While waiting for new kits to arrive, I thought it might be of interest to take a look at a few older kits that are still available and see how they compare to current standards..
The first one is Planet's Arado Ar E583. This kit has been around, to my knowledge, for a few years now; in fact this is the first resin kit I ever made.

BACKGROUND

The Arado Ar E580 was a 35 degree delta-wing nightfighter design with twin fins and rudders located on the wing trailing edges far out towards the tips. A three man crew were seated, two side-by-side and one behind facing aft in a pressurised cockpit. Two Heinkel He S 011 turbojets were to be located under the rear fuselage. Four MK 108 30mm cannon were mounted in the nose.
Span: 18.38 m (60' 4.2")†††††
Length: 12.95 m (42' 6.2")†††
Max. Speed: 800 km/h (497 mph)

THE KIT

Type: Resin

The kit's contents are:
Resin Parts: 55
Clear Parts: 1
Decals: For 1 aircraft

MAIN PARTS

All parts are well moulded in the familiar buff resin with good detailing and panel lines. The wings and fuselage are hollow cast, 2 halves for the fuselage and 2 pairs of top and bottom halves for the wings. The fuselage halves come joined to a casting tree so need careful removal. Also there is a small casting stub right on the end of the port fuselage nose that also needs filing off. Likewise the wings have small lugs at the roots that again need care on removing. There is a small amount of flash and a few rough edges to sort out, otherwise a gentle clean up should be sufficient. Generally all parts are good.

SMALL PARTS

As with the larger parts, the small ones are good and many have some extra detailing , there is some detailing on the inside of the wheel well for example. Most of the small parts come in groups attached to large and thin resin flakes for transit protection. Careful removal is necessary, but as the flakes are thin it is a pretty straightforward exercise to remove them. Other small parts come attached to their casting blocks.

All parts need a little clean up and a wash in soapy water and rinse to get rid of any casting release agents.

CLEAR PARTS

One vacuformed canopy is provided for each kit. The parts are clear with good frame marking, but would benefit a dip in Future/Klear.

INSTRUCTIONS & DECALS

A single sheet carries the camo scheme and short history on one side with the assembly diagram on the other. The diagrams are well drawn and should not give any undue reference problems.
The decals are good and include a shark's mouth and swastikas.

Conclusion

Although it is not cheap, it is quite a big aircraft with many parts for a resin kit and is not bad value. Some of the detailing is not quite as crisp as some of todays offerings but most is quite good. Overall this kit stands up very well by today's standards and is as good as most.
Out of the box the detailing is enough for most but some would add much more. It is a very good base for extra detailing although this would need much scratch building of various parts.

Having built this kit a few years ago I can recommend it for experienced modellers but it's not too difficult for those new to resin kits, if care and patience are applied. I've included a pic of the one I made a few years ago, before Armorama's influence with pre-shading, future, post shading and weathering.

A very good kit.