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1 hour ago, gb_madcat_sl said:

 

No idea. Not a squeak from them about their 1/48 kit. Maybe @haneto may have a clue?

 

Mark

Sorry I have no idea since GWH's western aircraft items are out of my design scope.

But I personally do not think it's a good idea to participate in the competition especially other maker's new product is just for sale.

 

Maybe 1-2 years later? who knows. :rolleyes:

Let's wait for the announcement in All Japan Model and Hobby Show in Tokyo end of this month.

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8 hours ago, foxmulder_ms said:

 

 

This is *great* comparison. Only one I find here close to "apples vs apples". 

 

If you don't mind could you start both red and blue line at the same height then it will become apparent the "difference" is maybe only 1mm. 

So, what the problem? There is no any assessment if it "good" or "bad". Just fact I noticed.  You like it - you buy it.

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1 hour ago, haneto said:

Sorry I have no idea since GWH's western aircraft items are out of my design scope.

But I personally do not think it's a good idea to participate in the competition especially other maker's new product is just for sale.

 

Maybe 1-2 years later? who knows. :rolleyes:

Let's wait for the announcement in All Japan Model and Hobby Show in Tokyo end of this month.

Thank's Haneto.

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Wow Zactoman that's an excellent analysis! I think the error on the lower surface of the engine side fairing will certainly be less noticeable than the upper surface error. I am hoping that any other errors are at least less visible than than say the Hasegawa kit.

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13 hours ago, Jonathan_Lotton said:

So, in summary

There are shape issues. It may be major to some, inconsequential to others, however the issue is there. 

In a shocking turn of events, it's not a perfect kit, as no kit is. 

However it's not the new-standard for F-14 kits either. 

FWIW it should also be about $25-30 on average cheaper than the Tamiya kit, much like how the Academy F-15 was cheaper than the Hasegawa F-15

If "close enough" is worth the $20-$30 to you then it's close enough

 

 

Well for anyone outside the USA the reverse may be true.

I can buy and have bought over 10 Tamiya F-14’s in Japan for an average price of 5400Yen.

The AMK kit is pre ordering for 6300 Yen after starting a lot higher so 10USD more expensive trying to encourage sales.

AMK will be losing money big time given the Mig-31 in Japan is 9800 Yen.

To pre order an AMK kit to my home address was around 90USD so hugely more expensive and almost identical price to Tamiya.

Price has and always will regional so any conclusions drawn based off the highly favoured US market is on thin ice to start with.

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12 minutes ago, dehowie said:

 

Well for anyone outside the USA the reverse may be true.

I can buy and have bought over 10 Tamiya F-14’s in Japan for an average price of 5400Yen.

The AMK kit is pre ordering for 6300 Yen after starting a lot higher so 10USD more expensive trying to encourage sales.

AMK will be losing money big time given the Mig-31 in Japan is 9800 Yen.

To pre order an AMK kit to my home address was around 90USD so hugely more expensive and almost identical price to Tamiya.

Price has and always will regional so any conclusions drawn based off the highly favoured US market is on thin ice to start with.

 

Just to check, are you comparing prices on Japanese websites?

 

Mark

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13 hours ago, dehowie said:

 

Well for anyone outside the USA the reverse may be true.

I can buy and have bought over 10 Tamiya F-14’s in Japan for an average price of 5400Yen.

The AMK kit is pre ordering for 6300 Yen after starting a lot higher so 10USD more expensive trying to encourage sales.

AMK will be losing money big time given the Mig-31 in Japan is 9800 Yen.

To pre order an AMK kit to my home address was around 90USD so hugely more expensive and almost identical price to Tamiya.

Price has and always will regional so any conclusions drawn based off the highly favoured US market is on thin ice to start with.

Not in my world!!! The other F14 runs $99 around here with no takers. The Mig 31 upgraded kit was $67. 

Gary

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13 hours ago, dehowie said:

 

Well for anyone outside the USA the reverse may be true.

I can buy and have bought over 10 Tamiya F-14’s in Japan for an average price of 5400Yen.

The AMK kit is pre ordering for 6300 Yen after starting a lot higher so 10USD more expensive trying to encourage sales.

AMK will be losing money big time given the Mig-31 in Japan is 9800 Yen.

To pre order an AMK kit to my home address was around 90USD so hugely more expensive and almost identical price to Tamiya.

Price has and always will regional so any conclusions drawn based off the highly favoured US market is on thin ice to start with.

 

No way. That is not accurate, in my opinion, Where do you live? Tamiya is only cheaper in Japan vs AMK. That is. 

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15 hours ago, Alex Matvey said:

So, what the problem? There is no any assessment if it "good" or "bad". Just fact I noticed.  You like it - you buy it.

 

 

Problem is the attitude. There is a crusade against AMK. I dont like it. No one cares this much for other releases from other companies. The "issue" is really not significant and burying all the PLUSES of the AMK kit. 

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17 hours ago, haneto said:

Sorry I have no idea since GWH's western aircraft items are out of my design scope.

But I personally do not think it's a good idea to participate in the competition especially other maker's new product is just for sale.

 

Maybe 1-2 years later? who knows. :rolleyes:

Let's wait for the announcement in All Japan Model and Hobby Show in Tokyo end of this month.

 

 

Of course you know more but from the past releases of GWH, it generally took max 1 year for GWH to come up with the plastic after the announcement. 

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6 minutes ago, foxmulder_ms said:

 

 

Problem is the attitude. There is a crusade against AMK. I dont like it. No one cares this much for other releases from other companies. The "issue" is really not significant and burying all the PLUSES of the AMK kit. 

With all due respect I disagree. There may be a few here that have a "crusade" against AMK, and I can't speak for them. But not everyone here has some personal vendetta or anything at all but many (most) are simply critiquing a product or a proposed product, which by the way they ASKED and WELCOMED help with in the beginning until they didn't like the advice and suggestions they were getting.

And further more, I suggest maybe you look at some similar threads about some Trumpeter kits, ANY of the P-51 kits and more recently some of the F-4U Corsair and F-4 Phantom models that came out. I'm sure there are others out there too. In those you will find very similar posts with red-line drawings and very honest and sometimes brutal critiques. Some of them have gotten so heated people were banned form the site. And also in those threads you'll see some of the same defenders saying the same "just shut up and be happy we have a new kit and build it" message as they have in this one. This is not a new argument at all. There are MANY MANY threads about the "battle" between "rivet counters" vs "good 'nuffs" and there will always be those conversations. If anything, the attack has been the other way, not the way you've suggested. Yes, there has been some ugly comments about the model and even AMK itself. Most of those toward the company were frustrated customers that placed pre-orders and felt slighted. That kind of response is somewhat expected in this case and I would venture to say has a lot to do with this particular thread being as long and potentially volatile as it is. But it's not a "crusade" against this kit or company that's bringing about the red line drawings. It's simply the assessment of what's been presented.

 

Bill

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50 minutes ago, foxmulder_ms said:

 

 

Problem is the attitude. There is a crusade against AMK. I dont like it. No one cares this much for other releases from other companies. The "issue" is really not significant and burying all the PLUSES of the AMK kit. 


The other companies conducted themselves much better in the production of their kits, just saying.

It's simply a lesson to be learned for both AMK in the future and other companies observing this whole fiasco 

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http://www.arcforums.com/forums/air/index.php?/topic/302382-148-f-4-phantom-best-kits/page/4/

 

Here is a good example of how these conversations COULD go. The thread linked above has just as much, if not more specific and varied talk back and forth about shape issues of various kits. There are even templates cut out and held up on models showing very minute details. And the difference is no one seemed to get bent out of shape and jump on those presenting their findings. That I can see, there wasn't much "shut-up and build it" or "who cares?" kinds of posts. Just simply some dedicated modelers trying to find the best information they could. Isn't that what the forums are for?

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2 hours ago, foxmulder_ms said:

 

 

Problem is the attitude. There is a crusade against AMK. I dont like it. No one cares this much for other releases from other companies. The "issue" is really not significant and burying all the PLUSES of the AMK kit. 

 

I agree.

 

If the potential issues were just diagnosed with or without lines, then this would be fine.

 

When people troll, coming back with the same.issues every time that someone posts something positive or just when the discussion appears to be moving on, then one can tell...

 

Of course I am not putting everyone in the same bucket. But for some it is almost obvious that they are having an agenda.

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3 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

Not in my world!!! The other F14 runs $99 around here with no takers. The Mig 31 upgraded kit was $67. 

Gary

 

Wow... I nabbed a few of these in AUD at $75/ $52USD.

 

It's about half the price of Tamiya's at RRP here in Australia.

 

3 of the AMK preorders was a no brainer!

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 Someday we'll all be able to put our arms around our grand-children's shoulders, point to this thread, puff up our chests and say, "Here's where the battle took place, Son, and Grandpa did his part. For you, and future generations!".

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4 hours ago, foxmulder_ms said:

 

 

Problem is the attitude. There is a crusade against AMK. I dont like it. No one cares this much for other releases from other companies. The "issue" is really not significant and burying all the PLUSES of the AMK kit. 

 

Your not getting the big picture here the reason you don't see 200+ page threads on other companies kits is they don't take 4 years to put out a kit and they don't claim it to be the most accurate kit ever released of a certain subject. When you proclaim your kit to be the most accurate kit ever released of the F-14D  you better be prepared to have it put under a microscope.  The "issue" as you say is significant as it is a very noticable shape error on a very wellknown aircraft and I do agree that it does look like a well molded kit. But there has been a few beautifully molded kits that are still not the best kit in that subject the 1/32 Dragon P-51D comes to mind.

 

AMK can proclaim whatever they want about the kit it's up to us to buy it or not and like Alex said buy it or don't buy it. I for one won't buy  it and not because of anything said in this thread, I just happen to have 5 1/48 Tamiya kits and 2 in 1/32 plus 2 in 1/72 so I'm well stocked.

 

Don

 

 

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18 hours ago, gb_madcat_sl said:

 

Just to check, are you comparing prices on Japanese websites?

 

Mark

 

No im buying kits on the street in Japan.

Americans have a fascination in basing a kits price off what they pay then assume the entire world is the same.

Sorry to my American friends but the axis of our planet does not run through Washington DC.

Hence drawing conclusions about kits success etc based off what they pay is as fraught with error as me saying everyone xan buy Tamiya kits for 5200Yen ie 45-50USD so AMK stand no chance.

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6 hours ago, foxmulder_ms said:

 

No way. That is not accurate, in my opinion, Where do you live? Tamiya is only cheaper in Japan vs AMK. That is. 

 

I live in Australia but frequent Japan on trips.

No way? What is no way?

For me to pre order the AMK kit from Hobbyeasy to get two kits was 55.00USD per kit. Sincerehobby was even more expensive for shipping at 68USD the supposed official pre order shop.

To ship them was for both was 54 so 164USD for two kits which converted is 230AUD or 250 AUD from the official source.

Feel free to check the numbers on Hobbyeasy and Sincere hobby.

So 115(125sincere)per kit for AMK shipped vs 130 for Tamiya shipped.

So a 15% or 5% difference in price is hardly a huge difference by any stretch.

Now Sprue borthers charge 91/99 for the Tamiya F14A/D the difference is larger.

However who is to say Tamiya wont drop there price when Amk hits the shops, well whatever limited shops they can get them to as they have no distribution network.

In Japan the F-14D is 6400 on the street before your Visa card discount of 10% so 5700 Yen call it 52US which is in my dollars around 80 so call it 35 bucks cheaper to buy Tamiya than an Amk kit. Again no distribution in Japan so mail order is the only way until the kit hits the limited few shops they can get them into.

Amk have no preorder available inside our country which again based off there lack of distribution network is no surprise.

In short because they have no preorder except via mail and no distributor the price is far closer outside the US than in and drawing conclusions that the Amk kit is way cheaper is simply wrong based off the USA pricing.

Its a big world.

Would you pay 15% more or 3% from official distributor for an accurate F-14 as opposed to a nice kit which is not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by dehowie
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