Finished Aircraft Reviews – page3

“Overall, very nice indeed. Good tooling and well-fitting parts go to make this a nice looking model. The decals are superb as stated above and Xtradecal and others have produced bundles of decals already for this aircraft in 1:72 scale. The clear parts are just that, very clear, but the lack of a two-part canopy is disappointing. The undercarriage units could usefully be moulded as one, I can’t see why the legs have been split up into so many pieces and this makes for some ‘interesting’ moments. Overall though, the package is a class product that combines well the various media provided. Geoff Coughlin, Reviewer
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“I enjoy painting and sometimes when I arrive at the time to paint I have already had enough of the assembly problems to have to take a deep breath to continue! In this case it was a pleasure! Julian Seddon, Reviewer
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“A natural metal finish for a Lightning isn’t as difficult as it may at first appear. This is what I did… The whole airframe was carefully sanded and polished using Micromesh cloth 800 – 1300 grade. Then Tamiya Gloss Black (or Alclad gloss black primer) is sprayed onto the whole kit. I left this for about…” Geoff Coughlin, Editor
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“As GWH`s first aircraft kit you’ve just got to be impressed. The subject is both unusual and interesting and what is more the quality of the product is excellent. The fit is first class, the accuracy seems good, surface detail is refined and the decals are good – overall what a great entry into the aircraft modelling arena, just one question, what’s next?…” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“The Aires set provides two cannon bays but I elected to only fit the one on the left hand side. The panel for the AAR bay is easily removed by following the panel lines on the kit but the gun bay panel is a little off. To get round this Aires provide an etched fixing plate for the gun bay opening that makes an excellent template to cut round…” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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The surface detail in the cockpit is nicely done and with a little bit a care can be made to look nice. In this case I picked out all the switches with Vallejo acrylics and used a base of silver cover with Tamiya Clear Green to simulate the CRT screens. The ejection seats are once again quite basic but once the pilots are installed on them and they are located in the tubs they ‘do the job’…“ Dave Coward – Reviewer
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“The aircraft was variously designated F-22 and F/A-22 during the years prior to formally entering USAF service in December 2005 as the F-22A. Despite a protracted and costly development period, the United States Air Force considers the F-22 a critical component for the future of US tactical air power, and claims that the aircraft is unmatched by any known or projected fighter, while Lockheed Martin claims that the Raptor’s combination of stealth, speed, agility, precision and situational awareness, combined with air-to-air and air-to-ground combat capabilities, makes it the best overall fighter in the world today.“ Dave Coward – Reviewer
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“Not a lot to say about this kit. I doesn’t jump out as one of those must make models but as a quick and easy build it can’t be faulted and as such I`ve got to recommend it to all modellers right from the beginner who wants a painless build to the more experienced who just want a relaxing build.“ Dave Coward – Reviewer
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“I start the painting process by giving the whole model a coat of Tamiya XF-14 J.A. Grey this is then left to dry.

After it has been left for a few hours I then do the pre-shading using Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black trying to keep the line at a consistent size.“ Adam Brown – Reviewer
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“The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British license-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engines, and a fully computerised control system. A dedicated Search and Rescue version (Sea King HAR3) was developed for the Royal Air Force, and the first of 15 entered service from September 1977 to replace the Westland Whirlwind HAR10.“ Dave Coward – Reviewer
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“The cockpit assembly is a reasonably straight forward affair. The kit provides 4 different instrument panels (indicates the future release of other models) and it was just a case of using reference pictures to determine which one most closely represented an F model. I found one that was reasonably good but I did add a radar display viewer to the WSO’s panel. The kit provides decals for the main panel and side panels but…” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“This is a marvel from HobbyBoss. Excellent details are included, though it is missing some small details this shouldn’t present a problem. Thanks for bringing this beauty into my hands!” Maquetas Temuco, Reviewer July 2011
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“In conclusion this is a great kit to build. I have really enjoyed it, although it has fought a little along the way but I am sure this is due to the fit of the aftermarket cockpit and the fact I may not have removed enough resin off the sidewalls. There have been questions if the engine ducts are deep enough and after seeing a few photos I have to say that this might be the case. The remainder of the airframe and the overall look of the jet is impressive and to be honest, I think it looks right.” James Vaitkevicius, Reviewer May 2011
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“This is a nice kit from a modellers’ point of view but from an accuracy point of view it has a lot of issues. If you want a relatively straightforward build this is the kit for you but if accuracy is your thing I would seriously think twice about buying this as a lot of work will be required to get it right.

Personally I did enjoy making it and the colour scheme looks great even if the enamels drove me mad !!” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“Well for a model that was picked up because it looked interesting this proved to be a nice build that really surprised me with its overall quality. Its price is very competitive and HobbyBoss make several different variants of the Avenger so if this particular one isn’t what you want they may well have the one you do. It stands up very well to the Italeri and Accurate Miniatures and I cannot help but highly recommend it.

The Tamiya set and the Eduard base are also great and I think they really bring the kit to life.” Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“The idea for this display came from Geoff and Les who wanted to make a 1:32nd scale Swordfish each. I was approached and asked if I could make a base for the aircraft, one with folded wings and the other with one wing extended fully while the other was partly extended. “A representation of the carrier deck of the Ark Royal would be nice,” said Les. Without thinking…” Bill Curtis, builder
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“The kit now is finally finished and I have to say I really have enjoyed building this kit. The resin conversion set is crisp, clean and in my opinion one of the best resin kits I have worked with. The Vac formed canopy is also great quality. However, with the introduction of the Academy F-16I Sufa kit, It does make me think that the Isracast offering will become a victim here. ” James Vaitkevicius, reviewer
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“This is a good value kit. There are accuracy issues and it’s a little generic at times. The Eduard and CMK additions help hugely the overall finish of the model and are highly recommended. When complete it looks like a very aggressive and indeed very different looking ‘Wokka’ and the build gave me loads of enjoyment. I hope that you have a go, you won’t be disappointed.”Les Venus, Reviewer
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“My inspiration for this build and the aircraft in general was the original War of the Worlds film. Well thanks to the magic of your SMN you too, if you haven’t seen it can see the clip too and recall that this was 50 years ago and you like I cannot fail to be inspired – It’s truly a beautiful aircraft and I had to build it!”Les Venus, Reviewer
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“At this point in construction this appeared to be more than adequate to keep the nose down but in the final stages of the build when the radome was added to the finished folded wing model it sat on its tail!!! From this I concluded that filling the nose with lead provided enough ballast if the wings are extended but you need to add even more behind the cockpit if you are to fold the wings… Dave Coward, Reviewer
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“The cellulose helps the paint to dry quicker than if you use straight enamel thinners in my view. So, about 36 hours later I was ready to mask over the pink areas. Now for this, you can see that I’m using thin rolled strands of Blu-Tac stationers’ putty. The thinner you role it the finer will be the feathered edge between the camouflage colours. So, in this smaller 1:48 scale the rolls are quite thin. I followed the pattern on the colour painting guide and that’s nice and clear to follow…”Geoff Coughlin, Reviewer
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“I am building this model to represent an aircraft flown by the top American ace of the Korean War, Capt. Joseph McConnell. So first of all a little of him and why I’m building this particular aircraft. Joseph McConnell was born on 30th January 1922 and was a native of Dover, New Hampshire, USA. His dream was to become a pilot when he joined the USAAF, but this hope came to nothing as he was selected for navigator training. When he finished his training he flew combat missions in B-24 Liberators over Europe. Following the wars end McConnell remained in the air force and eventually entered pilot training in 1948. At last he had achieved his aim of being a pilot….”Tom Potter, Reviewer
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Julian Seddon at his best here with some great weathering tips to help you create a very realistic, operational Hawker Hurricane from the Battle of Britain.
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“This isn’t a kit for the beginner but that said it is a kit that someone with a little experience could easily tackle. The pitfalls have been comprehensively covered in the two previous builds but if you follow both mine and Julian’s build advice they are relatively easy to sort and the result is definitely the best Hurricane in this scale and I just love the end result.” Dave Coward, reviewer – August 2011
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This is a limited run kit that is not cheap but that said it makes a great looking Hurricane straight from the box without the need for any aftermarket parts which would easily increase the overall price of the Revell kit up to this level – and this kit is more accurate.
It does have its build issues, especially the wing /fuselage join and cockpit hood fit, but these area easily remedied using the build process outlined. The kit is not for the beginner due to these issues but neither is it for the massively experienced builder – a little care and thought will produce a great result from any reasonably experienced modeller.
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