Best Fitting Aircraft Models

Best fitting, in my experience none better than Tamiya. The new Airfix kits are great too, but I've only built a couple.

The 1/32 Hawker Hunter by Revell Monogram has a superb fit. As does their 1/48 F-84E/G kit. 

stikpusher

The 1/32 Hawker Hunter by Revell Monogram has a superb fit. As does their 1/48 F-84E/G kit. 

I'll have to checkout the F-84 especially, love that plane.

Would you say that most of the newer Revell kits are good in terms of fit? The only one I've built is the Stearman PT-17, and it was very good. My only other eperience with Revell Monogram are the old kits from the 60s/70s.

Most Tamiya and Hasegawa,although Hasegawa 1\48  F-14 was troublesome for me

My experience with two early Hasegawa 1/48 molds were, well, below par.

The P38 Lightning had issues with both booms, and wing alignment and a Harrier plus wing to fuselage is still sitting incomplete in a box for over 10 years.

Some of the issues could have been resolved with being a more experienced modeler, but some are just poor engineering.

Tamiya kits have never given me any problems with alignment or poor engineering.

My 2 cents.

Roald

 

 

stikpusher

The 1/32 Hawker Hunter by Revell Monogram has a superb fit. As does their 1/48 F-84E/G kit. 

 

 

 

 

I'll have to checkout the F-84 especially, love that plane.

Would you say that most of the newer Revell kits are good in terms of fit? The only one I've built is the Stearman PT-17, and it was very good. My only other eperience with Revell Monogram are the old kits from the 60s/70s.

 

I've only built a handful of their new tool/new release kits. But those have been on par fit wise and quality wise with anything from Asia. I have many more in my stash, including the Stearman, but have yet to get around to them. And they look great in the box, but we all know that assembly and in the box are two different animals. But I'm willing to bet off the others, that the new tool stuff is all equally good. 

You'll be happy with the Stearman, easily the best fitting biplane I've built. The cabane struts are molded to the fuselage, which makes attaching the upper wing a breeze. 

The Roden Sea Gladiator, OTOH, had me letting loose a string of expletives and throwing objects across the room.  

stikpusher

The 1/32 Hawker Hunter by Revell Monogram has a superb fit. As does their 1/48 F-84E/G kit. 

 

I agree on the Revell F-84 E/G kit, really a nice model complete with nuke! Tamiya has always been at the top of the list but the later Hasegawa and Academy are good. I've not built an Airfix.

Max

I build mostly Revell kits, and their F-15E Strike Eagle kit went together so well.  The F-86D Sabre Dog went together beautifully, along with the C-54 Skymaster. 

The best in my experience, is the recently released Tamiya F-14 1/48 Tomcat, and all the reviews I have read agree.  This is a truly superior kit, in terms of engineering and parts quality.  

Tamiya 1/32 Mosquito was the best fit and finish kit I've ever seen and built! It was just exceptional.

Toshi

Earlier this year I completed a monogram F-84F Thunderstreak kit from the 80s.  I expected fit issues and lack of detail.  I was impressed as to how easy this kit went together and the high degree of detail for an older kit.  All I did was rescribe and replace the decals with aftermarket since the kit decals were to old to use.

Like others above, I find Tamiya and the recent Revell kits quite good on fit.  Older Revell of Germany kits occasionally have problems, but some are okay.

I find the worst fits are from Eastern Europe.

And the 1:48 Revell Stearman is a beaut- great detail and great fit.

Keyda81

I build mostly Revell kits, and their F-15E Strike Eagle kit went together so well.  The F-86D Sabre Dog went together beautifully, along with the C-54 Skymaster. 

I saw that C-54 Skymaster and was tempted give it a shot. It looks great, glad to hear that it goes together well. 

It depends on the subject. In reality, it's really hard to pin point one particular brand that's stands out the best over everybody else.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

It depends on the subject. In reality, it's really hard to pin point one particular brand that's stands out the best over everybody else.

Agreed, which is why I'd like to know which specific kits people found to have exceptionally good fit.

Roald

 

 

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

It depends on the subject. In reality, it's really hard to pin point one particular brand that's stands out the best over everybody else.

 

 

Agreed, which is why I'd like to know which specific kits people found to have exceptionally good fit.

 

And then it further devolves into scale and genre. Wingnut Wings kits are reputed to be super in every way. But I have zero interest in 1/32 WWI biplanes. 1/48 Korea, Vietnam and Cold War subjects currently have my fancy.

For me, someone who has just gotten back into the hobby after 40 years, I have to say the Tamiya blue nose P-51D. It just clicked together with very little filler. After that, the Revell Stearman and Revell T-6 both have pretty good fit, although the top of the nose on the T-6 could have fit better. Right now I'm working on Monogram's F-82. Not the greatest kit, but I'm making do. When the F-82 is done, it'll be a "what if" build, had WWII lasted through 1946.

Cadet Chuck

The best in my experience, is the recently released Tamiya F-14 1/48 Tomcat, and all the reviews I have read agree.  This is a truly superior kit, in terms of engineering and parts quality.  

 

This^^^^!

Absolutely the best fitting kit I've ever worked on. I'm on my 2nd build out of 3 in the stash and I'm planning on more. 

Another perfect kit is the Revell Germany F-86D. Perfect fit with no warps.

Hi;

 I have built numerous Monogram - " Pro - Modeler " F-100 fighters . Foiled them and gifted them to folks .I don't think I ran into any problems of discernable notice on any of them .

 I never have used Alclad or other metalized paint . I foil in four or five different colors and then Decal , Clearcoat and there you have it .  T.B.

Tamiya tends to be the benchmark.

ridleusmc

Tamiya tends to be the benchmark.

 

Not everything that glitters Tamiya is gold. Their older kits have as many fit issues as anybody else's. In 1/48 try their Sea Harrier or Ki-84 kits. They need good old fashioned modeling skills to fit right.

stikpusher

 

 

ridleusmc

Tamiya tends to be the benchmark.

 

 

 

 

Not everything that glitters Tamiya is gold. Their older kits have as many fit issues as anybody else's. In 1/48 try their Sea Harrier or Ki-84 kits. They need good old fashioned modeling skills to fit right.

 

That is so true....

I recently started a Hobby Boss build.  This kit (1:48 P-59) has been in my stash for a number of years, so it is not a recent kit.  The details are not great- I had to put in a lot of scratch detailing in the cockpit- but the fit is superb.  I already had on the bench a Czech Models F-80C, and the difference is night and day.  The Czech Models kit is a real putty queen, though the details are really good.  I have not got to the painting (nor even priming) yet on the P-59, but the looks of the seams so far make it look like this model will require almost no putty!  I have built a couple of more recent HB kits recently, and they have come a long ways on detail, while still keeping the great fit!

stikpusher

Not everything that glitters Tamiya is gold. Their older kits have as many fit issues as anybody else's. In 1/48 try their Sea Harrier or Ki-84 kits. They need good old fashioned modeling skills to fit right.

I will start with the caveat that my experience is minimal compared to the other posters here.

Nonetheless, I agree that not everything that Tamiya produces is great. I've recenty built some of their older kits (Raiden, Walker Bulldog, Hanomag, etc) that are just OK (or even poor) in terms of fit. Certainly no better than other kits of the same era. 

I have not built the Harrier or Ki-84, but I'll take your word for it! Any company is capable of producing a kit with problems. 

As for the new(ish) Tamiya kits that I've built however, the fit has been excellent. With the P-51, the fit was so tight that it felt like building Legos. 

And that was the impetus for the original post. I thought "I wonder if any other kits by any other companies fit as well as this?".

Thanks so much to everyone who has chimed in, Im realizing now how important it is to look at individual kits rather than just the name of the manufacturer. 

Maybe not everything Tamiya makes is gold, but I tend to put them together without filler.  And, they look really good.  To be honest, I try not to buy older kits.  I tend to look for the newer stuff.  I'm not affraid of using filler or scratchbuilding detail, but I try to minimize it. 

For example, I know that Tamiya has some old A6M Zero kits from the '70's for under $20.  Hasegawa has some Zero kits from the mid-2000's for about $30-40.  Tamiya also has two Zero kits that are newer than that for $45-$50.  I'll choose a new Tamiya kit.  I'm stopping at the hobby shop tomorrow.