Arii Models

Maybe those cheap kits are older Arii kits. I think current Arii kits are good.

Tamiya's Raiden should be accurate.

Well, in reality, you're getting what you pay for. Arii (ex-Otaki) kits are a good bang for the buck.

I've built their Spitfire VIII and Fw 190A. These two kits fit fairly well and have decent detail overall, but lack a bit in areas such as the cockpit. Also, the glass is sometimes not so clear, and none of their kits come with the option of opening the canopies.

Other Arii/Otaki kits don't look as nice in the box as the 190 & Spit, but most are okay. I did build the P-40, Ki-44 and Ki-84 when I was just starting out, but I couldn't tell you much about them. Memories of a ten year old aren't reliable, especially after 20 years! LOL

If you're looking to get something like a Tamiya kit... buy a Tamiya kit.

But if you just want something quick to build, or perhaps a testbed or two to try new techniques out on, these would be perfect.


Fade to Black...

i built the Arii Fw190 kit, the P-47 kit and the P-40. They were all pretty decent kits.

Hi, PSUMike.
I've built the Otaki/Arii Raiden and Hayate, and after a brief struggle, was quite satisfied with both of them. Hazy non-fitting canopies were the main problems in the two kits I had. I bought them for 10 dollars each, a little over ten years ago.

My opinion on the best 1/48 Raiden: Get the Hasegawa kit. Much better than the Tamiya (did I say that??). Might be a little more expensive, but worth it, in my opinion. Several variations available, too.

hey PSU;
you got your hands on some of the best late 70's early 80's manufactured kits, they where ausome for there time and will still hold up to some of the newer kits like Hasegawa & Tamiya's with a little help from aftermarket upgrade kits, I've built them all except the F-16, and was impressed and matter of fact still am, they where one of the first company's to have recessed panel lines that didn't look like the Grand Canyon on the kit, and they look great too (very close to the correct dimentions) the only problems is their canopy's are to thick and some of the kit have engine panels that are removable but those could be cured by using Squadrons canopy's & glueing the panels on & filling the gaps, but for the buck they are still really good kits(and you could buy the kit and go nuts buying the aftermarket stuff for the same price of just the others kits)
have fun with you Arii/Otaki kits
cuda

Since they started coming out in the 70's I think I have built around three dozen of the Otaki 1/48th kits, with the P-47D, F4U-1A, and the F6F-3 being my favorites. Photo below is the last one of those kits that I completed - between five and ten years ago. It was built out of the box, and I recall that I did very little - if any - seam filling. Only fit problem I had was the canopy.

Those kits may be 25/30 year-old model technology, but I think you still get your money's worth with them.

Jim

Just my $.02, but I found that their Japanese aircraft were usually right on the money (minus the crappy canopy), but their foreign aircraft left lots to be desired. I've built the P-40, P-51, F6F and FW-190. The F6F was the best of those. The others were either too small in some areas, oversized in others and there was NO interior detail. The FW-190 was a terrible kit, with completely wrong canopy and cowl contours.

All that being said, they were easy to work with, and if you put in some effort (and an aftermarket cockpit), you get a pretty decent representation, especially with the Japanese aircraft.

I agree with all the posts on the ARII kits which were originally made by Otaki and some were also released under the Airfix label. They were great kits in their day but 30 years ago is a long time in model technology. The Tamiya Raiden is a decent kit but is one of their earlier releases and certainly not up to current standards. The best Raidens in 1/48 (or any scale) are the Hasegawa releases although they may be getting hard to find. Nice thing about Hasegawa is their practice of reissuing kits (with new decal options) on a fairly regular basis.

Rick