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Kittyhawk / Panda just announced on Facebook they are closing down


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  • 4 weeks later...

Don't think I've seen this elsewhere on the forum but the Kittyhawk kits will be coming back under a brand-new company known as Zimi Models.

 

https://www.zimimodel.com/

 

Whether this is a new label set up by Trumpeter or another private entity I'm not sure. Not only are they bringing back all their kits, they apparently will release projects they never finished such as the Whiskey Cobra, F7U-3 Cutlass and even the F6U-1 Pirate!

 

Personally, I'm glad we'll get the FJ-3 and FJ-2 kits out in the open again. In spite of the issues of both of those kits they were some of the better efforts from KH before they bit the dust. Plus, I can finally tackle the early Gloss Sea Blue FJ-3. 

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Interesting that they have some of the unreleased kits already listed on the website. The 1:48 Su-25sm and Ka-52 in 48 catch my eye right off the bat. I'd be curious to know if any corrections to some of their older more infamous kits will take place. 

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I’d be very surprised if they made any corrections at all to existing molds.  They probably got them cheap and aren’t going to spend the resources to redo molds.  I’d also be very surprised if they actually release all of these kits, and over what times period.  Can’t see them popping all of these kits out in a year or two.

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I was thinking mistakes that don't involve the molds. If memory serves, there was a mistake with a reversed logo in the Yak-130 kit, as well as volumes of mistakes in the instructions themselves across many of the kits. Those are things they could easily fix.

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Kittyhawk/Panda instructions on some kits were pretty rough. The Su-34 Kit I built was a challenge and the molds themselves must have had some issues, but, I will say that it will build into a better Fullback than the Hobbyboss kit, which is inaccurate OOB, and there is aftermarket for the Kittyhawk.....hopefully a re-pop would modify the instructions and we would see some 3d printed parts for it as well.

 

I would like to get my hands on a couple of helicopter kits as well as the 1/48 Su-25. 

 

Luckymodel is showing the "Zimi" brand now. 

 

luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?search=Y&q_brand=ZIM&q_category=&q_scale=&q_item_no=&q_word=&q_show_instock_only=N&q_whse=ALL

 

 

Edited by Mr Matt Foley
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On 9/4/2023 at 8:07 PM, Specter1075 said:

I was thinking mistakes that don't involve the molds. If memory serves, there was a mistake with a reversed logo in the Yak-130 kit, as well as volumes of mistakes in the instructions themselves across many of the kits. Those are things they could easily fix.

Not the logos, a lot of the warnings and the wing walkways are only one sided. while the tail art on their F-5 kits some of the text was reversed on one side, but at least they caught that and had a correction sheet, but not the Yak-130 decals.

Edited by Inquisitor
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I found, at least in the case of the fj-2 and 3, the kits were over and under engineered. The landing gear has plethora of tiny landing gear door retraction arms that are difficult to attach. The main gear bays are accurately textured, yet they messes up the nose gear oleo while the rest of the nose gear is a model itself. The cockpit is pretty accurate until you get to the turtle back which was blank. They include a complete engine when an intake and exhaust would have been good enough. The kits are well done but lacking in some places.

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Jon, excellent way to describe the KH Fury kits. That has been my experience so far with both.

 

I had a bit of a rough time trying to fit the two halves of the FJ-3 fuselage together. I didn't have the same issue with the FJ-2, but I remembered I used Hypersonic's exhaust and intake parts which cut out the unnecessary middle section.

 

KH was notorious for inconsistencies in kit design like that. Another example, in their F-94C kit I noticed they molded the opening of the rocket tubes in the nose, but they don't give you the option to open the doors to display that detail if you wished. Why include that detail in the first place if you're not going to have an option available to display that detail?

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5 hours ago, Miramar Road said:

Jon, excellent way to describe the KH Fury kits. That has been my experience so far with both.

 

I had a bit of a rough time trying to fit the two halves of the FJ-3 fuselage together. I didn't have the same issue with the FJ-2, but I remembered I used Hypersonic's exhaust and intake parts which cut out the unnecessary middle section.

 

KH was notorious for inconsistencies in kit design like that. Another example, in their F-94C kit I noticed they molded the opening of the rocket tubes in the nose, but they don't give you the option to open the doors to display that detail if you wished. Why include that detail in the first place if you're not going to have an option available to display that detail?

On my current FJ-3 build I am leaving out the gun bays, completely. I think it's the reason I couldn't get my forward fuselage halves to close up fully. I'm leaving them out and am only installing the cockpit. I have test fitted the cockpit and after some sanding down of the forward bulkhead, the forward fuselage closes up nicely now.  That photo has some dust I should have cleaned off before I took the photo. 

 

The KH F-94 kit is pretty much an exact copy of the Collect Aire resin kit. The CA kit was designed by Dimitri of DMold when he was the master maker for the latter CA kits which were the best. I had a conversation with him and he was angry they had copied his kit. He knew they had copied it because Dimitri had to do some imagineering of the wheel wells because at the time had no info on the wells so he made some up. KH copied it exactly. KH also copied CA's Fury and Cougar. There may have been more in the works before they went TU.

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  • 2 months later...

I've been following the F9F-8 single seat on eBay for some years now.  Prices on the Bay varied widely but nothing I could afford/was willing to pay for.   The listing for this new mfr shows it at ¥ 999 which is about $140 US but I think since lots of their kits have this amount, it may just be a 'place-holder' or approximation.   In any case, $140 is a lot but considerably less than what's being asked on eBay.  Would love to see it under $100 but that is likely a pipe-dream.   Should have bought the Cougar and the F-101B when first offered.   

 

 

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I expect the 999 price is a placeholder that will get updated as the kits get closer to release.  If you look at the 50002 kit, the AH/MH-6 kit, it’s showing 258 yen for the full kit and 20-30 yen for individual sprues or the decal sheet.

 

My advice would be to just be patient.  If you really want something, preorder from Squadron.  They don’t charge you until it comes in, so if it never arrives, you aren’t out any money.

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On 11/10/2023 at 7:17 PM, Dave Williams said:

I expect the 999 price is a placeholder that will get updated as the kits get closer to release.  If you look at the 50002 kit, the AH/MH-6 kit, it’s showing 258 yen for the full kit and 20-30 yen for individual sprues or the decal sheet.

 

My advice would be to just be patient.  If you really want something, preorder from Squadron.  They don’t charge you until it comes in, so if it never arrives, you aren’t out any money.

 

Wellllll goll-durnnit!  I BEEN patient a'waitin' fer these dang critters ta come back, sheriff!  My patience is a'wearin' mighty thin these days.   Ain't much I can do 'bout it though.  Jest don't like waitin' is all.   Shucks.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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