1/144 Wing Kit Collection 3 - By F-TOYS==============================
To be relesed in 14/09/2009, some nice looking kits!
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Price is 4725yen (450yen x10kits x1.05tax ).
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Line up is:
- Ki-61 (type B and type C),
- E13A Jake,
- F8F bearcat
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As previewed - http://kampfgruppe144.blogspot.com/2009/06/1144-f-toys-ijn.html
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Thanks to Kura + Roberto.
28 comments:
The Bearcats are a definite "must have"
Tony G
Blech....these 3 subject sets are terrible, and so was the quality of the last one too. Doubt I'll shell out for this one.
Bearcat is not bad...
But we lost another chance to get decent Spits and P-39s...this I think is worst...
at least the bearcat woudl appear to be a new mould?
I'm very keen on IJN floatplanes, so the E13A is very welcome indeed. The Ki-61 has already been done well by Bandai (same mould?). The Bearcat isn't my thing though. Late war stuff just isn't my bag. SOmething for everyone I guess! :)
That aint the Bandai Ki-61! It looks terrible in the bigger photos above. The Bearcat too looks hamfisted, though I must admit the Jake looks ok. Still, why only 3 subjects in a 10 box set, and with so many subjects still to be done. This looks like a definite MUST NOT.
Oh, and hope for the P-39 nuts is coming too.
The close-up photos aren't that inviting with gaping joints and misty canopies. The white fuselage strip on the first Hein is so thin that the mottle is clearly visible. Oh dear! Having the Bandai Ki-61, I agree with one of the "Anons" that the F-Toys' version is definitely not the same kit.
One positive is that the set doesn't contain yet another Zero! The Jake is a useful addition and the Bearcat isn't an item to appear much in 1/144. But Roberto is spot on - what about decent Spitties and Airacobras?
Bandai Ki-61 is not the same as this F-Toys.
One indicationis the wing roots .
as for the quality... the preproduction shots always look terrible. They are probably hand cast or usign a more primitive injection process?
This was the case with the Lancasters and Twin Engined Series for instance. In reality they came out much better than the original photos indicated.
as for the Spits & P-39, it would be nice to get a set of prepainted version upto WOTL3 standards.
but failing that OZmods are to do a P-39 and maybe sweet will get thet Spit out.... when there not to busy doing Zero MK 999
Wow, I have to admit I got pretty excited when I saw the subject of this post but was a bit let down when I saw the selection. Mind you, these planes are a welcome addition to my collection (especially the Bandai KI-61 which is now very difficult to obtain at a decent price), but I share the sentiment of a lot of folks here when I say we're due for a decent late Spitfire in 1/144. I don't care as much for the P-39, but would also add them to my collection if they become available.
Like a few of the anonymous posts, I'm a little wary of the quality of this release based on my experience with the Vol. 2 kits. I bought 2 sets (without the specials) and needless to say, they leave a lot to be desired. The molds and casting are crisp especially of the "Tiffy", but something just looks funny about those of the early N1K George's and the KI-44 Shoki's. I never appreciated the paint smudges, broken antenna masts, and even orange peel. This set was a letdown compared to vol. 1. Even though the vol. 1 kits were mostly comprised of Japanese planes, I did appreciate the quality of paint and insignia application, which is at least reminiscent of the Bandai Wing Club series.
I hope that BD99 is right that these are handsamples and that the production versions will look better (perhaps just as good or better than the BWC series). I can already see a lot of eyesores on the pics (paint overrun on the prop of the RAF Bearcat, huge gaps on the wingroots of the Hien, terrible paint application as already mentioned, etc.)
Hey BD99, which Spits would you like to see? I'd like to see the personal MK IX of JEJ where he made most of his kills and also Newberry's MK XIV, of which I have the 1/48 Hobby Master diecast.
Ok, I'm getting off my soap box now :-).
Where to begin...
So many spits...
I, V, IX, XXI
seafire mk 47
maybe some PR's?
F_IV
the Ki-61 is diferent mould to bandai
...nothing here for me :o(
not even an J7W1 Nippon'46 late planning plane....
Thanks for the correction on the Hein. My Bandai one is tucked away out of sight with the rest at the moment (the wife has four damaged and two confirmed destroyed). I recall some other Wing Club subjects were handed on to other companies, and thought this might have been the case too.
On the subject of Spitfires, I'd like to see some too. I worry about the quality though, as the Spits canopy at that scale would be very difficult to mould accurately. It'd make or break the model.
I don't know why everyone is so negative on F-Toys (gashapon in general) recently. I haven't seen much coming out of Europe or America as far as injection kits go, in the last 6 to 12 months. All we've seen is the handful of airliners kits or repackaged military birds with different decals. Occassionally, we get a nice surprise, but that's about it. Yet, Japan (with the aid of Chinese factories) has flooded the scene with some great stuff in the last couple of years. Let's not forget that 1/144 is essentially a fringe market for modelling. Yet, Platz/FToys alone has released just about 1/3 of the kits in 144 in the last year. That's pretty impressive.
F-Toys is by far the most productive out of the bunch, even if half what they put out are re-releases or Japanese planes. If you like paying $20-$40 for a Wing Club kit, stick to ebay and don't buy this set. Granted, Bandai's quality was much better than F-Toys, but these are only 500 yen and you can get an entire box for 4500. That's not bad at all. Bandai and Popy have been dead for about 4 years now, so there are people out there that didn't get their fill. This set will come in handy to them.
As modellers, we're going to want to fill in gaps and repaint these anyway, so I don't see what all the fuss is about. Anigrand kits with their high prices, require huge chunks of putty and hours of sanding. I can only say that Radek's resin has been incredibly easy to work with, but his kits average 25 Euros now.
I applaud F-Toys for releasing what appears to be 3-4 new kits every month, at such an affordable price. I'll be picking up a few boxes as usual, and keeping an eye out for yet more decals. Myk already put out a nice set for the Hien, so that's 3 new paint schemes right there.
I'm hoping for more.
Yes. You are correct...
I will buy this release..too.
Ki-61 is a nice plane..and together with Ki-84 have nice camos and paintings ... and Jake ...well we can give a RIP to old kit of Crown/academy.
Mk VIII Spitfire. It's the most beautiful version of a great plane. MkV largest produced, and MkIX runner up also would be nice. Add in a nice bubble canopy 5 blader and I'd be happy.
Myk Ki-61 decals are very nice, but I still have 2 more Bandai ones so, and I still don't have an F-Toy Shiden with a vertical tail fin....
badger,
I have to admit the word "terrible" is a very harsh word to describe F-Toys' latest kits. After all, the Star Wars 1/144 vehicles are very well made! I do appreciate that F-Toys is very faithful to us collectors and come up with releases regularly. However, I do see the concern of some collectors I know with regards to the sloppy paint application on their kits, and my criticism towards F-Toys is meant to call for improving the quality of their products, not to bash.
Takara, Bandai & Cafereo have released more than decent plane kits, and so did F-Toys, so I don't see any reason why they can't do the same with this release. They've already done a great job with vol. 1 quality wise so it's only normal to expect the same with vol. 2, 3, 4, etc. and I don't think it's too much to ask for. It's like expecting your Yorkshire tea to taste the same everytime. :-)
As far as the mandatory repaint of the kits is concerned, not all of us are as talented to churn out a Roberto masterpiece. Besides, if these are meant to be repainted, why not just release them as unpainted kits ala Bego/Platz so we don't have to bother stripping the paint?
As I said, I hope these are just pre prod samples. Regardless of their quality these may make it to my collection anyway, I just have to ask the seller to inspect them before they get shipped out.
Hey Anonymous with 2 KI-61s, any chance you're willing to part with one? I'd be interested as long as price is reasonable. Thanks!
@Marvin, the qaulity on Vol 1 from my point of view was pretty poor. The Shidens all have badly warped fuselages which leave the tail out of true and to date has been impossible for me to correct. The paint finish across the board is bad too. I just finished decaling and sealing the Desert scheme Tiffie and there are huge blobs of paint on the wing. The Shokis are worse.
@Bruce - I have 2 F-Toys vol. 1 Shidens and none of them have the warped fuselages you mentioned. I uploaded a picture of my example to Photobucket for your perusal:
http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/xx249/Marvin144/IMG_0840.jpg
BTW, sorry for the crappy background. The model also needs a lot of cleaning up, dirt-wise and modelling-wise.
I inspected all my vol. 1 kits when I got them sometime last year and didn't find as many issues with them as I did with the vol. 2 kits. I dunno, maybe my standards are getting lower and lower due to the lack of other 1/144 WW2 fighter manufacturers. What other gashapon/pre-painted kits are you using as benchmark? I thought the vol. 1 kits were pretty much up to par with the BWC series, granted that most of the vol. 1 kits are based on BWC molds, albeit slightly modified. Compared to the Work Shop collection series from F-Toys, these are definitely a huge step up as the MC 202s were terrible, indeed.
I also agree with you that the Shoki is the worst of the Wing Kit series. I just recently put mine together and had to say a few colorful words while removing the canopy from the sprue. Other WTF moments include the lack of detail on the HA-41 radial, paint smudges on the fuse (which I carefully scraped off with a hobby knife) and just the way the parts are attached to the sprues, which doesn't make a lot of sense. The folks at F-Toys can definitely learn a lesson or two from the Takara folks in terms of mold design.
The 2nd and 3rd Takara series are probably the benchmark by which all Gashapon are measured. The Arado 234 is a masterpiece. The 2 Popy series were also very good.
F-Toy get the basic model right sometimes (Twin Engine collection 2 is probably a highlight), but it seems near impossible to get decent construction and finish on the one subject.
Oh, and take a photo of the Shiden from directly in front, with the wings parallel to the ground :-)
@Bruce - Here you go:
http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/xx249/Marvin144/IMG_0841.jpg
I still don't see the warped fuselage you're talking about.
However, I agree with your benchmarks. I think the L2 and L3 series from BWC reflect the pinnacle of Gashapon development. I still think the F-Toys Wing Kit vol. 1 series came close to probably the L series in terms of quality.
No where near as bad as mine, but I still see a torque to the left there.
Bruce, you might be seeing the antenna leaning a wee bit towards the side of the wing with the pitot tube and thus making the rudder appear to be slightly warped. I've looked at the tail from every angle and this is as straight as a fuselage can get. I wish I can easily show this on the pictures since the lens on my camera can easily distort the straightest objects. You might have obtained a bad example of the plane which could possibly have been a part of a bigger batch (scary).
Speaking of warped fuselages, check out your F-Toys Tiffy. Mine isn't too bad and can be fixed with a bit of careful bending.
The one Typhoon I've cleaned up and decalled was pretty straight. The Fuselage/wing joint is bloody horrible, as is the paint, but the fuselage is straight :-)
Bruce, I guess that proves my point. Sometimes you get lucky with F-Toys, most times you don't ;-) With that they managed to incorporate 2 games into 1: the search/hunt for secret items and the search/hunt for examples with the more than decent quality.
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