Darren Howie

Thierry i think you misunderstand..the Hasegawa kit does have a problem im trying to find exactly where..can you measure the difference in the front panels ie the one from the forward edge of the cowl panel which opens to reveal the engine and the forward end of the fuselage piece. I measured windscreen to 1 center panel gun bulge, 2 forward cowl edge(opening panel not front fuselage) and the Hasegawa kit measured well with Lynn Ritgers plans. The Hasgawa kit though is short from the panel line the marks the cowl panel to the forward fuselage panel ie the oil filler panel being almost 1.5mm short. Ie from the fuselage front end to the start of the first vertical panel line which is the front of the opening cowl panel. If you compare those two panels on Revell and Hasegawa you will i think find where most of Hasegawas error lies. Adding a 1.5 mm card spacer and rescribing the oil filler caps would fix most if not all of the error in the nose on the Hasegawa kit fixing that issue quite easily for those not wanting to go the Revell road. Again this is drawing dependent but Lynn helped Revell i believe so imaging his drawings wont be to terrible.

There is a great build here using just kit parts and getting a great seamless intake..for..free. Most resin ones have fit issues with minor shrinkage even causing problems. Ive got most of em and all have a kit issue of one shape or form minor or in some large. The build here is a good cheap way out ill try and dig out the link..

Looking at the drawings in Lynn's book the Gphasegawa cowl etc measure out very well. The error mostly seems to lie in the panel forward of the cowl to the spinner. The distances from bulges to front canopy and ecerything else comes up well maybe no more than 0.5mm out tops. That from panel is in the order of 1.3-1.5 mm short. Again it depends as always on the drawings in his book i will try some others tomorrow but even looking at my 109G pics it does apoear narrow. Easy o fix in some respects if its confined to one panel to. Be interesting to hear others thoughts and Thierry maybe a comarison of the fuselages side by side looking at that front oanel may be goid if you have time. Cheers

Can you explain why the Hasegawa 109F and G series are on the market for2800-3200Y in Tokyo and the Revell kit is almost double at 5600Y?I think i can. It would be the same reason why Revell is so cheap in the USA.. Ps Therry thanks for the excellent write up. Do you have any idea when or where the measurements for the 109 nose came from people are quoting? When the Hasegawa kit was released everyone acknowledged the spinner priblem but no mention was made anywhere regarding the nose. Im intrigued hiw that hapened and where Revell got the measurements from. Its not like the 109 wasnt around to be measured in 2001.. Cheers

Looking at my pics from Seattle Paul Allens Mustang wing pretty much refelcts Jennings diagram to a tee. However an aircraft lovingly restored on an unlimited budget gets far more love than any Mustang off a production line in wartime conditions. Combine that with 3-12 months of operational service in every weather imaginable.(Ie we are talking about Europe here) with temperatures ranging from 30c to -56c means a very quick degradation. Putty included. In short build it how you like you are certain to be right at one time or another.

Is anyone else like me completely disapointed in the Revell kit? All the hype Revell pumped out about it being the ultimately accurate 109?? I have a pile of 109's in the stash with MDC cockpits waiting and spinners and cant see one single reason to buy a single Revell kit. I had one in my hand in Tokyo a few weeks back and it came close to being bought but all the issues stopped me from picking it up and the price in Japan didnt help. I cant see the "length issue" and IIRC no one in 12 years has clearly shown where it lies and every review of the Has kit other than the known shortcomings like gear bays,spinner etc have been well corrected with aftermarket. With every kit needing aftermarket to one degree or another it looks like just buy the cheapest or stay with what you already have. In any way its not really good for Revells sales. Nice write up Thierry but my MDC kitted Has kit with spinner that i have already paid for is a clear winner over an upaid for Revell kit with an unpaid for resin correction set and a whole pile of build dramas. Thanks.

Hi Tim Having been around aircraft for a similar time as you at 31 years of flying experience 16 with airlines there are many exceptions to rules. Aircraft with patches and dings many with modifications that make them non standard. Sure nobody paints over a static zone but ive seen plenty of rivets where there isnt supposed to be any. Thats in the tightly controlled world of 2013. Can you imagine how uncontrolled a maintenance shed on the other side of the world with extreme pressure for max flyable airframes every day would be with most work done in the open. People who think flaps are retracted every time an aircraft land for gods sake..lol..im not sure if they have ever been to any airport in there life but i think they should. Even today airliners taxi in flap down for various reasons all of which are non standard as no manual says to leave them out..well except the 717 unless you have been on contaminated surfaces anyway. In short non standard happens as a fact of life and no manual however well meaning can cover every circumstance in the real world.

Part of the issue is modern dslr's capture so much more detail than a ww2 camera. Run through photoshop far more detail is visible to the eye than unprocessed image from film that was far less sensitive than the equivalent iso today. Hence most fine detail was lost. the moment the shutter was pushed. Combine that with flat finish on hard working aircraft many having flownn many missions in the harshest of conditions means lots of detail easily visible on glossy pristine aircraft gets lost forever in images. The thing i love is how people so undyingly believe if its in a manual t must be true for every aeroplane in every circumstance. Anyone who has been around real aircraft for any period of time knows just how unreliable and wrong that assumption is..

I think Radu is onto something. Build a model as you want and respect the fact that when viewing others they have made the same choice. And hopefully show you that respect as well. Great work from Jennings to for those that choose that route. Having seen plenty of Mustangs they are as all different as each other. Paul Allens in Seattle i think has a correctly restored wing very clean indeed. Yet Museum of Flight has a rivetted wing completely different. Make a choice abpnd respect others may make a different one. The whole flaps down Corsair debate at HS was laughable with some people so full of there own opinion and ramming it down everyone elses throat as only they could be right.

Ahh missed that part! Mossie then as they share the engine they have tooled already..not sure if that makes em brothers! Oh the 48th Shinden is girgeous picked one up last week,,

Brilliant Flanker in every respect! Love the finish it is very real with superb weathering. Did you vac the windscreen or another method? Superb..

Mmmm spirited brother?? Well they have already dine the D so it Sounds like a P-51B to me...

I havnt tried with Chris's intakes but the kit ones fit far better if you join the engne cover to the main intake piece prior to fitting.far less of a step and far less sanding than attaching the cover then attaching the intake..

Im sure shop owners are not driving Bentleys around. But a 300% increase in price or even a doubling is not the consumers problem. Again i can see why US modellers are screaming about kit prices and rightfully so..

Hey Doug What specific problems are you referring to on the ZM kit? Comparing the issues is interesting. For Revell...incorrectly proportioned fuselage..nacelles hosed..props..canopy..cowl flaps..landing gear...if you know of an easy way of fixing the entire fuselage let me know.. The only issue i have seen or heard about ZM is a minor quibble on the canopy which i think is a hang over of the retooling to correct the changes made to the front one. Like to know what the issues are you know about. The Revell kit has large errors all over the place and imho comparing its errors and the ZM kits is again like comparing Trumpeters and Tamiya's Mustangs. The differences are about as large. Feel free to let us know the errors in the ZM kit as i would like to know. The OOB detail in the ZM kit is as good as anything you can get. Not quite as sharp as Tamiya but close.. Pricing wise the Revell kit where i live i paid 95 for Revell which is a fair price here and i paid 170 for ZM. To get a Revell kit even close to ZM woukd essily triple the price and still leave you with shape and accuracy issues far in excess of an OOB ZM kit. Photo etch doesnt help Revells issues maybe a chain saw some bog and about 200 bucks worth of resin may. Ive got two Revell ones in the stash all your for free if you want to come to Cairns to collect them.. Have you got or seen in person the ZM kit? If not do so you will see immediately why people love it..

Tax dodge? What a load of rubbish. They are not that cheap if compared to street prices. If you ever visit Hong Kong you will see how cheap kits are there. Things like standard Tamiya F-4s and Eagles are approx 75-80 USD. Most Hong Kong dealers are selling 25/30 percent above street prices. Its not a tax dodge its just how much they are.. On prices having jst returned from a bit trip across the US you guys are getting ripped a new one by distributors. I saw prices on Tamiya Corsairs ranging from 160-199USD! Tokyo at Yellow Submarine they where 8800Y less 25% or 66 bucks. You guys are getting murdered on Chinese and Japanese kit prices..

Anyone who has a ZM kit and Revell will quickly testify about the differences. If you intend upgrading the Revell sorry dont bother by the time you get a kit half as good and barely as detailed you will of spent twice the ZM price and it still wont be as detailed nor as accurate. If you building OOB it is good value as long as accuracy isnt an issue. In all setiousness it is not unlike comparing a Trumpeter Mustang and the Tamiya one.. If you havnt seen the ZM kit in person do yourself a favor..

Ive ended up buying an zisra Sufa set as i could not find the straight D conversion. I also picked a a spare D canopy from Ebay to avoid doing a vac cut out. The Isra bits look nice good panel lines on mine and very good quality in general. Could not find a D anywhere..

Hey Don it pretty much looks like the test shots but seeing it in hand is a world of difference. One really nice touch is the letter hand signed by HK thanking the team who helped out with some well known names thanked. Great to see..

Wow the more i look the better it gets. Very nice detail stuff. Its not a ZM 219 for detail but the surface detail etc looks nice. Very nice..

Mirage III for sure. Plenty of great operators and numerous options for aftermarket conversions etc so heaps of extra sales.

Got home from Tokyo this morning and the postie was banging on the doir a couple of hours with the big B-17. Wow its huge!! Anyone else cut one up yet it looks simply awesome in the box! Grabbed a Wolfpack T-38 at Volks Tokyo nice looking kit to. Corsair is finally out in Japan cheap to around 65USD at at least two shops. Time to play with plastic

Hi Kevin, I think Gary should be able to at least say something as after a quick look through Rohan apears to have launched a pretty scathing attack on someone who appears to have had no issues with anyone else other than him. Hope to see you back online soon Gary as your services are missed..

29Eu now that is expensive compared to center. Think i paid 15 USD from him on ebay plus shipping of 10 with other bits. Funny you had a problem i know about 6 people who have used him numerous times without a problem. What happened? I found him a stellar dealer he even sent me extra snakeyes due to a 5 day shipping delay on my order. Hope he is back online soon his parts come in handy for numerous projects and given how much you paid for a sprue that is far cheaper in Japan. It seems Tamiya Europe is ripping people off big time.charging 29Eu for a 520Y sprue. How do they justify charging 29Eu for a single sprue for $5.. Maybe you should be complaining about them rather than center...

Agree i'm a huge ZM fan but with a great price in Japan it will have to hurt sales. Although ZM are crafting a market for people who want the full meal deal and a lot of history in the box not just plastic and decals. So maybe they think that market is strong enough that people may still buy one. Maybe..the Tamiya Mustang is a different style of kit to Hasegawa so maybe they have it right. Hope so there kits are brilliant lessons in history and aviation not just models.