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Playing in the Sandbox Group Build Sept 1, 2024 - Jn 1, 2025

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3 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Kai

you have to constantly keep asking yourself, what was Italieri thinking. Nice work on removing the seam.

Keep ‘em comin

Peter

Thanks Peter and you are totally right. This is what I always do.

A friend of mine already build the new Tornado and it seems that Italeri improved much. No problems during assembly or with the parts. This will be my next project build as 617 Sqn special livery to place it next to my Lancaster.

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Kai,

   The pit looks stunning.

I have heard stories about the Italeri Mirage kits.  Unfortunately, none of them good.  However, with enough patience anything can be made to shine.  Looking forward to see what you make with this one.

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9 minutes ago, GazzaS said:

Kai,

   The pit looks stunning.

I have heard stories about the Italeri Mirage kits.  Unfortunately, none of them good.  However, with enough patience anything can be made to shine.  Looking forward to see what you make with this one.

Thank you Gaz!

Me too and I have another one in my stash. The 2 104‘s I built were also typical Italeri...

But you are right: we are modelers and love challenges to cope with (like you do  awesome with your 190 and Sturmgeschütz).

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Nice problem solving Kai, not so nice that these problems exist. I have no, Italeri kits in stash exactly for this reason. I don't like the companies quality approach. They are one of the big players and in the market since decades, but despite having lots of interesting kits, they seem to lack thorough engineering.
Yes, we are modelers and there is nothing to say against some extra work needed, to have a good result on a not so good kit, but I can't force myself to put my money on their kits, It's beyond my understanding, why they lack in so many aspects, where small companies have far better designed kits. Luckily there are not so many Italeri kits which attract me as a must have. I can understand, how it feels to you, as a fan of LS Jets like the 104, Mirage or Tornado. I was tempted by the Starfighter lots of time, because I like the design, but skipped it, being Italeri.
When I browse through the announced kits for a new year, I often have that, wow, I want to have this, but wait, uncool, it's from Italeri sensation.

I hope that's not too much a rant, to unspecified and hope for the best satisfying outcome of your bird.

Cheers Rob

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9 hours ago, DocRob said:

Nice problem solving Kai, not so nice that these problems exist. I have no, Italeri kits in stash exactly for this reason. I don't like the companies quality approach. They are one of the big players and in the market since decades, but despite having lots of interesting kits, they seem to lack thorough engineering.
Yes, we are modelers and there is nothing to say against some extra work needed, to have a good result on a not so good kit, but I can't force myself to put my money on their kits, It's beyond my understanding, why they lack in so many aspects, where small companies have far better designed kits. Luckily there are not so many Italeri kits which attract me as a must have. I can understand, how it feels to you, as a fan of LS Jets like the 104, Mirage or Tornado. I was tempted by the Starfighter lots of time, because I like the design, but skipped it, being Italeri.
When I browse through the announced kits for a new year, I often have that, wow, I want to have this, but wait, uncool, it's from Italeri sensation.

I hope that's not too much a rant, to unspecified and hope for the best satisfying outcome of your bird.

Cheers Rob

I can fully understand you Rob. That’s why I had no Italeri in my stash for years.

Things changed when DACO announced a big decal set in 32nd Scale for the 104.

It took Danny years to bring it to market but when I had it in my hands I was overwhelmed: so many decals, options, zappings  and maintenance stencils without any spelling mistakes.

The only available kits at that time were the ancient Hasegawa with shape issues and the Italeri which is really good regarding shape. So I bought it and had to invest in Eduard Brassin and Resin and do a lot of scratchbuilding to build it. It really turns into a nice model when finished but only with these extras. 

It is nearly the same with the Mirage: Only the ancient Revell Kit was available with lots of things to correct or add. 
I already had the Paul Fisher cockpit (it is really a mess that he lost his shop) and then Italeri came across. So no other option. And again the same thing: scratching and Brass/Resin necessary. 
But since I wanted to build one for the SIG for Telford this year I had no choice.

Seems that they have learned their lessons now since the Tornado nearly has no flaws and is a straight build. We will see...

BTW: I was also really disappointed with the quality of the HK Lancaster Dambuster. So many missing things and things to correct for such a price (I paid 350€!!) is a mess. Ask our Lanc-Expert Ian who has written a very long list what has to be corrected...

Result: I only buy Italeri when no other option is available. 

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Kai

Hopefully manufactures learn from their past mistakes and try to improve new kits. Right now, I have two 32nd scale Italeri kits in the stash: Mirage IIIC, F-35 and AM for both. I’m learning the hard way to buy the AM when they are released, so I don’t miss out the first time around and forced to spend countless hours searching on line and resort to looking for sets I should have bought when they were first available.

Ke ‘em comin

Peter

 

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2 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Kai

Hopefully manufactures learn from their past mistakes and try to improve new kits. Right now, I have two 32nd scale Italeri kits in the stash: Mirage IIIC, F-35 and AM for both. I’m learning the hard way to buy the AM when they are released, so I don.t miss out or else I’m forced to spend countless hours search on line and even eBay, pay way more then the original price.

Ke ‘em comin

Peter

 

It‘ll be very intersting to learn about your experiences here when you build them.

A friend of mine also started the Italeri Mirage III E and faced such big problems with the wing upper halves to fuselage and intakes fit that he really threw it into trash.

I will cope with these problems in one of my next posts here.

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I took care of the fuselage halfs and the vertical stabilizer last evening.

The panellines and rivets were so soft on my example that I had to rescribe and rivet both fuselage halfs nearly complete. And typical Italeri: None of my riveting wheels fitted regarding the distance. So every rivet was reworked by hand.

I also glued the vertical stabilizer halfs to each fuselage half. The instructions say that you should glue them together separately and then to the assembled fuselage. 
But with the Italeri kind of construction you nearly have no chance to get a proper alignment and correct angle of it in the end. 

Next step will be to rework the wings and fuselage lower part in the same way.

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Kai

Nice work correcting the problems and dealing with so many issues. Just seems so counter intuitive to enjoying a kit rather then spending so much time correcting what the manufacture should have done in the first place. I just enjoy building a kit way more then fixing it and dealing with quality issues that in these days, should have been left long behind

Keep ‘em coming

Peter

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The skin on your model looks great Kai. 

For  a long time I abstained from Italeri models.  But when they released the Starfighter in 1/32, I had to check the reviews and decided to buy one.  I'm glad I did, because I got a great result despite the kit's only noteworthy flaw which is trench-like panel lines.

But not all of the panel lines were bad.  Mainly those along the dorsal area. 

I have seen some guys go al the way with it and detail it to the hilt.  But I'm not that guy, and I was quite happy with my investment.

If I was going to do another, I'd make a commitment to fill and re-scribe.  Maybe someday.

 

 

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11 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Kai

Nice work correcting the problems and dealing with so many issues. Just seems so counter intuitive to enjoying a kit rather then spending so much time correcting what the manufacture should have done in the first place. I just enjoy building a kit way more then fixing it and dealing with quality issues that in these days, should have been left long behind

Keep ‘em coming

Peter

You are right Peter and I also don‘t like this (unnecessary) work. But I have to do it since I have a personal quality standard which I want to achieve at the models I build.

Such work isn‘t necessary when e.g. building a Tamiya Corsair or Mustang...

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9 hours ago, GazzaS said:

The skin on your model looks great Kai. 

For  a long time I abstained from Italeri models.  But when they released the Starfighter in 1/32, I had to check the reviews and decided to buy one.  I'm glad I did, because I got a great result despite the kit's only noteworthy flaw which is trench-like panel lines.

But not all of the panel lines were bad.  Mainly those along the dorsal area. 

I have seen some guys go al the way with it and detail it to the hilt.  But I'm not that guy, and I was quite happy with my investment.

If I was going to do another, I'd make a commitment to fill and re-scribe.  Maybe someday.

 

 

You are totally right Gaz.

The main region of necessary correction at the 104 is the spine-area.

Unfortunately it’s not only the spine area of the Mirage but nearly the whole fuselage. But this could also be only a problem of my personal kit.
 

BTW: 
Would be interesting to see some pics of your 104 here. 

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21 hours ago, Kaireckstadt said:

I took care of the fuselage halfs and the vertical stabilizer last evening.

The panellines and rivets were so soft on my example that I had to rescribe and rivet both fuselage halfs nearly complete. And typical Italeri: None of my riveting wheels fitted regarding the distance. So every rivet was reworked by hand.

I also glued the vertical stabilizer halfs to each fuselage half. The instructions say that you should glue them together separately and then to the assembled fuselage. 
But with the Italeri kind of construction you nearly have no chance to get a proper alignment and correct angle of it in the end. 

Next step will be to rework the wings and fuselage lower part in the same way.

607E32F2-CDE5-42BF-B73F-4C0F10136094.jpeg

98EC49D2-FA0C-47A4-B37C-0C24F018446C.jpeg

7BA79E26-0C1B-4DB4-97B4-EEABFA7E0C14.jpeg

81280BAA-4655-4C0F-B2AF-4AA6857D396B.jpeg

ED6B1EA4-AB23-4E5F-9739-4CCE737EEB07.jpeg

B42411A0-2B1E-4565-9737-A96E5CE700BB.jpeg

Lovely work Kai. Unfortunately you're just highlighting to me what I've got to look forward to as I do the Cheetah conversion. The moulding flaws don't look so pronounced in the Revell boxing but are still going to be a pita to correct without sanding away all the detail.

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18 hours ago, Kaireckstadt said:

BTW: 
Would be interesting to see some pics of your 104 here. 

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WHuOir.jpg

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Kai,

     She's been moved around a lot, and over time the ventral fin and pitot tube have become detached.  I'm not really sure where the pitot tube ended up.  Hope you like them, still.

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10 hours ago, GusMac said:

Lovely work Kai. Unfortunately you're just highlighting to me what I've got to look forward to as I do the Cheetah conversion. The moulding flaws don't look so pronounced in the Revell boxing but are still going to be a pita to correct without sanding away all the detail.

Thanks for your feedback!

You are building a Cheetah C of the SAAF? Wow! Which livery will you build?    

The moulding flaw is not that difficult to correct. You just have to be very careful. Not so many details in the way. 

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2 hours ago, GazzaS said:

wHYvM0.jpg

8HDKgx.jpg

WHuOir.jpg

JXkSXs.jpg

Kai,

     She's been moved around a lot, and over time the ventral fin and pitot tube have become detached.  I'm not really sure where the pitot tube ended up.  Hope you like them, still.

She looks great, Gaz! This is one of the models you foiled! Awesome work! 

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9 hours ago, Kaireckstadt said:

Thanks for your feedback!

You are building a Cheetah C of the SAAF? Wow! Which livery will you build?    

The moulding flaw is not that difficult to correct. You just have to be very careful. Not so many details in the way. 

Hi Kai, this is the planned livery

cheetah.jpg.00159bfb8ce117e7ac470956e59434d7.jpg

The conversion is actually a Cheetah E and the airframe painted in this livery was actually a C but I'm going to do it anyway as I'm the only one who'll ever see it and have even half an idea what it is!

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10 hours ago, Kaireckstadt said:

She looks great, Gaz! This is one of the models you foiled! Awesome work! 

Thank you, Kai!  I'll never 'paint' an NMF model again.  Unfortunately the only NMF models I have left in the stash are in 1/48.

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15 minutes ago, GusMac said:

Hi Kai, this is the planned livery

cheetah.jpg.00159bfb8ce117e7ac470956e59434d7.jpg

The conversion is actually a Cheetah E and the airframe painted in this livery was actually a C but I'm going to do it anyway as I'm the only one who'll ever see it and have even half an idea what it is!

This is absolutely gorgeous! A beautiful eyecatcher! Can’t wait to see you start this project here! 

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