Best 1/72 jet kits by subject?

[SebastianP]

I'm kind of missing a good central list of "which kit to get for which subject" in my preferred scale, as there's been a lot of things happening on the kit front in recent years while I was busy with other hobbies. So I figured I'd start one and the rest of you can fill in my blanks and I can update the thread as necessary. I'll start with kits I'm interested in myself first, and have at least some idea what's going on with.

 

The goal of this list is to be a one-stop answer for "I want to build a so-and-so, which manufacturer makes the nicest one". 

 

Note that this list is for 1/72 only, 1/48 and 1/32 can have their own threads... Bolded aircraft names are where I have something close to a good answer, though if you feel I'm wrong please feel free to correct me. 

 

Anything not mentioned below are things where I have no clue, so filling in the blanks would be helpful. 

 

 

The order of the manufactures generally doesn't mean anything (anymore), other than "newest kit goes first" since that's the one builders new to a subject will likely want to know about first. Unless there's a really clear consensus to buy a specific older kit rather than anything else. 

 

 

US Fighters/fighter-bombers:

F-100 Super Sabre:

  Trumpeter makes the most recent one, which has much more detail than any of the competition, but it has shape errors, notably that the intake is flat at the bottom where it should be slightly curved.

  Esci seems from reviews of the Trumpeter kit to be the previous "best kit", and depending on your preferences for shape accuracy it might still

F-101 Voodoo:

  Valom released the first new tool single seater in around 50 years a while back, and the first review I read about it points out it has several missing or incorrect details such as lack of wing fences and missing or incorrect air scoops. Warts and all, the issues are according to the reviewer fixable with some good references, and anyway it's your only option for a *modern* kit of this particular subject, and it comes in both radar- and recce versions. 

  Revell made a twin-seater in the early 1990s, which is apparently the best kit available for those. It too needs some corrections, but it's a "nice kit". 

F-102 Delta Dagger:

  Meng, "hands down" according to this thread. 

  Hasegawa offers the only alternative, which has been extensively reboxed, but it dates back to 1969 and looks to be very old school Hasegawa.

F-104 Starfighter:

  Revell offers the newest one, from the mid 1990s, in C and G versions. It's supposed to be pretty good, though it does lack in stores (drop tanks and old Sidewinders only in the F-104G I have.)

  Hasegawa made a new tool kit in 1989, and in typical fashion they cover the entire lineup, twin seaters and all. 

  Esci also made one in 1981, covering the A, C and G versions, which is now offered by Italeri. I have no general idea which of these three is *better*, Hasegawa does have the bigger lineup and it's part of their "new tool" project which produced some marvelous kits. 

F-105 Tunderchief:

  Trumpeter makes the most recent one, and wonder of wonders none of the reviews I looked at mention shape errors. They do mention that the original release will only do a late-model D (late/post Vietnam), and that Trumpeter's mad riveter has been all over it. But the verdict appears to be "nice" based on a sampling of reviews. The second (and so far latest) offering is an F-105G, which is also "good", but some G-specific bits are molded into the airframe and backdating it will be less than painless. 

  Revell (ex Monogram) seems to get the nod as the previous best kit, but it is also mentioned as a difficult build. Hasegawa covers more versions, but their kit is from 1966; also, Airfix released an F and a G in the mid 80s. 

F-106 Delta Dart:

  Meng Models was mentioned being the best available down in the thread. It's a very premium kit that comes with a PE fret, but also a hefty pricetag.

  Trumpeter is the only recent competition, and the reviews I've seen of it once again don't mention any shape issues and the riveter appears to have been restrained.

  Hasegawa's kit which used to be the only game in town until just a couple of years ago (the others are *really new*) dates back to 1969, and so is old school Hasegawa. 

F-111 Aardvark:

  Hasegawa made a complete lineup of F-111 kits in the late 80s, and they're still *the* F-111 kits, comparable to their "new tool" F-4, F-14, F-15 etc. They're also not easy to get a hold of, since they don't see nearly as many Limited Edition releases as the others do.

  Esci made an F-111A and an EF-111A Raven, which are now offered by Italeri - I suppose these are the "second best" option, but it's a very distant second. Hasegawa really makes everything else look like toys. 

F-4 Phantom: Depends on your version.

  Hasegawa is your best bet for all the US-produced versions - B, C, D, E, EJ, G, H, J, N, S, RF-4C/E, etc. 

  Revell makes good F-4F that can be rebuilt into an early E. 

  Fujimi made a full set of Phantoms covering every model, but they're hard to find. They used to be the best option for an F-4K or M, may have been dethroned now.

  Airfix has a new tool Phantom FG.1 (F-4K) which appears to have the potential to be retooled into an F-4M. It's the most modern F-4 out there in 1/72, but I haven't seen one built yet.

F-14 Tomcat: 

  Hasegawa is still king, though it's a cranky kit that needs out-of-sequence assembly to force into a proper shape. You can make any Tomcat from this kit provided you get the right boxing. 

  Fujimi made a good showing as well, but they're much harder to find, and feature moving wings rather than posable flight control surfaces. 

  Great Wall Hobbies apparently made an A recently, but I know nothing about this kit

  Model Graphx makes a D, again I've only heard about this from comments in the thread. 

F-15 Eagle:

  Hasegawa makes a complete set, with pretty much every possible version of the Eagle. Be aware that their early F-15E boxes aren't quite up to date, you'll want one of the more recent "Limited Edition" boxes for the full update set with all the necessary parts for an F-15E, I, or K. 

  Academy also makes a more recent tooling of the F-15, with a brand new E that's press-to-fit and apparently quite nice other than having simplified exhausts. I don't know if this one is better than Hasegawa or not.

F-16 Fighting Falcon: 

  Tamiya doesn't make all that many of their own 1/72 jets, but when they do, they tend to crush everyone else's offerings. But only for the one model they do make. In this case, it's the F-16C Block 50/52, which by all accounts is superb.

  Revell are basically second best, they make an accurate late model A, B, C and D (better than stock Hasegawa). Beware their quality control though. 

  Hasegawa has a full assortment of versions as usual. It's not the *best* kit out there, but the one with the most options, and possibly the easiest to build as well. If you want a version that the other two don't make, chances are Hasegawa made it in one of their limited edition boxes. Or even a white box, they released one for the F-16I Sufa a couple of years ago that should cover most advanced twin-seaters. 

F/A-18A/B/C/D Hornet:

  Academy is king here, their Legacy Hornet family covers all the bases (A, B, C, D) with parts for both modern and older styles and a fairly easy build process as well. Plus better than average weapons, which is a big plus.

  Hasegawa is a distant second, their kits portray early Hornets well enough, but lack some of the upgrades that the plane would look very strange without in current schemes (like the extra flare launchers or the IFF bird slicers), unless there's been an extra runner added. 

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet:

  Hasegawa makes two generic boxings that contain early production Super Hornets, and then a load of Limited Edition kits where most of them have an updated upper fuselage featuring the current mods. The kit was a joy to build when I did it, and it has a bunch of stuff in it that the others lack (like the CVER bomb racks). 

  Revell was first to market with a "late model" Hornet with all those updates molded in, and their kit is kind of nice but has some irritating bits. It has deeper intakes than Hasegawa, but almost entirely lacks burner cans, it's trickier to assemble, 

F-22 Raptor:

  The two best kits according to reviews are Academy's and Fujimi's, of which the former is by far the easier to acquire. I haven't built either, but they sure look nice...

  Revell's offering is decent, sturdy construction with interior bulkheads for rigidity and nice interior detail. What it lacks in is exterior detail, unlike all the other kits Revell has not provided even the slightest hint on the plastic itself for where the edges between the Radome or RAM and the rest of the plane is, which means you have to mask all of those free-hand. It also has some inconventient ejector pin marks in the bays, and a messy build order (you have to install the main landing gear when constructing the bulkhead structure, which has to be done before joining the upper and lower fuselage halves. So you'll have the landing gear legs sticking out of your plane nearly the entire building and painting process...)

F-35 Lightning II:

   Academy is the only one I've built, and it was excellent. If their Raptor is anywhere close to this, I'm not bothering with the Fujimi. :)

   Italeri also makes a recent one with opening bomb bays, but I'm kind of leery of them from long experience with their soft plastic and softer detail. I don't know if they've fixed those problems in recent years.

   Hasegawa makes one that looks good... but it has no bomb bays. 

 

US Attack Aircraft:

 

A-4 Skyhawk:

   Fujimi is widely seen as the best kit, though there are some comments that it's got a fat behind, and the drop tank has the wrong shape.

   Airfix makes an A-4B that is "not bad".

   Esci also made a good A-4 series, but since Italeri already had one that was "good enough", they did *not* apparently acquire the Esci molds and these have gone unused since Esci closed. Which is apparently a pity since it supposedly had the only good 300-gallon drop tanks for the A-4. 

RA-5 Vigilante:

  Trumpeter makes the most recent version, by more than thirty years (it was first released in 2004, the youngest alternative is originally from 1971). It does only make a C version, though.

A-6 Intruder:

  Italeri makes the A, D and E, with decent shapes but their characteristic soft plastic and detail. The E-version was reboxed by Revell, and is probably the easiest source for it. It's the only 1/72 kit that offers folding wings.

  Fujimi makes a more "Japanese" version in hard plastic with fine engraved detail, but as with all Fujimi kits, it's hard to find, and it doesn't have the wing fold. 

A-7 Corsair:

  Italeri has a complete set as far as I remember, from the Esci tooling. As an ex-Esci kit it is a completely different beast from the usual Italeri kits, with hard plastic and fine, crisp detail. The main fault of this kit is that it completely lacks an intake trunk, though a plastic intake cover is provided. 

  Fujimi is normally the other option, and does have an intake trunk and probably more detail than Esci. It is however much harder to find than Italeri. 

AV-8B Harrier II:

  Hasegawa makes the best Harrier II, covering every version with appropriate nose- tail, and other detail bits, except the twin-seater. The British versions have also been reboxed by Revell, but not the US ones.

  Airfix also recently came out with one, but it only covers the GR.7 and GR.9 versions in British service, and lacks the other options. The current kit is not their first Harrier II, the old one was kind of crude and if you want the new one make sure you get a red box.  

  Italeri also made a Harrier II, but only the basic, Night Attack and twin-seater versions.  

A-10 Thunderbolt II:

  Italeri is the only option I've seen up close, and it was the only game in town that was worth the trouble back then.

  Hobby Boss has since joined the fray, but I don't know any more about their kit than "it exists". 

 

US Bombers:

 

B-1, B-2, B-52: Modelcollect either has or will beat all the competition into the ground from the look of things, though that is mainly because the existing kits are older than dirt. 

 

US Support aircraft:

 

Most of these only have one kit to begin with, so that's usually your best option by default. 

 

European fighters/fighter-bombers:

Gripen:

  Revell released a new tool - their second own attempt, and third kit overall as they used Italeri's tooling for a while - kit a couple of years ago, which is the best one out there at present. It is a little cruder than I expected, but crisper than the Italeri kit. It comes in both single- and twin seat versions. The biggest single fault of this kit is that the anti-ship missiles are pointy, where they should be bulbous, an error inexplicably inherited from the Italeri kit. 

  Italeri was the only game in town for a long time, and their kit was reboxed by everyone from Airfix to Tamiya. The plastic represents a very early version, and it being an Italeri original, it's very soft in the plastic and the detail is coarse. It also comes in single- and twin-seat versions. The Italeri and Tamiya single-seaters come with anti-ship missiles, the Airfix and Revel single-seaters and the Italeri twin-seater all come with air-to-air missiles. These are all crude and incorrectly shaped. 

  Revell also released, once upon a time, a kit depicting an early mockup of the Gripen. It is incorrect in shape for the flying aircraft, but comes with decals for the rollout/prototype scheme which makes it sort of interesting just for that. It also has the closest to correct versions of the RBS-15F anti-ship missiles seen in plastic.

Harrier:

  Airfix very recently came out with what appears to be a complete new-tool series of first generation Harriers *and* Sea Harriers, including a specific AV-8A version for the USMC. These are supposed to be really excellent, but make sure you get the red box because their old-tool kits were old-*school*, with raised panel lines. 

  I don't know which one is best of the rest, and I don't much care, the Airfix looks like a sufficiently good replacement for all of them. :)

Rafale:

  Hobby Boss crushed all competition and no one else has a more modern general release kit. 

  Italeri's kits (they've made all versions except the A) have raised panel lines, and lack some of the hardpoints. This kit has been reboxed extensively, nearly everyone who offers a Rafale is selling the Italeri kit.

  Heller also made a full series of Rafale kits, but this was ages and ages ago. I don't know much about these.

Tornado:

  Revell makes the best Tornado IDS, Tornado ECR and Tornado GR.1 in 1/72 hands down, with their Tornado IDS being one of the few kits from Revell of that era (1997-2002) which did not come with enough weapons for two aircraft. (instead, it comes with only Sidewinders, and non-weapon stores. The ECR of course has HARM missiles, and the GR.1 comes with enough weapons for *three* aircraft. And their Typhoon kit, which was released around the same time, comes with a couple of runners that Revell could just as easily have dropped in the Tornado kits. 

  Hasegawa also made some excellent Tornado kits, but Revell has their IDS series more or less eclipsed, which leaves their Tornado ADV/F-3. 

  Airfix of course also made a Tornado series, but it is kind of crude in comparison to the other two, IIRC.

Typhoon:

  Hasegawa's kit comes with every kind of hardpoint used by the Typhoon, and (wonder of wonders), enough weapons to fully arm one it in either British or German service... but it comes with only closed up burner nozzles suited for engines at military power. 

  Revell's existing kit lacks the inboard and outboard removable hardpoints (stations 3/4 and 7/8), and comes with two less ASRAAM and IRIS-T than the Hasegawa kit (due to lack of missile rails to hold them). It does however come with the proper burner nozzles for both military power and engines off/afterburners. The forthcoming version that's to be released this year still lacks outboard hardpoints, but has the inboard ones. Note that there are guide holes on the inside of the lower wing for positioning the missing hardpoints on the older kit, it's just four pieces of plastic that are missing...

 

 

 

Russian Fighters:

 

MiG family: I know nothing. Educate me!

Su-27 Flanker family: If it's covered by Zvezda's new tool series, get it from them. If it's not, wait for it to be covered. The exception is:

Su-35S Flanker: The Hasegawa kit for this is their best Flanker to date. A Zvezda will still be better, but the Hasegawa looks buildable. 

 

Most anything not covered by these categories is the kind of stuff you're lucky if there *is* a kit of. 

 

As I said, please help me expand on this list, or educate me where I'm wrong! I want to build good looking models with a minimum of corrections needed, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one... 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2018 by SebastianP

[Laurent]

F-14: there's the Fine Molds A and Model Graphix D now but I don't know how they compare to Hasegawa.

F-15E in particular: there's GWH and Academy now. I didn't look into these.

[Paul Boyer]

Some thoughts:

 

F-35 - I've built the Italeri F-35A and it was OK. I understand that the Hasegawa doesn't have open missile/bomb bays. Don't know about the Academy. Hasegawa is due out with a new F-35B (VTOL type) soon, and the only other choice was the disappointing Fujimi kit. Orange Hobby has made the only F-35C model in our scale so far. It is nice, but the decals sucked and we may have to wait a while for the aftermarket markings as the jet is not in the fleet yet.

 

Also, look at the new Academy Super Hornets. They are press-fit kits and really great quality. Their F-4J Phantom isn't bad but needs aftermarket seats and weapons.

 

Paul

[Rex]

1/72 Phantoms are a mixed bag if you want all the versions.

 

Hasegawa for most versions, but, even though they list the British versions, those aren't true "Hasegawa quality." For the F-4K and F-4M, you will want to either search out the Fujimi kits, or get the new tooled Airfix. (Fujimi is the only company that did all the versions, not the often quoted Hasegawa)

 

(Hasegawa decided to keep selling the 60's vintage "F-4B shaped" model as the F-4K and F-4M, with Spey exhausts and that longgggg nose they had, instead of tooling up in the blue box line)

[SebastianP]

32 minutes ago, Laurent said:

F-14: there's the Fine Molds A and Model Graphix D now but I don't know how they compare to Hasegawa.

F-15E in particular: there's GWH and Academy now. I didn't look into these.

 

I hadn't heard of the Tomcat kits you mentioned, will have to look them up on ScaleMates. I saw a build of the Academy F-15E, it's a press-fit kit and the details other than the engines look nice, but.. the engines are two pieces each and the featherless exhausts are such a big part of the F-15's look that I can't take it seriously, at least now that Hasegawa has finally made an extra sprue covering the mods you need for the E. (they hadn't when I built my last, which came in a Revell box).

 

Does anyone have more insight here?

 

36 minutes ago, Paul Boyer said:

Some thoughts:

 

F-35 - I've built the Italeri F-35A and it was OK. I understand that the Hasegawa doesn't have open missile/bomb bays. Don't know about the Academy. Hasegawa is due out with a new F-35B (VTOL type) soon, and the only other choice was the disappointing Fujimi kit. Orange Hobby has made the only F-35C model in our scale so far. It is nice, but the decals sucked and we may have to wait a while for the aftermarket markings as the jet is not in the fleet yet.

 

Also, look at the new Academy Super Hornets. They are press-fit kits and really great quality. Their F-4J Phantom isn't bad but needs aftermarket seats and weapons.

 

Paul

 

I have the Academy F-35, haven't built any of the others. It's one of their "let's mold it in various colors" kits, with white bomb- and landing gear bays, black cockpit and engine parts. etc, but it's still a glue-and-paint kit and not a snap-fit. I think it looks great and the build was excellent, the only trouble I had was the edge between the upper and lower half of the forward fuselage. I just don't know how it *compares*. 

 

Also, I like to avoid press-fit kits in listings like this unless they're actually the best kits out there. Are the Academy Super Hornets better than the Hasegawa kits?

 

13 minutes ago, Rex said:

1/72 Phantoms are a mixed bag if you want all the versions.

 

Hasegawa for most versions, but, even though they list the British versions, those aren't true "Hasegawa quality." For the F-4K and F-4M, you will want to either search out the Fujimi kits, or get the new tooled Airfix. (Fujimi is the only company that did all the versions, not the often quoted Hasegawa)

 

(Hasegawa decided to keep selling the 60's vintage "F-4B shaped" model as the F-4K and F-4M, with Spey exhausts and that longgggg nose they had, instead of tooling up in the blue box line)

 

Hmm. So, Hasegawa for non-British, non-German ones; Fujimi or Airfix for the Brits, and Revell for the Germans?

 

I may need to reformat the list a bit.

[Rex]

I use Hasegawa for the German aicraft, too. The Fujimi kits work for that as well.

 

I am not a fan of the Revell front end, although it seems fine for others.

 

We need to realize that for the Recce or Gun-nosed versions, each modeler is a fan of Hasegawa, Fujimi, or Revell. All of us have our reasons, and a good build can be done with any of them.

 

I buy all three toolings, mostly because they have different small parts in them that are useful for cross-kitting.

 

There is a "Phranken Phantom" in my future, using the best parts from all of the companies to make one using all OOB parts.

Edited March 30, 2018 by Rex

[SebastianP]

I'm reworking the OP right now, to flesh out a little about the options available. 

 

Edit: done with reworked OP, let me know what you think.

Edited March 30, 2018 by SebastianP

[ChesshireCat]

3 hours ago, Laurent said:

F-14: there's the Fine Molds A and Model Graphix D now but I don't know how they compare to Hasegawa.

F-15E in particular: there's GWH and Academy now. I didn't look into these.

Before the Fine Molds kit, it was Fujimi with the rest being down the ladder a rung or so. I questioned how the Fine Molds kit could be better, but it really is better. Fujimi never really did an F14d of the quality of their F14a. Why Fine Molds just did a short run, I'll never know! Unlike the Hasegawa F14, the Fujimi goes together very well. 

gary

[Rex]

I didn't know Revell reboxed the Italeri A-6. I will need to get one of those.

 

The Revell boxings that I have are clearly from before that, when they did a modest re-tool of the Hasegawa A-6 kit, right down to that right and left half piece canopy "thing."

 

When looking for parts for other models, Fujimi's KA-6D includes a D-704 refueling store, but Italeri's kit didn't. (a D-704 was often carried on the KA-6D's centerline station, as a back up in case the hose in the hell hole didn't work right)

 

Also, on the subject of Intruders,,,,Fujimi's EA-6A has the parts for the correct nose shape and size, Italeri's EA-6A has the standard A-6 nose shape and length in it.

[ChesshireCat]

4 hours ago, SebastianP said:

I'm kind of missing a good central list of "which kit to get for which subject" in my preferred scale, as there's been a lot of things happening on the kit front in recent years while I was busy with other hobbies. So I figured I'd start one and the rest of you can fill in my blanks and I can update the thread as necessary. I'll start with kits I'm interested in myself first, and have at least some idea what's going on with.

 

The goal of this list is to be a one-stop answer for "I want to build a so-and-so, which manufacturer makes the nicest one". 

 

Note that this list is for 1/72 only, 1/48 and 1/32 can have their own threads... Bolded aircraft names are where I have something close to a good answer, though if you feel I'm wrong please feel free to correct me. 

 

Anything not mentioned below are things where I have no clue, so filling in the blanks would be helpful. 

 

The manufacturers are listed under each aircraft type in the order that I would personally go for them based on the information available to me. As information is added to the thread, this order may change - if for example several people agree that "Fujimi's F-22 is totes better than Academy's", I will be changing the listing to put Fujimi over Academy. 

 

US Fighter Aircraft:

 

F-4 Phantom: Depends on your version.

  Hasegawa is your best bet for all the US-produced versions - B, C, D, E, EJ, G, H, J, N, S, RF-4C/E, etc. 

  Revell makes good F-4F that can be rebuilt into an early E. 

  Fujimi made a full set of Phantoms covering every model, but they're hard to find. They used to be the best option for an F-4K or M, may have been dethroned now.

  Airfix has a new tool Phantom FG.1 (F-4K) which appears to have the potential to be retooled into an F-4M. It's the most modern F-4 out there in 1/72, but I haven't seen one built yet.

F-14 Tomcat: 

  Hasegawa is still king, though it's a cranky kit that needs out-of-sequence assembly to force into a proper shape. You can make any Tomcat from this kit provided you get the right boxing. 

  Fujimi made a good showing as well, but they're much harder to find, and feature moving wings rather than posable flight control surfaces. 

  Great Wall Hobbies apparently made an A recently, but I know nothing about this kit

  Model Graphx makes a D, again I've only heard about this from comments in the thread. 

F-15 Eagle:

  Hasegawa makes a complete set, with pretty much every possible version of the Eagle. Be aware that their early F-15E boxes aren't quite up to date, you'll want one of the more recent "Limited Edition" boxes for the full update set with all the necessary parts for an F-15E, I, or K. 

  Academy also makes a more recent tooling of the F-15, with a brand new E that's press-to-fit and apparently quite nice other than having simplified exhausts. I don't know if this one is better than Hasegawa or not.

F-16 Fighting Falcon: 

  Tamiya doesn't make all that many of their own 1/72 jets, but when they do, they tend to crush everyone else's offerings. But only for the one model they do make. In this case, it's the F-16C Block 50/52, which by all accounts is superb.

  Revell are basically second best, they make an accurate late model A, B, C and D (better than stock Hasegawa). Beware their quality control though. 

  Hasegawa has a full assortment of versions as usual. It's not the *best* kit out there, but the one with the most options, and possibly the easiest to build as well. If you want a version that the other two don't make, chances are Hasegawa made it in one of their limited edition boxes. Or even a white box, they released one for the F-16I Sufa a couple of years ago that should cover most advanced twin-seaters. 

F/A-18A/B/C/D Hornet:

  Academy is king here, their Legacy Hornet family covers all the bases (A, B, C, D) with parts for both modern and older styles and a fairly easy build process as well. Plus better than average weapons, which is a big plus.

  Hasegawa is a distant second, their kits portray early Hornets well enough, but lack some of the upgrades that the plane would look very strange without in current schemes (like the extra flare launchers or the IFF bird slicers), unless there's been an extra runner added. 

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet:

  Hasegawa makes two generic boxings that contain early production Super Hornets, and then a load of Limited Edition kits where most of them have an updated upper fuselage featuring the current mods. The kit was a joy to build when I did it, and it has a bunch of stuff in it that the others lack (like the CVER bomb racks). 

  Revell was first to market with a "late model" Hornet with all those updates molded in, and their kit is kind of nice but has some irritating bits. It has deeper intakes than Hasegawa, but almost entirely lacks burner cans, it's trickier to assemble, 

F-22 Raptor:

  The two best kits according to reviews are Academy's and Fujimi's, of which the former is by far the easier to acquire. I haven't built either, but they sure look nice...

  Revell's offering is decent, sturdy construction with interior bulkheads for rigidity and nice interior detail. What it lacks in is exterior detail, unlike all the other kits Revell has not provided even the slightest hint on the plastic itself for where the edges between the Radome or RAM and the rest of the plane is, which means you have to mask all of those free-hand. It also has some inconventient ejector pin marks in the bays, and a messy build order (you have to install the main landing gear when constructing the bulkhead structure, which has to be done before joining the upper and lower fuselage halves. So you'll have the landing gear legs sticking out of your plane nearly the entire building and painting process...)

F-35 Lightning II:

   Academy is the only one I've built, and it was excellent. If their Raptor is anywhere close to this, I'm not bothering with the Fujimi. :)

   Italeri also makes a recent one with opening bomb bays, but I'm kind of leery of them from long experience with their soft plastic and softer detail. I don't know if they've fixed those problems in recent years.

   Hasegawa makes one that looks good... but it has no bomb bays. 

 

US Attack Aircraft:

 

A-5 Vigilante:

  Trumpeter makes the most recent version, by more than thirty years (it was first released in 2004, the youngest alternative is originally from 1971). It does only make a C version, though.

A-6 Intruder:

  Italeri makes the A, D and E, with decent shapes but their characteristic soft plastic and detail. The E-version was reboxed by Revell, and is probably the easiest source for it. It's the only 1/72 kit that offers folding wings.

  Fujimi makes a more "Japanese" version in hard plastic with fine engraved detail, but as with all Fujimi kits, it's hard to find, and it doesn't have the wing fold. 

A-7 Corsair:

  Italeri has a complete set as far as I remember, from the Esci tooling. As an ex-Esci kit it is a completely different beast from the usual Italeri kits, with hard plastic and fine, crisp detail. The main fault of this kit is that it completely lacks an intake trunk, though a plastic intake cover is provided. 

  Fujimi is normally the other option, and does have an intake trunk and probably more detail than Esci. It is however much harder to find than Italeri. 

A-10 Thunderbolt II:

  Italeri is the only option I've seen up close, and it was the only game in town that was worth the trouble back then.

  Hobby Boss has since joined the fray, but I don't know any more about their kit than "it exists". 

 

US Bombers:

 

B-1, B-2, B-52: Modelcollect either has or will beat all the competition into the ground from the look of things, though that is mainly because the existing kits are older than dirt. 

 

US Support aircraft:

 

Most of these only have one kit to begin with, so that's usually your best option by default. 

 

European fighters:

 

Gripen:

  Revell released a new tool - their second own attempt, and third kit overall as they used Italeri's tooling for a while - kit a couple of years ago, which is the best one out there at present. It is a little cruder than I expected, but crisper than the Italeri kit. It comes in both single- and twin seat versions. The biggest single fault of this kit is that the anti-ship missiles are pointy, where they should be bulbous, an error inexplicably inherited from the Italeri kit. 

  Italeri was the only game in town for a long time, and their kit was reboxed by everyone from Airfix to Tamiya. The plastic represents a very early version, and it being an Italeri original, it's very soft in the plastic and the detail is coarse. It also comes in single- and twin-seat versions. The Italeri and Tamiya single-seaters come with anti-ship missiles, the Airfix and Revel single-seaters and the Italeri twin-seater all come with air-to-air missiles. These are all crude and incorrectly shaped. 

  Revell also released, once upon a time, a kit depicting an early mockup of the Gripen. It is incorrect in shape for the flying aircraft, but comes with decals for the rollout/prototype scheme which makes it sort of interesting just for that. It also has the closest to correct versions of the RBS-15F anti-ship missiles seen in plastic.

Rafale:

  Hobby Boss crushed all competition and no one else has a more modern general release kit. 

  Italeri's kits (they've made all versions except the A) have raised panel lines, and lack some of the hardpoints. This kit has been reboxed extensively, nearly everyone who offers a Rafale is selling the Italeri kit.

  Heller also made a full series of Rafale kits, but this was ages and ages ago. I don't know much about these.

Tornado:

  Revell makes the best Tornado IDS, Tornado ECR and Tornado GR.1 in 1/72 hands down, with their Tornado IDS being one of the few kits from Revell of that era (1997-2002) which did not come with enough weapons for two aircraft. (instead, it comes with only Sidewinders, and non-weapon stores. The ECR of course has HARM missiles, and the GR.1 comes with enough weapons for *three* aircraft. And their Typhoon kit, which was released around the same time, comes with a couple of runners that Revell could just as easily have dropped in the Tornado kits. 

  Hasegawa also made some excellent Tornado kits, but Revell has their IDS series more or less eclipsed, which leaves their Tornado ADV/F-3. 

  Airfix of course also made a Tornado series, but it is kind of crude in comparison to the other two, IIRC.

Typhoon:

  Hasegawa's kit comes with every kind of hardpoint used by the Typhoon, and (wonder of wonders), enough weapons to fully arm one it in either British or German service... but it comes with only closed up burner nozzles suited for engines at military power. 

  Revell's existing kit lacks the inboard and outboard removable hardpoints (stations 3/4 and 7/8), and comes with two less ASRAAM and IRIS-T than the Hasegawa kit (due to lack of missile rails to hold them). It does however come with the proper burner nozzles for both military power and engines off/afterburners. The forthcoming version that's to be released this year still lacks outboard hardpoints, but has the inboard ones. Note that there are guide holes on the inside of the lower wing for positioning the missing hardpoints on the older kit, it's just four pieces of plastic that are missing...

 

 

 

Russian Fighters:

 

MiG family: I know nothing. Educate me!

Su-27 Flanker family: If it's covered by Zvezda's new tool series, get it from them. If it's not, wait for it to be covered. The exception is:

Su-35S Flanker: The Hasegawa kit for this is their best Flanker to date. A Zvezda will still be better, but the Hasegawa looks buildable. 

 

Most anything not covered by these categories is the kind of stuff you're lucky if there *is* a kit of. 

 

As I said, please help me expand on this list, or educate me where I'm wrong! I want to build good looking models with a minimum of corrections needed, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one... 

 

 

Fujimi makes the better A6 in my eyes, but The Italeri isn't real bad or anything. Trumpeter/ Hobby Boss is said to be coming out with a scaled down A6. If they do it will be the best. The Fujimi A7 is not a bad kit if you can find one. The Fujimi A4 is a gem! 

    Why no F100's, F105's, F102's or even the F106 (did anybody kit one?). The Revell F101 is a very nice kit

glt

[SebastianP]

Just now, ChesshireCat said:

Before the Fine Molds kit, it was Fujimi with the rest being down the ladder a rung or so. I questioned how the Fine Molds kit could be better, but it really is better. Fujimi never really did an F14d of the quality of their F14a. Why Fine Molds just did a short run, I'll never know! Unlike the Hasegawa F14, the Fujimi goes together very well. 

gary

 

Never had a problem getting the Hasegawa Tomcat together myself, you just need to approach it from a different direction than the instructions indicate. 

 

The root of all the problems with the Hasegawa kit is that the bottom half of of the fuselage warps really easily. The perfect tool to fix the warping are the kit intakes - if you install those, completely unmodified, and force them in place with strong brush cement, they force the bottom half flat. Then you add the front of the Sparrow wells to the bottom half, using either the Phoenix adapters on the outside or a piece of styrene on the inside to maintain rigidity, and then you add the front end and beaver tail to the top half. After that, everything just slides together and fit perfectly with no alignment issues or weird gaps. I've done it three times now, works like a charm.

 

 

[ChesshireCat]

4 minutes ago, Rex said:

I didn't know Revell reboxed the Italeri A-6. I will need to get one of those.

 

The Revell boxings that I have are clearly from before that, when they did a modest re-tool of the Hasegawa A-6 kit, right down to that right and left half piece canopy "thing."

 

When looking for parts for other models, Fujimi's KA-6D includes a D-704 refueling store, but Italeri's kit didn't. (a D-704 was often carried on the KA-6D's centerline station, as a back up in case the hose in the hell hole didn't work right)

 

Also, on the subject of Intruders,,,,Fujimi's EA-6A has the parts for the correct nose shape and size, Italeri's EA-6A has the standard A-6 nose shape and length in it.

I found the Hasegawa EA6b in my stash awhile back. Seems like a nice kit. Avoid their A6. 

gary

[ChesshireCat]

1 minute ago, SebastianP said:

 

Never had a problem getting the Hasegawa Tomcat together myself, you just need to approach it from a different direction than the instructions indicate. 

 

The root of all the problems with the Hasegawa kit is that the bottom half of of the fuselage warps really easily. The perfect tool to fix the warping are the kit intakes - if you install those, completely unmodified, and force them in place with strong brush cement, they force the bottom half flat. Then you add the front of the Sparrow wells to the bottom half, using either the Phoenix adapters on the outside or a piece of styrene on the inside to maintain rigidity, and then you add the front end and beaver tail to the top half. After that, everything just slides together and fit perfectly with no alignment issues or weird gaps. I've done it three times now, works like a charm.

 

 

Some company (starts with the letter K) has the Fujimi F14 with resin upgrades for less than $30. By the way I was not slightly impressed with the Vigilante kit. 

gary

[SebastianP]

28 minutes ago, Rex said:

I didn't know Revell reboxed the Italeri A-6. I will need to get one of those.

 

The Revell boxings that I have are clearly from before that, when they did a modest re-tool of the Hasegawa A-6 kit, right down to that right and left half piece canopy "thing."

 

When looking for parts for other models, Fujimi's KA-6D includes a D-704 refueling store, but Italeri's kit didn't. (a D-704 was often carried on the KA-6D's centerline station, as a back up in case the hose in the hell hole didn't work right)

 

Also, on the subject of Intruders,,,,Fujimi's EA-6A has the parts for the correct nose shape and size, Italeri's EA-6A has the standard A-6 nose shape and length in it.

 

The "Italeri in a Revell box" is the "A-6E TRAM Intruder" in the blue box with the yellow "super decal" triangle from 2000, kit number 04614. It's their latest release of an Intruder kit. The previous ones in the gray boxes were ex ACE models kits, the "Flight of the Intruder" boxing et al. 

 

22 minutes ago, ChesshireCat said:

I found the Hasegawa EA6b in my stash awhile back. Seems like a nice kit. Avoid their A6. 

gary

 

Hasegawa's Prowler is indeed nice, I have one that's waiting for some attention to its landing gear wells. Their A-6 is from the 70's, though, raised panel lines and no cockpit worth speaking of.

 

25 minutes ago, ChesshireCat said:

Fujimi makes the better A6 in my eyes, but The Italeri isn't real bad or anything. Trumpeter/ Hobby Boss is said to be coming out with a scaled down A6. If they do it will be the best. The Fujimi A7 is not a bad kit if you can find one. The Fujimi A4 is a gem! 

    Why no F100's, F105's, F102's or even the F106 (did anybody kit one?). The Revell F101 is a very nice kit

glt

 

Fujimi gets some minus points because I'm just completely unfamiliar with them personally - the last physical store in my region that sold Fujimi kits packed it in more than ten years ago, none of the shops that show up at the yearly show tend to bring any of the ones under discussion, and they're out of stock at most of the online shops, and expensive where they're not. So since Italeri is "good enough", and I can get them much faster and cheaper, and since Hasegawa kits are way more plentiful, they get bumped up over Fujimi. 

 

As for the aircraft types - I don't know enough about those because they've always been outside my area of interest. I was ten when I watched Top Gun and Iron Eagle, and Operation Desert Storm kicked off on my 12th birthday. Anything older than that basically never caught my attention afterwards. But I will add them to the list if someone will educate me about the options! That's what the thread is for, it's not just my personal ranking it's supposed to be a community thing. Sort of an FAQ, since I've seen a crapload of "which kit should I get for this aircraft" question and I don't want to have to wait 30 seconds between attempts to refine my search for them. :)

 

 

Edited March 30, 2018 by SebastianP

[Rex]

You know, the 1/72 Online Census is still up somewhere. I don't have the URL anymore, but, they would be a good starting point for this,,,,,,,just update whatever they say, if a better kit has been released since then.

 

Thanks for the heads up on that new boxing of the Revell Intruder. (and as a heads up, that Ace kit is a direct descendant of the Frog/Hasegawa kit,,,,,,you can even swap parts between them if you ignore the raised versus recessed panel lines,,,,,if Scalemates says "new tool" for the ACE kit,,,,,,it should read "changed parts" instead.)

[glorystomper]

GWH recently did an F-15E and I in 1/72, and it looks like they are coming out with an F-14D in 1/72 (wow completely forgot about this one)..

 

Fine Molds is the one that did the F-14A and D (Model Graphix is the name of the magazine that the D was packaged with).. at the time the D came out, I also picked up the F-14B resin conversion set, the pilot figures, and the extra decal sheet that was offered by ModelKasten (http://store.modelkasten.com/shopdetail/000000003166/)

 

Edited March 30, 2018 by glorystomper

[habu2]

Two comments:

 

When I want to know how ABC’s F/A-69D rates against the XYZ kit or any other I go read as many reviews and builds as I can find. One thread attempting to cover everything is simply unwieldly. Doesn’t help when others quote another’s long long long (did I mention long?) post in it’s entirety just to add a short comment...

 

And one’s unfamiliarity with a specific kit or manufacturer shouldn’t eliminate it from contention. 

[GW8345]

No one makes a 1/72 scale A-5 Vigilante, the Trumpeter kit is a RA-5C, the A-5 and RA-5C are very different. One major draw back with the Trumpeter kit is the shape of the nose, it's wrong. The Hasegawa kit has a better shape but lacks the detail of the Trumpeter kit.

 

The only A-5 Vigie's were the old Revell and Monogram box scale kits from the 60's.

 

For A-4's, Fujimi hands down though the new A-4B from Airfix isn't bad.

 

For the S-2 Tracker and S-3 Viking, Hasegawa, E-2C Fujimi.

[SebastianP]

2 hours ago, habu2 said:

Two comments:

 

When I want to know how ABC’s F/A-69D rates against the XYZ kit or any other I go read as many reviews and builds as I can find. One thread attempting to cover everything is simply unwieldly. Doesn’t help when others quote another’s long long long (did I mention long?) post in it’s entirety just to add a short comment...

 

And one’s unfamiliarity with a specific kit or manufacturer shouldn’t eliminate it from contention. 

 

What I really want to make is actually a list of links to threads discussing which kit to get for a given aircraft, together with the conclusion. "F-14: get the Hasegawa New Tool. Here's why, *link*.". But finding all those threads with the forum search is a pain in the rear, and many of the threads are out of date as there's been new developments. And I agree that quoting entire long posts is a nuisance. I quote the entirety of small posts because there's nothing to trim and I want to make sure the respondent sees my reply (notifications) and know I'm responding to *them*. 

 

And I haven't eliminated anything from contention from *un*familiarity. I'm listing Fujimi lower than maybe they should be, but I'm still listing them as a recommendation. You will, however, note that there's no mention of Italeri's F-14, F-15, F-16, F/A-18 (either kind), F-22, Tornado, or Typhoon - that's because I've *built* all of those, and they don't belong on a list of "best kits". 

 

If you think something should be listed that isn't, *educate me*. :) That goes for both subjects and kit options. 

 

24 minutes ago, GW8345 said:

No one makes a 1/72 scale A-5 Vigilante, the Trumpeter kit is a RA-5C, the A-5 and RA-5C are very different. One major draw back with the Trumpeter kit is the shape of the nose, it's wrong. The Hasegawa kit has a better shape but lacks the detail of the Trumpeter kit.

 

The only A-5 Vigie's were the old Revell and Monogram box scale kits from the 60's.

 

For A-4's, Fujimi hands down though the new A-4B from Airfix isn't bad.

 

For the S-2 Tracker and S-3 Viking, Hasegawa, E-2C Fujimi.

 

I listed the RA-5C under A-5 because that's the sequence it belongs in, and I haven't created a category for recce planes. I simply don't know enough about those, I've never built any. The only Vigilante kit I ever owned was a Revell (which is ex-ACE Models, which is ex-Hasegawa according to Scalemates); which I was planning to do up as a fictional "A-5E" in late 80s TPS with an external strike load since it had a full set of hardpoints. I don't know where airframe went, I kind of hope it's still floating around somewhere and that I'll find it so I can finish it up. 

 

A-4 Skyhawk:

  Fujimi appears to be the community consensus, and I'll defer to them on this because of my lack of knowledge on the subject matter.

  Airfix also offers an A-4B which "isn't bad". 

 

Does this look OK? If so, I'll add it to the list in a few hours. In fact, anyone who wants to add an aircraft to the list, just write something formatted just like the above - aircraft name in bold, each manufacturer that you recommend (don't bother with the others) on a new line with two spaces for indentation, with the one you rate higher at the top, and a single line about why this manufacturer makes the list, or why you'd want to pick this one over another. I'll find the blurbs and cut-and-paste them into the OP. This goes especially for you guys who are into earlier jets, because about the only early jet kit I know belongs there is Revell's F-104...

 

Also, seeing as I have a Hasegawa E-2 (a Hawkeye 2000 with the new props) that's sitting around waiting for me to get around to finish painting it, what's wrong with it, or what makes Fujimi's better? 

[dkobayashi]

1 hour ago, SebastianP said:

 

What I really want to make is actually a list of links to threads discussing which kit to get for a given aircraft, together with the conclusion. "F-14: get the Hasegawa New Tool. Here's why, *link*.". But finding all those threads with the forum search is a pain in the rear, and many of the threads are out of date as there's been new developments. And I agree that quoting entire long posts is a nuisance. I quote the entirety of small posts because there's nothing to trim and I want to make sure the respondent sees my reply (notifications) and know I'm responding to *them*. 

 

And I haven't eliminated anything from contention from *un*familiarity. I'm listing Fujimi lower than maybe they should be, but I'm still listing them as a recommendation. You will, however, note that there's no mention of Italeri's F-14, F-15, F-16, F/A-18 (either kind), F-22, Tornado, or Typhoon - that's because I've *built* all of those, and they don't belong on a list of "best kits". 

 

If you think something should be listed that isn't, *educate me*. :) That goes for both subjects and kit options. 

 

 

I listed the RA-5C under A-5 because that's the sequence it belongs in, and I haven't created a category for recce planes. I simply don't know enough about those, I've never built any. The only Vigilante kit I ever owned was a Revell (which is ex-ACE Models, which is ex-Hasegawa according to Scalemates); which I was planning to do up as a fictional "A-5E" in late 80s TPS with an external strike load since it had a full set of hardpoints. I don't know where airframe went, I kind of hope it's still floating around somewhere and that I'll find it so I can finish it up. 

 

A-4 Skyhawk:

  Fujimi appears to be the community consensus, and I'll defer to them on this because of my lack of knowledge on the subject matter.

  Airfix also offers an A-4B which "isn't bad". 

 

Does this look OK? If so, I'll add it to the list in a few hours. In fact, anyone who wants to add an aircraft to the list, just write something formatted just like the above - aircraft name in bold, each manufacturer that you recommend (don't bother with the others) on a new line with two spaces for indentation, with the one you rate higher at the top, and a single line about why this manufacturer makes the list, or why you'd want to pick this one over another. I'll find the blurbs and cut-and-paste them into the OP. This goes especially for you guys who are into earlier jets, because about the only early jet kit I know belongs there is Revell's F-104...

 

Also, seeing as I have a Hasegawa E-2 (a Hawkeye 2000 with the new props) that's sitting around waiting for me to get around to finish painting it, what's wrong with it, or what makes Fujimi's better? 

 

I have both, and IMO the Hasegawa kit is far superior.

[Paul Boyer]

I think GW8345 either forgot or didn't know of the vastly superior Hasegawa Hummer.

[ChesshireCat]

36 minutes ago, dkobayashi said:

 

I have both, and IMO the Hasegawa kit is far superior.

in 1/72 scale there is no contest. Fujimi all the way. 

gary

[sweier]

12 hours ago, SebastianP said:

Quote

Why no F100's, F105's, F102's or even the F106 (did anybody kit one?). The Revell F101 is a very nice kit

 

 But I will add them to the list if someone will educate me about the options! That's what the thread is for, it's not just my personal ranking it's supposed to be a community thing. Sort of an FAQ, since I've seen a crapload of "which kit should I get for this aircraft" question and I don't want to have to wait 30 seconds between attempts to refine my search for them. :)

 

 

 

Okay, I'll take a crack at starting this

 

F-102  Meng, hands down. The only alternative is Hasegawa, but a very old kit which was a putty hog 20 years ago.

 

F-106 Meng, just as emphatically.   Again the Hasegawa alternative is getting old (1960s?) , and is crude and limited in detail

 

Both Meng kits are quite recent, the F-106 as recent as maybe 2016 and the F-102 about 2013. The F-102 comes in two versions with either the Case X or Case XX wing

 

Shane

[Rex]

The consensus may be that the Fujimi A-4 is the best,,,,,,,,,,but, I have long disagreed with that.

 

That is because in the course of buying the Esci tooled A-4 to get the best 1/72 plastic 300 gallon drop tanks, you get an accurately shaped A-4 for free. (not fat in the rear end like the Fujimi)

 

Many don't agree, but if you stand on the second level of the Naval Air Museum in Pennsacola, and hold a blue painted Fujimi and an Esci up in your hand while looking at the Blue Angels birds hung from the ceiling,,,,,,,,,,,you will easily see that the Fujimi is fatter from the intake back than the Esci,,,,,,,and fatter than the real thing. (yep, I did that one day, after one of the many "don't use drawings" debates online)

 

Since we need to buy the Esci anyway, to get the tanks for our Fujimi's and Airfix's,,,,,,,,,we might as well build the free aircraft model.

 

(but, pssst, please, please, don't listen to me on this,,,,,,,if everyone believed me, the availability of correct 300 gallon wing tanks on the used kit market would dry up overnight, along with the free, accurately shaped Skyhawk models)

[SebastianP]

OK, have added the following:

 

F-100 Super Sabre

F-101 Voodoo

F-102 Delta Dagger

F-104 Starfighter

F-105 Thunderchief

F-106 Delta Dart

F-111 Aardvark

 

A-4 Skyhawk

AV-8 Harrier II

 

Harrier and Sea Harrier

 

I also changed the rules for the order kits are listed in, forget the "best goes first" rule, it's more "newest goes first unless something is obviously head and shoulders above everything else".