edfifer

Read down the web page a ways and you'll get your answer (probably not the one you're hoping for).

I don't believe so. I'm afraid you might be a few years too late.

Me too. I debated, but I have absolutely no interest in the real bargains (e.g., Felixstowe), and I have several unbuilt WNW kits of the more mainstream subjects already which, at my current build rate, will last until I'm over 100 years old.

Like others who've posted here, I was really interested in a couple of the WNW sale kits. I was just about to hit "buy" when I went downstairs and reviewed all the unbuilt kits in my closet. I know what's in there, but actually standing in front of a closet full of kits and handling the half-dozen WNW kits I already have was a good reality check. As tempting as this sale is, I decided to pass. I don't want to eventually saddle my kids with more unbuilt model kits than I've already got. I haven't completely sworn off buying new kits, but they're going to have to be subjects I really, really want, not subjects that are just sort of interesting and happen to be on sale for a good price.

Maybe a few of the Chinese sellers are very good, but I wouldn't touch this--or other sellers like this--with a ten-foot pole. 1. Chinese sellers offering kits or other products at ridiculously low prices have been discussed on a lot on this and other forums. I've never seen anyone come back and post the following month that their bargain purchase actually arrived as advertised. 2. This seller has such low overhead/cuts out the middleman/plays the exchange rate such that he can make money charging only $25 for a kit that retails for $125 in the USA and then ship it half way around the world to you for only $10. Yeah, right. 3. "But PayPal protects the buyer, so I've got nothing to lose." Maybe, or perhaps even probably. Still, do you really want to put yourself through the aggravation of filing a claim? Is this worth worrying about getting your money back or worrying about them stealing your financial information or scamming you later in some other way we can't even anticipate? 4. "His feedback looks good." To me, not really. Rather, it looks more to me like his feedback has been faked. An unusually large proportion of his seller feedback comes from buyers with low feedback themselves, mostly for private transactions. More telling, if you look at his "feedback left for others" the comments are quite different from one another like they've been copied from some other feedback thread consisting of multiple authors. If you look at "feedback left for others" from legitimate eBay sellers (like me) the comments tend to be identical or at least similar since a single seller ordinarily writes about the same thing in response to every successful transaction. 5. As people have warned over and over in response to postings like this, if it looks to good to be true it probably is. My favorite example of this scam (whatever it is) was one I saw on eBay a couple of years ago where the Chinese seller was offering for sale three copies of some ancient collectible Renwal kit. (It might have been the Visible Wasp engine; I can't recall for sure.) I'm sure these were commonly sold in China during the 1960s which explains how someone there would have multiple copies to sell! I like a bargain as much as the next person, but don't let your excitement to get a bargain cloud your judgement.

My take: The seller is in Japan. English is probably not his first language. He has good feedback. I would not call the listing fishy but rather more likely a mistake perhaps coupled with some unfamiliarity with the nuances of different Hasegawa Skyhawk kits. Just now when I looked at the listing, the title read 1/32 but the description read 1/48. You're looking for a 1/32 kit. Here's perhaps an opportunity for you to buy one, but it's also possibly a 1/48 kit erroneously listed as 1/32. You've exchanged messages with the seller seeking to clarify. The responses haven't clarified the scale to your satisfaction (mine either). At this point I'd probably write it off and keep looking elsewhere. Good luck with your search.

Beautiful model. Too bad the horizontal stabilizer has been set to "speed brake" mode. Somebody at the museum really ought to reset it.

My Nieuport (late) kit arrived today. For what it's worth, I'll agree with the previous comments. In my opinion this looks to be a very, very nice kit. Given the quantity of unbuilt kits in my closet, and my age, I'm cutting way back on new kit purchases. But I've always loved the Nieuport 17, and I like to support bold ventures by small businesses like CSM. I hope this kit is successful for them and they're able to bring us more in the future. I'd love to see a SPAD 13 with a similar level of quality.

For what it's worth, I ordered a late Nieuport directly from CSM during the pre-order special a few weeks ago. I just got an email with tracking number showing that it's been shipped.

The Aerospace Museum of California at the former McClellan AFB in Sacramento also had one you could get right up to. I haven't been there for a few years, but as far as I know you still can. No ribs on the tip tanks of their a/c, hence my appreciation for photo 46. Even more appreciation if Paul Fisher comes out with photo etch for them. I've got a set of his resin tip tanks waiting for them.

Actually, you're looking at the two parts sitting on my laptop screen (tips propped up with a tine bit of clay underneath). The grid pattern is courtesy of Microsoft Excel. You're looking at the them in left-side profile, upside down. Glad it helps.

For whatever reason, this photo appears to have uploaded upside-down, but hopefully it will still be helpful. The shorter nose is the Encore resin part, and the longer one is the Monogram part. There are 14 vertical lines to the inch. I propped the parts up with clay to keep them as square to the surface as possible. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1O1BwIMe22W2Azy0VXNIg6VH-uzYg4sK3

I don't have a micrometer, but I measured the height of both parts pretty carefully with a combination square on a flat surface. The resin part is about 1/16 inch shorter. If you're willing to accept the Encore resin piece as "correct," I suggest cutting that length off the tip of the plastic part and then filing/sanding to reduce the diameter of the new tip and induce the very subtle kink extending about 1/4 inch back from the new tip.

I just dug out my Encore kit and eyeballed the shape of their resin nose in profile alongside the Monogram plastic part. To me, the resin nose shape does look much closer to your photo than does the plastic part.

The Encore boxing of Monogram's F-102 comes with a resin nose which is supposed to be closer to the correct shape. I can't vouch for its accuracy, but it is a little bit different and not merely a resin recast of the kit part. I realize you've already got a couple F-102s and might not want to buy yet another kit just for a single part.