phantom

This Edaurd/Academy with kit decals would be my 205th Phantom.

Its been a year and a half since I built a PHANTOM!!!!! Hasegawa 1/48 with Furball decals.

Hasegawa (VF-102) vs. Acedemy/Eduard (VMFA-451)

Ya know what, I think the old Hasegawa wins in some ways here. The photo etch for the canopy and cockpit is much better the the Eduards/Academy. The Academy however has better overall extras. Such as the ejection seats, and engines. The Eduards cockpit panels are of course much better then I can paint by hand.Plus the dropped flaps and refuelling probe. The Hasegawa is a much easier build, The Academys landing gear is flimsy and all though better looking, it is no where near as strong. Another advantage the Acedemy/Eduard has is age. The decals have yellowed over the past 35 years on the Hasegawa kit. Also the front tires had disintegrated over the past 3 decades. Still, .........so have I.

Good to hear, been waiting!

I just put the entire thing on the edge of the lip. The Eduard does not "come" wit the folded wing. I just make them that way. Done that with Hasegawa too. Just cut off the wing tip and glue in place. Someone makes a resin plug, but that area is SO small that I think its not worth the time or expense.

More of the fiddly bits are in place now. Next comes decals and windows.

The photo-etch on the window sills for the Hasegawa looks better then the lack of such from the Eduard, however once the windows are on you won't notice the difference. The Colour photo-etch clearly is better looking then my paint job on the Hasegawa.

So far the builds, while not following the instructions order of build, are at the same point more or less. Now the differences of the many more parts in the Eduard box is going to come into play. Don't worry, much more colour will come as we go along.

Tanks, a little weathering and under thingies.

The bottoms are together except for tanks, weapons and weathering. The Eduard clearly wins this race. It has all the warts added to the J late in service. Also they look more realistic then the Hasegawa.

The fancy metal and rubber Hasegawa tires chemically broke down over the last 35 years. The main wheels are "ok". But the front wheels have disintegrated. The regular issue kit front wheels are painted in the photo ready to go. The Eduard of course comes with masks. Something I seldom use, but as long as they are included I might as well give them a shot.

Here is one I built, maybe you could do an international sheet.........

Not much work this week, or today my day off. I caught the Eduard kit basicly to near the same point of the Hasegawa kit. At this point the panel lines and cockpit is noticably better on the newer kit. But, not really that noticeable at a distance of a couple feet.

Its dropped off of late. When I did night shifts still my output was MUCH higher!