Trumpeter 1/32 P-40F Soon to be Released??

[VMA131Marine]

2 hours ago, esarmstrong said:

And don't forget their "A" effort on the Fairey Swordfish that followed on the heels of the Tamiya 1/48 effort.

 

But the recent Sea Vixen appears inferior in accuracy to the Airfix effort, the Firefly Mk.I has accuracy issues and is not as detailed as the Special Hobby kit, one is better off with a Dynavector or Classic Airframes DH Hornet/Sea Hornet compared to the Trumpeter effort, don't get me started on how bad the Trumpeter B-P Defiant is compared to the Airfix kit, and the Albacore is inferior in most respects to the Special Hobby kit. The Wyverns are excellent, but that was a collaboration with Monochrome; the 1/72 Gannet is good and in some respects better than the later Revell kit, although lacking a weapons bay, and the Wellingtons in both scales are very good though the recent Airfix Ic in 1/72 is better than the equivalent Trumpeter kit. Which long awaited British aircraft will Trumpeter screw up in 1/48 next: Fairey Battle, Blackburn Roc/Skua, HS Buccaneer, HP Hampden ...

[LSP_Kevin]

Our own Torben Dunn posted the photo below on Facebook, showing what is presumably the inspiration for Trumpeter's new box art:

 

 

Perhaps not so wrong, after all. Still, something about it just doesn't quite work.

 

Kev

[Gerhard]

Pic is not working. 

[Gerhard]

The hate for Trumpeter is strong in this thread.

[PhilB]

28 minutes ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Still, something about it just doesn't quite work.

 

I agree.

To me it looks like it's scared !

[Trak-Tor]

I guess it may have something to do with the long lens used for the photo, which brings some "distortion" to the shape of the plane...
But one's not used to see it in paintings. Our brains would expect more "natural" view there...

But that's only one of my random thoughts....

 

Juraj

[ade rowlands]

3 hours ago, Gerhard said:

The hate for Trumpeter is strong in this thread.

 

Their inconsistency is what is baffling. They have a real penchant for getting canopies wrong from what I read. Some kits are great, some are not so great, some are best just left alone. Me, I quite like their 1/24 Hurricanes and 109’s and have the A6M2 on the way and if that’s good I’ll get the Rufe too. The 1/32 stuff I’ve gone the Ju87G and whilst it caught me out in a couple of places and I made a couple of my own mistakes I quite liked that one and will get another one after learning from the 1st attempt. I did the Mig 3 years ago and quite liked that too though that didn’t survive the house move. There’s no perfect kit out there from anybody though. Some come close, but that also depends on the end users definition of perfect, we all vary in that department. I’m building the 1/24 at the moment and that has known issues but to me, I walk in a room and look and know it’s a 109G, most people with a basic knowledge could pick it out as a 109, maybe not the variant depending on their knowledge base but that’s fine, I build for my own enjoyment anyway, the only people that get to see my builds are myself, anybody that comes to the house and sees them in progress or gets nosey and goes to the room where the cabinet is and of course you unlucky few. I certainly won’t avoid Trumpeter but like any kit, I look for builds by other folks first rather than in box reviews and the like and when looking for builds I like to look for some by builders I respect for a no nonsense thread. 

[Dave Williams]

I think the main gripe with the Trumpeter box art is that it shows the plane so very near to the ground.  The real plane in the real picture is much higher in the air

[VMA131Marine]

6 hours ago, ade rowlands said:

the A6M2 on the way and if that’s good I’ll get the Rufe too.

You'll need this:

 

http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/gregspringer/trump_corrections/trum_corrections.htm

[KUROK]

9 hours ago, Gerhard said:

The hate for Trumpeter is strong in this thread.

 

 

I am a true P-40 afficiando.

I can see from the photos of the sprues that this this Trumpeter kit is rubbish.  What a disappointment!

It appears the canopy is elliptical in cross section but the real plane has flat sides.  WTF?

The top of the real "F" nose is very nearly straight with only a slight curvature.  I can see they got this wrong.

As a picky P-40 guy, I will continue to hoard the wonderful Hasegawa kits and if I want an "F" I'll use the Grey Matter resin upgrade.

Trumpeter can kick rocks....

[Plasto]

9 hours ago, Gerhard said:

The hate for Trumpeter is strong in this thread.

 

Its part of the human condition.

We all need something to dislike its part of us at a base level. We also like to gather together when something unfortunate is going on. Kids gathering round for a school yard fight or motorists rubber necking at a crash on the highway.

 

Trumpeter ‘quality threads’ pop up on forums all the time. Often with the same folk ‘cheer leading’. There’s ultimately no real conclusion to the threads as Trumpeter keep themselves to themselves and don’t engage with modellers directly.

 

this I think leads to a degree of frustration as increasingly we’re used to companies engaging with us Airfix for example run good social media. AMK are learning engagement can be a two edged sword if done poorly with the f-14.

 

’If only they had spoken to xyz about the xxxx then it would be more accurate’ is often used. 

 

Really when you look at it Trumpeter are not really any different to the majority of kit companies. They have some really good kits  a lot of average kits and some not so good kits. Where they differ is they release a lot of kits. One thing is for sure. Forum posts generally don’t influence Trumpeter.

 

This one won’t either but it will make us feel good.

[Dave Williams]

I think the main problem with Trumpeter kits is that they clearly have A team and B team kits, maybe more so than other current companies releasing mainstream kits.  When they put out an A team kit, it’s generally pretty decent, but when they put out a B team kit, it’s usually somewhat noticeably messed up.  I also think a lot of the disappointment and frustration comes when Trumpeter releases something you really want, and come to find that it was done by their B team.  Yeah, Trumpeter gets grief, but they somewhat earn it by continuing to put out B team kits.

 

It’s weird because their armor kits don’t seem to follow the A/B team splits.  Much of it is solid A team stuff.

[Plasto]

I have no doubt the ire of modellers worldwide is earned.  We’re a demanding bunch and expect perfection in everything released. 

 

Multi page posts on multiple forums have no impact on Trumpeter. As a consumer group we need to find a different way to influence them. 

 

How about we crowd fund a trip for some respected modellers to pay Yatai electric appliances a visit..... Then we can look em in the eye..

Edited November 27, 2018 by Plasto

[ade rowlands]

50 minutes ago, VMA131Marine said:

You'll need this:

 

http://www.j-aircraft.com/research/gregspringer/trump_corrections/trum_corrections.htm

 

Thanks for that. I knew the cowling was wrong before getting the kit but deemed it as something I could live with.  A lot of that list went whooshing way over my head. I won’t be taking on the cutting and trimming as that’s a recipe for disaster in my case. I will make use of the notes in the cockpit equipment. At the end of the day it’s a build for me and the cabinet not any competition table and it certainly looks like an early Zero to my eye. Though it does have some of the retraction arms for the gear and gear doors not included which stand out in the real Zero as they are painted black against the fuselage coloured gear bays themselves but shouldn’t be too long a stretch to cobble together. Radio gear isn’t an issue as I’m doing a Tainan Kokutai bird and they removed the radio gear. 

[VMA131Marine]

36 minutes ago, Plasto said:

We’re a demanding bunch and expect perfection in everything released.

 

I don't ask for perfection. I just don't want to pay Tamiya money for Starfix level accuracy.