a number of kits you want then when preorder reaches a certain amount developement is confirmed. IE preorder total of say 100 must be reached. A running total is displayed as orders come in when it hits 100 production is guarranteed. Manufacturer is happy as they have 100 locked in buyers minimum whom have given a card number to confirm a purchase..ie your in, locked in and guys are happy as kits will get produced with zero risk if it all falls through. You get charged on shipping. Everyone wins. So often you hear of companies hesitant to produce due fear of people not backing up their typing with cash...this does that it gives a producer confidence and buyers stuff that would never see the light of day. Id be VERY HAPPY to hand over a CC number via a pre purchase agreement ie min order total must be reached to proceed to back up my promise to buy three...

Well until i can verify by measuring, having it measured or verified against reputed verfied accurate plans i wouod not come into any forum saying this kit is great that ie Trumpeters kit is rubbish oh my god how did they do it. The Monogram F-84 was thought to be the bees knees and people hammered Trumpetboss when their F-84 did not line up with it...oh my god how crap is this Chinese pos, how could they do it its such a well known aircraft. Oh when someone measured up the F-84 which kit was wrong.,.Monogram. Did we see any of the oh my god how crap is Monogram, how could they do it? No all we got is silence. Now i agree there is every chance Trumpeter did get it wrong but how about you produce some well regarded plans ie Bentley and try there as a better starting point to compare rather than an Airfix kit which as we have seen repeatedly re old kits is no guarantee of anything... Unlike say a Hasegawa 109 which has been compared from end to end over the years and judgement from there would be quite reliable the Airfix Stuka has not been studied at any length and is a poor place to start. Being well regarded means little under the blow torch of accuracy.

For years the Monogram F-105, was hailed as a great kit..well until the blowtorch got turned on HobbyBoss and in the comparisons the Monogram kit was found to be off in many places. NONE of the kits mentioned have had the blowtorch turned on them like EVERY Trumpeter kit is. Old kits have not endured any of the scrutiny of new ones its all word of mouth spread by the that looks like a 190 to me for years and years. Nice kits for the time but nobody has looked at them and they have been found wanting in many cases. Dont assume an old kit is correct it probably isnt...

Its not just they person behind the keyboard. Wingnut Wings found to their dismay not all CAD programs are made equal. 6 programs later and several years of delay in the Fokker DVII to get curves correct then be able to tool them correctly proved that. Blind faith in CAD even with 100% accurate info does not equal an accurate production if CAD does not render it correctly or even a correct render does not equal an accurate result. For the OP im not sure what the story is but in future doing this type of leg work before you build a kit is probably a wiser move...

Why would you be sorry its an awesome kit...the C is good to. The Mig -29M and K where both very respectable kits as well..

I think your best bet is Master from Poland but cant remember if they have done this set. They have done several Nightfighter radar arrays in brass and are very good quality. Hope you find a set..