Category Archives: Kit Bashing

Kit Bashing

1/1 scale F-4 Phantom-2 model

24 April 2017 (15:42 UTC-07 Tango 06) 03 Ordibehest 1396/26 Rajab 1438/28 Jia Chen 4715

The USAF 36th Maintenance Squadron and Civil Engineering Squadron worked together to refurbish an old F-4E Phantom static display on the U.S. Island territory of Guam.

Veterans of Foreign Wars members, and Vietnam conflict vet, pose in front of the 1/1 scale F-4E Phantom II display at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

During the Vietnam occupation many U.S. Air Force operations were launched from Guam.  The USAF version of the F-4 Phantom II was first deployed in support of the Vietnam occupation in December 1964.  For some odd reason the squadrons who rebuilt the static display painted the aircraft to represent a USAF bird based in West Germany from 1973-75.

DRONE WARS: QF-4 TO QF-16

UTAH: PHINAL PHANTOM PHLIGHT

Kit Bashing, Reviews

More proof instructions are wrong: AMT Willys Van retro issue

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Click (or tap) pics to make bigger:

REVELL 1937 FORD PICKUP OR WHY MODEL ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS CAN BE WRONG!

MULTI-MAVERICK OR WHY MODEL ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS CAN BE WRONG!

Kit Bashing, Technology

Vehicle I-D : M113 disguised as BMP-2

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Opposing Forces (OpFor) U.S. Army 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment M113s disguised as Soviet/Russian BMPs, Fort Irwin, California, October 2016:

U.S. Army photo, 07OCT2016.

USA photo, 07OCT2016.

USA photo, 07OCT2016.

 

116th Snake River’s 2015 NTC rotation: The last time the 116th went to NTC was in 1998, with yours truly. 

“THIS IS WHERE ARMOR FIGHTS!” IDAHO NATIONAL GUARD RETURNS TO COLD WAR ERA “TOTAL FORCE” WARFARE TRAINING!: Includes a couple of my crappy photos of NTC in 1998. 

 

Kit Bashing, Reviews

1:48 F-105G Wild Weasel showdown, HobbyBoss vs Monogram

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When it comes to the new high tech produced Hobby Boss F-105G Thunderchief Wild Weasel, versus the old-but-gold classic Monogram kit, price is the deciding factor.

I swear I had some 1:48 scale drawings for the F-105, but, despite tearing apart my decades old collection of modeling and aircraft magazines, I can’t find them.  Oh well, I did discover with my F-104s that scale drawings can be inaccurate, as well.  

Click on the gallery pics to make them bigger and read the comparisons of the kits:

Monogram first issued their F-105 series of 1:48 kits in the late 1970s early 1980s.  Believe it or not they’re still viable and available today, currently issued by Revell (which took over Monogram in the 1990s).

Monogram Plus: Generally accurate, good details. Price buster; if you shop on the internet, and are patient, you can get one for as little as ten bucks (or less, not counting shipping cost)! I once saw Revell’s new Thunderstick version in a brick-n-mortar shop for $15! The Hobby Boss kit will cost you anywhere from $35 to $65 USD depending on where you get it (also not counting shipping cost if purchased on the internet or old fashioned mail order).

Hobby Boss Plus:  Generally accurate, good details.  Extra parts like an engine, radar, 20mm Vulcan and an extended inflight refueling probe (F-105s had both refueling probe and receptacle. Oh no, not a hermaphrodite!?).  More decals.

Cold War: GOING ‘GANGBUSTERS’ WITH TEXAS F-4C & GEORGIA F-105G!

1:72 SHOCK & AWE LOCKHEED F-104 STARFIGHTER, OR, WHY YOU CAN’T TRUST SCALE DRAWINGS! PLUS MASSIVE HISTORICAL CONFUSION ABOUT REVELL-MONOGRAM!

1:72 COMPARISON F-86 SABER FUJIMI VS HELLER, OR, NOBODY IS PERFECT!

1/48 SCALE COMPARISON A-7 CORSAIR 2: AURORA, REVELL-MONOGRAM, ESCI, HASEGAWA & HOBBY BOSS.

1/72 REVISED COMPARISON A-7 CORSAIR 2: FUJIMI, ESCI, AIRFIX, HASEGAWA, MATCHBOX, REVELL & HOBBY BOSS. MORE REASON NOT TO TRUST SCALE DRAWINGS?

HOBBY BOSS F-5E TIGER II, NOT ONE OF THEIR “EASY ASSEMBLY” KITs, BUT WELL WORTH THE LITTLE BIT-O-MONEY IT COSTS!

Model kit politics: IRAN TO DISPLAY LIFE SIZE MODEL OF CAPTURED U.S. STEALTH DRONE, SENDS OBAMA A SMALLER HOT PINK VERSION

Review out of box:  ITALERI P-51 MUSTANG 1 OUT OF BOX REVIEW

KIT BASHING & EDUCATION REFORM: IDAHO STUDENTS BUILDING MODEL KITS

Out of box: HELLER, FUJIMI & HOBBYCRAFT F-86 SABRE KITS COMPARED

Kit Bashing, Reviews

1:72 Shock & Awe Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, or, Why You Can’t Trust Scale Drawings! Plus massive historical confusion about Revell-Monogram!

I’m an idiot; a nut for the combat ineffective F-104 ‘Missile with a Man in it’ Starfighter so I’ve collect too many, and then I went and spent what precious little money I have on a book of scale plans.  And now those scale plans might actually be wrong!

I checked my collection of 1:72 (1/72) scale F-104s against the Mushroom Modeling Publications (MMPBooks) Scale Plans:  Academy, ESCI (ERTL, Italeri), Hasegawa, Heller, Matchbox and Monogram (not Revell), with interesting results.

Click the pics in the gallery to see more:

Conclusion: I’ve compared only the canopy, fuselages and wings because there is a plethora of aftermarket detailing sets out there, so all you really need are decent canopy, fuselage and wings.

All kits had fuselages longer than the MMPBooks Scale Plans, but both Academy and Heller have the largest fuselages in length and circumference.  Academy is the worst offender due to the obviously oversized cockpit and canopy.

Despite being an old kit (almost as old as the Heller kits) the ESCI kit still looks good.  Matchbox looks toy like but seems to be shaped right.

Everybody likes Hasegawa, so much so that many kit builders find it heresy to even question the accuracy of their kits.  But I remember the days when their kits were junk!  This Hasegawa kit is definitely not from their junk days in the 1970s.  It’s the best two seater F-104 available in 1:72 scale.

The 1990s issue Monogram kit is the winner for straight out of the box appearances.   What’s interesting is that there are some reviews out there about the Monogram F-104C that complain of too many rivets, canopy defects and even that the Monogram kit is the same as the Revell F-104G kit with raised panel lines. My kit has fine recessed panel lines and neither too many rivets or a defective canopy and is hands down the best looking of the bunch.  I believe there is confusion because before Revell and Monogram were forced to merge (by parent company Odyssey Partners of New York, in 1986) they issued their own F-104 which was an old kit with raised panel lines and lots of rivets.  Since the merger many kit bashers think every Monogram kit was originally a Revell kit, or vice versa.  In 1996 Monogram issued a new tooled F-104C, it is not the older Revell kit. Lets confuse you even more by talking about Revell Germany.  Currently it’s known as Revell Germany here in the U.S. and since 2000 they’ve issued a lot of Hasegawa kits under their label.  However, through the 1970s to early 1990s Revell Plastics, or Revell AG (what we now call Revell Germany) issued a lot of junky kits, old Revell kits with raised lines and masses of rivets, crappy old Frog kits, and even Matchbox kits when they bought all the Matchbox molds.  From 1980 to 83 Revell was owned by a French company called CEJI, sometimes kits were issued with the label Revell-CEJI.  In the 1990s Revell Germany (officially Revell KG, or Revell GmbH) was issuing almost anything under the sun regardless of how crappy the quality was (or is, as they are still issuing old Frog and Matchbox kits).  Clue, since the late 1990s Revell Germany has been using blue bordered end opening boxes.  And for even more confusion, in 2006 Revell Germany became officially independent of what we now call Revell USA (or Revell-Monogram), however, between 2007 and 2012 both Revell-Monogram and Revell Germany were taken over by Illinois based Hobbico.  And don’t forget there’s also ‘Revell-Japan’ sometimes Takara sometimes Gunze Sangyo, ‘Revell-Mexico’ Lodela and ‘Revell-Brazil’ Kikoler!  So, the only way to tell the quality of the kit is to open the box and look at the parts, something hard to do when many surviving brick-n-mortar shop owners would shoot you for doing so, and when most kit purchases are now made through the mail or internet.

Another indicator that the MMPBooks 1:72 Scale Plans might be wrong is that all the kits had main wings and elevators (horizontal tails) that were identical to each other dimensionally, and were slightly larger in span and cord than the Scale Plans.  For even more evidence that the Scale Plans are wrong; when you compare the kit fuselages to the overhead view they’re even longer than in the side view! This could put me off buying anymore MMP Scale Plans books.

For those who love math, to find out how long the F-104 fuselage should be in 1:72 scale do it yourself!

1:72 comparison F-86 Saber Fujimi vs Heller, or, Nobody is Perfect!

Kit Bashing, Reviews

1:72 comparison F-86 Saber Fujimi vs Heller, or, Nobody is Perfect!

In 2011, I compared Heller, Hobby Craft (now issued by Academy) and Fujimi F-86F Sabers but did not have any scale drawings to check accuracy.   I’ve gotten my hands on some Japanese 1:72 scale drawings and checked the Fujimi, Heller and a High Planes conversion fuselage (I no longer have the Hobby Craft kit).

Click pics to make bigger

Part One: Heller, Fujimi & Hobbycraft F-86 Sabre kits compared 

 

Kit Bashing, Technology, U.S.

Martial Law U.S.A.: RC model planes now considered ‘drones’ must be registered with Obama Regime!

17 October 2015 (01:19 UTC-07 Tango 01)/25 Mehr 1394/03 Muharram 1436/05 Bing-Xu (9th month) 4713

U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration are being tasked by Barack Obama to register all owners and operators of remote control model planes!

I guess they can get a little big and dangerous.

Model planes are now considered ‘drones’ under new regulations.   The new rules go into effect on the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.  Kit bashers who build flying models will have to get “permission” to fly their homegrown planes, and then register them.

Oooops!

Australia bans: “remotely controlled device, including a vehicle or a model of a vehicle, including, for example, any of the following operated by remote control— (a) a toy car (b) a model plane (c) a drone or unmanned aerial vehicle” 

Idaho Students Building Model Kits

 

Kit Bashing

Model-land ‘deaths’, 2013-15!

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Incomplete list of hobby shop shutdowns.

California: After 67 years a hobby shop I loved to check out whenever I was forced to visit my child hating Oma, Dave’s Hobby Central, in Santa Barbara closed down: “It is with deep regret and a heavy heart that I must to tell you that today we have closed the doors for good! After a long and fruitless year I have no choice but to fold up the doors.”-store statement on Facebook

Hawaii: Toys N’ Joys shut down after 30 years in business.

Idaho:

The original 1990s Dapco Hobbies location in Pocatello, on Garret Way, vacant for several years since Dapco moved to Chubbuck in the early 2000s.

In Chubbuck, at the end of 2014, and after 23 years the iconic local Dapco Hobbies went up for sale.  Employees said the current owner was selling everything off and wants out of the hobby business.  But at the beginning of 2015 Dapco Hobbies relocated to a much, much smaller place in Pocatello (across the street from Bamboo Garden Chinese buffet), apparently to pleas from customers (and the employees) that it not shutdown.  Dapco Hobbies was originally located on Garrett Way in Pocatello (according to the Better Business Bureau, that was beginning in 1991).  After Corey & Melia took over, Dapco relocated to Chubbuck around 2007-08.  For a very brief time Dapco Hobbies had a shop in Ammon, then Idaho Falls (apparently they left about the same time the ‘big box’ Hobby Town left Idaho Falls), and they even had an internet website.  Dapco Hobbies started out focused on trains, then shifted to RC when that got big.  I went there for the plastic model kits (and I still do, unfortunately they got hit by RC burglars right after they moved into their current Pocatello location off Yellowstone Avenue).

Illinois: Plastic model kit company Testors laid off 107 employees at its Rockford plant!  Testors has operated out of Rockford since 1929, they also make paint and other model building supplies.  Company officials say the bad economy is forcing them to eliminate some of their model supply brands.  This means closing their 84 years old Blackhawk Park Avenue building, and moving operations into a smaller building.

Kentucky: In Louisville, model train store L&N Trains and Things shut down after 32 years. The owner blames health problems (just in time for Obama Care).

New York:   In Fairpoint, after 30 years Toy Soldier shutdown.   In Farmingdale, Model Power, a major internet model railroad retailer, is being killed off by Too Big to Jail banks: “After nearly 50 years serving the hobby industry, our 3rd generation family business will be closing effective immediately to the public. We will be reaching out to our clients over the next few weeks to settle any demand needs that they may have.

In 2007, our banks began an aggressive deleveraging process. They no longer approved of a profitable and paying client such as ours, which had been reliant on inventory. This is why one of the industry’s most extensive lines, had begun to see much of its products unavailable on the market. Now it will no longer be seen at all.

During these past 7 years, we had made changes to the business in order to accommodate and adjust to the changing nature of the business relationship with our lenders. We had offered multiple solutions to our lenders in order to ‘fix’ our situation, all were rejected, came with different restrictions, or offered too little too late. In all our efforts, no arrangements by our lenders would allow for Model Power to arrive at a position in which we could get back to fill our customer needs.

We would like to take the time to thank all of those whom we have worked with the past 50 years. To our customers and competitors within the industry, we thank you.

Sincerely,
The Model Power Family”

I’ve been reporting on the deleveraging conspiracy by the Too Big to Jail banks, read the articles and weep: De-leveraging will continue until the economy improves, and that means you!,  it’s called Deleveraging and it’s a sign we’re in a “Terminal Downturn”!, 4,000 people stranded when….airline is suddenly deleveraged, All part of the IMF’s orders to deleverage!, IMF pushes for U.S. consolidation, code for even more drastic deleveraging!

Ohio: In Lakewood, after 67 years Wings Hobby Shop shutdown.  The owner blames lazy young people: “We peaked out, volume-wise, in 1995.  Little by little it started to go away, because we weren’t getting any young people……Society has evolved into a mode of instant gratification…….They want to have a collection to look at, but they don’t want to build anything. “-Al Cicerchi

Wisconsin: In Wausau a 50 years old hobby store shutdown.  The owner of Pope’s Hobbyland said it was time he retired.   After 50 years iconic Greenfield News and Hobby store shutdown.  The store was up for sale, with no luck.   “A lot of kids aren’t picking up these hobbies either because they’re being priced out … or because they’d rather go to online or home video games, and it’s hard to counteract that.”-Jeff Reich, editor of Model Retailer,  Kalmbach Publishing

Obama regime using 2011 financing order to shut down successful ebay model kit sellers! 

If you like building model planes, then you are a terrorist! 

Styrofoam containers, boards or sheets, we model builders have been recycling them into diorama bases for years. 

Hot Wheels, Matchbox & other toy cars are the new way to protest your corrupt local government!

Iran to display life size model of U.S. Stealth Drone, sends Obama a smaller hot pink version 

Kit Bashing & Education Reform: Idaho Students Building Model Kits 

Kit Bashing, Technology

Kit Bashing: 3D Printer helps save ‘Siamese Twins’ by creating plastic model!

11 June 2015 (00:17 UTC-07 Tango 01)/21 Kordad 1394/23 Sha’ban 1436/25 Ren-Wu (4th month) 4713

“With the 3D model, we could better understand the actual anatomical structure of the twin girls’ conjoined parts. And it helped us to decide on a more precise starting point…”-Zheng Shan, chief surgeon

A 3D printer helped Chinese medical personnel separate two girls joined at the butt.

Healthcare workers at the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, in Shanghai, used MRI and  CT scans, in conjunction with the printer, to map out and create 3D models of the infant girl’s hips and spines.  They used the models to practice ‘virtual’ operations, before performing the actual separation.

The concern was that it appeared that the last part of the girl’s lower intestine were fused into one.

So far the operation is considered successful, but doctors are waiting three days to make sure the girls are recovering well, before making an official proclamation.