Hi, I've done quite a few models throughout the course of my life, and most have been 1/48 scale. Most have been aircraft, and a few cars. Most if not all of them were revell/monogram brand though, because it was what was available.. We now have a privately owned hobby shop in our town though, and he has italieri, hasegawa, tamiya, revell/monogram, academy, airfix, and trumpeter models... I plan to build mostly aircraft models modern and historic fighters planes. Can some of you guys who have experience with a lot of different brands tell me which ones are the best and why please?? It would really be helpful. I want to buy some different brand models in the future to try out, but i want ones that are at least as good as the standard revell monogram ones that i'm used to. Models that are more complex, or higher skill level is ok. I realize that there is likely no real "best" per say, but I'd like some opinions. Maybe someone could give me their opinions or put the listed brands in order of best to ok... or tell a little about some of the top brands in their own opinion. Thanks in advance for your help.
J.Austin

Hello there and welcome the forum. I have been building aircraft all my life and "seriously" for about 15 years now. I will give you a few heads up from my perspective at least.

I think Academy is one of the best deals around. You have to be careful with some of the decals you get, they sometimes aren't the best, they don't perform well, i.e. they are thick, or brittle or don't conform well even with a softening agent such as Micro Sol or even Solvaset.

Some of the newer Academy kits are fine, however, because they have improved the decals. The Me 262 is one example of a good kit, the P-47D "razorback" is another.

Tamiya also makes affordable kits, they average around, in 72 scale, the scale I build in, around 25 dollars or so. The decals work fine, they are thin and conform easily to the surface of the model with just a little bit of softening agent. They have a wide range of aircraft in their Warbird series as well. From the deHaviiland Mosquito, to the P-51, to the F4U Corsair to several Japanese types like the Kawanashi "Violet Lightning" or what we called the "George".

Hasegawa is also a good one to cut your teeth on, or even enjoy as a somewhat experienced modeler. I enjoyed the Mitsubishi J2M Thunderbolt in 72 scale again, it's an older kit but if you can find it on e bay or at the hobby shop it's a nice one.

Feel free to look at my gallery of photos of models which I have built. It will give you an idea of the type of quality of kit you can buy hopefully. I may not be the best modeler on the site, but I do a fair job I think and have fun, that's the important part!! Hope this helps some. Russell

"Best" is really subjective. It all depends on what you're looking for, what you're prepared to pay, and what your skill level is so one person's "best" is another person's horror story sometimes

For general all-around detail at an affordable price, your Revellogram kits are hard to beat. Sure, they're not really world-beaters, and the older ones are a little inaccurate here and there, but they're generally a good build with sufficient detail to satisfy most people.

Academy kits are a bit of a mixed bag, as Russel notes above. The details are generally good, crisp and mostly accurate, but the early decals really cry out for replacing.

Hasegawa kits are good, but sometimes over-engineered because Hasegawa like to make modular moulds so they can produce the most possible versions of any one subject they can. Building them is sometimes an exercise in patience, dry-fitting and fiddling. You get a lot of entertainment for your modelling dollar, at the price of sometime frustration.

Trumpeter kits are the new kid on the block. They're adventurous, filled with detail, but often difficult to build and sometimes with questionable accuracy. Still, Trumpeter is prolific, and they're getting better with every new kit.

Italeri have been around for a long time, and some of their kits show it. They also re-box models from other companies, so the plastic you're getting may not have been done in Italy. Their kits are generally good, if sometimes lacking in details. But that's why the modelling gods invented aftermarket

Airfix are the pioneers. They did the very first plastic model ever, the Ferguson Tractor. For decades Airfix was IT. So accordingly, many of their kits are getting long in the tooth now, and have been surpassed by others. In the recent past, Airfix also reboxed other manufacturers' kits. Their Spitfires of the past 2 or 3 years have been excellent.


Eduard started off with "limited-run" kits, very accurate, but needing a lot of skill to finish well. Over the past 20 years they've come a long way, and now their kits are the equal of anyone's, if a trifle fiddly to do well. Eduard also does photo-etched brass details, and many of their kits come complete with etch, masks and resin detail parts. Eduard do some really excellent World War I kits.

The other big name ex-limited-run company is Roden. Their kits are more fiddly than Eduards, but equally adventurous. They also have a large range of Great War subjects.

Tamiya have been the gold standard for the past 20 years or so. Their kits, especially the 1/48 fighters, have been described as "Shake the box" quality: Open the box, pour in some glue, shake it and out pops a contest-winning model. In reality it's not that easy, but also not too far away. Tamiya kits are simple yet detailed, extremely buildable and quite accurate. You really have to work hard to screw one up.

We have a large number of reviews in the site archives, so if you're curious about a particular kit, first check the reviews tab at the top of the page; it's entirely possible that someone's reviewed it for the site. If it isn't there, ask in the relevant forum. Chances are that one of our members has built it and is willing to share what the experience was like.

subjective is the word!
personally I don't worry too much about the actual manufacturer of a kit, if I fancy building something I buy it, its that simple.

thats why in my stash I have tamiya kits (1/48 dornier 335, 1/72 corsair)happily sat next to 30/40 year old airfix, frog and matchbox kits.

of course I should mention that another factor in my kit building decisions is great box art, I have a few kits now bought because the artwork on the box sold me the kit!

hth, Phil.

Strangely nobody mentioned Dragon.
Dragon has been making aircrafts for some time, perhaps reissuing old moulds (1/48 He-162) and issuing its own new molds, which are extremely detailed though a bit complicated (1/72 Hellcat and Helldiver). Never tried them, but they look very promising, although there are too many parts for a newbie, and the sprue attachment points are very thick, thus requiring a good amount of cleanup.
Eduard instead has been making kits for some time as stated by Jessica, but the most recent models are simply great. Look at the Profipack MiG-21s, F6F, Bf-109 or FW-190. I have the 1/72 Profipack F6F-3 in the stash, it will be my next build, and all I read are good comments. Great fit, simple build, clever engineering, excellent detail, several options, coloured PE included along with canopy masks and 6 marking options, and above all excellent price.
Another brand that is very renowned is Wingnut Wings, making only 1/32 WW1 kits. Never tried them due to the lack of time and display space and the fact that they are expensive but you get kits with excellent detail and engineering.
If you want to build something easy and cheap without caring much for the detail, go for one or Airfix's new boxing!

Thanks a TON for the replies guys! and gals! That was exactly the information I was looking for. I Used to build models, painting however the directions stated, and doing the bare minimum of detail, rushing to get the model together. That was a loong time ago though. After having so much fun building the latest model, Now being much older (31) and doing a bit of extra detail in many places, I would like to go on to much finer detail, and build some higher end stuff. I am a Graphic arts bachelor grad from AIP, and took several advanced airbrush classes, and am itching to get my iwata eclipse involved.. lol. Anyhow Thanks a lot everyone for your replies, As i mentioned, That was just what I needed. A few opinions.
Sincerely,
J.Austin

You're quite welcome

Don't be afraid to ask about any kit you're considering. We have thousands of extremely knowledgeable members here who will be happy to share their opinions with you.

New-tool Airfix are down right excellent. The new BF109E I just built blew me away. Side-by side with a Tamiya I built some years back there's no contest.

Talking of Academy's decals, their older stuff isn't that great indeed, but they switched to Cartograf's products some years ago, which is top-notch. There's usually a marking on the box top with Cartograf's logo so there's no guessing involved.

Elaborating a bit on Revell (of Germany, though they're about to merge, at least on the top level), they tend to come really diverse as of the age an origin of the moulds. Generally speaking, their recent (talking of mid-90's and up) is usually very good. But then they do a LOT of reboxing of other manufacturers' kits, old and new. And the boxes don't usually have much in the way of knowing of the contents, unless you ask to take a peek inside, read reviews beforehand or ask around for pointers.
Their range of reboxings range from old early seventies (perhaps even late sixties?) kits all the way to recent, superb Hasegawa kits like the 1:32 Fw190 D-9 and 1:72 He 111 H-6, which at least in Europe sell for a lot sells than the Hasegawa boxings.