Artful69

A couple more arrivals ... Rog

Well ... I thought I was done with 1/24 after my Airfix Mossie ... apparently not, come June 2014?!? Rog

No freaking way!!

Disgusting!! ... go fondle where the kiddies can't see!! Rog

LMAO! ... well ... as Princess Leia once said "Someone has to save our skins" .. Rog

A couple of days ago, two new Tamiya Spits arrived ex-east ... thought I'd grab em while the Tamiya kits were still heavily discounted ... My lastest delivery from Sprue (arrived this morning!!) includes a couple of 'Nowotny' A-5's ... again, heavily discounted ... ... a D-9 'Jabo' and the Hobby Boss Mk.Vb Spit ... ... and some Eduard PE Schurzen for my Dragon Pz.III Ausf.M ... Rog

I have one in the stash ... I'll agree ... it looks great ... don't think I have assembled any parts yet?!?!? ... but you can have it cheap if you like? Rog

Ahhhh Steve ... A Big thank you, sir!! ... Bar? A G-2 in Trop guise? ... wow ... I don't care if I have to mask it myself gotta get me one of these ... Rog

Yeah ... same here Dave ... weird ... I think with all of the RoG G-6 release hype over what-turned-out-to-be-not-all-that-much, no-one was paying attention?? Firmly in my sights now though!!! Rog

Rog

I discovered this by accident on a web-store I've used ... http://militarymodel...-bf-109g-2trop/ Never even knew it existed ... no reviews anywhere ... Shame! The G-2 was their best effort! Anyone recognise the markings? ... Who flew these kites? Rog

Question: Did Eduard get that vent corrected and in the right position??? Rog

... well at least there's no Trumpeter or (modern) Hasegawa rival ... unless Tamiya jump the gun on them, they have the market cornered!! ... I guess they can cut all the corners they want on this one!! Rog

I will be too!! ... I have never built any 109 outside the Emil variants. With all of the to and fro across the forums about which manufacturer provides the 'best' base to work with, I thought it might be an idea to do this little experiment from the point of view of someone who ... A/ Has no biased opinion on any of the manufacturers B/ Is not completely anal as far as accuracy goes (although still wants a fair representation!) and ... C/ Is a 'simple' modeler, requiring reasonably simple fixes to reasonably simple issues. Rog

Well ... in the next three months ... I am about to test this theory against a side-by-side build of G-6's ... Hasegawa, Revell and Trumpeter ... I'm not going to go balistic ... just get what AM is required to build each into a decent representation by fixing the 'stand out' errors. They are all within a 'poofteenth' of the cost of each other to buy - from Perth WA at least ... I have shopped the world over for the cheapest combination of postage and packing for each! The total cost of... and hours employed on... each correction/enhancement of each kit will be recorded. To help eliminate visual bias - the same decal markings and paint scheme will be used on all three. The idea is to get them, as near as can be, looking the same as each other. _________________ If that is Revells' marketing strategy ... they won't be long for this world!! ... the mass marketing "she'll be right" approach will not suffice to keep them afloat very long from where they are at the moment ... unless there is an attitude adjustment I give them 5 more years at most. The modeling world expects more from manufacturers and their product than they used to! Rog

Thank you very much Steve!!

Hey thanks!!! Ok ... I know what you mean by the lower cowl bulges and the upper wing wheel 'blisters' now! ... It's like playing the adult version of "spot the difference" I wonder why the differences happened? ... will have to do some research!! ... Thanks so far!! Rog

Doug ... My appologies ... I am obviously no expert on the 109 ... I made an assumption, jumped the gun and commented before I really knew what you were refering to. I do hope you do not take offence at my brash remarks due to my lack of knowledge. Since my Hasegawa instructions on the G-6 refer to the 'Erla-Haube' canopy (in the opening narration) as being a standardised feature on the G-14 ... and both the Hasegawa G-10 and G-14 use the same canopy kit parts (and possibly even the K-4?) ... I kinda thought that because it was referred to as the 'Erla-Haube' canopy - that this it what was being refered to here ... until Kage enlightened me. To be honest ... even after looking at his references for about an hour and cross referencing with my Hasegawa kits ... I'm hard pushed to tell the difference - it's that confusing ... This is how much of a NON-expert I am ... ... and yet, with those sparkling credentials ... and before anyone mentioned it in a forum post ... I still managed to notice upon viewing test shots of the Revell G-6, that the 'nose' of the aircraft looked 'off' somehow. With just some quick referencing, I picked the spinner, cowl, Beule (even though I didn't know the technical name for these at the time!) and exhausts ... and that coming from me who, given references to look at, still can't tell the difference between the 'Erla' G-10 and my Hasegawa kit. I will admit error in this ... but still stand by my comments in regards to Revells 'arrogance' in ignoring the 'advisers' that they had bothered to employ for guidance. I'm not so miffed about their lack of accuracy in product ... after all ... AM has once again filled the gap (or most of it - re: Andreas' 'scratch-cowl-fix') - even though, with a tiny bit more care and attention, there would have been no pressing need to ... The rather blase' view towards the more 'serious' modeling community rankles (to me, the customer, I matter - even if they don't think so!!) ... and seems to be a marketing approach frought with danger in the medium to long term. It appears to me that they put some seriously hard work into their Arado, Ju-88's and Heinkel (which all contain some minor, almost insignificant errors - as all kits do) ... and then - and this attitude of theirs explains a lot now! - release a below standard He.219 and Bf109G in almost Trumpeter-esque fashion ... probably believing that their reputation alone will carry them. Here's the weird bit - if they had followed through with their BoB theme and ripped out a Do-17z - given their present attitude ... who could have gain-said any errors? There are no living examples remaining around to refer to for 'errors' and ample enough drawings and photographs to produce a reasonably 'accurate' kit ... thereby sidestepping the minefeild that they've walked into with the Uhu and Gustav ... These kits have sold well enough (although certainly not as well as they could have had they been 'correct'!) I believe, on the back of previous successes, pricing and reputable brand name ... they should expect a more 'cautious' market, as time passes, for future releases though! Rog

Given some of the inaccuracy issues with the B-17 (yet still selling well, being the only real game in town) ... I do hope they are taking their time to get it right and not just popping it on the backburner while they focus on their Meteor!! Rog

Matt ... This is why I believe that this rather random looking figure of '5%' is a throw-away ... false data, to back up a false arguement (well ... partly false at least) ... and more to the point - given the later comments by Andreas (quoted by Steve, above) - one than he doesn't really support in any case!! The Trumpeter kits get 'over-bashed' I think ... but their G-2 is their best effort (as far as I read in the reviews, at any rate) ... nevertheless you are right ... and I really believe that ZM's He219 had a significant sales boost because of the mud flung on the Revell 'rushed' attempt ... another ZM example being the Ta-152 - apparently the PCM kit doesn't get the best reviews either?? Thanks to reviews I've read (most significantly Iain's list of inaccuracies and ongoing He219 'corrections' thread) I initially balked at buying the Revell kit (I cannot remember the initial release price) as it wasn't exactly in line with the subject matter I'm into ... and just recently bought TWO ZM kits instead (shove that up your marketing department Revell ... lol !!). I only grabbed it because I was getting a ZM kit as a present for someone else and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about (now that is real word of mouth marketing for you!!) ... after opening up the first one and thinking "W-O-W" - I grabbed several others ... including a couple of P51-D's (refer below) I did ... however ... buy a Hobby Boss Mk.Vb Spit, just recently, and am currently awaiting it's arrival ... The only competitor out there is a Hasegawa old tool atm ... and reading reviews on both - I decided that the Hobby Boss was probably better engineered and detailed OOB (AKA Trumpeter) and it's flaws easier for me to live with. If Tamiya had continued with it's Spitfire run - back to Mk.V's, II's and I's ... The Hobby Boss kit wouldn't have even been looked at ... and neither would Revells' 2014 offering, come to think of it! For those of us who have made purchasing errors before ... trying to buy stuff 'on the cheap' ... a hard lesson learned, produces a more cautious buyer! ... and this was my mistake!! ... having grabbed the Hasegawa kit and realising my skill set wasn't up to scratch yet ... and having bought several Dragon kits in 1/35 (being rather pleased with them) ... I jumped on the P-51D ... uh oops!? ... It's now, sprues still in plastic bags, in the 'disposal' pile!! _________________ The '5 Percent' DO matter ... most significantly ... as they will influence the sales to a good percentage of the rest of the market! ... Not sure? ... ok ... I have (at last count) 16 budding young modelers within a sphere of influence (aged between 6 and 16 and of both sexes) - those that I introduced to the hobby and who come to me for advice. I am absolutely NO expert on much of anything ... BUT I do have a ready set of online references ... besides books, websites etc ... I have people like you guys! ... So ... when young Craig comes to me and asks who makes the best Abrams 1/35 ... I go to Google and type "Abrams 1/35 reviews" ... you'd be amazed at how quickly I can come up with an answer for him - third hand! ... and that's not even 'word of mouth' type gossip - which is an even more removed influence. No ... wrong attitude entirely Revell ... sorry!! Rog

Ahhhh!!! Matt ... Thanks VERY much for clearing that up!! ... I was wondering about that post I read (and how the individual could have missed the Hasegawa kits!!) ... 2 different factories producing the same variant in 2 different ways! ... You learn something new every day! ... However ... knowing Revells rather carefree approach to detail, as it stands, we will probably end up with an Erla boxing and a 'standard' G-10 kit (tongue firmly in cheek!) ... Rog

I, for one, dispute the '5%' figure ... no statistic, on Gods green earth, is that accuate! ... It could be more or less for all we know - or Andreas. I think it was just a throw-away figure to be quite honest ... what is more disturbing to me, as a customer, is the attitude behind it! Even if we are only 5% of the market share, we are (without being arrogant) are an important part of that target market! ... Most of the purchases I make (and I have made quite a few recently!) are made on the back of reviews - which in turn, are completed by members of that illustrious 5% ... One chap posting on the 'other' thread has suggested the the Revell G-10 will be the only example out there ... curious comment, as I have both a Hasegawa G-10 (ST-18) and a G-14 (08157) sitting on my shelf at present? Personally I have no problem with the Revell G-6 at present ... or the Trumpeter ... or the Hasegawa ... having built none and understanding that each is a kit just like any other - that will build reasonably well OOB and can be corrected/detailed with a supply of AM. Steve, though, has a very (very!!) valid point ... in that ... we shouldn't have to, had the manufacturer given a little more time an attention to the details that matter. I wouldn't have minded forking out an extra 20% on the pricing for a more accurate representation. I really do hope they make a better hash of their 'new tooled' Spitfire next year!! Rog

A couple of really cool bits and peices arrived in the last week ... 1st Some decals - the first AM ones I've ever bought ... Thanks to a certain LSP'er accross the Tasman Sea ... ... and in particular some for the FW190's I have on the shelf - especially Heinz Bar's #13 Red Next ... with a big thankyou to Mr.Paul Fisher - from Fisher Models fame ... some realy nice detailed undercarriage for my PCM Tempest ... and ... also from Mr Fisher ... a couple of resin canopies for the MDC Typhoons ... ... and finaly ... from my Japanese contact ... arriving a few days earlier than expected ... Cheers ... Rog

A great looking aircraft ... and a great book! ... now all we need is a 1/32 aircraft kit in plastic or resin. Rog

yes ... and I'm still waiting on that 'new-tool' Spitfire Mk.II ... and a Do.17z would be nice to help round off the BoB builds!! What's with this old tool rubbish?? Rog