Testors aircraft kits

Lets see???? Built the RF4 and it was a mess as far as lack to detail. The HE111 was a good kit. So was the U2. The SR71 was a challange and lacked a lot of detail for the size. Those were it for 1/48. The 1/72 Corsair had one side of the fuselage 1/4 larger than the other side and was always missing the canopy. the SBD had the same problem with the wings. The old B-25C was a great kit though and so was their Willy's Jeep. All of them except the SBD had raised panel lines.

I built a lot of Testors kits in the early 80's because I belonged to their "Junior Modelers Club" and they were cheap. They had a deal where you joined and you get three free kits, then you buy two kits a month or buy their paint and glue and get coupons to get free kits. they also had little booklets in them that explained weathering and other tips that helped me out.

QUOTE: Originally posted by scottrc The 1/72 Corsair had one side of the fuselage 1/4 larger than the other side and was always missing the canopy.

I have two of those, and haven't lost a canopy... Though the 2nd's was broken in the box...

I'd say avoid Testors, unless you're on a budget or something....

Many Testor kits are repackaged Italeri kits now.

I agree with Akuma. I wouldn't buy one now but I had my fair share of them when I was a early/late teen back in the 80s. The P-47 was atrocious. It actually had a large part of the fuse missing because of a glitch in the molding process. You could tell that some of the molten plastic did not make it all the way through the mold. The shape is pretty bad too. Their OV-10 Bronco was okay at best. The tires, from what I could remember, looked more like a couple of balloons on hubs. The hubs had no detail and neither did the cockpit. About ten years ago I thought I'd give their F2 Banshee a try and it looked like something from the 60s or 70s. The wings and the fuse had the raised lines indicating the placement of the U.S. insignia decals.

I guess I'd recommend these kits for a little kid or for someone who loves to take a bare bones kit and really work it over but that's about it. I will confess one thing, though. I do recall having a good time with their F8 Bearcat model. No real gaps that I can remember and it looked fairly decent once it was all painted up.

Hope this helps!

Eric

I was given an F-18A. It has recessed panel lines, but that's the only thing good I can say about it. Fit was terrible, pieces were warped. A waste of my time that I could have spent on more satisfying projects. The old saying holds true - You get what you pay for.

Like Lawrence said, many of Testors kits are repackages of older Itarleri kits. Some other Testors are repackage of old Fujimi(e.g. 1/48 Japanese Type 99 dive bomber) and even older Hawk kit(e.g. 1/72 SBD Dauntless). I will say if the plane you are looking for is available in Acurrate Miniture, Monogram, Hasegawa, Tamiya, or Academy, skip Testor unless you are tight in budget.

i did the p47 a long while back. no problems with it except the total lack of detail. just did the 1/48 komet also same thing no detail.
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17165

i bought a p51 testors kit, the kit had no detail, and parts didn't fit. though that kit was horrible i've still picked up some testors kits for experiments on weathering and paint schemes/teqniques

thats too bad because id love to find a OV-10 bronco in 1/48. ive seen testors ov-10s lying around art stores but havent seen anybody else produce this kit. i remember buying a few when i was a kid and really cant remember how well the detail was. later.

Additionally, a lot of the older Testor's kits are repackaged old Hawk kits, like the OV-10 and the P-47 and P-51 kits. They had mediocre detail when they were new, but they were the only game in town then.

If you can find an old Testors OV-10 or F8F, Cobra Company offers an interior set for the Bronco and Bearcat as well as an update set for the Bearcat.

Check out www.cobracompany.com

Randie

Chopperfan,
I checked the Cobra site and there's no OV-10 products to be found. There is a Bearcat cockpit detail set but it's in 1/72.

It's too bad since I REALLY want to build a nice 1/48 scale OV-10D. Guess I'm going to have to go with the Testors kit and lots of scrtchbuilding.

Hmm, if anything I have more than mixed feelings about the kits right now. I'm mostly interested in the modern stuff. I guess I'll give one a try, see how it goes.

QUOTE: Originally posted by salbando Chopperfan, I checked the Cobra site and there's no OV-10 products to be found. There is a Bearcat cockpit detail set but it's in 1/72. It's too bad since I REALLY want to build a nice 1/48 scale OV-10D. Guess I'm going to have to go with the Testors kit and lots of scrtchbuilding.

I apologise Sal. I thought it was Cobra Company. I'll have to research, because I know there is a set out there. Hmmmmm, maybe it was Paragon? I'll check.

Randie

SAL!!!
I did a little more research and again I apologise.
The OV-10A AND D had upggrade sets made by Paragon Designs. Unfortunately, they have ceased production. You may be able to find some on Evil Bay or at a model swap meet. I did a search for Paragon Designs and there were a couple of reviews of the kits and completed models. They look really good.
The F8F set was from Cutting Edge. If you are interested, go to www.meteorprod.com and you will be able to find them there.
Also, Swanny used one of the Paragon sets on the coastal command B-17E that he recently built. He could vouch for the quality.
Again, I apologise. I, too, was interested in getting the OV-10 set.

Randie

Hey zokissima;
well the Testors kits are the old Hawk, Italeri and Fujimi kits, the P-47, P-51, F-5, U-2, T-33, OV-10, F2H, F8F, O-2, Westland Lysander, are the old Hawk kits from the 60's, the F-4, RF-4, SR-71,YF-12A, TR-1, U-2R, C-130, AC-130, are the Italeri kits, and the rest are Fujimi kits these are the 1/48 scale ones I can't remember the other scales but I think you get the picture, the old Hawk kits are fairly nice on the exterior but have no interior details what so ever, the exterior on some have recessed panel lines but the look like the Grand Canyon compaired to the latest from Hasegawa and Tamiya's kits, they have alot of room for improvement so if you want to just blow a few planes out then these are up you alley

QUOTE: Originally posted by ghettochild i did the p47 a long while back. no problems with it except the total lack of detail. just did the 1/48 komet also same thing no detail. http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17165

The P-47 is the old Hawk kit repackaged, as is the OV-10, P-51 and Bearcat, and probably others.

Testors/Italeri also repackages Svezda - I'm pretty sure most of their current modern aircraft are Svezda. All of them have at least one horrible fit problem - the parts fit horrible, and I have a horrible fit over it.

Worse, Revell is now selling Italeri/testors/Svezda kits under their own name. The revll-germany F-22 is the Italeri kit, and it's terrible.

So you really can't tell who's kit you're buying any more. I hate it.