Hi everybody,

Sunday i purchased the new Dragon P-51D, and so i started to look at some reviews of this kit on the net.

First of all, i like the kit a lot, nice detail, ok some overdone panellines, but i don't care much about this, and a good overal quality.

When i came across the review that Tom Cleaver posted on the Modeling Madnes site aboutthis beauty i was shocked.

In my opinion, this isn't a fair review, but more a insult to the Dragon compagny.
everybody know's that airplane and other kit's are all far from perfect, there is alway's room for better detailing en perfection, but to breack a kit right down from the first moment, i'l find this just poor stupidity.

At my opinion, people like Tom Cleaver should just build real airplane's, and not models.

To say that he trashed the kit right in to the trash bin, that's just freackin stupid also, that man should think twice before he put this nonsens on the net

I'm not a perfectionist, i'l try alway's to make a model more or less acurate, so it's peresentable for everybody, at the end, iff the builder is happy, that's it.

greetz

danny

Danny,

I've only seen the box art of this particular Dragon P 51d kit, it seems to me that this is re guvinatation of the older Hasegawa tooling, I've also heard [from members of my model club], that this kit has been caned by various builders on other model sites.
I agree there are a small number of review modellers who should not be allowed to build a model kit, due to their constant critizisms, for any medium review.

In the small model club I am a member of, almost every meeting, members mention critizisms by internet or magazine writters of various model kits and in some cases the model subjects in question are what a member would be building [at the meeting], at the time.

Model kits are the modellers choice, good or bad and regardless of what others may say, if you look at it outside the scale, stand 32 feet away from the model. Can any point of critizism be seen of the model subject now ?

This is my opion and is not ment to open a can of worms in any way.

Couldn't have done more damage to the kit in the review if had been hit by 88mm FLAK.... :-)

I read the review about this kit by Tom Cleaver aswell and i too was a little shocked by what he put especially when you compare it to Jean-Luc Formery's (TedMamere) review on aeroscale.
https://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/forums/90987&page=1

.After reading this review and seeing just how good the kit look's with a little work put into i wouldn't think twice about going out and buying the kit. (If my mum didint keep saying i had more than enough kits and i had the space to display it ) Then again Tom Cleaver's review is just one and there are other reviews that are positive towards the kit, it might just be he has highlighted the problems of the kit, not everyone will view a kit in the same light or give it the same review. Its probably best to read several reviews and read between the lines or just look at the kit if you get a chance to see it rather than pics of it and nearly 100% of the time looking at the kits and the parts is the reason i buy a kit. A kit might not be totally 100% accurate and need some work doing to it but i find that as part of the fun of this hobby. Aslong as you enjoy building it and are happy with youre finished result i think thats what should count.

Hi Danny and all others

Please calm down a little. Tom Cleaver is known for his reviews and his colourful articles. Often he overexposes some of the mistakes, but you must also see that reviews in general are subjective. What one modeller sees as a minor glitch is a biiiig mistake for another one.

OTOH Tom builds a lot of kits (just make a short scan through the news section of M² ) even some that I consider the worst §%$§$%&§ ... so he does not sit in his ivory tower and look down at the lesser beings BUT he actually builds the kits.

I would not recommend to base the buying decision on one review. Have a look into the box or at least read some reviews. (There are also a lot out there that are MUCH too positive about a kit)

just my 2 euro ct.

best regards

Steffen

Dear Steffen,

iff you do a review of a certain kit, you view the pro's and con's about that kit, and write a solution iff it's possible.
The thing that Tom is doing here is just breake the kit down, and in my opinion, that's just stupidity, nothing more nothing less.

This review is just simply a complete joke, and somebody who tells just such a nonsens, without building the kit is in my opinion also a joke

The kits that i buy are not based on a review article, but on my own insight of the box and kit, is it a bad kit, ok so wath, i will build it with lots of work, is it good, great, it will be then a fast build, but i never, and i repeat, never will trow a kit in the trash bin, that's just freaking low, very low, and an insult on Dragon's own adress.

Greetz

danny

Hi Danny

seems you are still angry ... I do not want to excuse TC's style and I did not read this review as i only build 1/48.

All I wanted to say is calm down and get over it. It does not help you further to be angry about this article. Just look for another one ..

best wishes

Steffen

Hi Danny!

If you read the review of Tom Cleaver carefully, you will notice that he actually started to build the kit. He tried to minimize the rivet detail and panel lines of the wings ("divots and trenches" :-) ) and then built the cockpit, only to see that the floor was too small (which is exact). He also noticed that the propellers were wrong (I can't tell, I'm not a Mustang specialist) and that it would be very difficult to get it right. So for him, and I respect that, the kit was just impossible to build to his standards. He said he knew the P-51 D very well and I guess he couldn't live with the kit's "issues".
I don't know the P-51 D as good as him and I'm more a "relaxed" model builder. So my experience of the kit is far more positive (maybe too MUCH like Steffen said... guilty as charged ).

So what's the lesson behind all that?
- Don't trust only one review!
- Take a look yourself into the kit before buying it!
- It's always a question of perspective...

We have the chance to live in the "golden age of modelling and internet" and everyone can experience the hobby the way he/she likes. Dragon have produced a high quality and technically good kit which builds well (I know now) but which was obviously not designed for Mustang purists, hence the reaction of M. Cleaver! Sorry I cannot be upset with him...

Jean-Luc

I always read more than one review when I want to buy a kit. I just thought that, how should I put this, the language was a wee bit over the top....
:-)

jean-Luc and Jan,

i never have any problem with any kit, and like i said before, i don't read articles or reviews before i buy a certain kit, it's in my own opinion when i should buy a certain kit.

i did buy the kit at the anual meeting in Willebroek over here in the Flandres, belgium, and after i purchased it, i talked to several builders who's where actually in the proces of building the kit.
the tought's where positief, and ok, there are some fitting issue's, but that's just no problem for a more or less experienced modelbuilder, and that's what i tought about T.C.

After i read this article (review??) i tought something else about this certain person, nothing bad at all, but i asked myself this question"should a person who is not able to put a certain kit to a good end, be writing a review of this kit"
Honestly, iff i would get a kit from a manufacturer, for free, i would build the kit, and write a insight of the good and bad thing's, and not breake a kit down, and trow it in the trash bin.
it's an insult to the adress of the compagny and to several builders who are trying to make the best of this kit.

In my opinion, it's a P-51D Mustang, and ok, it has it's shortcomings, but hey, this is a hobby, and it should be fun, and that's the least i can say about the review.

Greetz

danny

I know what you mean Danny. I only read the reviews to find out which kit suits me best to build with the skills that I have for the moment, which hopefully should get better as time goes by. :-)
If I don't find what I look for, I ask the people here. Nothing against anyone or anything like that. Just that the language was a bit .......
:-) :-) :-) :-)

Hi there

I've made my opinion about the surface finish clear elsewhere, but when I gave the guys at Dragon my first impressions of the kit, they replied that they've received pretty much equally divided positive and negative feedback. I'm afraid poor Tom is in for more torment... they are already planning new versions. :-)

All the best

Rowan

Hi Danny

I hope you are not mad about me as you left me out from your address?

I agree with the above statement and I try to follow that when I write my reviews for the IPMS Deutschland site.

OTOH sometimes I am just so disappointed that I get a bit angry and write more --- my vokabulary leaves me here, lets say --- "aggressive" than I would have done normally.

An example. I write a lot about Revell kits (not this year i think) so I take 2 models from this company. They had their old MiG 15 re-issued and I wrote a very forgiving review as the target group was obvious (beginners who just want to have a MiG kit) and the shortcommings of a 30 year old kit are clear to everyone .. And then I wrote a harsh critique about their re-issue of the Hasegawa Spit IX as the errors are very prominent and I knew they could get the ICM Spit, which is much more accurate ... bash me for that, but I did it.

A 2nd note about the "free" press examples. It is just advertizing for the product and if it is good it deserves a good review, but if it is bad it also should be stated. I try to keep impartial (which is impossible as I stated in another post .... the truth is in the eye of the beholder) the manufacturer deserve to get a fair review but my readers also deserve to know if something is wrong.

I am sorry for the long post. Please understand that my post is in no way aimed against you!

E=mc²

best wishes from dark Schwerin

Steffen

Hi Steffen,

Sorry iff i did Steffen, and no, i'm not mad at all at you, why should i??

Everybody has a right to say his meaning about thing's, and iff you are not agree with the point i'm trying to make over here, that's ok, i respect that, and that's for anybody who's respond on this topic.

jan, ok, maybe it was a little brutal on my side, sorry for that, but i just wanted to say my meaning about that certain review, and yes, when i'm not agree with some people i say sometimes word's that are a little bit overdone, and in this matter, i used the same brutal word's that where in my opinion on the same line then the word's adressed to Dragon.

Greetz

danny

Whoooops! My fault Danny, I didn't mean you.... :-) I meant the reviewer. So there's no need at all for you to aplogize mate, none at all.