Let's Get Dirty! Forces of Valor Atlantic Hurricane

Forces of Valor is often rather unfairly overlooked in the diecast world.  I'm guessing this is at least partially because the Unimax / Forces of Valor, as is my understanding, is solid in various toy and other non-specialist shops, and this detracts from certain delusions about the "seriousness" of the hobby.  It also might be because FoV has a tendency to apply a panel darkening wash to their aircraft with all the subtlety and attention to detail of a horde of Visigoths, and this puts people off.

Whatever you think about FoV, the reality is that their Hurricane can lay a decent claim to being the best 1/72 Hawker Hurricane model out there.  Why?  Mostly because the competition is so bad or nonexistent.

• Corgi's Hurricane is ruined by a stupid cowl arrangement and poor overall detail.
• Oxford Diecast has a Hurricane, but, well, they've not made anything worth buying.
• IXO/Altaya might have one, but, well, they're IXO/Altaya.
• Neither Gemini Aces nor Dragon Warbirds, both of whom would have made a superior one, did.

 Plus, I'll give FoV some bonus points for doing this unusual and striking livery.

Ok, now you're looking at one of two things.  First, that nose.  Yes, the nose (spinner) is the wrong shape.  It may be worthwhile to replace the prop and spinner with one from a plastic kit, as the FoV shape is very far off. 

Second, you might be wondering about the anti-glare black/grey thing.  It looks as if there were a factory error in painting and that there is a well undone light grey are there.  However, they've been consistent and deliberate witht his 'error', and some of my reference sources say that thiat is actually pretty spot on.  In ether case, if you dont't like it and have access to an airbrush, it's an easy fix.

I've had to glue most of the fiddly bits in place and had to break and re-glue the cannons so that they'd shoot straight (I don't remember if these photos are pre or post-op), but the final result is that this is a lovely model with far more presence than you'd first think.  I may have to hunt down the SEA version of this.  They're cheap enough.

Current best Hawker Hurricane in Diecast is Corgi's 1/32 Sea Hurricane.  The FM 1/48s are not great (and worse than some people claim they are) and none of the 1/72s, including this one, are the end-all-and-be-all.  The door is open for Skymax in 1/72 or HM in 1/48, or Gemini Aces if they got their act together.

An aircraft worth modelling: the Douglas F3D Skyknight

On the various diecast aircraft fora there are routinely calls for such and such an aircraft to be modelled in diecast.   The Douglas F3D Skyknight almost never makes such lists, though it should.  And, frankly, I also suspect that it will be a big hit. 

 
Certainly, its ultimate popularity will be AT LEAST that of the SkyMax F84.

Ok, so why the Skynight?  Let me count the ways:

• Serverd in the Korean war with distinction.  As much as I love the F9F Panther and Korean-era Corsairs, it was the Skynight that ultimately destroyed more enemy aircraft in Korea than any other Navy or Marine fighter aircraft.
• Operated by both the USN and USMC, both proven diecast "movers."
• Many distinct and interesting liveries available - similar in scope to the AD Skyraider.
• One mould to rule them all: the F3D variants were basically the same as far as aiframe goes. So, it's possible to get a lot of mileage out of one mould.
• Weapon possibilities - nevertheless, there were a large number of weapon possibilities.

In short, the Skynight looks like a real winner.  The downside, of course, are that it was neither a WW2 nor Vietnam War aircraft, it was only operated by the United States, and that, well, how shall we put this, it's a bit portly.

Who should make this model?  Well, the 'default' answer these days for everything is Hobbymaster, Hobbymaster, Hobbymaster!   And, there's certainly a lot of validity in that (perhaps under its SkyMax brand).  At this point, we know what we're getting with HM and that it will be a consistently high quality product.  Furthermore, this aircraft doesn't veer too much into HM's problem areas of cockpits, pilots, and mottling too badly.

However, the opportunity is there for others, too.  I'm looking squarely at you, Falcon Models.  The SkyKnight falls right in your purview and it could be an opportunity for you to really distinguish yourselves.  Of course, the verdict is still very much out about you, a new company.

And, of course, Century Wings would be a wonderful candidate, but this seems unliekly, which is a pity, as they could really stake a nice claim.

I'd buy every Skyknight they'd make, at least in the four 'cardinal' liveries - Dark Blue, Trainer Dayglo Orange Ends, Navy White, and Night Black.

Review: Corgi AA37604 1/72 Sikorsky CH-34C Choctaw

Corgi has been taking a lot of flack recently with the rise of HM and the like.  While some of it is justified, some of it is just gratuitous.  Whatever your take on Corgi, there's an often overlooked set of products that they have that are simply superb: their 1/72 helicopters.  Taken as a whole, there is probably no singularly more "consistently good" die-cast product line than Corgi's 1/72 choppers and the best of the bunch is thier AA376.. series of Westland Wessex / Sikorsky Choctaw aircraft.  Every one of the series is visually interesting and yet distinct enough from the others to hint at the significant clever diecast engineering that went into making the series.

Today's review is of the (at the time of this writing) the sole non-British resident of this line - AA37604, a US Army Choctaw. 

Review: Franklin Mint 1/48 A6M2-N Zero/Rufe Floatplane - B11E069

There are three truisms in the world of 1/48 Zeroes:

• The Marushin Zeros are nowhere as good as they are occasionally claimed to be.
• The Franklin mint Zeros are nowhere as bad as they are often made out to be.
• There is still plenty of room for somebody, which at this point basically means HM, to come in and do a proper 1/48 (or even better, 1/32) Zero.   Hey, at over $1.15 to JPY 100 right now, it seems like a no brainer.

Which brings us to this topic, the more attractive of the two Franklin Mint Armour Collection Zeroes on Floats.  This model B11E069 is often referred to as the "Aleutians" version, and that's probably accurate enough, though for most of us it's probably enough to call it the "generic green A6M2," since that's the role it will play in our collections.

I'm a real fan of floatplanes, both aesthetically and because I've been known to fly a floatplane or two myself.  However, historically speaking, these aircraft did little more than serve as hacks and targets.  A very substantial part of the IJN's aviation resources went into floatplanes and seaplanes for what must ultimately be scored as marginal results.  However, the Japanese gamble in that regard was in some ways understanable; in the absence of actual experience at the time.

At any rate, about the model:  deep-set and generously allotted panel lines give the overall impression of quality and it is about where it should be in terms of "heft factor."  There is average cockpit detail by FM standards, but FM standards continue to be higher than HM in 1/48, even today.  A small cart is provided which servers as a useful display base.  It's a handsome model which looks good on a shelf next to one of FM's very good hellcats.  The biggest complaint is the screwhead on the underside of the main float - they implemented it in a bizarre way such that a "lateral hole punch" has been taken out of the underside of float. This was a dumb decision; to wit, the piece probably didn't even need to be screwed on at all; a 'snap to fit' arrangement would have worked fine on the plastic piece.  It is probably fixable by filling in the hole with a bit of putty and then repainting, but there's no hiding the bonehead decision that led to the error in the first place.

Pretty Awful dieacast: Corgi US32222 1/72 P-51d "McComas"

Here's the first of what should be many diecast aircraft reviews on this site.  This review is pretty unstructured as I have yet to set up the technology.

I will be reviewing various bits and pieces of my diecast collection in pretty much random order.

Today's aircraft is Corgi's US322222, a P-51D Mustang as flown by Ed McComas out of China in the latter parts of the war.  This particular model is part of Corgi's discount line, has an overall bare metal finish (something Corgi is traditionally not great at), and is from Corgi's pretty lousy P-51D mould.  The result, not surprisingly, is pretty bad, though, on balance, it's not as bad as Witty's P-51s and kudos to Corgi for taking on a relatively unusual livery.

One of the reasons that this model is being reviewed first is that I was testing out a new camera.  And, indeed, in the right light, the model looks not so bad.

However, taken overall, this must surely rank near the bottom of my diecast collection.  As you can see, out the box, at least one propeller blade was bent forward.  There are large gaps, especially near the tail, the landing gear look a bit ridiculous, and the overall detail is poor.  There is little question that the king of 1/72 P-51D is the effectively defunct Dragon Warbirds and this Corgi model, however interesting the livery, doesn't come close.   Again, the nice light under which these photos were taken really do flatter this below average model.

Hobbymaster A-26/B-26

And the hits just keep on coming!  HobbyMaster has recently announced a Douglas A-26/B-26 Invader in 1/72.  To clear up an often confused point right off the bat - this isn't the Martin B-26 Marauder, this is the "other" B-26 which started life out as an A-26, was renamed to B-26 during a post-war designation rationalization and then was re-designated A-26 once again to skirt a Vietnam era Thai restriction of having 'bombers' based on its soil.

No matter what it's called, it was an amzing aircaft  that instantly obsoleted beloved types such as the North American B-25 Mitchell.  The Invader was remarkably long-lived, serving in WW2, Korea, Vietnam, and numerous regional conflicts, including, famously, the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

What can we expect from HM?  As their largest WW2 aircraft to date, it's not clear what exactly to expect, though, frankly, if the quality is even up to that of their Beaufighter, I'll be thrilled.  I find the choice of 1/72 acceptable; in general I tend to have a preference for "Korea and before, 1/48, after Korea 1/72, though with allowance for rarer and larger types in 1/72."   To wit, I have both a Franklin Mint 1/48 B-26 Marauder ("Hard to Get")  and the quite wonderful 1/72 FOV "Shootin' In."

Lievries:  nothing has been announced, but the following is likely at least what we can expect in the order which represents my best guess:

• Korean War siver version
• Vietnam War camoflauge 
• WW2 generic silver USAAF with yellow tailband and some pin-up on the nose.  A-26 'Stinky' is an obvious choice here since 3-views of it are widely available.  Pity, since it is an ugly livery.  'Kiwi Boid', a more understated livery as shown above is a better choice.
• Cuban Counter-revolution version
• French version that will sell poorly, as always.
• Korean War nightfighter version with red tailcode

The last one is particularly interesting to me.  My Korean War collection is, as I said, split between 1/72 and 1/48; in 1/72 this Invader will join the ranks of some lovely HM MiG-15s, a few horrid Corgi Korean war Corsairs, an underrated Corgi F-86, and at least one Dragon F-51D (and maybe more, but I can't remeber offhand).   I suppose it's inevitable that the black livery that they'll choose is "Feeding Frenzy", though I'd prefer something more along the lines of this:

When I get back home, I'll have a look in Volume 13 of 'Wings of Fame' to see other interesting Korean-war liveries.

SkyMax TBD Devastator on the way.

HobbyMaster's subsidiary brand SkyMax have recently announced the likely late 2010 release of the long-sought after TBD Devastator, best remembered for their sacrificial role in the Battle of Midway. The first release is slated to be a "Midway" variant with subsequent ones in "Coral Sea" scheme (pictured here) and pre-war "Yellow wings" seemingly likely.

On one hand, this is wonderful news.  Given the size of my diecast aircraft collection, I can hardly straight-facedly claim to have a "core collection," but if I did, it would surely be US Carrier-based aircraft of World War 2, and early-war ones at that.  The TBD has long appeared on my "most desirable" lists, and, as similar aircraft (TBM, SBD, etc) are available in 1/72 already, this is just wonderful.

That said, I'd be lying if I didn't admit to just a tinge of disappointment for the choice of 1/72 as a scale.  I have been over the last few months eschewing 1/72 as a scale for WW2 aircraft, especially single-engine types in favor of 1/48.    While I cerainly have more than my share of 1/72 WW2 types, I've come to the conclusion that the scale is simply too small to provide good detail and value; my EI, FM, C1, HM and other  1/48 aircraft provide far, far more tactile and visual appeal and value than the 1/72 set does.

The TBD is a particularly interesting case since it could have gone either way - 1/48 to complement HM's excellent pre-war-USN line or 1/72 to match its existing wartime stuff.  Their decision is defensible, it's just sad.  Have a look at a well-built TBD devastator plastic model:

 much of the appeal must be in the complex cockpit glazing.  Now, look at HM's Kate's canopy area:

When displayed closed like this, it looks not great, but passable - the plastic is evidently too thick and detail-less, but, it more or less represents the actual aircraft "ok."

With the canopy open, things start to fall entirely to pieces.  The overscale thickness of the plastic becomes immediately apparent and it just looks bad.  This is evidenced by looking at the Kate photos that HM has on its surrogate website; of the five or so Kates released so far, there has been only one photo released with the canopy open, and even that has been done with the 'sliding' pieces removed!

In short, 1/72 was in my view not the ideal choice, but, well, I am nevertheless thrilled that a TBD is coming out.  These truly are great diecast days.

Welcome to MetalWings!

I'm slowly working on this website as time permits. However, to pass the time until the release, here are some random predictions done without any special insight or connections. Probably most of them will be wrong. Some "predictions" are pretty safe, others a bit more aggressive.

• The first hobbymaster F-106 will model the 5th FIS. Alternately, 27th FIS. The first ANG F-106 will be Montana or New Jersey (or, in an outside chance, Florida). I'm not even going to venture a guess as to whether there will be a NASA ones, as NASA aircraft in general seem to have done badly. One of the more colorful F-106 liveries, the 49th FIS bicentennial, will not be done. Hopefully also the horrible 419th FIS livery will not be done, though it might be.
• There will be a Hobbymaster camo F-102. No great prediction here. My money is on a Vietnam-war one early on and then later, a NY ANG bird.
• Future HM F-102s will be Hawaii ANG and possibly Pennsylvania ANG. At this point, I break every pledge that I've made to get just one and find myself with four or five.
• HM will release a Voodoo in 2011 (duh). The first release will be a generic US one and the second will be a CF-101. The Voodoo suffers from boring US liveries.
• HM won't bother with a Greek or Turkish F-102 for a while if at all.
• HM will make a George W Bush F-102.
• HM will announce a Mirage III as its next non-US jet.
• A Fairey Firefly will be released by Witty or Skymax.
• IL-2 (and variants) will be released under the SkyMax brand or not released at all.
• Corgi TSR.2s sell for under GBP 40 on ebay by the end of the year.
• HM holds off on making any navalzed versions of its 1/48 early Spitfire mould for quite a while, even though it will be quite popular.
• The F4B will be a beautiful model. It will be a consistent, though not specatcular seller along the lines of the P26.
• The F9F 1/48 Panther line has ended with the Brubacker release.
• HM will release a Sundowners F4 Phantom in late 2011 but without all the tooling changes required for the "B." There will be griping, but it will sell like mad.
• HM will get significantly more creative with its FW190 liveries, perhaps even before Xmas.
• HM's next WW2 era 1/48 aircraft will be a razorback P-47. Alternate: Corsair. Pity, since the FM F4Us were actually quite good despite taking a lot of flak.
• Nobody releases a 1/72 B-29. Corgi instead works on an eventually overpriced Short Stirling.
• Dragon's 1/144 line reboot will be forgotten. Aircraft like the X-15 smaller than 1/72 are a joke.
• Nobody will make a 1/72 F-35, U-2, or F-117 in 2010-2011. If I am wrong on the F-117 and it is released, it will sell well.
• In perhaps the most obvious prediction ever, HM will release some 357th P-51Ds. More speculatively, the first of these will be OD P-51D "Frenesi." It will be exceptionally popular.
• HM will show some fortitude and release a Korean War F-51 in 2011. While it will not be a huge seller, it will earn them more respect from people like me. That is, if it has US markings. They might opt to go for one with Korean markings, which is also fine, I guess.
• HM will also release a "Bluenoser" P-51D, of course. Petie III is my guess.
• HM will release a USN blue scheme aggressors A4.
• CW will release two out of the three of the following in 2011: Pukin Dogs F-14, Low-vis Sundowners F-14, or NSAWC fallon.
• CW releases a VF-31 F-14 in 2011 (black tail version). A Japanese market exclusive red-tailed version proves extremely popular in the USA. A Santa-Claus liveried one doesn't.'
• The Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum will release no diecast in 2010/2011 other than Avro Arrow 201.
• Witty will release a Gannett in mid 2011 similar to the one in Duxford.

My recent predictions that came true:

• Witty's Javelin and/or Sea Vixen will be delayed by at least a month this moved to 'true' predictions today!
• Corgi's Fokker DVII will sell poorly.
• HM's new 1/32 SBD has Coral Sea livery
• HM has announced a VX-4 Phantom. I don't think I'm the only one who suspected this, as I bought my corgi less than a year ago for 10.
• Red Falcon wouldn't be able to deliver a product.
• Corgi's "Hell's Angels" B-17 is a bust, or, at least, does not live up to the expectations of significant retooling.

Company Trends:

• Franklin Mint / Armour prices continue to climb, generally, though with a few exceptions.
  
  • The He-111 will very very slowly but surely be recognized as possibly the greatest large 1/48 diecast aircraft ever made. Certainly better as a mould than any of FM's other larger aircraft.
  • The much-maligned Me-109 will rise in value unless HM does a later-ME109 mould, which is unlikely. HM's painting techniques are not well suited for late-war Me109s.
  • Good but not great moulds such as the SBD, Me262, P47 Bubbletop, Hurricane and F4U continue to block entrants (err, HM) in that area, but over time all but the SBD will be replaced. It stands to note that for all of these aircraft, FM actually has a very respectable livery line-up.
  • FW-190 and F-13 will continue to fall in value.
• Hobbymaster's price rises, which are outpacing inflation by ridiculous amounts, will increasingly be a sore spot with collectors.
• Few collectors buy more than one of any SkyMax release.
• Carousel1 prices stabilize at around 40 per aircraft and don't climb substantially higher for all but a few rare ones, such as the triplane and Baraca Nieuport.
• There is still a suspiciously large stock of Eagles Internationals P-51s and T6s/SNJs looming.
• Century Wings is dying. An F-117 might help, as would a few more A6s, but beyond that, it's difficult to see what they can do. They might do an F-18 though, which would be nice and instantly obsolete the less than ideal Dragon and Witty versions.
• FOV might release a 1/72 C-47, but will make fewer aircraft overall
• GainCorp is dead

Hobby Trends:

• 1/48 for WW2/Korea and earlier is on the ascendancy, as it provides far more value to the collector than 1/72 for WW2 single-engine types.
• On the other hand, 1/48 and larger for modern jets is dead.
• 1/32 largely dead, even though some of us would kill for a 1/32 Corsair, Hellcat, or Zero and there's a sneaking suspicion that a 1/32 zero would sell like crazy.

Wish List:
A lot of my personal wish-list is semi-subconsciously embedded in my predictions above. The following extends on this and tries to stay in the realm of the commercially possible, rather than the overly unlikely (1/48 XP-55!).

• 1/72 B-29. When all else is said and done, there's nothing that would benefit my collection as much as this. Virtually no limit on interesting liveries, even if B-50 version is not done. Even a Corgi version would be great, if they promise not to do the nose art with their 'glossy sticker' process that has ruined many an otherwise decent model.
• The upcoming F4B is sure to be a hit. There's a great version with a LARGE "Felix the Cat" roundel on it. Yes please.
• That FOV continue to make diecast WW2 aircraft, despite being largely ignored by 'community.' Their models, while not perfect, deserve far more respect than they get.