The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Hi all,I have not been on in awhile due to life and its neverending attempts to get you down!! Anyway,while I was away dealing with this and that I had a little time for cutting plastic,what time I did get was wasted by throwing yet another model due to my clumsy hand and inability to keep small parts in my tweezers and not getting swallowed up by the carpet monster,never to be seen again,not to mention my canopy painting problems.I have had it with 1/72.I am no longer able to get even the simplest model done and have decided to go bigger or give it up altogether.Heres where I need your advice,as I have not done anything other than 1/72 and below,can you recommend a 1/48 aircraft kit that is good for a first timer,one that fits well,not too many parts and is not too pricey.A tall order I know,but I am not yet ready to give up this hobby.

Generally, the newer the 1/48 kit is the more parts it will have, and those parts are more complex.
As discussed elsewhere as the newer kits have increased in price they have dragged both old kits and 2nd hand kit prices up too

Not the most accurate by modern standards but build up into nice model anyways are the Lindberg kits and the Smer re-issues of old kits - Smer 1/48 re-issues are mainly WW1 types though

Not too long ago Home Bargains was selling Lindberg kits for £1.99. Most are gone by now but I've heard that some branches still have some. Lindberg kits can be bought for under a tenner normally

This was one of theirs, bought for £1.99. About 1/48 scale; Lindberg aren't that accurate on that. About 30 parts afair, nice decals. Grumman F-11F-1 Tiger [kit based on prototype]


Smer re-issiues of biplanes cost from as little as £3.99 but you need to buy from the likes of 'Kits For Cash' or 'Kingkit' as you'll not find them in your LMS
The older Airfix Spitfire Vb and Hurricane 1, not too many parts which fit well and can be bought cheaper than the more recent new mould kits. The old Revell Messer 109 G-10 is a decent kit too, about 40 or less parts
Pegasus do a range of WW2 fighters which are snap-together; they have few parts, they do need glue and they build up into decent looking models

I suggest looking at kits issued from mid-1970 thru the 1980s; these are the ones being replaced by more expensive many parts new mould kits
Tell us your interests and we might be able to single-out some kits for you to consider

Have you thought about building some of the small AFV”s made by Plastic Soldier or Armourfast, you normally get two or three in a box, the part count is small because the difficult areas like tracks and wheels normally come as one piece.

They build up very quickly and normally are only one colour.

This is the Plastic Soldier Sherman Firefly I just built as part of the Blitz GB (only the rockets on the turret are not part of the kit) build link

Off the top of my head the old Monogram kits would be up your street. Can be often found in Revell boxes. I would use scalemates website to help work out what you need to keep your eyes open for.

Why not go up to 1/32 - many of the old 70s classic 1/32 aircraft from Revell are still available and are
about the same price as a new Airfix 1/72 model. They are relatively simple to build having few parts,
but sufficient detail to not look toy like.

Parts like canopies etc. will obviously be proportionally larger and thus should be easier for you to paint.
As an example, Jadlam Model Racing have the Revell (ex Matchbox) Spitfire Mk.22/24 (a kit I have and
would recommend) listed for £14.95 at the moment.

http://www.jadlamracingmodels.com/revel ... gJurfD_BwE;

Cheers
Al.

As for painting the clear parts, you could always paint a piece of tamiya tape the required colour and cut or slice it into thin strips and put those on .... that is a very effective cheat and if you don't like a piece of tape you can easily take it off and retry until they fit straight.

I agree about the Monogram 1/48 kits. Their Harvard/Texan/SNJ kit is one I would recommend. A superb kit that goes together very well.
Damn it. Now I want to build another one.

all the best.

Greg.

Have you considered the HobbyBoss easy kit's?. I know some people don't like them but they are fairly simple but well detailed. I think they do 48th scale.

Following on from Fred's reply, Smer kits can be found very cheaply on eBay. There's a seller on there who seems to re-list regularly. Alternatively, for a little more you can often pick up the older (pre-2000) Tamiya 1/48th aircraft kits for under £15 on eBay. A few more parts perhaps but they go together so nicely that it evens out the amount of work required. The Mustang in particular is superb.

Dazzled wrote:Alternatively, for a little more you can often pick up the older (pre-2000) Tamiya 1/48th aircraft kits for under £15 on eBay. A few more parts perhaps but they go together so nicely that it evens out the amount of work required. The Mustang in particular is superb.

+1 from me. I have no experience of Smer products but these older Tamiya kits can be very nice. I've built the Zero, P-51 and just recently the Bf109E-4/7 (which I picked up for the princely sum of £9.00 at SMW) and all were excellent kits, even the 1970's vintage Zero.

Hi chaps thanks for all your ideas and advice,they were most helpful,there were many ideas from small scale armour with few parts to older large scale models that can be bought quite cheaply on the net and easy kits as well.I do not shop on the Internet or go to model shows but depend on my LMS for my kits and the 1/48 and above are well over my budget.As some of you might know my wife has been unwell recently,so much so the doctors have advised me not to work again and become her career, so money is a bit tight at the moment,between lack of funds and the need to build bigger because of my own failings,I have decided to give up cutting plastic.I will still visit this forum but not as a builder.Thank you all for the kind words,while I have been a participant on this forum,it meant a lot.
Regards
celt.

Hey Ken,

Stay in touch fellah, and if you need to let off steam or just have a whinge, we're here to help

Take care and all the best to Mrs Celt

Please do keep checking in and commenting, even if it's just to let off some steam, Ken and all the very best to yourself and your wife.

Celt if you ever feel the need to build just PM me and I will get a kit in the post to you, kit building can be very calming and it sounds like a bit of stress relief might be just what the doctor orders.

Please keep in touch we will miss you.

Regards Splash

Good luck to you and Mrs Celt. If you decide you do want some simple 1/48, I'll post one to you. Just PM me your address.

David