I have been searching for a model kit of a particular U.S. military aircraft for some time. I have found it in a Hasegawa high grade kit in 1:32 scale. What is a fair price to pay for these kits? The kit is no longer in production.
Also, is there a place on the web to find dealers or distributors of Hasegawa kits?
Excuse my ignorance but I gave up model building aboout 30 years ago. I have particular interest in this kit because it is of the variation that was flown by a squadron that I was a member of 20 years ago. I have searched for replicas of this aircraft for many years but since it was a somewhat peculiar variation and was in service for a relatively short period of time combined with the fact that the squadron is no longer in existence, I have had no luck locating any replicas until recently.
The fact is, I don't intend to begin modeling again. I simply want a quality kit to have built and display in my den.

Welcome to the site.

Which kit is it?

Many of the Hasegawa 1/32nd kits you're seeing now were probably on the market 30-35 years ago and are just re-released with different decals -- at best.

If you're set on 1/32nd, take a look at the line of planes from Trumpeter, most of their stuff is pretty darn good and they have a long line of projected 1/32nd releses in the coming year(s).

Here is a good place to find all sorts of a/c kits, including both Trumpeter and Hasegawa. You may want to take a look at other scale and manufactures as well as there are all sorts of kits on the market today. Check back here for more advice if needed!

www.squadron.com

Go to "seach" at the top of their page and type in the a/c you are looking for, if they stock it, it should come up. You may want to start with the base air frame (i.e. F-104) and see what comes up, vairants may be listed under the generic name.

Good luck, let us know how you do.

First welcom. Now your question. This is a hard one since you didn't which Hasagawa HT kit it was. I have one of a very rare OA-4M and have only seen 1 other kit from that line for sale where I live in Japan. I'd like to know what you are looking for so I can help. there are many shops around me that specialize in OLD kits and they are tocked in Fire Hazard style floor to ceiling method. One shop Ispent the day in looking for an old Gunze Sanyo HT Pak 40 for a friend that had to have that specific kit. So let us know and I'll definatly try and help. I may even find it for you. STUG

Coincidently, the kit I'm looking at is an OA-4M of the H&MS-12 Outlaws. I was stationed at MCAS Iwakuni, Japan back in the early 80's

Nate, In response to your post, and having one of the Hasagawa Hi-Grade kits. I can say Trumpeter is nowhere near the mark set by Hasagawa with those 20 year old kits. The detail and features in them are awesome and most of them included resin and white metal parts. The kit he is looking for the OA-4M is jewel with metal landing gear full PE treatment and the stuff to convert it to that model of A-4 all in one box. This concept soon died as modelers in the '80s didn't want to pay $100 dollars for a model. The whole Hi-Grade line was discontinued and all the kits bought by modelers with a huge budget for kits and now they sit in collections waiting to built. BTW the only other OA-4M kits available are in 1/48th and 1/72nd. and Last I checked no one has yet to tackle a resin conversion for the current Hasagawa A-4. STUG

Suke:

First of all Welcome aboard..

I too was looking for this kit for a long time myself. I built this kit back in the in the early 90's when I was serving with the 4th MAW in Pa. because the model also has the H&MS 32 decal set and my CO at the time was the name on the kit. It was his bird. We presented it to him at his retirement ceramony.

Here recently Ebay has had a big run on this very kit. I got one for a pretty reasonable price. Now she sits in the pile waiting to be built.

A word of warning though. If you decided to go the Ebay route the decals due to the age of the kit have yellowed.( at least mine did) So at the moment the are getting to southside window treatment in hopes they will whiten up.. Other than that IMHO it is the best OA-4M ever made so far.

Give a holler if there is anything I can do to help ya find this baby. I know how it is to look for this kit and not be able to find it..

Paul

Willowgrove? I was there from Oct. 85 to Aug. of 86 (my EAS). I was a GSE Mech. but worked in the AIMD shop with the Navy. Incidently, I've seen 1:48 scale decal sets for VMA-131 (Diamondbacks) but have never seen a kit. A4M's seem like a common kit though.

I have found and purchased ($50.00) the Hasegawa kit on ebay. It's on the way. Advertised as mint in the factory sealed box. You pays your money, you takes your chances.

Suke:

Was stationed there from 89 to 93. I worked in the Station Weapons shop when I wasn't out on the line loading or building the frags for those Scooters.

There is a 1/48 kit out there with the Diamond backs Markings. It is made by Hobbycraft Canada. The kit has a few problems but for me the decals made up for the work. There are a few pics in my gallery of her. Albeit they could better than what they are.

Congrats on finding the kit. 50.00 is a deal considering what you get in it. Metal gear, pe and great detail. It realy is a steal at that price. As mentioned before the only problem I saw with mine was the yellowed decals. Hope you have better luck with them than I did.

Keep us posted on how it goes can't wait to hear what you think when you get her and open the box for the first time..

Paul

Warlock, I went to your gallery and saw your Skyhawk. Nice work.

Thanks to all for your comments. I'll let you know how the kit is when it arrives. BTW, this is a great site. I'm lucky I found it.