Hi All.

I have exclusively worked with Armour since I've returned to the hobby and have I believe 4 finished kits under my belt. I'd rank my self as having intermediate skills if someone needs to know.

Anyways my father-in-law who is huge on plane modelling got me the 1/32 Tamiya Mustang for a birthday present "So I'd stop building targets". Amazing and generous gift, but pretty intimidating. I'd hate to make a hash of it, since it probably cost what 3 of my armour kits would cost, so I'd like to get some practice before I tackle it.

Can anyone recommend a easy building, good quality and not terribly expensive 1/32 kit? My interest is mostly WW2.

Thanks for your time,

Jeff

Probably best value in 1/32 is Revell.

Their three latest (He 111, Ar 196, Ju 88) are a bit big or complex for a beginner. Although I haven't built one myself, I would recommend the He 162 See Merlin's review here. Sells for about £16 in the UK. Released in 2004, I think. Here is one nicely built by josé pedro.

This is probably a better bet than the various 1/32 kits from Revell/Monogram from the 1970s that sell for about the same.

I can recomend the Revell 1:32 Heinkel He162 Salamader. Quite well detailed, fairly new tooling so a good fit and not too expensive. Its also not too big at this scale so won't take up much shelf space. They do a few others like a Spitfire mk22 but not done any so can't comment.
Hope this helps

While looking for Revell kits, keep an eye out for the Fw 190 D-9 and Bf 109 K-4. They're both reboxed Hasegawa kits. At least in Europe they are significantly cheaper than the respective Hasegawa boxings.


Here's an in-box review of the 109 here on Aeroscale: --click--
And here's a look at the Fw 190 D-9, a Hasegawa boxing, but the plastic is the same: --click--
According to this, the Revell reboxing includes both the regular and the late Ta-152 style tail.

Talking of Revell kits, their decals are good, but they never include any kind of swastikas, so you'll have to get them elsewhere. Hasegawa on the other hand usually has complete (ie. not cut apart assemble-it-yourself, politically correct) swastika decals. Unless you buy those Hasegawa kits from Germany, that is...

Thanks for everyone's input. I've been considering a couple of eduards weekend edition BF-109's since I can get them for around $30, which isn't too bad. Does anyone have any experience with those?

Thanks again

Jeff

Here are reviews of the E-3, E-4 and a build of the E-7 right here on Aeroscale.

This kit is not as extreme as your Mustang but it's very nicely detailed and not teriby difficult to build.

I'd go with the 1/32 Revell/Hasegawa Bf109K or Bf109G14, as they are nice, basic yet detailed kits, and have the added advantage of being an adversary for your P51D.

I've built the Eduard 109E kit, and it requires some effort to get the cowl closed up properly if you include any engine detail (otherwise you have some big holes with nothing behind them). You'll also need to get rid of a couple spurious panel lines around the fuselage gun cowl area (where the 3 kit parts join together - which is missed in many builds/reviews). The wing slats are also too large (they need to be rescribed about 2mm forward of where they are), which requires that properly sized national insignia on the upper wings go over the slats, or you use the kit-provided insignia which are too small if not corrected. All that being said, it builds into a very nice looking model with some effort (I have a half-dozen more in my stash), but since you wanted something that is a good beginner kit, I would look elsewhere.

Doug

Thanks for the suggestions. I wish I could track down one of those revell/reboxed hasegawa kits, possibly I will do some lurking on a buy/sell forum.

I may regret it, but I keep coming back to the AR 196 suggested. What's not to love about a Seaplane?

Cheers

Jeff

What about the Revell Super cub? It's not huge, not terribly complicated and the paint scheme is quite simple. It's also not that expensive. There's a float plane version available as well.

The only thing I would caution on the AR196 is that the canopy is all multi-piece (e.g. you need to assemble 3 clear parts to make the windscreen, 3 clear parts for the center, etc.). If gluing together canopies concerns you for any reason, you might want to reconsider.

FWIW, here is a 1/32 Hasegawa G-14 for sale, $30 US + shipping. You might even find them cheaper from eBay, etc.

Doug

A further note of caution: the Ar 196 needs its floats rigging. This is not for the faint-hearted. Old hands will tell you they can sew an aeroplane together in their sleep, but I really wouldn't recommend it for a first attempt.

I was stuck with the same question few months back.
Till I see the new He-219 this is the easiest one I think - Revell BAe Hawk T.1 Red Arrows.
No floats, no rigging, no complicated interiors and engine sets - pure modelling fun.

if you can find one of the 21st Century 1/32 scale kits (try ebay), they go together very easily and are a good place to get used to filling and fitting a kit.
I just finished this one:


Or, if you can hop on ebay, get an old Revell 1/32 kit. They too can build out quite nice and leave the door open for learning how to scratchbuild.

Yep, my dad, got me started in modeling when I was a kid by building the old (by standards today) Revell 1/32 scale Vought F4U-1 Corsair. Of course, he had been a Marine in WW II and had a special place in his heart for that bird. Revell does make other 1/32 scale kits that would be just as good for you to cut your teeth on so to speak! Any questions just ask and good luck. Russell

Hey Jeff, another easy build would be trumpeters P-40B. Not sure of the price, I P/U mine from another modeler here on armorama pretty cheap. Has pretty good detail and a little P/E but should be good to bite into.

Thanks for everyone's input. I was wondering if hasegawa's 1/32 Komet would be an appropriate kit. Simply from looking at directions on-line it seems like a breeze.

Cheers

Jeff

All due respect to everyone's suggestions - I don't think Revell kits are worth much of anything.

More to the point I don't think that building a revell kit will sufficiently prep you for building Tamiya's Pony. You've been modelling anyway so you know how to put A into B to make part C, so you're more concerned with the technique of building an aircraft - and it comes down mostly to painting. The revell kits will challenge you in ways that wont really help with the Tamiya kit IMHO.

I would probably start with a 1/48th scale Tamiya kit, something like their P-51, or their fantastic P-47D would do wonders for your skillset. I would probably actually recommend building their !/48th scale P-47D accompanied by Brett Green's FANTASTIC book on how to build the P-47D Thunderbolt. You'll learn everything you've not been required to do while assembling armor.


If scale is that important to you, then I would recommend one of Hasegawa's newer offerings in 32nd scale, probably their Ki-84 or their P-47D - these will give you a much better grasp of the difference between building armor and aircraft and put you in the best possible position to start Tamiya's amazing Mustang.