Hello fellow modelers,

My son and I are new to the hobby and need some advice. Id love to build a P-47 and my son wants to build a P-51. We also like the Helldiver type planes also. Weve been looking at 1/72 and 1/48 scale. Any suggestions?

Thanks

Jon,

Welcome to the hobby and Aeroscale. My advice would be to treat yourselves to Tamiya kits - they do both P-47 and P-51 kits in 1:48 scale (and probably 1:72 too for all I know - 1:48 is my scale). There are cheaper manufacturers but Tamiya kits are very well engineered, assemble easily and look great when finished.
Good luck

Simon

I'd say go with 1/48. Easier kits... asking on here about specific kits should get a response on difficulty level. Most importantly don't go for any elaborate camouflage/livery! Helldivers came in nice easy solid colour schemes. Razorbacks in solid green. Work your way up on that front.

Might also wish to avoid bare metal finished aircraft until you feel more confident.

Thanks for the replies. Why is Tamiya a fist full of pennies? Id love to do 1/48 scale Tamiya but price is up there isnt it.

Hi Jon and welcome,

Although Tamiya are great kits they are expensive, if you are both novices I'd go for Italeri, Airfix, Revell (Germany) or Academy to cut your teeth on, all of them cheaper but in some cases less detailed and can sometimes have fit issues. Reason I'd go this route is that as a novice if you make a mistake and you possibly will, you have not just done it on an expensive Tamiya kit.
Once you have a few of the cheap kits under your belt then by all means go to Tamiya, of course you can also use the cheap kits to practice on.

Scale wise start on 1/72 and see how you feel then move up to 1/48 if you find 1/72 to small. Scale is a personal thing, some folks like 1/48 and nothing else, others 1/72, or you can be like me and do all scales 1/700, 1/350, 1/144, 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 depending on subject / theme.


Hope this helps

Jon I don't know about prices in the US but both kits in 1/48th scale in the UK are about £20 each which for the detail on the models is a fair price. I too believe that the Tamiya offerings will give you pleasing results with what is in the box, the kits go together easily and well plus the instructions and kit part locations are first rate.

Tamiya is indeed somewhat more expenvise than other brands. However, bar in mind that modelling remaisn a very cheap hobby. Even when buying relatively expensive kits yuo will find that, considering all the happy time spent, its fairly cheap.

I would also recommend Tamiya, becasue everything in those kits fits and instructions are clear which makes it a tad easier for beginners, and the outcome is a decent model which is a welcome start of a nice collection.

Personally, i prefer 1/48 scale as ideal compromise between size and detail but that doesn't mean that other scales are less valuable.

Above all, have fun

I appreciate everybody replying back. So is there a list of builds anywhere out on the web that has recomends of kits that are nice builds from various companies?

Hopefully I can wing my boy from his playstation and have some fun.

Jon, you can go to www.cybermodeler.com. There is a "top gun" list of aircraft kits by subject, with recommendations on which kit is best. You can also look at build reviews here. I have built both the Academy and Tamiya P-47 kits. The Academy kit was all right, but the Tamiya had better detail and much better decals. Academy does offer a nice 1/72 Helldiver kit. Italeri offers the SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber, which can be had inexpensively (on sale at Lucky Model right now). The 1/72 Academy P-40 series build up nicely. I've sat down with my boys and looked over the selection at Lucky Model, or at the hobby store, and we've been able to find a few kits we like.

G'day Jon. I think it's a great thing that you are doing with your son. My 2 sons and I love our time together at the workbench, and I created a discussion thread HERE to encourage other families to post their work. I find that building kits gives the boys a sense of real achievement when they can actually hold something in their hands that they have created. Reading and understanding the instructions, and working with small and sometimes ill-fitting parts is a great exercise in problem-solving and lateral thinking.

Your greatest challenge will come when your son starts to eye off your stash of kits, make sure that you have good security !

Good luck with your entry into this great hobby, please keep us updated and don't be shy about asking any questions that you have. As you can see the folks around here are really helpful and incredibly skilled and knowledgable modellers.

Cheers, D

Just a quick note about Academy kits. They are not too expensive, they are good kits, the good news is Academy has switched to Cartograph decals which are superior to what they did have in their models. A bottle of Solva Set is always good to have just in case though. It is a strong setting solution and is good to use when nothing else will work on decals. Russell

Hi Jon,
as I only build 1/48 I can give you advice only for that scale. If I read your first post correct, you want to build a Thunderbolt and your son a Mustang.

If you decide to built in quarterscale have you already thought of these new "Easy Assembly Authentic Kits" coming from Hobbyboss? They have both aircrafts in their program and over here in Germany they cost about 11 Euros which are about 15 USD. The kits are especially made for newbies who want a quick and good result. The price is more or less unbeatable and the details of the parts look good to me. I have the "Jug" in my stash already. And with around 40 parts per kit you should come to a fine result quickly.

If you decide to build in 1/72 you might give Academy a chance as Russell already mentioned. They have also both kits in their program in the smaller scale. Later, when you are more experienced I would recommend kits from Tamiya, Hasegawa or the new Revell ones.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy our great hobby!

Happy modelling!
Torsten