Revel 144 reissue !

[richard m schwab]

Revel has announced a reissue of some of it`s WW2 144 scale line! The include Typhoon Mk.IB, Tempest Mk. V, Spitfire Mk.I, Me 262A,Hurricane Mk.I, Fw 190A-8, Bf 109E and Ju 87B Stuka. They will hopefully current standard decals. These are some old kits and have been around for years! They should be out this summer!

Minicraft has also announced some new 144 kits and some reissues. They have been updating the decals and reworking some of the older kits with new decal options! They are E-13A Seaplane Jake , TBF/TBM Avenger, B-17G, B-24H/J, P-38J USAAF, P-47D USAAF, PB4Y-5 Catalina, Aichi B7A Ryusei Grace, Kawasaki Ki-61 Hein Tony, Nakajima C6N Saiun Myrt and B-29A. There was no date given on the releases.



Rich

,

[Baldrick62]

While the Revell Spitfire Mk.I will be a welcome addition, for an injection-moulded Hurricane Mk.I, I don't think you can go past the Sweet models, unless Revell massively undercut them on price.

[richard m schwab]

Baldrick!

I have built both and have two or three of them each. The Spitfire looks OK but what else is there, the only real improvement would be some decal options. The last one i built had decal done in the 1970`s. After market decals helped when i built mine!


Rich

[BobP]

I may have to check these out but with these old eyes I don't know if I could build them.

[kaufschtick]

I have already picked up 3 of the Minicraft re-release of their B-24 kit. It now comes with a conversion and option to do a B-24J or B-24D. Their decales as of late have been superb as well, I might add. I am looking forward to building these 3 B-24Ds, as I already have 3 B-24Js.

I've been back at the modelling table lately, and am currently working on a pair of Sweet Me-109Fs, that; when completed, will be model numbers 193 & 194 for my collection of 1/144 scale planes. All are modified to fit on WoG flight stands. I'm pushing to reach 200 models soon.

I did an old pair of Arii P-40N kits recently (that bring my total number of P-40s, all makes, to 22), and made my own "Skull Head" decales, which came out super! I think that squadron was the 80th FG, 89th FS, that all the planes (P-40Ns) had Skull Heads on the front of them.

A buddy of mine bought the new air combat game Angels 20 by Wizards, and so I made 13 of my own gimbal mounts out of the flight/display stands from the fighters I've been getting off E-Bay. Wing Kit 7 and so on. I bought 6 pairs of the P-40Es they recently had, and the flight/display stands, I noticed, had a gimbal joint in them. So I cut away all but the gimbal joint; glued them to WoG flight pegs, and presto! I'm now the proud owner of 13 gimbal joints. Zero dollars spent, about 2 hours of time.

BTW, from what I've read of the rules for Angels 20, WoG blows it right clean out of the water! It may be a fun game to play when I get around to playing it, but WoG is still the "it" air combat game for me.

I was lucky enough to run into 3 SM.79s at HobbyLand here in Columbus recently for a nice price, and have them ready to go now. That inspired me to break out my Sweet Models M.200 fighter kit, and those came out awsome! I'm only an average model builder at best, but I had my game on that day.

My photo albums are getting outdated, I have many updates and new planes to add. I'm going to have to break out the camera soon and get new pics up. My phone camera doesn't do the close ups very well, so I need to break out the regular camera for this.

The LaGG-3s for the game Art of Tactic, which I bought for $2.99 each from Coolstuff, are super little models too! They have additionally Me-109F (could be the G), Stuka Ju-87B, Il-2, and the Ju-52 (in 1/200 scale). I think Coolstuff has them all now too. Great kits that beat the hell out of the Battlefront (Flames of War) 1/144 scale planes in both price and quality.

While the Revell Spitfire Mk.I will be a welcome addition, for an injection-moulded Hurricane Mk.I, I don't think you can go past the Sweet models, unless Revell massively undercut them on price.

I got my Sweet kits from HobbyLink Japan, and those come two planes to a package. I had to chime in that Sweet Model Kits are the best out there in 1/144 scale. Nothing tops them.

There is a company called Platz, I don't know what country they are from, but they are just as good as Sweet kits too. Like Sweet, they come two planes to a kit. I know I got a pair of Fw-190Ds from them, and I still have a pair of P-47Ds yet to build by them. If you run across Platz, consider tham the same as Sweet kits, top of the line. Even a screw up like me can hardly foul up kits as good as those!

Minicraft has also announced some new 144 kits and some reissues. They have been updating the decals and reworking some of the older kits with new decal options! They are E-13A Seaplane Jake , TBF/TBM Avenger, B-17G, B-24H/J, P-38J USAAF, P-47D USAAF, PB4Y-5 Catalina, Aichi B7A Ryusei Grace, Kawasaki Ki-61 Hein Tony, Nakajima C6N Saiun Myrt and B-29A. There was no date given on the releases.

I have to say, the molds on the minicraft kits aren't as new as the Sweet and Platz company kits, but I've been really happy with all of the Minicraft kits I've built with only a couple of exceptions. The new re-releases have great decales. Some of the older kits, not so. I look at the decale sheet, and the decales made in Mexico are terrible. The rest are good, especially the ones made in Italy. The kits take a little extra work sometimes, but I've been pretty happy with them. The P-38 is one of the ones I really wasn't so happy with, but I built them as some of my first attempts in 1/144 scale, and I have a new re-release of that kit I am anxious to try again. I think my 1/144 scale skills have sharpened over the last couple years (they sure as hell couldn't get any worse!), so I'll find out soon. The Me-110 was another one that was wierd. When I got my two, they were actually some Chinese rip off company/copy kits, called MiniHobby. At least, I think they were a rip off of the Minicraft kits. I have one of the new re-release Me-110 by Minicraft now too, so I'll see if it's any better. The MiniHobby rip off kits had super horrible decales, but at the time, they were the only option out there for Me-110s.

Building/collecting in 1/144 scale is wierd. Planes get released in limited quanities because of the limited market, and so sometimes you have to grab them when they are available, or you might be waiting a couple years for them to come around again, if they even do. The Wing Kit & Big Bird planes especially so.

The Wing Kit Vol. 7 P-40Es are super! I replaced my home made, do-it-myself Aleutian Tiger BattleFront P-40Es with these, and they are top of the line awesome. BTW, I have an extra pair of Aleutian Tiger decales if anyone is interested! I bought a pair of the British P-40Es, a pair of the Flying Tiger P-40Es, a pair of the Aussie P-40Es, and I got two more pairs. One I did as standard Army Air Corps Pearl Harbor P-40Es (nothing fancy, just "Plane Janes", sorry I couldn't resist), and another pair as Russian P-40Es. They all rock!

To show how crazy I am about the P-40E, I bought two packages of the Flames of War P-40E kits. You get 3 P-40Es, which turned out to be just a one solid piece model. No clear canopy, no landing gear, no propellers. Just one hunk of plastic with moderate detail, and a metal spinner piece. Fair decales. One box, 3 planes, cost me $40 USD. I bought 2 boxes for a total spend of over $80 USD, for 6 P-40Es.

The Wing Kit 7 P-40Es were so much superior, I completely replaced my BattleFront P-40Es, and in fact, gave them to my youngest son to play with. They are gone (still in my photo albums here though, they live on a while longer in memory). I bought a total of 12 of the Wing Kit 7 P-40Es, for an average price of $10 USD each (including shipping). That's another $120 USD to replace the BattleFront P-40Es, or Just over $200 USD in all, on just P-40Es!!!! I also have 8 P-40Ns, and a pair of P-40B/Cs! 22 P-40s in all!

I'm sick...I need to go to the Betty Ford clinic for the miniature P-40 addicts! Do they have one of those?!?

If only I'd never seen Tora!Tora!Tora! (I cheer every time those two P-40Es roar down the runway, and those are still some of the best P-40 aerial combat sequences that follow, if only briefly), or John Wayne in The Flying Tigers!

Angiolillo! See what your game has done to me!!!

[Hunter]

Revel has announced a reissue of some of it`s WW2 144 scale line! The include Typhoon Mk.IB, Tempest Mk. V, Spitfire Mk.I, Me 262A,Hurricane Mk.I, Fw 190A-8, Bf 109E and Ju 87B Stuka. They will hopefully current standard decals. These are some old kits and have been around for years! They should be out this summer!

Minicraft has also announced some new 144 kits and some reissues. They have been updating the decals and reworking some of the older kits with new decal options! They are E-13A Seaplane Jake , TBF/TBM Avenger, B-17G, B-24H/J, P-38J USAAF, P-47D USAAF, PB4Y-5 Catalina, Aichi B7A Ryusei Grace, Kawasaki Ki-61 Hein Tony, Nakajima C6N Saiun Myrt and B-29A. There was no date given on the releases.


Rich

,

This is most excellent news. I've been purchasing Minicraft 144 WWII bombers and such, but need some single engine A/C. Although I have alot of the f-toys, I would prefer models to build.

[flash]

My wingmans been after a Tiffy for his WW2 ground wars for quite a while so he will be pleased !

[BobP]

Rob can I get the bed next to you so I can have someone to play Wings with? I ordered 2 starters and one booster of Angles to see how they were. Well missed 8 of the planes in the set. So another booster order. Darn still missing one so another booster. Good thing you can get the Wings planes you want at one time. Thanks for the heads up on Minicraft planes.

[Lloydthegamer]

I have to second Rob's comments on the Ftoys P40s and have to add that the P39 is a great model too. I don't have 22 P40s, but I'm getting there slowly. 2 of the Aleutian Tigers, 2 Brits from Ftoys. 4 Minicraft P40Ns, and 2 Reiveresco P40Cs. Lloyd