Hobby boss models

It's a branch of the Trumpeter company. In my experience, they tend to be somewhat simplitied as compared to the newer Trumpeter stuff.

I think their 1/48 aircraft kits are among the best available.

I have no positives to say about their color call outs, but it's always a good idea to do your own research.

I am assuming you are looking for good places to order from since you mention no hobby shops. Hobbylinc.com is my go to. I have heard Spruebrothers is good.

If you are asking about manufacturers of kits I find Tamiya to be the best when it comes to fit and quality instructions. I have yet to try a Hobby Boss model.

I have not yet built an HB kit, though i have 3 in the stash, but have heard good things and have several on my to buy list. Not sure what subjects your after but they have taken over the Tristar line which are very nice kits, but mostly WW2 German subjects.

Like GM said, Hobbyboss is the alter ego of Trumpeter. They are the left door and right door of the same parent company. If you have built a Trumpeter kit, you’ll pretty much have the same from Hobbyboss. But... there is always a but, Hobbyboss has recently started issuing formerly Tristar kits (a gorgeous line of 1/35 armor and figure kits) under the Hobbyboss label. Those are superior to anything that I’ve seen yet from Trumpeter/Hobbyboss  original engineering/molding. 

As to quality, like any other company, they have their gems and rocks. If you’re interested in a particular kit, do a little online research on it. But they have a lot of kits that nobody else does.

Their 1/48 scale armor was well regarded, especially the T-34 and KV series. The Shermans were dinged for some shape issues, but were nice regardless.

I've got a couple of their 1/35 scale armor kits and those look good, but I have not tried them yet.

Srpuln10

Has anyone got info on the company? Good,bad I don't know nor heard anything...

It depends on the kit.  As others have noted, HB is part of the Red Chinese conglomerate that includes Trumpeter.

I've built their 1/48 F4F-4 kit, which is pretty much a knock-off (whether licensed or not) of Tamiya's kit of the same subject.  The sprues are almost identical, except for the way the lower wing and lower forward fuselage parts are molded on the sprues.  It's a decent kit.

I also have HB's 1/700 USS Arizona 1941 on the bench.  It's cheap, at around ten bucks retail, and it's a poorly engineered kit.  It shows its origins in the copies made in the PRC of Revell's kit (from Banner, to HB/Trumpter/MiniHobby), particularly in the way the parts are engineered.  I got it with an eye to converting the kit to the Pennsylvania circa 1935, but as time went on, I lost my enthusiasm for it, because the details are so soft.  It really needs more skill than I have and more work than I want to put into it, to make a nice model.

I haven't built any of their other kits, of other subjects, but I'd probably buy more of their airplane kits and build those, with a reasonable expectation of quality.

I built an A-7 (1/48) from HobbyBoss and was completely satisfied. Would not hesitate to buy another kit from them.

Have built a few of their kits with no serious problems. As others have said, some of the kits lack detail but nothing that can't be fixed by a modeler with a little experience.

Jim  

the Baron

 

 

Srpuln10

Has anyone got info on the company? Good,bad I don't know nor heard anything...

 

 

 

It depends on the kit.  As others have noted, HB is part of the Red Chinese conglomerate that includes Trumpeter.

I've built their 1/48 F4F-4 kit, which is pretty much a knock-off (whether licensed or not) of Tamiya's kit of the same subject.  The sprues are almost identical, except for the way the lower wing and lower forward fuselage parts are molded on the sprues.  It's a decent kit.

I also have HB's 1/700 USS Arizona 1941 on the bench.  It's cheap, at around ten bucks retail, and it's a poorly engineered kit.  It shows its origins in the copies made in the PRC of Revell's kit (from Banner, to HB/Trumpter/MiniHobby), particularly in the way the parts are engineered.  I got it with an eye to converting the kit to the Pennsylvania circa 1935, but as time went on, I lost my enthusiasm for it, because the details are so soft.  It really needs more skill than I have and more work than I want to put into it, to make a nice model.

I haven't built any of their other kits, of other subjects, but I'd probably buy more of their airplane kits and build those, with a reasonable expectation of quality.

 

I have their 1/350 Arizona, and find it the same.  Pretty much a knock off of the Revell kit. 

Only one of the HB line I have, but been looking at some of the WWII US fighters and may pick up one or two to try.

I've build a few of their kits and I find them to be satasfactory. Like Stick said they have rocks and gems. They are knock-off's of other kits, some good, some bad.

I have built several of their armor kits over several years.  I found them very good.  Good fit, instructions well done, at least for me.

I would definitely build the F4F kit again, though I am eager to build the Tamiya kit now as a comparison.  I have it in my stash, and I laid the sprues side by side-that's how I saw that the HB kit is a copy of Tamiya's.  But I haven't yet built the Tamiya kit.

With the HB Wildcat, it was a relatively pain-free build.  There were a couple of tricky spots, but nothing that couldn't be overcome.

One was assembling the landing gear, which was fiddly.

The other was assembling the engine.  It's engineered in four pieces, with the gear box (?) up front, the two rows of cylinders, and the box at the rear, all fitting together with keys and slots.  But I found that the keys and slots didn't line up.  As far as I could tell, I had the pieces oriented correctly.  I just filed off the keys and slots and then fit everything together with no further trouble.

The kit also included 4 fully molded .50 caliber machine guns, though there is no way to show them, without opening up the wing gun bays yourself.  Since I didn't need to show the gun bays opened, I stowed those guns gratefully in my stash.

Just finished their 1/48 F-84F.  Nice kit.  I have a couple more of their kits to build and they look great.   I wouldn't hesitate buying anything else from them.  I've had excellent service from them as well.  Replaced a short shot sprue from my jayhawk kit no charge.

I've built their 1/48 A-6A and really enjoyed it. Fit and engineering were quite good, as was the level of detail.

Tom

I recently built a Hobby Boss 1/48 P-38. It was a very easy build with no problems or alignment issues. 

JohnnyK

I recently built a Hobby Boss 1/48 P-38. It was a very easy build with no problems or alignment issues.  

That makes me curious to get that kit and try it, too.  That is apparently an original tooling, not a reissue, reboxing, or copy of someone else's kit.

I like them.  They have good fit, and fine detail.  I built their Coast Guard helicopter and really enjoyed it- it came out great!

I mostly order from hobbylinc. But I've ordered a couple of kits from scale hobbyist.com. I love hobbylinc I've never had a problem with them. I've been looking at a kit for a bit. Just wondering what the company is like. I've found some Vallejo paint from scale hobbyist that hobbylinc didn't have. As I was kicking around on the site I found a kit that caught my eye. German WW2 1/35 kit. As I said from my first post I don't have a hobby shop other than hobby lobby. Which doesn't carry a heck of a lot. I've only done tamiya and one afv. I'm putting together a Zvezda 251/1 personal carrier. Dragon and master box miniatures. I've got my wife ordering me a kit from dragon. Either a panther or stug. Tamiya kits do just fall together but I'm just wanna try another company. Don't wanna be a one trick pony so to speak. Tks guys for all the info. The help y'all have given me in the past has been nothing short of miraculous thanks. 

I've ordered several times from Scalehobbiest.  Never an issue and usually ships in stock stuff in a day or two.  Have two orders with them right now, one on Monday and the other this morning, both set to ship tomorrow (Wed.).

Does anybody have any input on Italeri kits? I've put together a command post and two small ammo trailers. Neither was a high piece count so not a whole lot to judge on. 

Scale Hobbyist  and Sprue Bros. are IMO very good sites to buy from specially if you want FAST service then Sprue Bros. is the one. Squadron is VERY slow and hit and miss with stock.

As far as HB is concerned, do a Google search for reviews on the particular model, and this goes with any model since as mentioned some are good and others not so good.

Hobby Boss is ok, they have good and bad kits like everybody else (even Tamiya has some less than steller kits, usually quite old). 

Their EZ kits are quite simplified (and inexpensive), but not bad if you want something quick to build or the subject doesn't have many options. I built their Mig-3 because at the time (and possibly still) it was the best representation of that fighter in 1/72. Sitting on the shelf next to other models you would never know it only had something like 10 parts.

I also built their Sikorsky CH-34, the Italeri kit is better, but the HB isn't bad. I bought it because at the time Italeri was only offering the V-leg variant, and HB had the bent leg version. Not at all a bad kit, and it went together well. Overall the detail is better on the Italeri kit, it seems kind of soft on the HB. Again sitting on a shelf with the rest it the differences are not highly noticable.

I also have their Mil Mi-4 (early Soviet helicopter). I haven't built it yet but the level of detail looks to be much better than their CH-34. Another subject where there are not a lot of options out there.

Srpuln10

Does anybody have any input on Italeri kits? I've put together a command post and two small ammo trailers. Neither was a high piece count so not a whole lot to judge on. 

 

It really depends on the kit. Italeri is an old company, and in addition to pure Italeri kits their catalog includes old Esci kits as well as reboxed Tamiya and Revell Germany kits, possibly also some Hasegawa, Airfix and others so it can be a real crap shoot what is in the box.

In my opinion Italeri really shines when it comes to Italian subjects and helicopters. 

Srpuln10

Does anybody have any input on Italeri kits? I've put together a command post and two small ammo trailers. Neither was a high piece count so not a whole lot to judge on.  

My introduction to Italeri was when the partnered with Revell to market Italeri kits here in the US.  I like their diorama accessory pieces, and their figure sets filled a niche at that time, for those of us who hadn't learned of Verlinden.  If you've ever seen Shep Paine's Elefant diorama, of the tank run out of gas looking for help from a horse-drawn wagon, I think he used Italeri figures as a starting point, and the wagon, too.

I've also got some of their 1/72 aircraft kits, that aren't bad.  As someone else noted, their Italian subjects are particulary good.

Most of the points on Italeri kits have been covered. They have a LOT of other folks molds nowadays, so your best bet is to research whatever kit that you are interested in. Some of their older kits have held up pretty well over the years. Personally in general I really like their own moldings of kits. Especially their 1/35 armor. Their 1/35 figures, not so much.  

My Hobby Boss P-38 was called "Easy Assembly". However, it builds into a nice looking model without a lot of fuss or drama.

Nice NMF, Johnny!