Ace1 Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Does anybody know who PM Models is? Are they from Turkey? Are their molds originally from other companies? They have a lot of kits over at my local hobby shop, and the price is pretty good. Thinking of getting a few. Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aerobat Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Does anybody know who PM Models is? Are they from Turkey? Are their molds originally from other companies? PM Model Yes, they originate from Turkey with their own molds. Almost all subjects have better kits available elsewhere. They are very basic; I found the Ta-183 not bad, but bought the F-86 and the F-5A just for the decals. You can check out their catalog and google a few reviews (you'll find out why they are so affordable). Gary Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andre Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Almost all subjects have better kits available elsewhere. Which is, er, putting it mildly. Cheers, Andre Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aaronw Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 They aren't that bad, kind of like an Airfix or Revell kit from the 1960s. Very basic detail, and expect to use some putty and some time cleaning up the clear bits. If your options are no kit, resin or short run they can be an economical option. If there is a production kit from a major kit maker of the subject then yes, it is most likely better than the PM kit. I've got the Beech 18 kits and the Fokker D.XXI, and for $8-10 they really are not that bad. You will have to plan on a little kit bashing / scratchbuilding and putty work to get the best from them. The clear parts will need at least a dip in Future and polishing with something like Novus or Scratch X, followed by a dip in Future is even better. Still they are cheap so worth considering. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JasonW Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 PM stuff runs the gammut from "eh" to "meh" to downright atrocious. Some of their kits like the Sea Furies, Fokker D.XXI and a few others are palatable and not bad considering the money you spend on them. At the other end of the spectrum are their Spitfires and a few F-4 kits they have which are REALLY bad. Their big attraction is purely cost. None of their kits are terribly costly. That said, you definitely get what you pay for. The above is my own personal opinion and may not agree with many other opinions. :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aaronw Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Yeah, I wouldn't even think about one of their kits for something common like a Spitfire or Phantom. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dgassie Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 PM's Yak-15 in 1/72 is absolutely the worst model I have or have ever seen. The only reason I haven't thrown it into the trash is because I like showing it to fellow modelers when they visit and watching the look on their faces! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
El pibe vitina Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Agree... I have the PM Kansan and is in the same level as the Hobbycraft or Matchbox (both which are not the best of the best). But I remember the Dagger / Mirage IIIEA being the most aberrant kit I saw in my whole modelling life. Bye for now... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JasonW Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 But I remember the Dagger / Mirage IIIEA being the most aberrant kit I saw in my whole modelling life.Yup, definitely agree there. I was going to try to graft the PM Dagger nose onto a Revell Mirage III kit but even the nose was so bad I felt I just couldn't waste my time. Finally ended up getting the High Planes Dagger kit.That may have been the worst PM kit of all, but I think their Spitfire Mk. V kit is worse. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
peebeep Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 (edited) Like a lot of things it's what you make of it: plus a bit of TLC = Probably not as good a result as with the Special Hobby or Trumpy kits, but it was a fun build. The Matchbox Kansan is PM tooling - Link.. To confuse matters it was released after Revell acquired the rights to the Matchbox TM. peebeep Edited August 30, 2011 by peebeep Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ross blackford Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 D, I also have the Sea Fury FB11, the T20 and the T61 and although there isn't any interior detail to speak of I have some good references that I'll use to detail the cockpits. The Spitfire floatplane is cheap enough to buy for the floats alone to attach to an Airfix Spitfire V. If you're not afraid of doing a bit of work to a PM kit you can get a reasonable model for your trouble. I lost a prop from my Hobbycraft Beech 18/C-45 so bought a PM kit for that reason alone, to get the props. At the same time I also bought a Kansan to build and I might even work the C-45 into a maintenance scene. , Ross. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andre Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 (edited) PM's Yak-15 in 1/72 is absolutely the worst model I have or have ever seen. I take it you haven't seen one of their F-5A/B/T-38 kits, then - the onepiece wings/underbelly molding looks like it was designed for an entirely different kit than the main fuselage parts... they are shaped completely dissimilar. Cheers, Andre Edited August 31, 2011 by Andre Quote Link to post Share on other sites
denizp Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 I guess I had to reply to this thread as someone who has grown up building these PM kits as a kid in Turkey. Unfortunately, during that time, these were the only affordable and easy-to-find kits around and although everybody mostly hated them even then, there wasn't an alternative until the model kit business suddenly exploded after the first Gulf War and every little toy shop was filled to the brim with Italeri and ESCI kits. After that many years and completely scraping those kits from my memory, the first time I saw one of them in a hobby shop here in the US for $10+, I was just beyond shocked, to say the least and now there are unfortunately hobby shops in the Bay Area with stacks of them. I just can't and don't want to believe there can be shop owners who would want to sell those kits to their customers in 2011. [some of what I am going to say next might be hearsay from 3rd party sources - i.e. the people who knew or talked to the owner of the company at some time (I never knew or met him myself) and I have not been able to corroborate some of the rumors] Most of the original kits - which are all still in production - from what I heard, were mostly copies of Novo and other Soviet block vacu-form kits with locally developed molds in a cottage-industry type operation (I think the owner was interested in airplanes/modeling and had a plastic manufacturing factory of some sort and started this as a side business).Although I must add, I am not sure about the pedigrees of some of the newer Luft'46 models that showed up in the last few years. I was skeptical of this claim back then - you wanted the local guys to succeed against the big giants and the kits were so simple that it really wasn't that much necessary to copy them from anyone, but a couple years ago, I actually saw a Novo Yak-15 vacu-form model in a shop here and I immediately recognized the parts breakdown and other peculiarities. You could pretty much match the vacu-form sheet to the PM kit directly. I heard similar things about the Spitfire V kit being another copy of the very old Frog/Novo molds and I am personally pretty sure there wasn't a single kit in that original batch that was an original mold - with many one or 2 parts added later on, like maybe the floats on the Spitfire V. In later years, I also heard some bad things about the owner - about his personality, his thoughts about stealing from other companies and denying or dismissing these claims, despite overwhelming evidence and this of course makes things even worse for me. The molds also used to be in a much much better shape and I remember, with the Spitfire kits in the 90s, you could actually match the wings to the fuselage and the canopy would actually fit the boundaries of the fuselage. I had to buy a Spitfire V for a cousin 2 years ago and I just couldn't believe how warped and completely misaligned all the parts had become, with maybe 5mm difference between the wing root width and the wing itself. Also, although it is hard to believe, the Ta-183 kits actually had a smooth plastic surface when they first came out, but a new boxing I saw here was completely covered in horrendous pock marks all around and looked like orange skin. This just confirmed some of the rumors that the owner had no intention of ever investing in the molds or the kits themselves. Without getting myself agitated any further, I should cut it short. I can talk at length about all the models in that catalog so shoot me a message if you have a question or want to vent :) In short, I would not suggest anyone ever spending any money on any of these kits - especially in the super-inflated US prices that I see here, not just because of the complete lack of quality of the kits but also because of the blatant copyright issues. ps: I also must admit that although a lot of model companies start out by outright copying other companies' molds and kits (hello, Academy!), it just hurts a little bit more when it is from a local guy in your own country and there has not been a single improvement or step forward in the last 20+ years in the products or catalog of that said company. And I just hope I don't get flak from people for this reason... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.