thierry laurent Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Hi, There was a lot of speculation about the release of a Starfighter by AFV. I don't know what is the current status of this even if it seems it simply disappeared in a black hole after the CAD work. However, AFV commonly releases some resin kits to detail or convert kits. This includes re-boxing with additional parts (a good example in our scope being the Taiwanese OH-58D) and figures. The interesting element is the appearance of a duo of 1/32 Starfighter resin pilots on some Chinese sites some months ago... Have a look here: http://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/images/g/KgMAAOSwg3FUhAxE/s-l225.jpg Does this simply mean that AFV is trying to recycle part of the research work they made? Frankly I don't know but this stays intriguing to say the least! Cheers Thierry Zero77 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero77 Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Possibly.... Or are they going to rebox the Italeri kit with some additional features? Daniel Leduc 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Peterpools Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 I hope not, as a re- box of the Italeti 104 would be a no buy for me, as I struggle with their Mirage. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Williams Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Are those pilots from AFV club? It could just be someone making resin figures to sell as an accessory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero77 Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 (edited) AFV has no history with Italeri They have no history with any 1/32 kit designed by themselves, too. Only Academy reboxing, if i remember correctly. However, it may have absolutely no relation, but Kinetic has already reboxed Academy kits (F/A-18A/B/C/D), as well as AFV (F-16B/D), and Italeri has already reboxed Kinetic kits (F-86F). Edited May 26, 2016 by Zero77 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thierry laurent Posted May 26, 2016 Author Share Posted May 26, 2016 Are those pilots from AFV club? It could just be someone making resin figures to sell as an accessory. I saw another (smaller) picture on another page that quoted Hobby Fan. However, most of the text was in Chinese... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloorwestSiR Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Hobby Fan is a partner/parent company to AFV Club so that would make sense. Carl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 I first saw those figures for sale a little while after the Italeri was released, not sure if the AFV had been announced at that time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Lundinq Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 (edited) The Italeri kit looks really tempting and has received good reviews ... apart from those trench panel lines that in my humble opinion totally spoil the appearance. The F-104 is an extremely slick and smooth machine yet the Italeri kit looks like a big die cast in my opinion. Had the surface been more true I had bought half a dozen, now I even consider the old Hasegawa relic. AFV: come on guys! ðŸ‘😀 Edited May 26, 2016 by Robert Lundinq Harold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Why wait for another kit to come out? I built the Italeri kit when it first came out and it is fine. There is nothing on that kit that 5 minutes of old fashioned modelling won't fix. Eric Zero77 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Howie Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Just buy the Hasegawa kit. It's about 1/4 of the price. It's easier to describe it than fill,the enormous panel lines Italeri used which may be fine under Italian camouflage but in natural metal are plainly obvious. Gear bays that would look good in 1975 not so much 2016. Cockpit detail is well poor at best. Funnily they can be had cheapest in Asia for only 70USD but with Hasegawa kits running at 25-30 and still selling strongly both needeing new cockpits, wheels any wonder Hasegawa are doing another run of there 104. In fact simply removing the raised panels on the Hasegawa kit and painting it would look far better than what Italeri did to the cleanest aircraft of all time. A real pity Italeris effort has taken out what may have been a good F-104 from AFV club if the F-5's where anything to go by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian79 Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 The Hasegawa kit can be found at shows dirt cheap, and still looks better than Italeri's kit. Describing is really no big deal at all with a little practice... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericg Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 I stand by my comments. Whilst everyone was mashing their keyboard in angry agreement with the numerous in box reviews of both Italeris latest efforts, being the 104 and the Mirage, I quietly assembled both kits and now have 2 very fine examples of type in my display cabinets which are every bit as good as the other kits that also reside there. I really shake my head at modellers these days that will write a kit off without building it or fail to use some seemingly long forgotten modelling skills to quickly fix small issues. Sure the kits mentioned have some issues but I am yet to build a kit that doesn't. Eric dmthamade, Mistral, Dragon and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starfighter Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 I stand by my comments. Whilst everyone was mashing their keyboard in angry agreement with the numerous in box reviews of both Italeris latest efforts, being the 104 and the Mirage, I quietly assembled both kits and now have 2 very fine examples of type in my display cabinets which are every bit as good as the other kits that also reside there. I really shake my head at modellers these days that will write a kit off without building it or fail to use some seemingly long forgotten modelling skills to quickly fix small issues. Sure the kits mentioned have some issues but I am yet to build a kit that doesn't. Eric I agree with Eric - whilst I personally think the Italeri certainly is not up to the standard a kit released in 2013 should have, it builds into a fine model (and is available around €60 in Europe which certainly is not expensive for a 32nd scale kit.) with some effort. The Hasegawa kit is a pig to rescribe due to the very hard and brittle plastic they have used. Ask me how I know... and I am certainly not afraid of rescribing a model. Those figurines look interesting though - does anybody have a link to an auction or so? Might be interested in getting a set. Regarding Eric's two last and very true statements, I recommend this (found on FB) - not addressed at anybody particular, BTW : Dave Williams, Harold, Tony T and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 Hey, I have 220 Humbrol tins like this one ! The oldest one must be from the 80s ! Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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