Testors Models

I helped my son build their Spit and Hurricane kits.  Good fun, fit was good, detail okay but as stated earlier, I would imagine it varries based on kit and who molded it.

Here are a couple shots of my Testor's P-47D razorback, "Okie":

I'm currently building the Testors O-2 Skymaster. It's not a bad kit. A few fit issues but otherwise a fun little kit. Here's it is all primed up.

there are/were a few different quality levels from Testors

there were the Hawk molds that they bought

the Italeri kits they sold at one time, some of the Italeri Phantoms were available in Testors boxes

they have Fujimi kits,,,,,,the 1/72 F7U-3 Cutlass, A-7 Corsair II's, A-6E Intruders

and some were Heller molds, they had an F-8E/J kit, that had the only set of true F-8H decals available at one point in time (others are available now, though)

Testors sold the Fujimi Tow Tractor in their boxes, and the Italeri aicraft weapons sets

I didn't understand the logic behind the mold choices, though,,,,they released Fujimi's Intruder, instead of Italeri's,,,,,,,and Heller's Crusader, instead of the Italeri/Esci molding

If only there were more Testors kits! They are exactly the kind of entry level kit and price that might get today's kids interested in the hobby. No kid is going to spend $89 for a Roden kit with 350 pieces, but Testors--like the early Aurora, Lindbergh and Revell kits--were marvelous intros to the world of modeling. Hooked me at the age of 8, 

Ditto. I bought the 80th anniversary kit for their F-15C (nee Fujimi F-15A/C) just for the Bitburg markings. My dad was stationed at Prüm AS in the 80s, and one of my school trips was to BItburg where I remember getting to sit in the cockpit of an F-15.

They do have the YF-12A in both 48 and 72 scale..  And they're based off of the Italeri SR-71 mold so they're pretty good kits IMHO.

Yes, Scale Master did their decals for a long time and made some excellent markings for those kits. Like the Glencoe 1/48 biplane kits or the 21st Century Toy 1/32 kits, the low purchase cost of the kit is justified by the decals alone.

stikpusher

 

...and it comes with good decals.

TheWildChild

i did their 1/48 P-47 and P-51 and they go together fast because they have an extremely low parts count(my p-47 had less than 30 if i remember right, excluding underwing stores) and their clear parts were molded extremely thick. the glass on the jug as about 4 scale inches thick. if you want detail, i'd pass on their aircraft in 1/48.

 

Those two are 60's-era ex-HAWK kits, not actually Testor's... Testor's bought the molds for quite a number of HAWK's kits in 1/48 scale, and they were first released in the late 70s and 80s...   

Testor models are what I grew up building so they will have a special place in my heart.  If they are on sale I would buy a ton of them just for ceiling hangers.  If they have the SR-71 or U2 model I would say definitely buy those ones.  

ozzman

A store near me has testors aircraft kits on sale for a fairly low price. I am thinking about getting their Tornado IDS. Are the testors kits any good, especially the Tornado?

That one is originaly an Italeri mold. Not a bad kit to begin with and it comes with good decals.

i did their 1/48 P-47 and P-51 and they go together fast because they have an extremely low parts count(my p-47 had less than 30 if i remember right, excluding underwing stores) and their clear parts were molded extremely thick. the glass on the jug as about 4 scale inches thick. if you want detail, i'd pass on their aircraft in 1/48. however, i have built their 1/72 Dauntless and Corsair and they are awesome little kits. build fast and fit was pretty good, pretty goot detail for bein a dirt cheap 1/72 aircraft.

Hope this helps!

The testor kits are the snack time of model building. Quick to build. 

Not sure on the Tornado, but typically, Testors kits are pretty basic, oldschool kits, that you will have to argue with.

They're on sale CHEAP for a reason!