dehowie

Looks great to me but stby for the usual suspects to flood the forums with red lines and over sharpened/over contrasted photos and then whinge about rivets and panel lines. General detail looks very nice indeed be happy to buy a couple and see what the high detail one brings. With Tamiya’s M long oop hope to see the M come along soon.

Just by the MC kits for an easy Buff build. Having spent enough time measuring a real B-52 and crawling around its a WAY better start point..like way more than the AMT kit. It can be built from the box and it looks in comparison with an unmodified AMT kit a thousand times better. The microscopic view of the MC kit has overblown what are tiny issues compared to the gigantic dramas of the AMT kit. The hyperbole thats been gone into to generate youtube views ie money has so generated so much utter misinformation as to actually have people buying thecworst B-52 ever released as

I grabbed a couple of the Redfox ZM F-4G sets and really they are ok but on close inspection lack a pile of detail on Quinta stuff. Things like instrument faces are pretty well same same compared to the stunning detail in my other Quinta ZM sets. In 48th unless you look really closely you wont see it. Seriously was thinking long about the colour PE set from ZM as it looks more vibrant and holding the Redfox beside the etch set really it was not much to pick. Redfox needs to step up the 3D part of their sets as compared directly to the Quinta ones for the F-4C/D they are les

Based off the videos online everything ive seen leaves the Meng kit trailing in quality by a large margin in every aspect. Panel lines, cockpit detail, burner cans, ejection seats to start. Where i am and where i shop the Meng kits will be either very close in price or more expensive than ZM so i dont even see the point in a comparison where the ZM kit is so clearly superior.If Meng was half the price there might be a discussion and maybe they will dump them for that in the US but they are not that here nor where i buy most of my kits. Modelling time is to short to waste on seco

Test shots appeared at Tokyo Volks store this week. Through glass the RAM is extremely fine looking almost flat with what appeared a textural difference rather than an elevation difference. Very subtle. Pilot figure and cockpit look very good detail looks better than F-4/F-14, weapons bay is simply stunning. It looks nothing like the Meng or Italeri kits being far more restrained on the upper fuselage RAM detailing.

Im with you. Based directly off Mengs most recent F-18 its still a generation and a half behind the sharpness and quality of detail in ZM Phantoms. Unless Meng pull a very big rabbit out of the hat to somehow match ZM’s beautiful sharp detail its going to be a poor second choice. Price wise its going to be equivalent or within 10-15% more or less than the ZM kit in most of the world except China however Meng in Japan will be far more based off Hornet prices in Japan some 40% more. Id say id comfortably pay 30-40% more for the ZM quality compared to a Meng equivalent M

Well as Tamiya is releasing the Italeri F-35B in Japan in November in a Tamiya Italeri box there certainly wont be a B coming from them. The C requires an entire new fuselage etc for only one operator so i wouldnt be putting my house on that appearing anytime soon but it is Tamiya so never rule anything out.

Just to readjust my view on the RAM on the Trump F-35C. Looking under better light now i have the kit rather than through plastic it does look a little to pronounced in line with what Dave said. One thing in the Trump kits favor is i think the plates look pronounced is the are molded extremely sharply with seemingly vertical edges. Using a magnifier the sharp edges are part of the reason they look a little to proud. Id suggest a very light sand to take the sharpness off the edges will give a very reasonable impression of RAM. The kit is very very well tooled and extremely sharp and i think its

I would of thought given how many “extra” releases Tamiya hasn't gone ahead with people would of learnt that lesson. The list of aircraft Tamiya “could” of done with minor changes is far far longer than the kits they have released.

Just picked up the Trump F-35C and very impressed with the very restrained surface detail. Upper RAM panels are very nicely done and to my eye the finest ive seen first hand in 48th or 32nd including the new Tamiya F-35. Surprised this kit hasnt received more attention as on initial looks after buying it appears very very nice.

Fox Ones outstanding F-4G sheets pop up on Ebay from time to time. Outstanding sheets if you can get one.

GWH Tomcats oh dear there goes the bank account, and then throw in a pile of Hogs.. Im trying to imagine how awesome these will be based off the stunning run of beautiful Flankers. 48th doesn't get any better right now than GWH.

On the live stream from Modelart there was no plastic on display just the kit itself.

Just picked one up in Japan for 11000¥. Ram panels etc are WAY better than Hasegawa’s and general overall quality is very good. Lovely surface textures and Ram panels are far finer and im sure many will be happy to leave them how they are. Interesting its so expensive in the US as even at home its 115AUD so about 75US. A nice build of it here.

Instant sale well done.

Osaka Volks, store. Re Slats the entire wing and slats are on a new sprue dedicated to the F-4G ie labelled F-4G and also labelled sprue H.

Just grabbed three its lovely. Slatted wing looks very nice seperate leading edge slats trailing edge flaps. Lovely Ha4ms with great looking Lau118’s which might be very cool on a Ukrainian Mig-29 as well. Decals are printed by Airdoc and look very nice. Real cockpit looks to normal ZM standard ie outstanding. Stunning looking kit money well spent!

Yea the flaw is so small it took literally a hundred pages scattered over 4 websites to point out where it is. I think the best way to see it is to buy a later release Zm kit and compare it to the original Then you will have the perfect guide to fix it which will take about 5 minutes with a rat tail file and some sand paper. Few discussions around a kit have over hyped a molehill into such an Everest size problem. As discussed ad nauseum Tamiya and certainty cannot be used in the same sentence. TA molded the F16 to easily be a two seater which EVERYONE expected to follow,

Like i said watch Tomcat Tales and you will see why the F-14 was paired with aircraft with similar sensor capabilities as the lead platform. Its not a fanboy thing its a fact thing. If the F-14 wasnt the superior platform why would it be used to lead F-15E’s and Hornets? The advantage in resolution in targeting was so significant that the US military both air force and navy chose the F-14 to lead large sugnificant military strikes against sensitive targets. If that isnt the facts your wanting to hear then maybe the words of the guys who lead the strikes on how important the

A mud mover that was the premier mud mover in the entire US military with a range far beyond any other air wing asset. You may want to watch the excellent documentary Tomcat Tales which goes greatly into the development of the Tomcat Lantirn capability and combat experience and the huge capability it gave the fleet. A capability so good it was paired with Hornets and Strike Eagles because its sensor capability was superior to what either of these air raft could bring to bear. Rather than a relegation it was a huge promotion in the capability it gave carrier air wings that they did

I would not say black was the only colour used there are many and i mean many images of silver MER’s in use in Vietnam by 105’s on center lines. The MER attached to an adapter rail which attached to multiple points on the doors. There was one large central attachment point supporting most of the load with others for stabilisation. The doors occasionally needed reinforcement straps in some cases with large loads to avoid G issues causing fatigue problems. They are frequently not seen so i assume it was causing a longer term issue on older aircraft hence why the straps are not se

Daco book, D&S digital colour and markings series has hundreds of stunning interesting photos, Bye Bye Baby Farewell Tomcat book has the best collection of anecdotal stories and utterly magnificent photos a true coffee table book.

$87USD from China inc shipping straight off Ebay from a very reputable dealer. Given how terrible the tooling is on the Hasegawa RAM panels it looks like what appears to be a very nice F-22. Its Trumpeter origin so it will fit beautifully, have outstanding surface detail, has full length intakes, full weapons bays and all the control surfaces are seperate. Pass all you like but with logistics costs skyrocketing you better get used to the prices as they are not going away every manufacturer is affected. Brace for the price on the incoming 32nd F-35C…

You want to see squashed go have a look at the old Monogram 72nd kit it looks like it was run over by a steam roller. Glad someone finally got the chine the right width. Grabbed a pile of Revell kits on the basis that a bird in hand and until the hypersonic kit is actually out this is the best Sr-71 ever done. Given revell stuff goes quickly and in many cases almost impossible to find get em while you can. When Hypersonic comes(if) along you can always sell them off..

Very interesting to watch Flory’s review of the F. The instructions had literally tens of instructions to remove 0.5mm of plastic from literally every major internal component. Any wonder people are having issues.