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6 hours ago, Albeback58 said:

😁 That would look nice. You might be interested to know that Revell has just reissued the A-400 kit. This time with official markings. I actually don't do boring,dull,overall grey so, if I may suggest an alternative for the future, you might like the Royal Air Force "sand and stone" finish. Dark Earth over Mid Stone with black underside.Scheme was used in the 60s and 70s. Very retro!😁. I have one A-400 which I intend to do in a splinter type camouflage and markings for Independent Scottish Republic (Air Force).OK, we aint yet Independent but,who's worried about mere details!😃  

 

 

Hey...that's an idea! Maybe do an A400M in British cold war camo. The F-4's in that camo were wickedly awesome...

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6 hours ago, Albeback58 said:

😁 That would look nice. You might be interested to know that Revell has just reissued the A-400 kit. This time with official markings. I actually don't do boring,dull,overall grey so, if I may suggest an alternative for the future, you might like the Royal Air Force "sand and stone" finish. Dark Earth over Mid Stone with black underside.Scheme was used in the 60s and 70s. Very retro!😁. I have one A-400 which I intend to do in a splinter type camouflage and markings for Independent Scottish Republic (Air Force).OK, we aint yet Independent but,who's worried about mere details!😃  

 

 

Just curious...is it a reissue of the 144th or the 72nd scale? Have you got a link?

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I just received my kit. Certainly looks impressive in the box - I did not have time to inspect it closely or take photos before I had to go back to work, but I will post more details tonight when I will do fit and dimension checks for my decal designs.

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38 minutes ago, KursadA said:

I just received my kit. Certainly looks impressive in the box - I did not have time to inspect it closely or take photos before I had to go back to work, but I will post more details tonight when I will do fit and dimension checks for my decal designs.

Thanks a lot !

 

I have not placed my order yet so looking forward to your first thoughts.

 

Cheers !

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The molding quality is the same as the C-141 kit from the same company - the recessed panel lines are well defined. I don't have an Otaki kit for comparison, but the shapes look OK to me. I will let the photos speak for themselves.

 

 

rodenc501.jpg

 

rodenc502.jpg

 

rodenc503.jpg

 

rodenc504.jpg

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I personally think the decals are substandard, but I am not exactly an impartial observer. Take a look and decide for yourself. Basic markings seem to be dimensioned correctly (unlike on the Roden C-141 sheet) and there is more complete stencilling.

 

The printing quality is still pretty bad (look at the Travis tail markings) and there are several issues:

 

1. There are some pretty strange color problems - look at the national insignia, which are somehow printed in a medium gray. These will probably disappear on an AMC Gray fuselage. The USAF specification clearly calls for black national insignia. So you will need new national insignia decals at the minimum !

 

2. The markings provided are for C-5B 86-0024, with unit markings that read "82th AMW / 346th AWM" . The "AWM" is most definitely a typo - but the "82th AMW" unit designation is more confusing. There is no 82nd Air Mobility Wing,  and no 346th Air Mobility Wing.  C-5B 86-0024 was assigned to 60th AMW / 349th AMW - and this is what the unit designation at the nose should have said. 

 

rodenc5decals01.jpg

 

rodenc5decals02.jpg

 

rodenc5decals01.jpg 

Overall, the kit looks good to me - but it is not worth $100  (and certainly not the $150 I ended up paying on Ebay with shipping) . 

Edited by KursadA
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After some digging these are very few of original Otaki kit photos of engine faces, wheel wells and t-tail bullet fairing before tweaking on my last C-5 build. i am really pleased that  Roden kit basic details in those areas are pretty close to the real thing, much improvement over the old Otaki one.  Anyway over $60 this kit is still way beyond my reach.

 

IMG_75342.jpg

 

nww_-_Copy.jpg

 

IMG_01042015_211213_1.jpg

 

rth.jpg

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KursadA, tanks a lot for the photos, they give a much better view of the details, unlike the YouTube too shaky video.

 

I am still getting the kit but it looks like they rushed it : recessed details on the engines look clogged at a few places, lots of sink marks, some rough edges, and an average decal sheet.

 

I will still order my 2 copies for a start and hope for the usual better aftermarket decal sheets in a near future.

 

Overall, I expected better from Roden (VC-10 quality) but I still think it is better than the Japanese kit, lacking in so many areas for the same price as Luckymodels Roden offer.

 

Thanks again.

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You can get a 1/32 Tamiya F4U-1A for that.  Including shipping.

 

But I know, if you really want a good 1/144 C-5 you're going to buy it. That's me with other things (made by Winchester) so I understand.

 

Rick L.

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25 minutes ago, Spruemeister said:

You can get a 1/32 Tamiya F4U-1A for that.  Including shipping.

 

But I know, if you really want a good 1/144 C-5 you're going to buy it. That's me with other things (made by Winchester) so I understand.

 

Rick L.

And instead of buying a 1/32 Tamiya F4U-1A, you can buy food. Or medicines... but what the heck ? Obviously, if I'm a Galaxy fan, I will not switch to a 1/32 Corsair because it is identically priced.

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I was looking at Amazon and it popped up there for $164.00 sold by Sprue Brothers. I'm not paying triple digits for one. Hopefully like some have said, get it in around $65 and I'll get one. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/ROD330-Roden-Galaxy-MODEL-BUILDING/dp/B074SVHHYN/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=H0KP10MFRNAF0QGHFG37

Edited by kg4kpg
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4 hours ago, kg4kpg said:

I was looking at Amazon and it popped up there for $164.00 sold by Sprue Brothers. I'm not paying triple digits for one. Hopefully like some have said, get it in around $65 and I'll get one. 

 

All I got to say is that if Roden is smart...they'll listen to these forums. I haven't been to the other major modeling sites yet this week but my guess is that there's other conversations like this going on all over the Net. They'll make a profit by selling ton of them. It's the Law of basic economics. Laws that are for the most part immutable. Can't be changed.

$40 - $60 is fair and I believe a generous price to pay for what's being offered. We can only hope.....

Edited by pminer
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Kursad, I'm glad you touched on the decals.  I looked at the kit myself at a local hobbyshop with the owner who brought two of the kits in.  Just looking at the sheet I was appalled at the quality of the markings for such a "expensive" kit.  Look closely at the air refueling receptacle markings and you can clearly see they are totally fabricated from what I don't know.  Also the Air Mobility Command Logo seems to be off as well when you look at it closely on the sheet.  There were other things I noted in the kit that don't appear to be right but even the owner commented on the sizing of the kit himself.

 

Just a few things to look out for on this "White Elephant"

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