Old Noob with some probably common sense questions

Researching the origin of your kit was mentioned; the best place that I've found to start is Scalemates.com which gives you a timeline of releases for many kits and subsequent reboxes along with links to reviews and more.

Cybermodeler.com is another good source. There are lots of reviews and the host generally brings in the history of the subject and kit. When I got back into the hobby I let my ambition get the better of me and wound up shelving kits because I didn't have the skills to overcome some challenge or other. Armornut's advice would have served me well.

Happy New Year!

Mike

Welcome back, the only dumb question is the one unasked.

 I agree with the above posts about PE, do some research. DO NOT RUSH YOUR SKILLS, start with what you know and are comforable doing. It is AWESOME your wife bought you a kit, believe me in a few years you'll be like the rest of us....sneeking stuff in, trying to explain a diorama, you'll get to know the drill.

   A good pair of sprue cutters, some good cement, sand paper or sticks, and fresh paint, trust me, old paint bit me in the backside this weekend. 

  Patients and time will produce great work. Glad to have you back and HAPPY MODELLING.

Welcome back to the Forums! Glad to have you back with us .

Jim  

88fan

Hey Everyone,

It has been years since I have visted this forum and completed a kit.  I've recently decided to indulge my desire to build again and recieved a revell FA-18 kit from my wife for Christmas.  She knows I love F-18's and didn't want to spend an arm and a leg on a more expensive and detailed kit. However, I really want to detail as much as I can, since that is what I love about building.

My questions are:

Can you use photoetched kits made for other manufacturers on revell kits?

What tools are "Must have" for everyone?  I have quite a few I havn't used in years, so didn't know if there are new cool things I'm missing.

I've got a compressor and badger aribrush, I'm building a workbench from scratch (wood working is another hobby), and have random scribers, knives and such.

Thanks all I look forward to getting to know each of you again.

 

While I will echo that you can sometimes use PE for different brands of kits, I will also caution that sometimes you cannot and if so, much of it will be virtually useless. Then there are also reboxes so while you may think the PE isn't right for your kit, it's actually the right one just in a different box.

For instance, the Eduard PE set for the Dragon BMP-1 wouldn't work on the Esci BMP, but Italeri reboxed the Dragon kit so it would work on that particular kit.

Bottom line, do some research before spending money on aftermarket. Every once in a while you end up with an aftermarket item that you can't use on any kit you have. Then you end up chasing the right kit to match your aftermarket.

Hi 88fan and welcome back,

Yes, you can use PE from a diferent kit but you hafta do lots of dry fitting to make sure the stuff fits ie. the instrument panel may not fit under the cowling for example.You can alter the AM parts with a file to fit but it's lots more work. (PE= photo etch, AM=after market parts )

As far a must haves there is quite a few places to look at new stuff to get ideas on what you may need like UMM, Hobby World , Micro Mark and You Tube for a start. Just google these and peruse the hobby tools etc.

On you Tube I especially like the tutorials and experiments done by Paul Budzik and Will Pattison and they are eye opening techniques there to try not to mention many hours of  viewing enjoyment.  Happy Modeling Mate

Welcome back. Yes, you can use PE designed for one brand on another brand of kit. But be aware the fit may not be perfect and the PE instructions will referance the kit parts it was designed for. Just take extra care.

Which version is it. Eduard does have a couple of set for Revell F-18's and there are also sets for the Italeri kit. As the Revel kit is a re-box of the Italeri, any AM will fit either kit.