MESHER Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Looking for some feedback from others who have starting building or have examined the sprues from 1/48 Hobby Boss jet kits mainly F/A-18C and the Tornado kits. Are the Hornet kits on par with Hasegawa and are the Tornado kits better than the Itelari? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cloggy Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 A can of worms has been opened! IMVHO, the F/A-18C probably isn't as good as the Hasegawa kit, so I'd say if you can get the Hasegawa then go with it. The Tornado will have all sorts of split opinions. Looking at the sprues at the Southern Expo last weekend, I 'd say that although the level of detail in the Hobbyboss kit far surpasses anything else, there are some glaring errors - not least the dreadful tailerons. I have built a couple of Italeri Tornados and have been happy with them and had positive comments at model shows, BUT if you want a 'bells & whistles' model then you will need to buy some aftermarket - a cockpit set at the very least. People will talk about inaccuracies of the Italeri shape, but to me it looks exactly what it is supposed to be. Also of course remember that the Italeri kit is MUCH cheaper to buy than the Hobbyboss. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MESHER Posted March 24, 2010 Author Share Posted March 24, 2010 I'm glad I asked, I was not aware how inaccurate the Tornado kit from HB is? I just heard it was based off the Itelari mold but was better due to sepereate slats and flaps and the cockpit was better also, guess not. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spike7451 Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 (edited) The Tornado is bad but fixable. Some errors are: Tailerons wrong shape Wing fillets around the Kruger flap area way too thick Intakes sit too high nose profile forward of intake wrong Canopy framing missing resulting in it being too shallow Pilots IP sits too high Reverse thrust buckets can only be buile deployed without surgery And,wrong weapons & stores fit for all the varients.(ie-German jets carrying ALARM,Twin AIM 9L rails on inner pylon,no Skyshadow pod for RAF ect) Check out Jonners build below,this is waht he had to do to correct the errors in the kit.I'm going to build one but graft the nose section from an old Italeria kit onto the HB one. Jonners Tornado GR4 build Edited March 24, 2010 by spike7451 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Felinoid Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 Reverse thrust buckets can only be buile deployed without surgery And I always wanted to try to build a Tornado with the thrust reverse deployed! Anyone know of an am set for 1/72 scale? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
AX 365 Posted March 24, 2010 Share Posted March 24, 2010 I've only purchased on HB kits and it's the 1/48 F-18A. I know about the shape issues of the intakes but I'm not sure of much else. I haven't read any reviews and mine is still shrink wrapped. I can't make any informed comments on shape or accuracy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Cloggy Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 The Tornado is bad but fixable.Some errors are: Tailerons wrong shape Wing fillets around the Kruger flap area way too thick Intakes sit too high nose profile forward of intake wrong Canopy framing missing resulting in it being too shallow Pilots IP sits too high Reverse thrust buckets can only be buile deployed without surgery And,wrong weapons & stores fit for all the varients.(ie-German jets carrying ALARM,Twin AIM 9L rails on inner pylon,no Skyshadow pod for RAF ect) With a list like that, I'll definitely stick with the Italeri! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pigsty Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 I'm glad I asked, I was not aware how inaccurate the Tornado kit from HB is? I just heard it was based off the Itelari mold but was better due to sepereate slats and flaps and the cockpit was better also, guess not. Why does everyone assume that every new kit from China is a copy of a kit from somewhere else? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spike7451 Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Why does everyone assume that every new kit from China is a copy of a kit from somewhere else? Well,bit's of the Tornado kit look like they are copy's of the Italeria kit however going by the mistakes ect,if they were a 100% copy,the'd be less inaccuracies than the are.The are enough Tornado's & pics/data out there for reference that the problems with the kit today should'nt exist. Sloppy work on the part of HB but hey,it means that correction sets are/will be produced by 2mikes ect......... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dagger00 Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Just my humble opinion, HB F/A-18 seems very very good for me, cheaper than Hasegawa´s ones and with a lot of ordinance.....for the Tornado, I´ll stick to my Italeri´s ones, in fact, I´ve only bought Italeri Tornados, once they´re built, they seem like Tornados, HB ones have a lot of shape issues and they´re more expensive..... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RichardL Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 HB ones have a lot of shape issues and they´re more expensive..... Even with all the shape issues, HB ones cost more than twice as much, which doesn't make any sense to me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PNW_Modeler Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 I've got two HB kits....the FJ-4 and F/A-18C. Aside from the cockpit being a bit too shallow in the Hornet, I think it's a fine kit....really impressed with the Fury. Looks like a nice fun build without a lot of glaring problems. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shion Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Just my humble opinion, HB F/A-18 seems very very good for me, cheaper than Hasegawa´s ones and with a lot of ordinance.....for the Tornado, I´ll stick to my Italeri´s ones, in fact, I´ve only bought Italeri Tornados, once they´re built, they seem like Tornados, HB ones have a lot of shape issues and they´re more expensive..... Do you have a HB Tornado? The 1/48 Italeri tornado is almost a scale-up of the 1/72 one. With the same details scaled-up, almost the same parts scaled-up. And if it is "acceptable" in 1/72, I'm sorry but the 1/48 replication stays a Italeri 80-90s' standard kit. One thing I know is, the second I opened the HB tornado box, I forgot the italeri one in the stash. Perhaps it will be used as weapons donor, or spare for the painting. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Hey Steve, we need a "Can-O-Worms" smiley! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Netz Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Why does everyone assume that every new kit from China is a copy of a kit from somewhere else? Because most of them are......... and bad ones at that. Curt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spike7451 Posted March 25, 2010 Share Posted March 25, 2010 Because most of them are.........and bad ones at that. Curt IE,The Zhengdufu (or something like that....) EF-111 Raven in 1/48 is a poor copy of the poor old Academy kit.I'm building it at the moment. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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