TheGloriousTachikoma

The only other access is at air shows and with walkarounds. They know the rough published dimensions so they just take lots of photographs and scale drawings out as best they can. Modern computers have helped make that process more accurate and easier but it still results in *some* inaccuracies.

Or about $87 shipped if you buy from LM. Teensy bit less if theres another root you want to combine shipping.

I recently bought one of those and the old Hasegawa weapons sets are really long in the tooth. Raised panel lines and it's almost impossible to get missile halves lined up correctly. The level of detail is very high and fine but the molds are getting long in the tooth.

Thst looks gorgeous for sure. But knowing what Meng charge for their Super Hornet kits I wonder what kind of market they will have above the ZM kits. That many people wont be super hard for the AGM-78 will they? Maybe it will be more about Euro and Asia availability since I dont think ZM have much market penetration outside of JP and USA.

Breakdown into lots of small parts isnt the problem if the quality is there. Going back to Bandai their RealGrade line (sand newer Master Grade kits) uses lots of tiny parts to get color separation on weapons in a similar manner. It comes down to how finely engineered the locating pegs are and if the plastic is suitably hard to support that finesse.

This is a big reason why I admire GWH and AMK so much. They are molding their missiles and bombs in one piece. I hate trying to line up halves of round objects, it almost never ends up right. Even with Gunpla kits where Bandai's legendary fit applies, there is still usually a tiny step and the glued and sanded parts are out of round.

Well...not one that existed irl at least. 🤪

Does it still have the same sprue as the E model with the cannon muzzles?

It's still for sale on Lucky Model but that appears about all. Ever since I discovered how badly undersized the intakes are on the Kinetic Kfirs my interest in buying more dried up like Lake Mead this year.

That's not my point. In Japan the ZM Phantoms cost ~$75, over here they cost ~$75. Over in Europe the Italeri F35 is $70 (and Asia it seems) but it's being listed for $130 here. Not even the Tamiya F4 or F14s cost that much, and the g35 features none of the gimmicks that command a premium price (such as one piece molded ordnance like AMK or GWH feature for a2a and small lgbs). My point is that something doesn't smell right here.

Yeah...I really dont buy that theory. If that's the case then why are the Zoukei Mura phantoms $75 from spruebrothers despite the boxes containing a crap ton of plastic with better engineering and detail, and no mis-shapen ordnance (seriously at this point HOW do you screw up a GBU12?), and being shipped across a much bigger ocean than the Italeri kits? Btw the Japanese msrp of those kits is pretty much the same as the price at Spruebrothers. This kit is up for pre order on Luckymodel. Grab it and one of kinetic's new f16s and you have a not bad price after shipping. But then again

I read this and it reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is dating a woman with a good side and a bad side to look at. The photo makes it look like the RAM tape is at least twenty to thirty thou thick. It looks like BANDAI made a F35.

Despite my winging I had put this kit on my list because it's a cool kit...this strikes it back off hard.

If you dont mind waiting I notice that Super Hobby over in Poland has much lower prices on Italscary kits than over here. Order enough and express shipping is free. Takes between 1 and 3 weeks for an order to show stateside.

Sorry to revive a dead topic bit I'm looking at the sprues on cybermodeler and it looks like this kit comes.with two sets of landing gear, does it have both the land and naval landing gear?