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Recent state of the art 1/32 injected moulded jet question

Talon

By Talon
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Tony T

Tony T

Posted
Posted

Oh gawd, just over one page and it's degenerated into laddish banter! There's no hope on this planet! 

 

I second the Revell Hunter: the F.6 and second edition FGA.9, both of which feature corrected ailerons and a slightly better cockpit firewall. 

 

When it comes to mainstream makers' new-tools, 1/32 jets have been dead for about ten years. There may well be a renaissance in, say, 15 years' time, but while there is a lot out there still to build, sadly not much is state-of-the-art or accurate.

 

WW2 era obviously sells far better, and WW1 has become a sellers' market, so don't expect any cosmic new jet subject tools in 1/32: we seem to exist in a tiny minority in an already niche market, and generally don't matter to anyone in the decision-making process. Jets only seemingly sell in 1/48th scale. 

 

Tony 

 

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Talon

Talon

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Posted
16 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

Read the thread...

 

Yup, derailed on the third post by someone who either couldn't be bothered reading, or deliberately ignored, the OP. It's even in the thread title... "injected"

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jeroen_R90S

jeroen_R90S

Posted
Posted

Regarding the Trumpeter A-6(A) Tony mentioned, it is a nice kit and as a fan of the aircraft I'm really pleased it's there. But honestly it's nowhere near a Tamiya 1/32 F-16 or 1/48 F-4B.

 

If you want some elaboration on why:

First of all it's a mis-match of versions, which I can't really blame Trumpeter for, as the real thing went through massive amounts of changes between the early 1960s and mid 1970s.

It really does depend on how much you want it to match a specific airframe in a specific period accuracy-wise. It best matches a ~1972 model, but still has wrong seats and wingtips and some details needing changes. And the A only comes with perforated speedbrakes which many of these later ones did not have so more fixing to do (or trade with someone looking to do an A-6E with these as the E kit only comes with closed ones...) Weapons are standard Trumpeter stuff, so either lots of rework, or replace them.

 

It also makes a big difference if you want to build it as Trumpeter intends with most of the panels open, or want to close it all up. The last route is a lot more (tedious) work.

Of couse I picked a very early one and wanted all panels and hatches closed, both of which are a lot more work which I always seem to end up with somehow! And I didn't even fill all the dimples it's covered in ;)

 

3 things I would recommend for it:

  1. different seats (I think AMS Resin did some, but I converted the myself)
  2. Reskit wheels (the kit ones are pretty odd)
  3. AOA decals, as the kit ones are IMHO just awful:

Afbeelding

 

So all of this may sound very negative, but I'm still really pleased we have this model with it's basically good outlines. Personally I'd rather not have all the open radar and engine stuff, and have the correct seats and options for early and late A-6As in the box instead, but hey, I don't work at Trumpeter and other modellers may like to go crazy on all that stuff. :)

Also really pleased with AOA decals as they point out a lot of the things I summarized in the their decals.

 

Lastly, with all that written, no, it's not nearly in the same class as a Tamiya F-16 1/32 -> except for price, perhaps! :D

 

Jeroen

 

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DavidJMason

DavidJMason

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Posted

The model kit industry has two defining themes.  What will sell worldwide and how passionate the company president is about making a specific subject in a specific scale.  The sales data shows that 1/32 is in third place after 1/48 and 1/72.  Based on that reality 1/32 projects often get put on the back burner.  Sorry about that.  However if the company president says "you will make this aircraft in 1/32 and you will make it really good".  Modelers will get a nice new model kit to build.  It doesn't matter if you are Tamiya, Academy, Trumpeter, Jetmads, or whoever, it's all a matter of selling your product and keeping the boss happy.  

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ScottsGT

ScottsGT

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Posted
19 hours ago, Tony T said:

 

When it comes to mainstream makers' new-tools, 1/32 jets have been dead for about ten years. There may well be a renaissance in, say, 15 years' time, but while there is a lot out there still to build, sadly not much is state-of-the-art or accurate.

 

Tony 

 

Not sure I’d go as far as calling it dead. Maybe on life support. Revell did do the Hornet about 5 years back, Trumpeter released the F-35C and has the A model in the works and Fly has the new SAAB J-29.

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cbk57

cbk57

Posted
Posted (edited)

Italeri has being doing new Jet kits and Trumpeter has an F-35 pending.  So there are kits out there.  In the end though Jet kits are big and expensive in 1/32 so it is a tougher sale.  My 1/32 F-4 is almost triple the size of a 1/32 Mustang.  Big boxes and size do matter in the larger market.  Look at the contest table for example some of the new 1/48 Jet kits that are out, many of them are big models in 1/48 scale so for many people 1/32 would be out of hand.

Edited by cbk57
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