about 1/72 scale aircraft...

DDR,

Sounds like you bought some "reboxed" kits from the sixties! Now days you have to be real careful what you purchase with all the "mold" swapping that is going on. There are some gems out there as well as dogs! Try and reseach the particular kit before you buy it.

I can heartily recoment Pavla kits if you want 1/72 with good cockpit detail not to mention some trully unusual subject matter that you won't find elsewhere.

Most of their kits include a couple of racks of respectably molded styrene (limited run quality so expect some extra parts clean up time), Vacuum form canopies, resin details and occaisionally photoetch details.

If you want to take a look at their line and get a detailed run down of what each of their kits contains visit their web site: www.pavlamodels.cz

I've built a couple of their kits and was not disapointed. They are a bit of extra work and not for the beginer, but definitely worth the money.

DDR.

Just a comment on Testors kits in general.
Even their 1/48 kits have p@*$ poor cockpit detail!!!!
A scratch-builders dream!!!!

Randie

DDR,

There are a lot of details sets available in etched metal from Eduard, Airwaves in 1/72 scale,interior and exterior and some resin cokpit detail sets (Pavla, Aires, Czech Master)
Take a look at www.hannants.co.uk
Luc

Agree with all of the above. Generally, the more recent the release the better the interiors and overall detail. There are also Resin cockpit interiors available for several kits from Aftermarket auppliers that can add a lot of detail. But in 1/72 scale not too much interior detail will be visible anyway so on newer releases I usually don't add much to whats in the box.

Rick

Most newly released kits are very good in this area, even eastern companies such as MPM, Condor, ICM etc.
Old kits and re-release are to be expected to be sparsly detailed.
It all depends what you need or your "happiness limitations".
Add a bit of scratch building and you will be happy.

DDR,

Theres no hard and fast rule on this. Plum and Gregers are right in that you may have to resort to some detailing of your own.

The latest Academy releases have very good interiors. Examples are the P-51 and P-47. The earlier releases have good interiors but not as impressive as the current ones.

Revell Germany has good interiors, generally. However, as with Tamiya and Italeri, you cant be too sure about the kit youre buying. There are some items in Revell Germany's range that are reboxed Matchbox kits (which have spartan interiors). Tamiya has been offering under its label reboxed Italeri kits (some interiors of which, unfortunately, are based on guesswork). And then there is Italeri, which now offers reboxed ESCI kits. The former ESCI molds have very good airframes, usually with finely recessed panel lines. But then the cockpit panels are usually black-and-white-dots decals.

Hope this helps.

Furthermore, the Testors kits are notorious for having very basic or non-existent detail. On the other hand, some Revell-Monogram, Fujimi, Hasegawa, etc. kits have great detail. Roden is making some fantastic planes in 1/72 scale.

My best advice is to do a web search for the particular model you're thinking of buying and see if there's a review of it. Otherwise, try the following web sites and see if you can find a kit you'd like to buy:

Scale Model Aircraft Kit Reviews -- This site has a fantastic, and huge, section of 1/72 scale reviews.
http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/home.htm

Hyperscale: http://www.hyperscale.com

Modeling Madness: http://www.modelingmadness.com

The Aircraft Resource Center: http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Regards,

-Drew

Cockpit detail in 1/72 varies greatly. Tamiya's 1/72 scale warbird series (not the italeri reboxes) have fantastic cockpit detail that rivals most 1/48 kits from other manufacturers. Newer Hasegawa kits also have good cockpit detail. Otherwise you might consider getting photo-etched parts from a company like Eduard. Their Zoom sets are inexpensive and cover what I would consider to be the essential detail.

Hi DDR i can't comment on the testors kits as i have never built any of them but most manufacturers give you at least the seat, instrument panel and cockpit floor. like most folks here i see them as a base to do some detailing. even the oldest airfix kits had a seat and pilot to fill the cockpit. really the cockpit is one of the easiest areas to improve, just addind a plastic card floor, instrument panel and bulkhead to most cockpits will improve the kit. then some basic details will help loads. most WW2 fighters had the fuselage structure internal showing and this can easily be reproduced by scoring the lines with a scalpel or similar (cheating i know but it works). i hope this helps, if you have any more questions either ask here or you can e-mail me if you want. Greg

I've only built a few 1/72. The Pro-Modeler Bf109,Fw190,Me262 and Revell He177 and all had good cockpit detail. Bob