KIT MAKER COMPARISONS

Thanks stik, glad you like my tripe. I also have the Camel in the stash which will make a nice build. The Great Waldo Pepper with Robert Redford, now that's one great movie!

PJ, that is beautiful indeed. Remembering those old Revell 1/28 scales sent me off on a tangent last night and I went hunting for the "Great Waldo Pepper" kit online, then had to lookup the movie as well... I had not thought of those things in decades. Now I want to see if I can watch it again.

The one and only Hobby Boss kit I've built was the 1/48 MiG-17F.  It wasn't all that impressive fit-wise.  Might just be an anomaly however.

Gary

I've done various kit brands through the years depending on the subject. I mainly like to shoot for Tamiya, Hasegawa, and other a couple other brand kits for aircraft. I've done some mid-range kits such as Fujimi (not sure if they still exist since I returned to the hobby) with surprising results. This year, I can't wait to build Hobby Boss brand. My goal is to try Eduard kit or two as well. Should be interesting builds no doubt. During the 70s, Revell and Monogram were my kits of choice for aircraft and armour.

I'm getting that feeling stik. Thanks.

Stik

ROG re released the 1/28 DR1 and the Spad. These actually build up as decent models with lots of scratch building and help from Tom's Model Works PE sets still available at shows. The Spad needs more work to get it to look good. I built the tripe a while back and did a ton of scratch building on it. FSM purchased my article but has yet to publish it. The decals are from an old IPMS Convention sheet they did for the 1/28 Spad, Camel, and DR1.

BlackSheepTwoOneFour

Wow Falcon - what gives? Your first post you say Tamiya and Hasegawa are the worst and Revell is the best. Now you come back and say Tamiya dn Hasegawa  are good quality kits and you now avoid Revell.

Very few manufacturers make only bad or only good kits. Most have a good kit in their line.

I think Falcon was being a wiseguy early on... shades of somebody else who used to run amuck here...

Revell also did a handful of large scale WWI aircraft in 1/28 scale way back when. But I don't recall those being issued since the 70s. At least by Revell USA.

Wow Falcon - what gives? Your first post you say Tamiya and Hasegawa are the worst and Revell is the best. Now you come back and say Tamiya dn Hasegawa  are good quality kits and you now avoid Revell.

Plus, one would only have to take a look at Mr. Jackson's company,  The Vintage Aviator,  to see which era of aviation his passion is truly directed at.  Before WnW came along, there was Academy and Roden if you wanted a large scale bipe from that era, and while good kits those are, WnW has raised that bar a mile higher.

SuppressionFire

Have heard nothing but excellent reviews of WnW kits. Perhaps they will take on more popular WWII subjects after gaining loyal customers? It would raise the bar for all manufactures to step up their game or quit playing.

Don Stauffer

I am building the new release of the Revell PT-17 Stearman. I have started on the engine and the molding is terrific. I have never seen such fine cooling fines on a styrene engine! It is fully as good as any aftermarket resin engine I have bought.  No need for an aftermarket engine on this kit.

I am building the new release of the Revell PT-17 Stearman. I have started on the engine and the molding is terrific. I have never seen such fine cooling fines on a styrene engine! It is fully as good as any aftermarket resin engine I have bought.  No need for an aftermarket engine on this kit.

Have heard nothing but excellent reviews of WnW kits. Perhaps they will take on more popular WWII subjects after gaining loyal customers? It would raise the bar for all manufactures to step up their game or quit playing.

I second ruddratt's assessment of WNW. The first time I opened one of their boxes I was blown away by the exquisite and rich details they pack into their products.  

WnW no doubt has some gorgeous kits. But unless you are into large scale WWI aircraft, you are SOL. They are highly specialized in one subject area. Mind you there is plenty of variety to be had there, but it is still quite specific at the same time. Just about every other model company, for all their roses and thorns, caters to a wider taste of subjects.

Falcon10275

I have found Tamiya to be best quality hands down, they go the extra mile, like real rubber tires, pre cut mask for cockpits and their decals are best in the business.  They also cost an arm and a leg..

You should try a kit from Wingnut Wings. They blow Tamiya out of the water.  ....and yes, I can say that because I've built my share of Tamiya, and 4 of the Wingnut kits (am currently on my fifth), and they surpass Tamiya in every way.  Rarely do you see them mentioned on these forums however, as not many here are into building stringbags. If more were, they would see for themselves just how good these WnW kits are and most likely take a more realistic view of Tamiya's quality.

Silver

Both kit makers are nearly the same .Bad fitting,raised panel lines,bald cockpits , barely visible canopy frames and so on.Kit makers like that are only good at re-boxing products.The only good thing about those kits is that w/ lots of work it will make you a better modeler and super detail scratch builder.well,I remember when the modeler John Vojtech won his second I.P.M.S. National title w/old testors models like the C-130 and the B2Flying Wing.

Again, that depends upon the kit. None of the Tamiya kits in my stash come with precut masks, nor have any that I have ever built. The one kit that did have real rubber tires had them split on me. So that is not a major selling point. Their decals- adquete at best, certainly not the best in the business. And yes they do cost an arm and a leg. Tamiya nowadays excells on engineering, ease of fit, and on some kits, detailing,  but again, that has not always been the case. The one place where Tamiya does set a sterling example in my experience is customer service. And their instruction sheets are pretty good as well. little to  no ambiguity or mistakes like certain other companies who shall remain nameless.

I have found Tamiya to be best quality hands down, they go the extra mile, like real rubber tires, pre cut mask for cockpits and their decals are best in the business.  They also cost an arm and a leg..  Hasegawa is pretty decent, haven't built enough of them yet though.    The only brand that I try to avoid is Revell or Revell germany.   There are so many fit problems and plastic flash,  you end up having to work twice as hard on a Revell model.   Time is most valuable in my life so I dont mind paying the premium price of Tamiya.    I did try an Airfix once,  the quality seemed iffy, but in the end it made  a decent model.

Most of what I can find at local hobby shops is Revell, so I don't have a whole lot of experience with other brands (compounded by the fact that I haven't been modeling nearly as long as so of the other people on here). Occasionally I can find an Airfix or a Monogram, but a huge majority of what is available to me is Revell (unless I go online). Revell has some really great kits, and some really bad kits, so I would say that you might be better off comparing individual kits of the same subject from different brands, rather than the manufacturers.

Tamiya Hurricane as well;-) Lots of back room trading of molds going on in the model industry nowadays.

RobGroot4

 If I can find a different manufacturer for a subject I want to build I personally avoid Italieri, but that is my 2 cents.

Groot

I think that pretty much covers it. Like almost all the other model companies, Italeri has their hits and misses of kits. Like all the other companies, they may be the only game in town for a given subject in a particular scale. Or they may be one of many choices. And like many companies, due to mold swapping/acquisitions, they may be selling somebody else's product under their label. Ask about a particular kit or subject and you will get more definitive answer. There is all level of model building experience and tastes on here. What may be no big deal to one may be a huge issue to somebody else here.

 I've started 2 italieri kits and I even finished one of them.  I built a 1/720 USS Truman a while back that was OK, but they basically released the entire Nimitz carrier class in on molding and said use these pieces, or not these.  There were some pretty major inaccuracies, but you get what you pay for.

 I started a 1/48 SH-60B and the fit was terrible, and combined very old features with much newer ones that were never on the aircraft at the same time.  Detail on the rotor head was lacking.  It also had decal instruments and switches (the 60 is full of switches and buttons), but the decals were a good 4-5mm too small in each direction, which is pretty huge on a 1/48 kit.

 If I can find a different manufacturer for a subject I want to build I personally avoid Italieri, but that is my 2 cents.

Groot

The best source for info on kits are forums like this.  Just see what guys are saying in their WIP threads if you want the most honest reviews.

Many magazine and online sites that have review sections often times give good reviews where they shouldn't because if they label a kit a stinker then that source won't send then any freebies anymore.  Usually, these aren't really reviews but rather are sales pitches for that particular kit.  

Take a look at cybermodeller.com's reviews, for example.  See if you can find one bad one...even with kits that are notoriously bad.  And then notice at the bottom of the review who they are thanking for the free sample.