Revell P61, waiting for the hammer to fall

BlackSheepTwoOneFour said:
Who doesn't love a Phantom? LOL! Better yet….you never have enough Phantom kits.
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Oh now you gone and dun it!

Who has the best 1/48 Phantom kit? My new Spit5 is not even here yet and I'm thinking ahead.
(yeah I'm turning away from the B-17 thoughts after reconsidering doing 4x-radials)
 
Edbert said:
Oh now you gone and dun it!

Who has the best 1/48 Phantom kit? My new Spit5 is not even here yet and I'm thinking ahead.
(yeah I'm turning away from the B-17 thoughts after reconsidering doing 4x-radials)
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You have to qualify that question. Who has the best kit that is accurate? Tamiya or Meng. Who has the best kit that is accurate and for the money? Academy. ZM tossed themselves out of the running by being wrong with the short nose variants. If you are talking the long nose variants, then they may be in the mix.
 
And mine came in today. The decals say 2016 and its certainly the same box as the ones in HL. So Im going with its the latest release.

Quick inspection shows no flash of any amount. Parts look good to me. So we shall see.

Also, this was an Ebay purchase and it came with some photoetch. Wont help the kit fit any better, so I wont feel bad using it. LOL

20240604_115653.jpg

20240604_115612.jpg

20240604_115922.jpg
 
smokeriderdon said:
And mine came in today. The decals say 2016 and its certainly the same box as the ones in HL. So Im going with its the latest release.

Quick inspection shows no flash of any amount. Parts look good to me. So we shall see.

Also, this was an Ebay purchase and it came with some photoetch. Wont help the kit fit any better, so I wont feel bad using it. LOL

View attachment 118124

View attachment 118125

View attachment 118126
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Nice, and a cockpit bonus. Pantherman
 
smokeriderdon said:
You have to qualify that question. Who has the best kit that is accurate? Tamiya or Meng. Who has the best kit that is accurate and for the money? Academy. ZM tossed themselves out of the running by being wrong with the short nose variants. If you are talking the long nose variants, then they may be in the mix.
Click to expand...
Yeah, those birds had a long service time didn't they. I remember the local squadron had them into the 1980s, Bergstrom AFB was the home of several BUFFs, but also a squadron of Wild Weasel F4s. I'm not sure when they were decommissioned or moved, but it was before the 1990s when the base was shut down.

I think the most interesting would be a 1960s version as the 1st to see combat, or one of the last of the era, the SEAD guys. Regarding my comment/question of "best"...

I think that fit and finish define best quality for me. I do not mind a little filler here and there, or having to massage some aprts, but I'm too old and blind to want to fight anyone or anything.

I'm just wrapping up the most complicated aircraft kit I've ever done, 300+ parts on a single engine fighter seems extreme, but I've been SOOOO impressed with the quality. Some parts were a struggle for me since I am out of practice and trying to learn the new 21st century glues and paints. But the Tamiya 1/32 Corsair is an engineering and manufacturing work of art. When a kit is better than me, or my skills, I admit it.

So that is what I would say, which 1/48 F4 Phantom would you say is the best kit as far as engineering and manufacturing? I 'll never say money is no object, but at my age and almost 40 year in IT I can afford it, I'm not worried about costs of any 1/48 kit.
 
Edbert said:
Yeah, those birds had a long service time didn't they. I remember the local squadron had them into the 1980s, Bergstrom AFB was the home of several BUFFs, but also a squadron of Wild Weasel F4s. I'm not sure when they were decommissioned or moved, but it was before the 1990s when the base was shut down.

I think the most interesting would be a 1960s version as the 1st to see combat, or one of the last of the era, the SEAD guys. Regarding my comment/question of "best"...

I think that fit and finish define best quality for me. I do not mind a little filler here and there, or having to massage some aprts, but I'm too old and blind to want to fight anyone or anything.

I'm just wrapping up the most complicated aircraft kit I've ever done, 300+ parts on a single engine fighter seems extreme, but I've been SOOOO impressed with the quality. Some parts were a struggle for me since I am out of practice and trying to learn the new 21st century glues and paints. But the Tamiya 1/32 Corsair is an engineering and manufacturing work of art. When a kit is better than me, or my skills, I admit it.

So that is what I would say, which 1/48 F4 Phantom would you say is the best kit as far as engineering and manufacturing? I 'll never say money is no object, but at my age and almost 40 year in IT I can afford it, I'm not worried about costs of any 1/48 kit.
Click to expand...

I have yet to actually build a Tamiya or Meng. I have, however, had the opportunity to dry fit assemble the major parts of both. I think either of those would be the best as far as fit and all that and being accurate. I am waiting for Tamiya to come out with something besides the B before I spend that money.
 
Edbert said:
Yeah, those birds had a long service time didn't they. I remember the local squadron had them into the 1980s, Bergstrom AFB was the home of several BUFFs, but also a squadron of Wild Weasel F4s. I'm not sure when they were decommissioned or moved, but it was before the 1990s when the base was shut down.

I think the most interesting would be a 1960s version as the 1st to see combat, or one of the last of the era, the SEAD guys. Regarding my comment/question of "best"...

I think that fit and finish define best quality for me. I do not mind a little filler here and there, or having to massage some aprts, but I'm too old and blind to want to fight anyone or anything.

I'm just wrapping up the most complicated aircraft kit I've ever done, 300+ parts on a single engine fighter seems extreme, but I've been SOOOO impressed with the quality. Some parts were a struggle for me since I am out of practice and trying to learn the new 21st century glues and paints. But the Tamiya 1/32 Corsair is an engineering and manufacturing work of art. When a kit is better than me, or my skills, I admit it.

So that is what I would say, which 1/48 F4 Phantom would you say is the best kit as far as engineering and manufacturing? I 'll never say money is no object, but at my age and almost 40 year in IT I can afford it, I'm not worried about costs of any 1/48 kit.
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Hasegawa isn't bad. Academy Phantom kits I've never done before. Top tier Phantom kits would be Zoukei-Mura and Meng.

I'd avoid Italeri kits all together. There's something always wrong scale wise with Italeri kits.
I did a 1/72 scale F-16 Viper Italeri kit once and the center belly tank was way out of scale and too long. The front cone actually interfered with the front struts. Thankfully, I had a correct scale center belly tank in my spares bin. Tossed the Italeri belly tank in the trash. I'll never buy an Italeri kit again.
 
BlackSheepTwoOneFour said:
Latest release meaning what? Decal is dated 2016. Mold is from the original Monogram molds which is old to begin with. Do a search on scalemates…..
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Yes, I am aware. This is the latest release of those molds. The point of the build, to my understanding, being that we get out hands on the latest release of the kit to see if it is as horrid as some claim.
 
smokeriderdon said:
Yes, I am aware. This is the latest release of those molds. The point of the build, to my understanding, being that we get out hands on the latest release of the kit to see if it is as horrid as some claim.
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The most nasty, horrendous, blood curdling, atrocious, mind blowing and awful fitting the better.......... fun, isn't it. Pantherman
 
I opened mine up. It is the 2021 boxing. It does have a bit of an issue on the rudder of one boom half, almost a short shot there but the rest looks pretty good.

20240608_064804.jpg
 
BlackSheepTwoOneFour said:
Who doesn't love a Phantom? LOL! Better yet….you never have enough Phantom kits.
Click to expand...
I am currently working on the Italeri Phantom which is not the best kit to say the least. My wife recently convinced me to go ahead and order the Tamiya kit and I just did a few minutes ago. Never thought I'd spend that much on a model in my life.
 
Jim62 said:
I am currently working on the Italeri Phantom which is not the best kit to say the least. My wife recently convinced me to go ahead and order the Tamiya kit and I just did a few minutes ago. Never thought I'd spend that much on a model in my life.
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I went to the hobby shop to buy some RAF green yesterday, I allowed myself to wander to the isle with the kits, a little afraid I'd see a Phantom with my name on it. They did not have any, which caused the 1.48 Razorback to loom large. Until my eyes wandered over to the armor section where a 1/35 Nashorn was prominently displayed.

My masochism kicked in hard, I've not built any armor since the 1990s, so I decided to take on one with full interior and crew!

(Gotta finish the Spit 1st, I'll write up the Corsair story soon, had to set that aside for a bit)
 
Jim62 said:
I am currently working on the Italeri Phantom which is not the best kit to say the least. My wife recently convinced me to go ahead and order the Tamiya kit and I just did a few minutes ago. Never thought I'd spend that much on a model in my life.
Click to expand...
No surprise on anything Italeri. There's seem to be a constant trend with strange fits and scale size on Italeri kits as a whole.

I've never did a Tamiya Phantom kit but have done a couple Hasegawa kits.
 

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