The wait is over! Jean-Luc Formery reviews Zoukei-Mura's eagerly anticipated largescale Skyraider.

Link to Item



If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Nice review Rowan.
Looks like a really nice kit.
Too bad the didn't include the weapons load though.

Good review Jean-Luc.

One comment I would make though, $141 is not cheap for a 1/32 aircraft, especially one you have to buy the external stores for later.

Anyway, until the Trumpeter A-1H comes out I will be sitting on the side-lines.

Thanks again for the review,
warreni

Hi all,

Rowan, thank you very much for taking the time to make the review live. The Ordnance is not included in the kit indeed but can be purchased separately (a review will follow soon).

The price of the weapon store is $22. Added to the $141 it makes a total of $162. The Tamiya Mustang is $151 at Squadron. I can understand that if one does not want to build the kit but put it in the stash it is a high price. But if one wants to have a 1:32 scale Skyraider in his finished model collection, the Zoukei-Mura kit will provide many hours of enjoyable build and an impressive model once finished.

Jean-Luc

Good review Jean-Luc - thank you. In truth, I saw and handled one of these 1/32 Z-M kits for the very first time quite recently (Ta-152) and I have to say I was pretty underwhelmed after all the hype that surrounded them. I think I was expecting something ala' Wingnut Wings' or 'Tamiya' (Spits/Mustang) in terms of details & moldings and instead found it to be like a decent Trumpeter or even recent Revell 1/32 kit. Indeed, some of the parts were very 'soft' in detail terms, the silver-grey coloured plastic coloured parts looked weird and I have heard reports it will not glue properly?

I am not being critical of the Skyraider as I have not seen it and I am sure it will be welcomed by the USN fans. Personally and it's solely my own view, I just don't buy into the Z-M hype if the Ta-152 was anything to go by and representative of the end result? The requirement to pay extra for the Skyraider weapons is also pretty poor I think; as a weapon load is pretty much a 'signature' for this specific aircraft.

In terms of setting standards and the benchmark by which all newcomers will be judged, I still think WNW are in a league of their own; albeit catering for a different and date specific era of modelling aviaition. That said, it will be interesting to see how this Skyraider kit actually builds and it will certainly be an impressive and imposing model with a full load and a good paint job.

Thanks again.
Gary

Warren, you have identified the elephant in the room with large scale aircraft, LOL.

A Hasegawa comes stripped-down in many cases. I have their P-47D and bought it for about $40 from a modeler getting out of 32 scale, but it "needs" $150 in AM stuff, including the cockpit, wheel wells, PE, decals, etc. I didn't NEED every AM item I purchased, but want the highest level of accuracy I can get. Even Trumpeter kits that include a lot of detailing (e.g., their 262 jets) still can be improved with wheel wells, cockpits, PE, etc.

Does one NEED all this extra stuff? Not necessarily.

But Z-M are including all this stuff in their base price, so their kits are expensive to begin with. They off-load the extras in case you don't want them. Why pay for ordnance you're not going to use?

Pacific Coast Models does the same thing: a limited-run aircraft with an Eduard PE dashboard, some resin goodies and good decals by Cartograf. You don't NEED anything else to build a very nice kit OOB.

Z-M's stuff is pricey; so is Tamiya's. Hasegawa kits remain more affordable, but are less-detailed.

It's a zero-sum game to my thinking.

BTW, excellent review J-L!

Fundly enough, 8 years or so on from the review I have bought the kit. Told you I would sit on the sidelines for the moment.

I think I want the Trumpeter kit as well. Then I can share the weapons around between the two kits. Genius!!