What Kits Would You Use?

[Archangel]

I know most of us would avoid making any drastic changes to an expensive  kit so what alternatives would you use to make a what if? I know there are  some limitations to what is around especailly if you want to do a decent modern day aircraft. Lindberg and some of the older Revell kits are ok but as to accuracy they do tend to be not so good. Same with old Hawk/Testors and Airfix/MPC.  they were good but not great kits. They all have the advantage of being easy to buy when you can get them but again selection isn't all that great and price is another thing. Older Hasagawa and Matchbox are good but I'm not sure all that much on their accuracy. all things considered though there are plenty of kits to be had  It just remains to be seen what you can afford to buy when your next project comes up

[upnorth]

I find most of Academy's 1/72 line can be had for reasonable prices and most of the recent additions to it are fairly accurate.

Their Me-163 Komet is a real little gem as is their A-37 Dragonfly.

They go together with minimum fuss and are good for Whiffing as they don't cost a lot. Additionally you don't get an overage of detail, which I find just gets in the way when I'm Whiffing.

[B777LR]

anything, but mainly italeri and airfix

[JC Carbonel]

I tend to use Italeri & Airfix as well but that's mostly because I know the range and the way those kits are designed. Usually when I buy kits from other ranges which I am less familiar with, I find them unuseable because of part design problems.
Hobbycraft (when available) are nice for 1/48 because they are basically large 1/72 kits in term of conception and detailing

JCC  

[dragon]

I build almost exclusively 1/72.  As to what I use, that depends:

If the amount of "whiffery" just goes as far as a different paint job, then anything goes.

If it is something major, then I try to find the kit at a model contest sale (usually begun by someone else or if pristine- at a discount).

Sometimes I have no choice.  To my knowledge there is only one company manufacturing the F-20 or the X-29 for that matter.

[Radish]

For me, anything goes

But I love 1/48th Airfix, Academy and Hobbycraft stuff as it's easy to make, fun and not too expensive.
But I've whiffed Tamiya as well    

[Archangel]

For models that I plan on altering I'll usually buy 1:144 scale models from a local museum, but as its winter hours the museum is closed....
But I am a fan of DRAGON's 1:144 sale models...They are small, cheap, but yet....I find that these models are very fun builds.

The DRAGON kits cost around 14 bucks, so those are mainly the ones I use for my kit bashing.

That's a good idea. I just found a picture of an F-16XL without the tail and differently shaped wings that was proposed and never built. It would be easy to do and the only kit that is aroundis one in that scale.

[Shasper]

Depends on price really, as some of the older Hasegawa (ie F-20) kits are about the same as a newer Italeri kit.

AA, Airfix does a F-16XL in 144th as does LS.


Shas B)

[Jschmus]

For models that I plan on altering I'll usually buy 1:144 scale models from a local museum, but as its winter hours the museum is closed....
But I am a fan of DRAGON's 1:144 sale models...They are small, cheap, but yet....I find that these models are very fun builds.

The DRAGON kits cost around 14 bucks, so those are mainly the ones I use for my kit bashing.

That's a good idea. I just found a picture of an F-16XL without the tail and differently shaped wings that was proposed and never built. It would be easy to do and the only kit that is aroundis one in that scale.

There is also a 1/144 kit of the F-16XL by Mini Hobby Models.  I have one of those in the stash.  It comes with a full load of Mk 82s, four AIM-120s and a pair of Sidewinders.

[Archangel]

Depends on price really, as some of the older Hasegawa (ie F-20) kits are about the same as a newer Italeri kit.

AA, Airfix does a F-16XL in 144th as does LS.


Shas B)

Thanks Shas I picked up a few of the Airfix ones at the local Hobbyshop. I have enough to get started with now. Also picked up some F-20 tigersharks it 1/144th scale. Now if only those Tamiya 1/100th scale kits were more plentifull now that they have come back.

[B777LR]

Academy kits are also likely contenders for what-ifs, coz decals peel off withing 2 hours of decalling (no matter how much advice i get, IT WONT WORK ) so i have to put on alternative decals (but the academy kits are CHEAP :ar: )

[Shasper]

That may work great for you dear Wooks, but if you're like me (20-odd yrs old working a part-time job, school & flying), your budget aint exactly up to getting all the higher-end stuff in existance. Granted that I'm fortunate enough to have a diverse stash stock-piled & my budget *could* allow me to splurge on something more refined than Italeri/Airfix/DML-Dragon/ect. but I think Archangel was coming from a point of view that would-not allow a Tamigawa or similar high-end kit for e v e r y project.


Forgive me if I went too far or misassumed some stuff.

Shas B)

[Archangel]

That may work great for you dear Wooks, but if you're like me (20-odd yrs old working a part-time job, school & flying), your budget aint exactly up to getting all the higher-end stuff in existance. Granted that I'm fortunate enough to have a diverse stash stock-piled & my budget *could* allow me to splurge on something more refined than Italeri/Airfix/DML-Dragon/ect. but I think Archangel was coming from a point of view that would-not allow a Tamigawa or similar high-end kit for e v e r y project.


Forgive me if I went too far or misassumed some stuff.

Shas B)

You are quite right Shas. I have a very limited budget now days when it comes to building. I also have a small stash of models but most of them are online to be built as is. It used to be when I started building models were of the $1.00 and higher price range. Now days I'm lucky to find a decent kit in 1/72nd scale for anything less then $10- $15 dollars and then there is the cost of materials too. If  I happen to win the lottery  then I'll be able to  drop cash on kits like no buddies business .Till then I have to make do with what I have available.

[Daryl J.]

Anything where the price did not outweigh my skills.  
I'm hoping to convert Tamiya's F4D into a jet Batplane and have no issue using my $3.00 F-86E from Hobbycraft for another project.
It just depends.


Daryl J., thinking of Great Swiss, Appenzeller, or Entelbucher dogs for the kids....

[kitnut617]

It depends on the subject really, sometimes what's out there for a particular what-if project, the donar is quite an expensive kit, other times it's not.  But I do look for bargins, most webstores have 'specials' and when I see something for a project I'm thinking about in this section I usually buy it, even though it might not get built for years.

Like Falcon's Tempest GR.1 I would like to copy, I found the donar kits for this project on sale a few weeks ago so grabbed them real quick.

So really if the price is right, anything goes for me.

Robert