Z-M 1/32 A-1H/J Skyraider Kit

[Juggernut]

Hey all,

 

Are there any real difficulties with the ZM A-1H/J kit  such as fit problems, soft details, etc?  I'm thinking about getting one of these but after struggling through their Ta152H-0 kit, I don't want to subject myself to a jackhammer and chainsaw build again.  I am partial to the USAF version but I think both versions of the kit are pretty much the same excepting the service differences.

[Gary Needham]

Being honest, I had this kit AND the 1/32 Trumpeter kit and offloaded the Z-M kit as I saw no point in building all that interior never to be seen again once I saw the Trumpeter kit.

 

Each to their own, but the Trumpeter kit looks great to me and with excellent details (Check it out on YT). Is it perfect, probably not but at half the price if you shop around, it certainly isn't half the kit the Z-M one is. The Trumpeter one also provides lots of ordnance whereas the ZM kit just has drop tanks and you need to buy weapons for that as extra too.

 

Gary 

[Dave Williams]

I believe that the later boxings of the ZM kit includes the weapons.  Also, like many Trumpeter kits, their weapons are a mixed bag.  Some are just OK, some not so good, and some not appropriate for the variant.  Also, the ZM AH-1J includes the correct modifications for the AF -J version.  The Trumpeter kit doesn’t.  That said, the Trumpeter kit is pretty decent overall (although people have expressed issues with the shape of the windscreen).  It’s certainly “good enough” and the ZM kit isn’t a slam-dunk better choice.

[thierry laurent]

The Trumpy kits look like Skyraiders whereas the ZM ones are quite accurate scale replicas. This means 99% of the people will not see the differences. Out of my memory the main annoying features are:

- the windscreen width

- the propeller blades 

- the wheels 

- the nose cowling profile 

- the shape of most bombs 

Besides that the kits are indeed quite good. With a replacement propeller, new wheels and a good choice of weapons, a very correct replica can be made out of the Trumpeter kits. However, the ZM kit will still be better. Moreover nobody is forcing you to add the invisible internal items such as the radio & avionics boxes. Nonetheless thanks to their internal structure and bulkheads ZM kits are very sturdy when built. Conclusion: If you want a very good model OOTB, the ZM kit is the choice to make in spite it is a little bit more complex.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[eoyguy]

46 minutes ago, thierry laurent said:

Moreover nobody is forcing you to add the invisible internal items such as the radio & avionics boxes. Nonetheless thanks to their internal structure and bulkheads ZM kits are very sturdy when built. Conclusion: If you want a very good model OOTB, the ZM kit is the choice to make in spite it is a little bit more complex.

You don't have to add that detail, but you will pay for it, use it or not. A little more complex and a LOT more expensive. 

[Confusionreigns178]

14 hours ago, Juggernut said:

after struggling through their Ta152H-0 kit, I don't want to subject myself to a jackhammer and chainsaw build again.

I'm very surprised you had such a bad experience with the Ta152H-0. I have read a few reviews of it that say it goes together very well, even though it is a very complicated model and somewhat over-engineered. I 've had similar experiences myself, though. I built a Revell 1/32 Ju-88 a while ago and that kit fought me every step of the way (very possibly, my modelling skills didn't really match up to the kit's design....). I added more filler than any other kit I've encountered. I nearly scrapped it, but now it's finished I'm really glad I didn't junk it. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

Edited August 6, 2021 by Confusionreigns178
Amending some information.

[quang]

42 minutes ago, thierry laurent said:

The Trumpy kits look like Skyraiders whereas the ZM ones are quite accurate scale replicas.

I heartily agree with @thierry laurentstatement.

I started a Trumpy kit some years ago. I tried to correct every point Thierry mentioned in his post. But I found something was still amiss until some months ago, I bought a ZM at sale price so I had the opportunity to compare the two kits.

 

The following pictures were made for an (aborted) WIP of the ZM kit. I hope they will be of some help.

 

 

 

 

It all depends on how picky you are about the AD but apart from the issues often mentioned on the internet, the biggest (and to me,impossible to correct) is the larger width of the Trumpy aft fuselage and the over-thick vertical fin which give the Trumpy kit a rotund appearance.
Furthermore, the real-life Skyraider has a slab-sided and slightly angular fuselage, an aspect very well reproduced by ZM.

 

As for the internal structure of the ZM kit, while it may be not visible on the finished model, it helps you understand the design principles of the Skyraider while you are building it. A definite plus for the Able Dog lover ;-)

 

Cheers,

Quang

[Neo]

wwow that nose section with the vent is night and day! 

[Juggernut]

5 hours ago, Confusionreigns178 said:

I'm very surprised you had such a bad experience with the Ta152H-0. I have read a few reviews of it that say it goes together very well, even though it is a very complicated model and somewhat over-engineered. I 've had similar experiences myself, though. I built a Revell 1/32 Ju-88 a while ago and that kit fought me every step of the way (very possibly, my modelling skills didn't really match up to the kit's design....). I added more filler than any other kit I've encountered. I nearly scrapped it, but now it's finished I'm really glad I didn't junk it. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

 

I'd really like a Ju-88C-6 from Revell but until hen's grow teeth, I think that'll be a unsatisfied want on my part.  When the Ta152H-0 is completed it looks great but getting there is, how should I say, a challenge.  I'm also not the only one who's had trouble with this kit.  Thunnus' build a while back (in the Works In progress forum) had issues.  https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/83060-132-zoukei-mura-ta152h-0-white-7/page/23/

Edited August 6, 2021 by Juggernut

[Juggernut]

I'm not really considering the Trumpeter kit...I culled that thought a long, long time ago.  I have a total of one Trumpeter 1/32 kit in my stash and that is the Me262B-1a/U1.  I have four of their large scale tanks (one is being built now) but their 1/32 stuff is far too hit-and-miss for me to invest in.  This ZM kit comes with the USAF ordnance in the box.  Hell, I may just add it to the pile along with the soon-to-be-released (as in today) 1/48 F-4EJ Kai.  After seeing Alex's 1/48 Greek Phantom, I decided that Greek Phantoms look cool and the only REAL option is using the new ZM 1/48 F-4EJ Kai kit and modifying as needed (which at this point remains an unknown, unknown).

 

I just ordered some HAF decals today from a Greek decal producer: Procal Decals - Hellenic Air Force.  I have no idea how they perform, I can't find any reviews online but there is some facebook comments and they seem to be favorable.  We'll see.

Edited August 6, 2021 by Juggernut

[Pete Fleischmann]

I built the ZM kit and thoroughly enjoyed it. I went with the ZM kit because the windscreen shape of the Trumpeter kit bothered me, and ZM had the markings for “Blood Sweat & Tears, which was flown by my buddy Bert Bertrand. 
nice kit.

 

cheers

P

[aircommando130]

That's an awesome Skyraider! I can only imagine being a young Lt. right out

of pilot training getting a Skyraider assignment to Thailand. I'd have something 

interfering with the flight controls till I calmed down....

 

Cheers...Ron 

[Juggernut]

48 minutes ago, Pete Fleischmann said:

I built the ZM kit and thoroughly enjoyed it. I went with the ZM kit because the windscreen shape of the Trumpeter kit bothered me, and ZM had the markings for “Blood Sweat & Tears, which was flown by my buddy Bert Bertrand. 
nice kit.

 

cheers

P

 

Thanks for the input and superb Spad (on a steek)!  I bought some Zotz A1-H decals a long time ago with the intent of putting them on the ZM kit (the Trumpeter kit hadn't been released yet as I remember).  That thought has resurfaced in recent days...and the ZM kit with the weapons included is less expensive now than it was when I originally considered the project.  BONUS!

 

I guess being in the fighter community has its perks . Growing up at and on Griffiss AFB, I didn't get the chance to meet a lot of fighter types (even though the 49th FIS was stationed there...F-106's until 1985) but there were a couple B-52 aircrew I was acquainted with over those years...along with seeing several SEA camo'd B-52D's.  One guy was a tail gunner and related to us (during a History class in college) his experience of an encounter he had with a North Vietnamese Mig-21 as well as other stuff like BDA "phraseology" which was in itself very interesting and the reasons why even moreso.

Edited August 8, 2021 by Juggernut

[Pete Fleischmann]

15 minutes ago, Juggernut said:

 

Thanks for the input and superb Spad (on a steek)!  I bought some Zotz A1-H decals a long time ago with the intent of putting them on the ZM kit (the Trumpeter kit hadn't been released yet as I remember).  That thought has resurfaced in recent days...and the ZM kit with the weapons included is less expensive now than it was when I originally considered the project.  BONUS!

 

I guess being in the fighter community has its perks . Growing up at and on Griffiss AFB, I didn't get the chance to meet a lot of fighter types (even though the 49th FIS was stationed there...F-106's until 1985) but there were a couple B-52 aircrew I was acquainted with over those years...along with seeing several SEA camo'd B-52D's.  One guy was a tail gunner and related to us his experience of an encounter he had with a North Vietnamese Mig-21 as well as other stuff like BDA "phraseology" which was in itself very interesting and the reasons why even moreso.

when I was a new hire at the airline, I had a crashpad house in Chicago that I shared with 8 other pilots, as temporary living quarters for those days you were on reserve or got in too late to commute by air back home. Bert was a crashpad roommate of mine. He was always good for a few beers and amazing stories about flying the Spad as an LT in Vietnam. 40% of his squadron did not come home. He went on to fly the A-7 and F-15, but the Spad was his favorite.

 

cheers

P

[Juggernut]

2 minutes ago, Pete Fleischmann said:

when I was a new hire at the airline, I had a crashpad house in Chicago that I shared with 8 other pilots, as temporary living quarters for those days you were on reserve or got in too late to commute by air back home. Bert was a crashpad roommate of mine. He was always good for a few beers and amazing stories about flying the Spad as an LT in Vietnam. 40% of his squadron did not come home. He went on to fly the A-7 and F-15, but the Spad was his favorite.

 

cheers

P

 

Nice, thanks for sharing.  I knew a guy who flew the Falcon 20F I was in charge of who went to work for United out of Chicago.  This was 1999/2000 so he may well be a retired Captain by now.  Somewhere I have a photo of him, the other pilot,and my charge back before 9/11.  So much has changed in the civil aviation world since then...