Unicraft models

[Aircav]

http://www.unicraftmodels.com/

         

[Captain Canada]

Cool...thanks Aircav !

I dropped them an email concerning their sub and ship kits.....darn you, Geoff !

el Toado

[Tophe]

I fear the title of this topic is rather wrong : Ukraine is not Russia. Ukraine was part of the USSR, but is "free" now. But that is a detail for politicians, maybe, not a major issue for the people.
But maybe our friends in UK face a similar problem : some Scottish people feel insulted when we call them English, as the domination of England over all the Great Britain island is a pain in their History, they explain. I respect such historical opinion, but as far as I am concerned I prefer being someone in the United States of Europe, then United States of the World someday, rather than a proud inhabitant of Amberieu-en-Bugey town rejecting all the others as foreigners = bad people... My wife is Filipino, my friends are Canadian, English, Belgian, Spanish, Argentino, Australian, Ukrainian, and it is wonderful thanks to the World Wide Web. Wellcome to all the modellers of the World. Glory to Igor and Supertom, no matter what their precise origin is, that is my opinion...

[Aircav]

Doh!!

[Joe C-P]

http://www.unicraftmodels.com/

Oh no, no no no no no! Why?! WHY?!  

You B*STARD!  How could you?

My credit card just screamed for mercy.

Still, the one really obscure subject I'm looking for eludes me yet - a DASH, the twin-rotor ASW drone operated by the USN, USArmy and JMSDF.

[TsrJoe]

... and they still haven't improved after a couple of decades of modellers frustrations since Igor's first releases, i really really really should know better 

Just took delivery of a couple via Hannants, completely unusable (moulds are definitely scrap) and moulded in what looks like honeycomb candy (or moisture contaminated resin) with vague shapes and anything small only of use for reference

Ah well gives me a renewed incentive to scratchbuilt instead, any modeller could achieve better with a couple hours tinkering with a block of tooling resin and some styrene

[Tophe]

There is another topic about Unicraft models here: https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=15025.0
including satisfied opinions, including mine...
I plan to get one more Unicraft kit for Christmas 2022, if this is possible despite the war in Ukraine, we will see.

[TomZ]

... and they still haven't improved after a couple of decades of modellers frustrations since Igor's first releases, i really really really should know better

I would respectfully disagree with the statement above.
The Unicraft models HAVE quite clearly improved the last years, of course before Igor had to abandon his home town and business.
The masters of the latest models are now 3d printed and are much better than the old ones. They have better fit and are better defined now.

But still, building a Unicraft model takes a lot of patience, skill, putty and sanding.
However, if you finish one, you have got a model of something you can't get anywhere else and it gives you a lot of satisfaction  of having built something from a kit like that.

So, haviing built quite a few of them, they are definitely not un-buildable or useless. They can be built into nice models, but they are not Tamigawa shake-the-box-and-finished models.


TomZ

[The Wooksta!]

I'm with TsrJoe*.  I shelled out 40 notes some months back for the Hawker P.1048.  Despite it being a 3d printed master, the kit itself is still the same old terrible resin and the mould "quality" is still the same.  I'm too disheartened with it to try and fix the appalling none circular exhausts, or the lower fuselage which is warped.
The website is misleading too, as it looked like the kit was 3d printed rather just the master, only so find it cast in the old flat learning curve.  If you're going to embrace new technology, at least do it properly, yeah?

If you get something from Igor's garbage, great, but just remember that there are many modellers who been vastly disappointed by this individual over the years.  And we are still very bitter from paying top end CMR prices for basically cinder toffee.


*I've known Joe for well over twenty years, and if he says some casting is crap, then it is irredeemable garbage.  He's someone who can master, mould and cast a vastly superior product.  Many of this site have seen his work and trust his judgement.

[TsrJoe]

We can all agree to differ methinks, I still say with Unicraft's over 20 years in the market with his range, they should be better (and I should have known better re my expectations)
I have less of an issue re mastering of the more recent releases, its the moulding and casting process that still seems to be the main issue.
What is inexcusable is the stuff sent out for general sale (eg. via Hannants, etc.) is seemingly very different indeed to those sent out as review samples when the moulds were fresh direct from Igor himself.
A prime example being the Unicraft Hawker P.1127 kit ... misshapen, inaccurate and bearing NO resemblance to the subject matter whatsoever, not to mention bring cast in a form of foamed resin making it only of use as a curio ! (Happy to share images proving my comments too)
Interestingly the little X.36 and HERTI. UAV.s have similar negative traits re casting quality, moulded in an aerated resin with the moulds being obviously well past their life (the original masters do look to have been quite nice back when initially cast) whereas the X.45 UCAV. does look to be buildable with the resin being of a slightly better quality too !

Apologies again, as I am not one to be so negative re a model, very much a case of buyer beware for sure (and yip I do have a couple of built Unicraft Models in my collection which although a lot of work, I do not recall being as bad as the ones recently purchased !)

As an end note, I would say that pretty much ALL of the group membership here could scratchbuild any of the models required over a few days, indeed I am happy to pass along blocks of tooling resin and some thick styrene sheet for carving out fuselages and wings to help encourage others to have a go themselves, and happy to give out mouldmaking/casting advice too

[Tophe]

I'm with TsrJoe*.

I'm with TomZ on the contrary.
It came from my education: I was hating many kinds of foods and my parents were very severe  teaching me "don't say 'this is awful, uneatable', say instead 'I don't like it personally, while other ones may like it, all right' "...

[NARSES2]

But still, building a Unicraft model takes a lot of patience, skill, putty and sanding.
However, if you finish one, you have got a model of something you can't get anywhere else and it gives you a lot of satisfaction  of having built something from a kit like that.

TomZ

I have to agree with Tom on this. I have to be in the right mood, but if I am then I do get a certain amount of satisfaction from completing one. Mind you given my abilities are nowhere near as good as a host of other members of this site then maybe I'm prepared to accept a lower standard ? However I do agree that the resin could be better, at least in the ones in my stash, although I haven't bought one for ages.

I'm currently eyeing the Payen P.321 Air Cruiser in the stash as a possible summer build, when I can do the PSR on the balcony.