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Mach 2 1:72 Lockheed Jetstar 1329, When?


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OK....So Trojan Thunder emailed me a couple of weeks ago with the news that Mach 2 is releasing a 1/72 Lockheed Jetstar.  He sent me a link to Cybermodeler® and I checked it out.

 

I think I even found a link to some sprue shots but I since haven't been able to re-locate that.  

 

So it's supposed to be released in May....or is it "It MAY be released" (snark)...because I have found precious little and rumourmonger is no longer supplying us with these tidbits to whet our appetites. 

 

Anyone have any intel on this? 

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Received mine in the mail today. 

 

Major disappointment.  Not that that's any great surprise but the thing that struck me is that it almost appears to be a plastic casting of Anigrand's disaster.  The tailcone shape is just as wrong as Anigrand's and the wing root treatment is identical with no fillet, and the cockpit window piece is just as bad as Anigrand's.   What's different is that there's an instrument panel with holes in it, a center console and the VIP decals seem nice. 

 

The worst part?  On one half of the fuselage, the cabin windows are absolutely square; Not cast with rounded corners, mind you but bricktop square.  Plus, they are out of plane with each other providing a staggered and play blocks appearance. 

 

My first impression is that they took the Anigrand kit, made molds of it and cast it directly in plastic.  I will have to break out that nastiness from my shelf of death and compare the two side-by-side with pictures. 

 

It is not worth purchasing.  The window panels on the semi-clear cockpit window piece are entirely wrong.  It will take as much work as the Anigrand at about one third the cost of the resin abomination but I do not recommend buying it unless you are desperate and think you can make a silk purse out of it. 

 

Someone might but...I'm already looking for my stash of resin tailcones I made for the Anigrand kit. 

 

They botched it and botched it badly.  Will have photos soon.

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172 jetstar compare 06.JPG

 

As you can see...Not a particularly valiant effort on Mach 2's part.  It resembles a Jetstar 1329 but is every bit as wrong as the Anigrand and even worse as per the window alignment.  On my kit, I think I'll shave a recess and cement a clear sheet across and then just mask the windows. For the cockpit windows, it's every bit the heavy slog the Anigrand kit is...owing to the virtually identical fuselage shapes. 

 

Both kits are vague and will require hours of adjustment and changing to make them accurate.  For the day-to-day modeler, its passing resemblance is satisfactory but for me, it's wrong and wrong and wrong.  I will plug a tailcone I've made on this one as I did the (incomplete) Anigrand but I was hoping this kit would've made better effort at reproducing the basic shapes.  Nope.  Pipe-dream.  Fantasy.  But...that's why it's called "modeling" instead of "kit assembling"

 

Cheers all.....

 

Hope the photos help.  $32.99 US with free shipping off eBay.

Edited by VADM Fangschleister
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Hi VADM.

I'm really sorry for your disappointment, but i wasn't expecting anything better. Until people keep on buying those kits, he will still produce them, inducting other people to keep on buying. Now I understand that businnes is businnes, but a natural selection is due.
Good luck anyway for your project.

Regards

Euge

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7 hours ago, 72linerlover said:

Hi VADM.

I'm really sorry for your disappointment, but i wasn't expecting anything better. Until people keep on buying those kits, he will still produce them, inducting other people to keep on buying. Now I understand that businnes is businnes, but a natural selection is due.
Good luck anyway for your project.

Regards

Euge

 

Well, it's not that I was expecting Tamigawa levels of fineness.   But what irks me the most is that it's as close to being a clone of the Anigrand disaster as can be.  Even their Falcon 20 of some 20+ years vintage has better faith to the basic outline of the real jet.  It appears the Mach 2 kitmaker(s) just bought a few of Anigrand's kits and copied directly making the obligatory but minor alterations to avoid the lawsuit only and to get on a potential money-making bandwagon...not that the Jetstar is a real cash-wagon as far as kits go.  In that vein, I'm surprised they don't just clone any of the Tamiya 1/72 products to make money.

 

My summation is that I think what they did was cheesy and unethical.  I'm tempted to return the kit.  Not that it's "unbuildable" but that they cheated.  And it looks as if it was "rushed out" and the decals, nice as they are, are laser-printed.  I can do as much in my garage.  There was no 3D CAD forethought in this, not that there has to be, but inasmuch as Mr Anigrand uses the TLAR method for his kits, Mach 2 took it a step further and just lifted the "hard work" Anigrand did and cheaply produced a kit that costs $33 US. 

I believe it's worth $5.  It's not the first time where my hopes overran what the reality is...but I was at least expecting a better-shaped basis for a good looking finished product. 

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