Hi all,

I would like to buy an aircraft model in 1:48 scale: Bell P-63C Kingcobra in order to build my Indochina war collection.
There are 3 model kits: Fonderie Miniature, MPM and Hi-Tech - I need your opinion on building these kits: quality, accuracy, detail, etc.
All advice will be appreciated! Thank you.


Francois

MPM or Hi-Tech like those two companies the best, FM has good resin but the plastic always seem to be grainey and in need of clean up. MHO for what its worth

I've built MPM's P-63A and C. The only difference being the strake added to the lower fuselage of the C. Here's a build article I wrote for the A: http://www.pix.prettyneatinc.com/kingcobrabuild.htm
The MPM kits come with resin and a vac canopy, and the Hi-Tech kits come with PE (I'm unsure if the canopy is injected). FM kits typically come with roughly molded parts, and some contain white metal parts and vac canopies. All are limited-run type kits, and require dryfitting, trimming, filling, and sanding.
None of these are easy builds, with FM's kit being the most difficult. The MPM kit is good value for the money, but suffers from inaccurate wheel wells (I didn't correct mine).

Hope this helps !

Steve,
Thank you for a good advice.

Bill,
Many thanks for an excellent review of MPM P-63 Kingcobra, I will search for it to build. Happy to get your building experience.


Francois