Gary Needham

Markjames 1968. Mark, Your figures and context to the project are sound and like you, I have placed an order from a position of the worst that could happen is that at the end of the 'journey' I get no Viggen kit; just like I didn't have one before embarking upon it! Whilst the consensus on the thread in reply to your posts seems to be you are a 'half empty' sort of guy in this respect (I do not share that sentiment BTW) and other that the Kelly's Heroes character 'Oddball' type submissions from others of "Have a little faith baby!", it is interesting that no-one has eve

Didn't Tan Models also post some CAD of a "well in development" 1/32 SU-33 as well about 2-3 years ago? As Jennings said, I think they are gone or certainly inactive these days. Gary

Excellent photos thank you and for an aircraft stored permanently outdoors as a static display, it exhibits less airframe 'weathering' than I see on many 'in service' built model jet kits! Gary

PLUS 1 to what all the others are saying. The F4 kit is now almost 30 years old and subjectively, it wasn't representative of what Tamiya were capable of even back then with some unforgiveable engineering issues like the intake debacle. How anyone at Tamiya ever thought 'that's acceptable' defies logic. Having since built their 1/32 Zero, Spitfire, P-51, F-16 and IMHO probably the finest fitting and engineered kit I have ever built; the F-4U, then their current 1/32 offerings less the F-14 (40 years old!) and to some degree the F15 which has some fit issues around the wings are sti

Derek B . You make some good points. My frustration lies with those who simply take (known incorrect) sized kit parts and then simply 'super detail' them to sell them at a premium price. I simply do not understand this logic and surely the purpose of buying AM stuff like this is to correct a kit fault; not compound it AND pay for the privilege of doing so. Gary

No idea and the problem with (any) resin AM is the potential for shrinkage in individual batches / packages. Short of testing it or hearing from someone who has them to hand, I would treat any purchase with caution. If resin can be incorrectly sized for the Tamiya kit; then why not Revell kits as well. Gary

Thanks for the update. I am unsure why Roden would be overly secretive about the project as it isn't as though they have a raft of competitors in the 1/32 WW1 kit market is it but I am sure they have their reasons. Whilst I would much rather CSM have tackled this specific subject, if Roden have upped their game with this new kit over some of their earlier releases, then I am sure it will be fine. That said, I wont offload my HC SPAD XIII kit just yet until we some plastic and initial assembly reports. Gary

Look forward to this subject but oddly enough, there is no mention at all of the kit on Roden's own website...? Gary

Personally, I find AIRES confusing and frustrating in equal measure. Superb details and yet whilst their 1/32 cockpits tend to be very good fits (their SU-27, MIG-23 and Crusader F8 ones that I tried just slotted and 'clicked' into place) I have never yet used a 1/48 cockpit set of theirs which didn't either need the kit's cockpit sides grinding to transparent levels and in danger of going through the plastic or in about 50% of the cases, simply giving up and just using the resin ejection seat and instrument shroud. I would love someone from AIRES to publicly answer these questions

Got my email order confirmation too - check your SPAM folder as I thought I had missed out! Gary

Agree - he's a great modeller and a very kind and generous bloke for sharing his work with us as PDF's. Gary

I think Dave's assessment was pretty conclusive for me. Now then....that guy 'Elvis'...is he still alive too because I keep hearing his records on the radio.....?

Thanks for the informed update Dave and if anyone knows what is going on, then it is chaps like you who know the company and what made it 'tick'. It's a sad time for all modellers who loved the company and their products and I am so glad I have all of the kits in the range I will ever need. Anyone else popping their moulds in the near or far future will doubtless be a sad reflection of what went before in terms of the overall package. Gary

Bob. IF you can get hold of a set from someone with a junked or 'for parts only' kit, then the Revell 1/32 F4 kit exhausts were an almost perfect fit to the Tamiya fuselage. The detail is somewhat basic granted, but you can always add more detail with with an Eduard etch set for the liners or add some scratch details yourself. Either way, it looks MUCH better that a gap equating to about a scale foot all way around the exhaust area (what on earth were Tamiya thinking?) If you look online, then you will rarely, if ever, see built versions of this kit showing close-up det

No Idea about the Aires ones Bob but the Eduard ones, just like the kit ones, are way too small as well and leave a sizeable gap all round where they fit. They seem to be simply super-detailed copies of the kit parts. I sent photos to Eduard of the dry fit on mine and asked them why they were so badly fitting and if they been tested before market but never got a reply. Gary