Can anyone tell me anything or point me in the direction of reviews of the Revell and Hasegawa 1/72 Frank and Tony kits? I keep seeing them come up on ebay and fancy building either or both of them.
thanks
Mike

Here is a couple shots of a Hasegawa "Tony" I built. Thought you might like to see it. Russell







P.S. I really haven't had a bad Hasegawa kit, even the old ones turn out pretty good models. Revell it depends more from kit to kit.

I have nothing against Revell, and have quite a few of their 1/72 scale offerings. But, if I had a choice between a Hasegawa and a Revell, I'd go Hasegawa every time. I love their kits.

Nice "Tony" there, Russell.

Cheers,
Mike

Nice looking Tony there - what sort of date does the tooling for that kit come from?

I agree about Revell, they can be hit or miss. I have several FW190's by them, also a ME109G10, Spitfire MkV, HE177, Lancaster (dambuster), Tornado GR1, Jaguar, Eurofighter and all look nice but they do have some dogs like the P51D.

True Hasegawa kits generally are neat and fit together nicely (even the older ones) but I was wondering if the Revell kits were newer, as the newer ones can be good, as mentioned above.

thanks
Mike

Hey there Mike. I think the tooling for that "Tony" I built was sometimes in the eighties. It is an older kit but builds up well. I'm an Out of the Box builder anyway so it is good enough for me at least. Ha ha Russell

P.S. I really like some of the Revell of Germany kits, in the blue box you know, I think some of them are really good deals. However, it is hit or miss somewhat even with them. If you could be more specific I might be able to help you more. Thanks.

Here are a couple Revell of Germany kits which I liked Mike. Take a look. Russell





P.S. I really like the 1/72 scale Tamiya warbirds series of kits. They are reasonably priced, around twenty two dollars, U.S., plus they build up well and have pretty dog gone good decals.

Agree on the Tamiya kits - I have some in my stash and have built the FW190A3 already.
Nice HO229 and P47. Is that the Revell P47M? If so i may have to have one!
thanks
Mike

Yes Mike that is the Revell of Germany P-47M. It was a pretty nice kit at a very reasonable price. Russell

Here is my Tamiya FW-190A-3. A nice build, the only thing I'm not sure about is the decals on the sides of the fuselage? Were A-3's carrying an open iron cross like the decal has? I don't know, maybe we can say it was a little bit later model! Ha ha

Thought I would show you the Hasegawa "Frank" I built in 1/72 scale Mike. It too is an older kit but came out pretty nice I think. Hope this helps in your decision making. Russell

No idea - I did the same markings as you. I just had to have one with the eagles on the side. I was at the Flying Legends show at RAF Duxford last year and someone was flying a FW190A8 (a full size replica - so good you wouldn't know) with the eagles on and it was awesome.
I will look out for the Revell P47M now. I have the Academy P47D as it represents a machine flown from Duxford in the war. Just love the blue colours on the M model though.
Are you using Matt paint or a matt varnish? I've been using semi-gloss paint and varnish on mine, mostly because all the WW2 planes I've seen are in museums and have been restored that way.
Theres a Frank on ebay at the moment, it's due to end in the next day or 2, will have a stab at buying it as long as the price doesn't go too high.
thanks
Mike

Hey there Mike. I am using Polly Scale Acrylic paints in the case of the P-47M, in the case of the "Frank" I am using Model Master Acryl paints. Both sets of paints are flat, of course you want to airbrush after painting, a good gloss coat over the entire model so that the decals have a shiny surface to stick to. Microscopically, flat paints are rough and the gloss coat fills in the irregularities on the surface of the paint. This prevents air from getting trapped under the decal and causing silvering! Yikes. After application of the decals then I airbrush an application of flat clear coat over the entire model since military aircraft are flat by and large in appearance. Hope this helps. Russell


P.S. I used just plain blue paint sold by Polly Scale and then British Azure blue for the camoflage job on the P-47M. Some say it doesn't have enough contrast between the colors, one of the blues should be more black, but at the time I thought I was doing the correct thing. No one really remembers how the two blues compared to each other so I guess I can get away with it. In my book at least!

Are you airbrushing your colours as well as the varnish or do you hand paint them?

thanks
Mike

I airbrush my colors. All the aircraft I've posted have been airbrushed. The gloss coat and flat coat are also airbrushed. Russell

I'll have to get a new needle for my airbrush and have another go with that! Just managed to bag a Hasegawa Frank at last on evilbay! Gotta finish my Spitfire mk IX first and the JU88 i'm doing!