With Amtech's recent release of this kit in 1/48 there is not much need for a history with all that has been written. Basically if WW2 had kept going for another 6 months or so then the American B-17s and Mustangs were in for a rude shock. The Russians thought so much of the basic design that in a modified form it was the MiG 15. Check out www.luft46.com for more details.
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THE KIT |
This arrived on my front doorstep in a small box similar to that of Arbaand
some Toad Resins kits. I was very shocked when I heard of this kit as following
AMtech's release in 1/48. I was not expecting one in "the one true scale" as one
friend of mine terms it. The only previous kit has been a
plastic one from PM
of Turkey and this is very simple, it is a good beginners kit for your kids.
That is definitely not the case here.
The first thing out of the box were the instructions - 2 A4 sheets, thefirst
page being a black and white assembly diagram and here you realize the work
ahead of you. A detailed colour guide is included and a list of upcoming
releases - all Luft46 though I believe this list is under revision. The back
of this sheet has 3 colour photos of a completed kit with decal placement and
suggestions on camouflage and even includes USAAF markings for a captured
plane. The only thing I would disagree with here is that they state the decals
will be fine over matt paint. A look at the Balkenkreuzes on the upper and
lower wings of the completed kit confirms that you will get silvering unless
you use Future or similar methods. The last page contains another 6 colour
photos for detailing with photo-etch the engine, cockpit, flaps, u/c doors and
the X-4 missiles. Painting instructions are again given for these photos. What
can I say - in over 10 years of buying way too many resin kits and a few
plastic ones this is undoubtedly the best instruction sheet I've ever seen.
Tamiya etc could take lessons here.
Now to the actual kit. Nearly everything is in Ziploc bags - a good start. I
picked up the 2 body halves and started to examine them. Big surprises here,
the resin is grey rather than the usual cream and what's this - no smell. A
friend of mine who buys the occasional resin kit always puts them away for at
least 2 years to get rid of the smell - he calls it cellaring them, to me he's
just collecting them. It does still have that slight resin pebble texture
which is easily removed with a little sanding. The two body halves have 4
locator pins like an ordinary plastic kit though there are 3 moulding plugs
and a little flash that will need removal.
The rest of the resin covers the u/c bays, tail plane, cockpit, rudder and
flaps. The parts will need a little cleanup though nice touches are the tabs
for adding the wings and cutouts for the wingtip lights (supplied as clear
parts). The gun ports and shell ejection chutes are nicely moulded also. One
of my wings is slightly bent but a quick soak in hot water, bending and
immersion in cold water will straighten this out. On the whole this is quite
nice so far.
A minor disappointment is that the bomb bay between the main wheel bays is
not shown as on the AMtech kit. I imagine this is a moulding limitation from
using resin as to include it may have weakened this area too much.
Clear Parts - All separately bagged. These are the vacform wingtip lights and
two canopies, one is a spare - someone has finally listened to the cries of
reviewers. The two instrument panels (one is a spare) are printed on clear
acetate (similar to those found in Eduard brass detail sets) and are slightly
sticky on the back. This will really help in positioning these buggers - a
very good thought.
White metal - this bag contains such things as the nose inlet and tail
exhaust, pilot seat, u/c doors, u/c legs and pre-flattened wheels. The missile
bodies are also in white metal, although puzzlingly here I have 2 with nose
probes and 2 without. The only disappointment here is the nose inlet. It just
appears too shallow and the p/e piece is not going to help, I am going to have
to get out my drill on this.
Etched brass - 2 standard size sheets here in a goldy brass colour. The first
sheet covers the missile fins (16), wheel hubs (very nice), flap details and
some sundries. The second sheet covers details on the flaps, u/c bays, cockpit
details and more stuff for the missiles - quite a lot of fine detail here.
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CONCLUSIONS |
Given it's price is it worth the money asked? YES, undoubtedly as this kit
oozes quality and for a first kit it in this genre it is amazing. Inclusions
like lots of etched brass, white metal, quality decals and a colour
instructions sheet make this kit a rarity because the quality is so good.
Based on this kit I will be purchasing Marsh Models' next kit and perhaps most
tellingly this kit has leapt to the top of my work pile. Actually by the time
you read this I hope to be well underway. And yes Scott you will get the
review - slave-driver!
Thank You to John at