Salineated Michigander

Neil, I just sent my email address to you so I can get your newsletter. I am very interested in your 1/72 scale endeavor and hope to hear and see more of what you come up with!

Totally agree! Soviet nee Russian aircraft looks SO predatory and beautiful! I love the arched spine! Even the SU-25 looks brutish and awesome.

Hey Hammerhead, nice work so far on your P-38, it all looks very thoughtfully replicated. I like your work. I just finished this same kit a week ago and found myself smiling to myself at each dry fit and final assembly process and how well everything fit together. It's just a masterpiece of engineering, likely the best fitting kit I have ever built of any scale EVER. I also strongly agree with your comment about the landing gear and gear bays....they're just amazing. If only other manufacturers would sit up and take notice....sigh.

Geez, Faust, I've got the Zvezda Yak-130 in my stash, to be done next. Now you've got me wary... Having said that, and having read your blog and posts here, I can relate to a manufacturer designing slip-shod parts and executing infuriatingly slack engineering. Kitty Hawk, are you listening? Case in point, take the new beautiful Tamiya P-38 F/G. Just superb engineering, hyper-logical build processes and execution. I'm no expert on any aviation, nor have I served in the military. I just like to build models and this Tamiya offering is an amazingly well designed kit and worth every penny it's sold for. Like others have said, it literally falls together, and once it's together, it's solid. After I had the whole thing built but not painted I accidentally dropped it onto the floor. It survived the ordeal without a single part falling or breaking off! So, imagine going from that precision and dedicated thoughtfulness to my current build, the Yak 28P Firebar by Bobcat Models. Granted, it's a relatively new company from China and has not yet established a comparable depth of catalog, like Tamiya but a few other online know-it-alls made it sound like it was a pretty decent looking, at least in box-opening reviews so I figured, why not? Now that I'm about a third of the way along with the Firebar it's clear that this kit is far from Tamiya-level accuracy, mold quality, or fit. The styrene is coarse, rough, and thin, although the surfaces of most of the larger pieces has nice rivet details. Connecting points are weakly designed and almost non-existent in some areas. I can't comment on scale accuracy, but that doesn't really matter too much to me. The instructions are flat and two-dimensional, very basic and seemingly put together as an afterthought with a goofy fold-out section at the back. I agree with Faust that sometimes manufacturers seem to be gleefully deriving sadistic pleasure from making engineering so-called 'solutions' on some parts that are idiotically complex or paradoxically ill-fitted and sloppy. I mean, it is that hard to have an editor on hand to review and correct parts labeling mistakes or omissions? Does anyone actually build their models before they leave the plant? Tamiya is an industry standard that is hard to beat in most cases; it's too bad many other manufacturers don't follow suit and aim for building clarity rather than expediency and mediocrity. If your product is second-rate, revise it and make it better, or get out of the biz. Life it too short to be saddled with crappy models

My 'normal' plastic recycle bin collectors only accepts Nos. 1 and 2 plastic, here in Michigan, but not polystyrene, so recycling all the plastic sprue leftovers is not possible. Nonetheless, I've been collecting and storing ALL my leftover sprue pieces for the past several years. I now have about 7 pounds of 3mm sized bits accumulated and I'm continually adding to it. Should I continue to cut it all up in small pieces?

I find a modicum of irony in the criticisms of KH and their apparent wanton disregard across the board for lack instructional coherency and legibility. Note I didn't say ANYTHING about accuracy, as I believe accuracy, as several others have pointed out, is in the eye of the beholder and something many of us either don't understand or relate to, especially those of us who have no military background (yours truly). I've personally decided that money talks, bullshit walks (is that the saying??) and will NOT purchase any further KH kits of any kind, as my very limited experience with them (2 kits) were rampant with incorrect and incomprehensible instructions and over indulgence with pointless detail of parts that will never see the light of day once installed. So, those of us who have repeated found KH quality lacking, I say, DON'T BUY THEIR PRODUCTS. Pure and simple. I won't.

Indeed, I agree, very nice. I'm about 3/4 of the way through this kit myself and hope it turns out half as good.

...anyone built this kit? I have it on order. While my exposure to Kitty Hawk products is limited to one singular previous build, it was not an especially enjoyable process so I'm hoping I find some KH redemption on this.

I've noticed over the past several months that certain kits are increasingly scarce in the USA, particularly in 1/48 scale. I mean, try to find a Hobby Boss or Italeri A-10, as it seems nearly impossible, no matter if you're looking at any of online retailers or eBay. I've seen ONE seller with a Warthog from Hobby Boss on eBay, but the kit is $82. HobbyLinc, Mega-Hobby, and Kitlinx also seem to be unable to sell many other 1/48 scale jets, saying "currently unavailable" over and over again. I've also seen only rare availability of Hasegawa's EA-18G Growler in this scale. Is it due to immense popularity? Or is it some distributor issue? Does anyone know what's going on?

Thank you for the explanation. Excellent! I KNEW someone would know.

I am a total n00b when it comes to military nomenclature and symbology and I've never served so I'm wondering if you all can tell me what the little "2" thingies I see pictured in various places on a Warthog's skin are. It almost looks like a coat hanger hook or something. What are they?

I'm eagerly following your progress too; so far, so good. I just finished the Hobby Boss N/AW version two weeks ago and have just taken delivery of the Italeri Blacksnakes version. My workmanship is not on par with yours, but I truly enjoyed the Hobby Boss kit.

I also raise my hand in favor of the Optivisor. I have a #4 lens plate on mine and it's perfect, no fatigue or weariness so far that I can recall, and I often will have 4-5 hour workbench sessions. Admittedly, not ALL of those hours are spent with the Optivisor actually in use, but it's a significant portion of time nonetheless. I do not need prescription eyeglasses, only the cheapo drug store kind, usually 1.50-2.0 magnification I've found that having non-optimized lighting is the primary factor in eye fatigue. I need to get better and brighter lighting, both overhead and close range.

Thanks for the comments, gents. Sounds like Hobby Boss or Revellogram it is. I'm not really a stickler for exact detail like a lot of you are, just want to know which brand offers the most trouble-free and straight forwards assembly process.