1/144 F-Toys Wing Kit Vol.2
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Here is the main line-up of the new collection.
What Can I say, its not quite what i was expecting - but at least there is an interestng RAF addition! Nice piant jobs
(ok, I admit -I cant tell if this is a Typhoon or Tempest - please Help!)
I have no Idea what the Japanese aircraft are either ! (sorry, loosing my touch tonight!)
03A = Hawker Typhoon Mk.IB,
No. 197 Squadron RAF ,
Tangmere, England, October 1943.
03B = Hawker Typhoon Mk.IB ,
No. 451 Squadron RAF (or RAAF),
Idku, Egypt, August 1943
14 comments:
As seen on the picture
N1K "George" Ki44 "Tojo"
Typhoon N1K
Ki44 Typhoon
The N1K has been done by Platz and LS , and the Japanese Wing set as well. The Ki 44 has been done by Crown / Minicraft and of course the Typhoon by Revell.
All in all a bit dissapointing , the Divebomber release is looking better with SB2C , SBD , Ju87 and a Japanese one I cant remember at the moment.
Nice to have the early Shiden in a more presentable quality though :)
The Tiffie looks like the early car-door type. A bit dubious about the desert cammo however. Did they even serve there? D-Day stripes would have been more welcome...
That is the N1K1 mid-wing version by the looks...only way to get that previously was the 1973 vintage Revell kit. Shoki is a waste, but the Typhoon will no doubt be an improvement on the 70's Revell kit.
452 Sdq RAAF flew a prototype Tiffie in desert camo.
Fujimi Ki44 will probably still be better than an F-Toy release, but the early George is a newie with the other 2. Really should be a 4th subject though???
Fujimi's better than the F-Toys? Doubt it. I have the Fujimi kits and they have very few panel lines and no rivet holes. Nothing that can't be scribed or driled in with a pin vise. At $10 a kit, I would have expected a better mold though. Still, it's a Ki44 and quite a boring subject matter, to me anyway.
I'm hardly excited about this release by F-Toys, and it looks like they really skkimped out on us. The previous set included no less than 6 different planes, with a total of 14 distinct paint schemes and some very sought after items. Vol 2 is a disappointing 3 kits with a total of 9 paint schemes, with arguably only one sought after item (Typhoon). Looks like I'll be selling 3-4 kits from each case, or they'll probably just sit in boxes for an eternity. At least they're priced right at 400yen per item.
well according to corgi, it did serve in teh desert!
Hawker Typhoon Mk.IB DN323, No. 451 Squadron RAF, Idku, Egypt, August 1943 (although it could be a RAAF Sqdn!)
the other is
http://www.197typhoon.org.uk/
http://home.snafu.de/feat/typhoon/images/img_ovz_jp504.htm
Badger, I think you are mistaking the Fujimi Shoki for the old Crown one. The Fujimi one has very nice recessed panel lines, engine detail and a cockpit interior. Apart from the overscale gear doors it is pretty close to Sweet in quality.
The Fujimi Ki-44 comes in a set with the Jack and sometimes a B-29. There's 4 different boxings of the Fujimi Jack/Tojo alone.
It has the quality (to me anyways) of the LS Japanese WWII kits like the Sam and Val etc...
From good ol' Wikipedia:
"... five Typhoons, R8889, R8891, R8925, DN323 and EJ906 were modified to "Tropical" standard with the fitting of an air filter in a fairing behind the main radiator housing. R8891, DN323 and EJ906 were trialed in Egypt by 451 (RAAF) Squadron during 1943."
And for those of you who doubt everything that appears on Wikipedia, I've cross-checked the facts with a couple of my aviation books.
Re; the George and Tojo, it is interesting how many of us greet Japanese additions to the 1/144 stable. My feeling is that it's often not the aircraft themselves but, rather, the lack of any variety in colour schemes. The latter is, of course, not the fault of the model companies but solely the domain of the IJA and IJN. Pity the Luftwaffe didn't trial more Japanese aircraft ... a mottle or stipple pattern is much more enticing than dark green!
On the question of paint scheme variety, you can't point the finger at Easy Model's 1/72 range. A subdivision of the same Chinese organisation that comprises Hobby Boss and Trumpeter, EM has issued some particularly interesting choices, including RAF examples of both the Me163 and He162 (both captured "evaluation" aircraft). Just a pity EM, Trumpeter or whatever don't replicate the range in 1/144.
PS. Agree with everyone's comments on an F-Toys' release with only 3 types rather than the normal four. Appears they have a hangover from their venture into heavy bombers!
I think it is cool when a previously uncovered Japanese subject (like the N1k1) is released. It gets my goat when the companies release a subject that has already been adequately covered when there is so much left. The mid-wing George and the Tiffy are great, the Shoki a waste. Only 3 subjects is truly bizzarre...plenty of Bandai moulds they could have bought.
On the bright side, at least they didn't pad it out with another Bf-109 or Zero.
or a stuka?
Yeah, or a Stuka!
Going back to Smegs' "why we dont like IJA/IJN subjects" it is a sad fact of life that the only real excitement over IJN schemes is what colour the tail code is, but many of the IJA aircraft have colour schemes that rivall the most elaborate the Luftwaffe could come up with. The Ki-44 is right up there with the best of them too!
It´s not we don´t like jap planes..but Ls,Fujimi have very nice kits of some these figthers and they are very nice to build need only new decals.. for 2 engines there are a Imai/Hase/arii series...they all could be reinjected and can make very nice builds..
In other hand there are planes where there are no kits, or the existent kits are very old molds from Revell or crown ..they are not so top quality to our present standarts...
And as wrote to platz guys they could make the Ki-84 hayate(more nice camos and versions) than George...
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