What pre-painted options are out there?

[Oberst Hajj]

I know several of you guys use non-WoW minis in a few different scales. I'm curious to know what pre-painted options are out there. If you could list the company name, the scale, and if it's not to big of a list, what models they make. If you have links to where they could be purchased, that would be an added bonus.

Thanks!

Here is the list of pre-painted 1/144 from the 2nd page for easy reference:



Plane Type / Manufacturers [Series]- Number of Paint jobs

Mitsubishi A6M5 / Bandai [P2]-2 / Bandai [L4]-2 / Takara [World Wing Museum A6M]-4
Mitsubishi A6M3 / Bandai [L2]-2 / Bandai [Kansai]-1
Mitsubishi A6M2 / Bandai [L3]-2 / Bandai [Kansai]-1 / Takara [World Wing Museum A6M]-5 / FToys [Wing kit 1]-3
Mitsubishi J2M3 / Bandai [L3]-2 / FToys [Wing kit 1]-2
Mitsubishi Karigata Liason Plane / Bandai [L1]-1
Mitsubishi Ki46 / FToys [WorkShop 3]-3
Mitsubishi Ki15 / Bandai [L1]-1

Aichi M6A1 / Bandai [L3]-1
Aichi D3A1 / Bandai [P2]-1 / FToys [Wink kit 1]-3
Aichi E13A1 / FToys [Wink kit 3]-3

Kawasaki Ki45 / FToys [Work shop 9]-3
Kawasaki Ki61 / Bandai [P2]-1 / FToys [Wink kit 3]-3

Kawanishi Shiden Kai / Bandai [L1]-1 / FToys [WingKit 1]-2 / FToys [Wingkit 2]-2

Nakajima J1N1 / Bandai [L4]-1 / FToys [Work Shop 9]-3
Nakajima A6M2 / FToys [Wing kit 1]-3 / Takara [World Wing Museum A6M]-6
Nakajima B5N2 / Bandai [L1]-2
Nakajima Ki43 / Bandai [L1]-1 / FToys [Wing kit 4]-3
Nakajima Ki44 / FToys [Wing Kit 2]-2
Nakajima C6N1 / Bandai [L2]-1
Nakajima Ki84 / Bandai [L2]-3

Kyushu J7W / FToys [Wing Kit 1]-1

Kugisho D4Y1 / FToys [Work Shop 7]-3

Grumman Wildcat / Bandai [P2]-1
Grumman Avenger / Bandai [L1]-1
Grumman Hellcat / Bandai [L2]-1
Grumman Bearcat / FToys [Wink kit 3]-3

F4U Corsair / Bandai [P2]-2 / Bandai [L4]-1

Lockheed Lightning / Bandai [L1]-1 / FToys [Worsk Shop 3]-3

North American Sabre / Bandai [L4]-2
North American Mustang / Bandai [L2]-3
North American Twin Mustang / FToys [Work Shop 9]-3

Curtiss Warhawk / Bandai [Kansai]-2

Republic Thunderbolt / Bandai [L3]-3

Supermarine Spitfire / Bandai [Kansai]-1 / FToys [Wing kit 4]-3

Hawker Hurricane / Bandai [P2]-1
Hawker Typhoon / FToys [Wing Kit 2]-2

De Havilland Mosquito / Bandai [L4]-1 / FToys [Work Shop 3]-3

Yakovlev Yak 9 / Bandai [L3]-1

Ilyushin Shturmovik Il-2 / Bandai [L4]-2 / FToys [Work Shop 7]-3

Macchi MC202 Folgore / FToys [Work Shop 7]-3

[Captain Bigglesmay]

world tank museum 1/144 or 12mm most ww2 tanks

that's about it unless you buy figure and then get someone to paint it for you

sorry link
http://www.world-tank-museum.com/

[usmc1855]

There are numerous Japanese made WW2 1/144 scale models available:

From a USA distributor: http://www.bcmini.com/id78.html

http://www.japanesemodelmuseum.com/id2.html

http://www.japanesemodelmuseum.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/70096Navalzeroonline.jpg.w300h642.jpghttp://www.japanesemodelmuseum.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/70090web.jpg.w300h511.jpghttp://www.japanesemodelmuseum.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/70093TWINENGINE2.jpg.w300h575.jpghttp://www.japanesemodelmuseum.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/70078L2.jpg.w300h791.jpg




http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_C5UAXb0bEic/R6SV-49jf6I/AAAAAAAABPM/cLCeq5ED4rY/s1600-h/lineup.jpg

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks for the great info Brian! I guess Ebay would be the place to look for these. Too bad most have the landing gear down... just does not fit in that great with a flying game :(

[afilter]

Any 1/200 options out there.

I have searched many times and best I could find is the AIR/200 models at my LGS

http://www.lastsquare.com/

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/adfilter/Modeling/DSCN0821.jpg

Require a bit of work, but turn out nice and the price is good at $7 for a 2pk of fighters or $6 for a Val/Stuka.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/adfilter/Modeling/DSCN0832.jpg

A cheap way to increase the numbers in your air force as many of the current planes in DoW and fire form the sky are available.

They lack the detail of the WoW models, but I just cannot bring myself to repaint a WoW model when I can get 3 planes for the same cost with Air/200.

[Pooh]

I saw a 1/200 P-47 for sale on e-bay (prepainted). Sorry i don't remember the manufacturer. I did check out the store's website though and the same comapny had a number of airplanes but they were all the same size (so scale varies). For example:
F6F hellcat = 1/190
F4u Corsair = 1/190
Typhoon = 1/180
Spitfire & P40 = 1/160
and so on.

There are numberous WW2 planes available on ebay at 1/144 scale.
Manufacturers include:
Takara
F-Toys
Bandai
21st Century Toys
Altaya (Spanish company makes metal models, expensive)
Sweet (unpainted but often comes with cute little kitten ground crew?)
Kamide Koro
Corgi (metal)
Furuta
and others

In WW1, as far as I know only F-toys makes painted 1/144 models and those are only for Spad VII & albatros DIII.

Pooh

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks for the list of manufacturers guys. Can any of you give details on the quality of some of these?

[costampede]

Hey Col., I bought an F-Toys 1/144 Ki-61 pre-painted. It was like a little snap-togehter model kit, with the option of landing gear up or down. I did it with the gear up. I will bring it Thursday for you to look at.

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks Tony!

[Roger Wilco]

There are plenty of companies out there that produce prepainted and partial assembly kits. They come in a small box that is designed to fit in a vending machine and the idea is that the model that comes out is a random selection of the current set of in most cases 12 different models. In 99% of cases the models are 1/144 scale, but one company called Furuta makes them in what seems random scales. I buy all of my models from Ebay sellers that buy the models by the case, carefully open the package at the bottom to see what is inside and then lists them accordingly. In my years of buying these models I have never been dissapointed by any of my regular sellers in Japan or China, sometimes the post can take longer to arrive but I have been assured that its not the sellers fault but more the culture within the Chinese Postal Service. At worst it may take 3 weeks instead of 10 days. I have had a worse time waiting for sellers in Australia and the USA to get motivated to walk to the post office!

In 1/144 scale all of the companies below are excellent in quality and all models can be made wheels up or down

F-toys Confect. Make a great range of models and each series has 3 Secret models there are usually 12 different models in a series of 4 different planes. The exception would be there 4 engined bomber set that had 9 models and 3 secret paint schemes.
F-toys makes models from all eras, WW1, WW2, Early Jets, Korean and Vietnam Wars, 4 Engined Bombers, 2 Engined Bombers Modern, Flying Boats, Star Wars etc. All models come with some decal in place but a waterslide decal sheet with additional marking is also supplied. Sometimes a particular scheme of a model will have 3 different registration and ID markings so you can make 3 or 4 planes from the same squadron. This was the case with the Early Jets series. I have 3 Gloster Meteors with consecutive numbers and I have 4 Me262's likewise marked. looks great on the tabletop.

Cafereo Make a great range of multi engined aircraft, my favourite from this company is the "P61 Black Widow". I missed out on their He111's, but they make a lovely Dornier 217.
This Company usually makes 10 models in a series with 4 secret models, 3 are different schemes of the subject models and the 4th is something completely different and sometimes from a completly different era. The last series by CafeReo had a C-47 in Japanese Airforce markings as one of its Secrets, I bought it to run a confusion scenario I am planning.

Cafereo are about to release a Divebomber series in February which will contain Ju-87D-5, Ju-87G-2, SBD-4 Dauntless, SB2C Helldiver and Type 21 & Type 33 Comet. At this stage there is is no information what the secret model is. A Val I hope. I am really looking forward to buying models from this set.

Bandai and Takara are two other companies that produce the same types of models, they are of excellent quality but neither company has produced anything new in awhile, Takara mostly concentrated on Luftwaffe and Luftwaffe '46, where as Bandai are more general with a slant towards Japanese airforce.

Its easy to convert all of these models for Dawn of War, I use a Pin vice to drill a small hole in the underside of the assembled model and use a superglue a short piece of Evergreen plasic rod in place.

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks for the breakdown Roger Wilco. I just ordered a Takara Bf-109 off eBay to compare size and quality. At US$8.50 shipped to my door, the price was pretty good for "testing the waters".

Would you say the F-toy WWII planes are of the same quality and material build as their WWI planes?

[usmc1855]

Would you say the F-toy WWII planes are of the same quality and material build as their WWI planes?

I would say yes. Our group had played WW2 air miniatures several times in the past using F-toy miniatures, and they are of very good quality.

[Roger Wilco]

Most of the WW2 models are better than the WW1 models. The Takara Bf109's are excellent little machines. I have a couple of their Ta152, and 154's which were my first purchases and i must say I was blown away by the quality. some of the manufacturers 1st or 2nd VOL. or Series models are not as good as the more recent releases but they are still very good all the same.

One brand mentioned by some of other posters is 21st Century Toys also known as New Millenium, I don't recommend unless you can't get hold of a particular model through another source or if they are too cheap to resist. They come in a clear square box covered in a card board sleeve. They are fully assembled and painted (finished) and they come wheels down. The problem is that the paint work is very inconsistant in quality as is the assembly, they also treat the models genericly and give the models paint schemes that were not true to the particular Mk or type, pitty realy. If your not fussy like that then its worth taking advantage of low prices to pick up aircraft not available from other manufacturers, Spitfire X's, P51-D's, P47B's and D's, Dauntless', Jakes, Oscars, Zeros, Fw190-A's & Me 262's. I just clip the undercart off mine and don't look underneath at the uncovered wheelbays.

[Oberst Hajj]

Any options out there for some P-38s?

EDIT:

Okay, I found some that are called approx. 1:144 SCALE by Corgi Showcase. They are die-cast metal and there appears to be 3 different ones.
1 (http://www.fantasticflyers.com/fighting-machines-lightning-battle-bulge-cs90314-p-601.html)
2 (http://www.fantasticflyers.com/fighting-machines-lightning-352fg-cs90196-p-749.html)
3 (http://www.fantasticflyers.com/corgi-showcase-lightning-sweet-dreams-cs90428-p-618.html)

[afilter]

Any options out there for some P-38s?

EDIT:

Okay, I found some that are called approx. 1:144 SCALE by Corgi Showcase. They are die-cast metal and there appears to be 3 different ones.
1 (http://www.fantasticflyers.com/fighting-machines-lightning-battle-bulge-cs90314-p-601.html)
2 (http://www.fantasticflyers.com/fighting-machines-lightning-352fg-cs90196-p-749.html)
3 (http://www.fantasticflyers.com/corgi-showcase-lightning-sweet-dreams-cs90428-p-618.html)


AIR200 does have a P-38 in 1/200, but it is not pre-painted. The LGS I get mine form does offer painting though. I just prefer to do my own. I have resisted getting the P-28, p-51 and others as there are not cards for them yet in the game.

[Oberst Hajj]

Not having official cards for a lot of the planes does suck, but I'm trying to work some of that data out with WWII aircraft historians and tech geeks. The biggest problem is going to be the speed of the late war planes.

[afilter]

Not having official cards for a lot of the planes does suck, but I'm trying to work some of that data out with WWII aircraft historians and tech geeks. The biggest problem is going to be the speed of the late war planes.


That is going to be a tough one. The only model I have so far that is not in the game is the B-17. I had found a wrkable card and movement system on the "cockpit" site first.

There are some great models out there for WWII, I just hope the game keeps up. I had a number of the 21st century planes (I can find them for $3-4), but sold them off when the minis released as I like the WoW models better. I just wish there was more around in 1/200 scale.

I will be very curious to see what the offical answer is for some of the faster planes. I am thinking bigger movement cards breaking with what they have now would be the easiet answer.

[Oberst Hajj]

I don't think we will see bigger movement cards... at least, not for fighter sized aircraft. That would require all new packaging and a new setup for printing and cutting the cards. I think the way I would handle it would be to place a new card in to the decks of the faster planes. This new card (some thing like a stall) would then be used "extend" the planes movement in the forward direction. Since all planes have wider turns as you increase speeds, a simple short straight card played after the normal movement card would keep the turn angles the same and just increase the distance the plane travels. It would also make it easy to account for a larger verity of speeds. If they made this "extension card" a thin, clear plastic piece, it would be easy to lay it down on top of the normal movement card and still line up the planes base with the new arrow head on the extension card.

Just my thoughts though and there are a lot of different ways to go about it!

[Pooh]

For those of you with deep wallets (not me)
Altaya diecast planes include many types not widely available in ww2 1/144. They seem to specalize in twin engine bombers. I have 2 of their planes an LeO 451 (french medium bomber) and a SM.79 (Italian trimotor medium/torpedo bomber). They are high quality with a detailed paint job although I'm not familiar enough with squadron markings to know how accurate.
Altaya models ussually run from $20 to $50.

Also, while looking at e-bay for 1/200 scale aircraft, I found an auction for a pair of white metal unpainted FW 190s. Going out to the sellers website (Strikemaster Collectables in the UK) I found he has a variety of 1/200 scale WW2 planes but most are VERY expensive. They are mostly WW2 German recognition models and include a wide variety of allied planes including the A20, Wilcat, Anson & P38. It seems the Germans made their recognition models in 1/200. They seem to be gray with national markings. The one I took a closer look at was selling for about $75 before shipping.
I won't be buying any of them but they're there if any are interested.

Pooh

[Roger Wilco]

Bandai have a P-38 in their 1st series but it is quite expensive when it appears on Ebay, either its got a high buy it know price or the auction climbs out of control, the same happens when a Corsair pops up.

I have a couple of the Corgi P38's, they are diecast and they are heavy and I haven't done anything with them as far as DoW is concerned, I actually bought them years ago for Flames of War and they are still in their boxes, I haven't measured them and I suspect they maybe slightly undersize but they look OK. There are a few resin options on sale around the web but they will require you to use a paintbrush and some CA glue.
My approach when it comes to desiring out of print models is to wait it out. Somebody else will eventually pick up the torch and if you go down the impatient path it usually isn't long before you end up muttering "$#@! I knew I should have waited". There is plenty of other choice models out there to pick up in the meantime plus these Japanese companies between them release something every couple of months. I check this blog everyday before I go anywhere else on the web, it has almost become a religious habit for me http://kampfgruppe144.blogspot.com/ This guy is so on the ball its not funny.

[Roger Wilco]

With the issue about not having highspeed manouver cards, here is my answer or reasoning.

Speed between aircraft of any given moment in the war is relative.

The Speed difference between a 1939 Spitfire 2 and a Bf109 E2 is insignificant in DoW game terms and they use decks A & B which have differences between them to represent the individual abilities of the given planes. OK!

The differences between a 1943 P51B and a Fw190A or a Bf109 G for arguments sake would also be insignificant in Dow Game terms, so what I do is use decks A & B they could be used respectively or they could be swapped around it doesn't matter that much.

The problem of speed differentiation occurs when you pit a 1939 Spitfire 2 against a 1943+ bf109 or Fw190, but as luck would have it all the Spitfire 2's were destroyed or modified by then so it never happened and if they existed, it would be suicide for the Spit pilot, it never happened.

What I am getting at is you don't need faster cards, you just use the same cards you already have, you just use models from the later year. If you want to you could add certain cards from one deck and add them to another to fine tune a deck to the parameters of the individual plane you are using. I think thats what the game designers do when they introduce new planes into WoW they just play around with the deck compositions.
The only extra things you need to do though is agree on a relative armour rating and the damage dealt out by weaponry of the aircraft you create. Its just too easy and some design notes I read somewhere help when planning this.

I am fairly certain if/when Nexus release a set for mid or late war WW2 this is what they will do, they will probably say that the two sets although similar are not interchangeable in much the same way that WoW is incomptable with DoW.

I hope this is clear.

[Oberst Hajj]

Clear enough for me and that would work fine as long as you never wanted to introduce the Me 262 (over 100mph faster the the P-51D) or you never wanted to have introduce bombers our transport planes. It goes even so far as to never have a P-51D against a Stuka... and I don't see Andrea not letting that happen. He has already said he has special rules written up for it.

But we are way off topic here!

Thanks for the detailed listing on the planes out there. I'm really not in any hurry for a P-38, but I would really like to design and play a scenario based on Operation Vengeance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Vengeance).

[Oberst Hajj]

There is an F-Toys P-38 up on the Canadian Ebay right now for just over US$24. Kind of tempting. lol

[afilter]

Made it to the Last Square yesterday afternoon and picked up 3 new planes.

ME 110C, BN5 Kate and a P-38. I just could not resist. I will get some pics once they are painted. For now I am just going to use the "i" deck for the bombers that I do not have official cards for yet. Not sure what I am goin to do for the P-38 or if it wil just serve as eye candy for now. At $6 I just could not resist any longer.;)

I thought about just getting 3 kates to go along with my 2 Vals for a Pearl Harbor scenario. Right now my plan is to do a hypothetical post Pearl Harbor raid scenario with with 2 P-40s pursuing a group of 2 Vals and the Kate with one zero in escort. I will probably wound one of the bombers so it can only move slow.

FYI, for those that just do not want to paint I did check it out and the pre-painted ones only cost $10 for a set of 2 fighters. These are not decaled, but look pretty nice.

[Roger Wilco]

WOO HOO!!!!!

I found this today a 1/144 scale Vb Spitfire. F-Toys are going to release a Spifire, a Stuka (again) and some other Japanese fighter (Oscar). No release date yet but probably in the next month or so. There are three of each model shown on the poster but there will be another of each model which will be the three "secrets", we'll have to wait until release to find out what they are.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_C5UAXb0bEic/S0tzvXuJOTI/AAAAAAAAErM/0JFV_p6CX48/s1600/WKC%2BV4%2Blarge.jpg

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks for the update!

[afilter]

Those look great! I sure wish there was a 1/200 option like that out there.

[Carl_Brisgamer]

Another one for those who like high quality at an equally high price check out

http://www.helmet-aircraft-200.com/

They have a HUGE range of display quality models that can be pre-painted to CUSTOMER specifications, including accurate squadron details and wheels up or down.

Or you can buy the white metal models (about $18 each) and do your own painting.

I have ordered two Fairey Battle Mk.II's and two Morane M.S.406's unpainted. I'll post some pics when they arrive.

Cheers,

Carl.

[Dan-Sam]

My favourite is Fokker E.111 - it looks really nice. I am on the hook... :o

[afilter]

Another one for those who like high quality at an equally high price check out

http://www.helmet-aircraft-200.com/

They have a HUGE range of display quality models that can be pre-painted to CUSTOMER specifications, including accurate squadron details and wheels up or down.

Or you can buy the white metal models (about $18 each) and do your own painting.

I have ordered two Fairey Battle Mk.II's and two Morane M.S.406's unpainted. I'll post some pics when they arrive.

Cheers,

Carl.

Very nice, but even at $18 I can get 3-5 paint your own models. ;)

[Carl_Brisgamer]

Very nice, but even at $18 I can get 3-5 paint your own models. ;)

Hi Aaron,

Like you my prefered source of 'paint your own' is Air 200, at $5 each for a single engined fighter you can't beat the price. For some reason however I can't access lastsquare.com, and have to buy them from www.magistermilitum.com, but they don't offer the whole range (no Gladiators, Falcos, B5N's).

Skytrex.com is my next port of call as their range is wider (for UK and German types), however they sell their single engine fighters for about $10 each and their twin engined aircraft for between $16 and $28 each.

The biggest thing Helmet has going for it is the wide range. As I will be running WW2 campaigns with my playing group I want to have the capability of deploying a variety of aircraft. There are no other companies I have been able to find that make the Fairey Battle, Morane M.S.406, Brewster Buffalo, Boulton Paul Defiant, Curtiss SB2 Helldiver, Grumman Avenger, and many others.

I am trying to limit my addiction to two (or three) of each type!

Cheers,

Carl.

[Carl_Brisgamer]

To get back on the original tack of this thread, the photo below is a 1:200 Furuta Messerschmitt Bf 110 I bought on EBay for $5! It is painted in the Eastern Front colours of the 'Wasp' group of ZG.1.

http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/picture.php?albumid=103&pictureid=2540

[Oberst Hajj]

Does Furuta have a decent line of pre-painted 1:200 scale planes?

[Dan-Sam]

How are you doing holes to bottom side of models? With small drill or is there any other holding system?

[Oberst Hajj]

I think most are drilling a small hole and then gluing a plastic rod into it.

[Roger Wilco]

Does Furuta have a decent line of pre-painted 1:200 scale planes?

Furuta makes there models in all different scales. I have seen their Mig 15 it was about 1:180 and their Shiden K at about 1:160 and they looked fairly basic.
I saw an ebayer selling a Hellcat which was listed at 1:180. I think the scale of them is decided on whether it can fit in the plastic egg container.
That bf110 does look nice though.

[Carl_Brisgamer]

Furuta makes there models in all different scales. I have seen their Mig 15 it was about 1:180 and their Shiden K at about 1:160 and they looked fairly basic.
I saw an ebayer selling a Hellcat which was listed at 1:180. I think the scale of them is decided on whether it can fit in the plastic egg container.
That bf110 does look nice though.

Trevor hit the nail on the head - their scales are all over the place. I am not sure but I think the Bf 110 and P-38 might be the only ones exactly 1:200.

I fix my aircraft with rare earth magnets, one to the underside of the aircraft and one to a sacrificial altitude peg. Although as of today I have more non-WoW WW2 1:200 than official DoWW2 minis (17 WoW, 27 Air 200, Skytrex, Helmet and Furuta), the magnetised pegs are seeing plenty of use.

Cheers,

Carl.

[Baron]

I know several of you guys use non-WoW minis in a few different scales. I'm curious to know what pre-painted options are out there. If you could list the company name, the scale, and if it's not to big of a list, what models they make. If you have links to where they could be purchased, that would be an added bonus.

Thanks!

After I have did some research, I could recommend you the following for Prepainted 1/144 plastic planes:
- For Zero models, go with Takara World Wing Museum Series "A6M"
- For Me109's & FW190's models, also Takara Famous Planes Series
- Me262 is a special case, Takara or Ftoys, dont know which is better
- For Stuka I would recommend Cando series.
- Lightning, Mosquito and Shturmovik go with FToys

the rest is quite simple since models as the Folgore are produced by only one manufacturer.

I do not recommend the first series "part 1" from bandai. Also, I do not recommend Furuta or Yujin if you seek quality.

[Baron]

WOO HOO!!!!!

I found this today a 1/144 scale Vb Spitfire. F-Toys are going to release a Spifire, a Stuka (again) and some other Japanese fighter (Oscar). No release date yet but probably in the next month or so.

In March they will be released. I have seen already a seller on Ebay selling this set, well actually taking pre-orders.

Trevor, what 1/144 models do you have from the Japanese manufacturers (Takara, Bandai, FToys)? I am going mad for a Do335 A02 "green" and cant find one :mad:

Do you have any "motor" things? :)

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks for the continued info guys. I'm working on compiling a list of each series and what planes were in them and how many different paint jobs they had. It's pretty slow going as it is hard to find any real info on the older series.

[Oberst Hajj]

Anyone have any experience with Aviation Model (http://cgi.ebay.com/Aviation-Model-1-144-Focke-Wulf-Fw190-A-8-2-Uffz-Ernet_W0QQitemZ270507266659QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efb7d5263)'s pre-painted stuff?

[Oberst Hajj]

I'm looking at the Wing Club L4 series right now and they seem to be very expensive... around US$20 a plane and as much as $80-$90 for the specials. What makes them so much more expensive?

[Roger Wilco]

Anyone have any experience with Aviation Model (http://cgi.ebay.com/Aviation-Model-1-144-Focke-Wulf-Fw190-A-8-2-Uffz-Ernet_W0QQitemZ270507266659QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efb7d5263)'s pre-painted stuff?

I have the set of 4 FW190's on their way right now, I'll let you know when they arrive

[Roger Wilco]

I'm looking at the Wing Club L4 series right now and they seem to be very expensive... around US$20 a plane and as much as $80-$90 for the specials. What makes them so much more expensive?

Nothing, they are not worth that much money, my rule of thumb is: no more than $10US a model and no more than $15 for a special unless I think I really have to have it. If its more than that then wait for the price to drop or wait for the model to come out via a different source.

[Oberst Hajj]

I found a local hobby store that had some Big Bird vol. 3 boxes in stock. I picked up 3 of them and got 3 Ki-21 Sally's... two of which are the secret/special ones. I also picked up one Takara Famous Airplanes of the World, Wings of the Luftwaffe and it was the secret Japanese Bf109 with the motor.

The secret bombers I'm going to just use since they will give me a nice 3 ship box formation for missions. The Japanese 109 with the motor I'm not sure what to do with. I really don't have a need for a Japanese 109, so I don't think I will ever game with it and I really don't care about collecting these for collection's sake. I guess I could put it up on eBay to try and fund buying a few more boxes.

[Baron]

you could change the decals on the 109 and make it german, as for the motor, its a cool gadget that can be placed with any other Takara plane... you should reconsider.
I have a Do335 that needs two motors to have both propellers moving :)

[Roger Wilco]

Anyone have any experience with Aviation Model (http://cgi.ebay.com/Aviation-Model-1-144-Focke-Wulf-Fw190-A-8-2-Uffz-Ernet_W0QQitemZ270507266659QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efb7d5263)'s pre-painted stuff?

The FW190's are excellent, the 4 different models arrived yesterday and I had a quick look at them, but have not removed them from there protective plastic yet. The paint work is very neat and are painted weathered. Details are nice and its great now having 4 planes from the same squadron. I will add some pilots to mine before I glue the canopy down, too good an opportunity to miss.

I'd score these babies 9/10, as these models are on par with Takara

I recieved my models from Ebay from a vendor called 7TOYS. He is one of the best sellers I have found yet and he has the set on sale for $24 US with $10 postage, these guys are a bargain for under $10 a model.
Trevor

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks Trevor. I have an order in with him right now for some different stuff. He got my stuff in the post very quickly, just have to wait for it to show up from HK now. Guess I'll have to look into getting that set from him as well.

Is it just me, or is there a big lack of Allied fighters out there? So far I've only really found the F6F and P-38 for Pacific stuff.

Can the landing gear be modeled closed on these?

[Pooh]

I've also had good luck with 7Toys. I bought my F-Toys Albatros DIIIs and Spad VIIs from him.

Pooh

[Roger Wilco]

Its not just you Col. there is a huge shortage of Allied models. My theory is that the Japanese seem to have a real facination with Axis models, its the same with armor models as well, all Tigers and not much else.

[Oberst Hajj]

It's to bad as it makes wargaming in this scale much harder :(

[Baron]

More or less, the main planes are available for the Allies. Though the selection of "secondary" models is kinda low (I did not see any French planes for that matter). But with the popularity of this scale increasing, in the future we may get more Allied fighters, why not.

[Oberst Hajj]

I read recently some place that Takara and one other company have announced that they will not be making any more 1/144 planes... so I think it is going to get harder to find things.

[Baron]

1/144 Allied Fighters from the Japanese Manufacturers (Ftoys, Takara, Bandai) you have: Spitfire, Lightning, Mustang, Thunderbolt, P40 Warhawk, Swordfish, Corsair, Typhoon, Hurricane, Ilyushin Il2, Yak 9, Mosquito, Avenger, WildCat, HellCat, Meteor... so there are some models available. From the list only the French are missing more or less, but I found D.520 resin kit available, but unpainted.

As Bombers, again lots of them are available. I do not think its that bad ;)

[Baron]

I read recently some place that Takara and one other company have announced that they will not be making any more 1/144 planes... so I think it is going to get harder to find things.

Where did you read this?

FToys have the biggest range, including almost all the above named models. They also issued a new set, coming out in March.

Takara had an edge in quality over FToys. These guys would supply you even with motors to your planes! True masterpieces of quality, collectors items I would say. Takara has a huge range in WW2 Armor 1/144 (World Tank Museum). If they stop making 1/144 aircraft, they will stop making armor also maybe, so either they are going bankrupt, either they were bought by some other company... actually they are somehow under Tomi toy builders company. I think Tomi are Americans so there might be an answer. There might be another explanation: I believe Takara had a deal with Hasegawa, some Japanese "master" designer and their collaboration ended. This is what you might have read.

1/144 in planes, in my humble opinion is the best scale. Not too big, not too small in order to have details, biggest range available (excluding 1/72 or bigger) and multiple manufacturers. And when they are many, you have new players on the market, as well as old players going "out".

This discussion is about plasic/resin planes. Die-cast excluded. If you don't mind metal, then in the equation you have new manufacturers as Corgi, Altaya, Johnny Lightning and so on.

[Oberst Hajj]

But how many of those can you actually get these days?? I've seen the P-40 from Bandai's first series, a few P-47s, one P-38 and one F4U (both way up there in price) and some early series Spitfires. The Hellcat and P-51 I've found for sell from a store (not ebay).

Who made the Wildcat and the Hurricane?

[Oberst Hajj]

I honestly can remember where I read it, but they were talking about the loss to the Hasegawa company (which make some of the best larger scale aircarft model kits out there... or they used to when I was still doing 1/48 scale stuff).

[Baron]

But how many of those can you actually get these days?? I've seen the P-40 from Bandai's first series, a few P-47s, one P-38 and one F4U (both way up there in price) and some early series Spitfires. The Hellcat and P-51 I've found for sell from a store (not ebay).

Who made the Wildcat and the Hurricane?

Well, FToys are most common pieces, then Bandai and last, Takara.

The Wildcat is in Part-2 Series by Bandai. I did not buy one, it was some $25 on Ebay, but I bought the Hellcat pretty cheap, some $6 or under and an Avenger, I believe $22, but the latter is a more complex model with moving parts and such, so the price was worth it.

The Hurricane is also in the Bandai part-2 Series, I have one, cant remember how much I've paid for it, around $20, but I saw one go with $17 also.

Wildcat and Hurricane are really exception imo, because I believe no other producer has them in their range (either die-cast or plastic). So they tend to go over $20. Corsairs are also expensive sometimes, but each week there are at least 2-3 on Ebay. If you cannot get one at a decent price, you have the Corgi die-cast model available and that goes under $10 if I remember correctly.
About prices, $20 can seem like a lot, but a WoW/DoW model is around $8-$9 , paying double for a bigger model with more details and excellent quality is not a bad idea for me. And this for rare models. The common ones like Zeros, FW190's are cheaper than WoW. I have some Zeros from Takara with weathered paint that look exceptional and one piece costs like $6... if you look for them. Their landing gear can be up or down, the cockpit can be open or not, with pilot visible or not...

1/200 in planes goes well with 1/144 armor... they look good in battlefields like this, with this ratio for scales.
But 1/200 does not have the range and quality imo. Not yet, maybe in the future 1/144 scale planes will "die" and 1/200 will replace them in popularity. Hard to say...

Stay clear of the Part-1 Spitfires from Bandai. They have quality issues people tell me. In March, FToys releases a new Spitfire so the cost wont be an issue anymore as well as the quality, most likely. Or if you like die-cast, then go with other producers for Spitfire.

Lightning is not that hard to find, since it was produce by Bandai (L1) and FToys - 3 models (one secret) in Workshop 3 series. Also I saw this plane in die-cast.

I use 1/144 planes because my armor is 1/100 so in this way everything looks good on the battlefield. 1/200 planes are too small to display alongside 1/100 vehicles... So I have chosen this scale (1/144, 12 mm) for planes.

[Oberst Hajj]

Yeah, there are two Corsairs on ebay right now... one is at a bid of $11.55 and one is a buy it now priced at $55.00 :eek:

[Baron]

The one at $55 must be the "canadian" shop Hand Sized History... each week lists that Corsair at $55, must be looking for someone... mentally challenged. Until now the most expensive Corsair F4U I saw sold, went for $31.
The canadian shop also has a Me109 with finish marking at some $130... :))))
How hard it is to buy a normal Me109 and change the decals, it must be easier than buying one at over $100 :P

Forgot to tell you about the Nakajima Oscar... that is also a plane, strangely, that was made only by Bandai in the L1 series, tends to go over $13, though there were sold with $10 also. In the upcoming FToys series, this will be again available so it should be easier to find.

Do you still have the "japanese" Me109 with motor or did you put it on Ebay already?

I tell you a plane that sold for $55, it was a Do335 A2, the green one, from Takara. But I bought the A0, the silver one for $11 :D Same model (we could say), different colors. Now I need two motors for it :D It's my favorite plane you see...

[Oberst Hajj]

RedBaron, you seem to be pretty up to speed on what planes were in what series by each company. Would you be willing to put a list together showing all of this for us?

I do still have the Japanese 109, unopened. I've not decided what to do with it yet :( I'm going to be ordering at least a case of that series here soon. We'll see what I get.

[Baron]

Let me get this straight, you intend to order a case of... Takara Famous Airplanes? Is that possible? I have found FToys cases, but Takara or even Bandai... no. PM me with details pls if it is possible.

I will put up a list of the planes and the producers. I do not have a complete list, but for what I have I will put it up in here if it will help you.

[Baron]

Ok, below you will find a list of Plastic Planes, scale 1:144 produced by some Japanese Manufacturers. The list is not complete, since I still have to update it with some models, but it is a starting point:

Again, all planes are prepainted plastic 1/144.

Note that the Bandai Part 1 Series, all Furuta Series and all 21st Century Toys Series are not in the list, since all of these I consider to be below the standard of quality that I accept. Still, you will find from the previously named producers plane types that otherwise cost a lot to buy from Takara or Bandai. I might be wrong with regards to their quality, but there you have it... I only look for the below list.

Plane Type / Manufacturers [Series]- Number of Paint jobs

Mitsubishi A6M5 / Bandai [P2]-2 / Bandai [L4]-2 / Takara [World Wing Museum A6M]-4
Mitsubishi A6M3 / Bandai [L2]-2 / Bandai [Kansai]-1
Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" / Bandai [L3]-2 / Bandai [Kansai]-1 / Takara [World Wing Museum A6M]-5 / FToys [Wing kit 1]-3 / 21st Century-3
Mitsubishi J2M3 / Bandai [L3]-2 / FToys [Wing kit 1]-2
Mitsubishi Karigata Liason Plane / Bandai [L1]-1
Mitsubishi Ki46 / FToys [WorkShop 3]-3
Mitsubishi Ki15 / Bandai [L1]-1

Aichi M6A1 / Bandai [L3]-1
Aichi D3A1 / Bandai [P2]-1 / FToys [Wink kit 1]-3
Aichi E13A1 / FToys [Wink kit 3]-3

Kawasaki Ki45 / FToys [Work shop 9]-3
Kawasaki Ki61 / Bandai [P2]-1 / FToys [Wink kit 3]-3

Kawanishi Shiden Kai / Bandai [L1]-1 / FToys [WingKit 1]-2 / FToys [Wingkit 2]-2

Nakajima J1N1 / Bandai [L4]-1 / FToys [Work Shop 9]-3
Nakajima A6M2 / FToys [Wing kit 1]-3 / Takara [World Wing Museum A6M]-6
Nakajima B5N2 / Bandai [L1]-2
Nakajima Ki43 / Bandai [L1]-1 / FToys [Wing kit 4]-3
Nakajima Ki44 / FToys [Wing Kit 2]-2
Nakajima C6N1 / Bandai [L2]-1
Nakajima Ki84 "Frank" / Bandai [L2]-3 / 21st Century-1

Kyushu J7W / FToys [Wing Kit 1]-1

Kugisho D4Y1 / FToys [Work Shop 7]-3

Grumman Wildcat / Bandai [P2]-1
Grumman Avenger / Bandai [L1]-1
Grumman Hellcat / Bandai [L2]-1
Grumman Bearcat / FToys [Wink kit 3]-3

F4U Corsair / Bandai [P2]-2 / Bandai [L4]-1

Lockheed Lightning / Bandai [L1]-1 / FToys [Worsk Shop 3]-3

North American Sabre / Bandai [L4]-2
North American P-51 Mustang / Bandai [L2]-3 / 21st Century-4
North American Twin Mustang / FToys [Work Shop 9]-3

SBD Douglas "Dauntless" / 21st Century-2

Curtiss Warhawk / Bandai [Kansai]-2

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt / Bandai [L3]-3 / 21st Century-2

Supermarine Spitfire / Bandai [Kansai]-1 / FToys [Wing kit 4]-3 / 21st Century-3

Hawker Hurricane / Bandai [P2]-1
Hawker Typhoon / FToys [Wing Kit 2]-2

De Havilland Mosquito / Bandai [L4]-1 / FToys [Work Shop 3]-3

Yakovlev Yak 9 / Bandai [L3]-1

Ilyushin Shturmovik Il-2 / Bandai [L4]-2 / FToys [Work Shop 7]-3

Macchi MC202 Folgore / FToys [Work Shop 7]-3

[Baron]

Fell free to comment on the above list if you find errors or know that a certain model was produced by someone else and it does not show up.

[Roger Wilco]

I read recently some place that Takara and one other company have announced that they will not be making any more 1/144 planes... so I think it is going to get harder to find things.

You got that info from me on another thread. I read it on a 1/144 scale model forum.

[Oberst Hajj]

lol, okay... i'm getting data overload on this subject i think!

[Roger Wilco]

You can get prepainted P-47's from 21st Century Toys, I bought two of their razorbacks, which have rocket tubes and bombs, all you have to do is clip the undercart off. They also can come as a dogfight double with a Fw190 A8 There are also nice kits of P47's by Platz, I haven't bought any Platz kits yet, but Kaufstick said they were as good as or if not better than Sweet, which is saying something.

On the Pacific front I just read that Minicraft have released their Avenger with new decals this time with late war USN markings VC-88, Royal Navy '43 and Royal New Zealand Air Force late '44. They have also re-released their B-24J and B-26B, although Cafereo does a nice B24!

[Baron]

If you have the info of the 21st Century Toys list of planes, we should add them too to the list. What quality do they have? Some people say they are not quite so good. If you own some planes, could you tells us, do they have any quality issues?

The list lacks only the Germans from what I can supply as info. I will update it when I find some more time.

re/

[Oberst Hajj]

Great info guys. Let's try and keep this list to non model kits. Only pre painted, mostly assembled planes (like F Toys, CafeReo, and Takara). The reason is there are a lot of people that like WoW and DoW because they do not have to assemble or paint the planes. Full on model kits stray to far from this idea. We could add a kit list separately I guess.

[Roger Wilco]

If you have the info of the 21st Century Toys list of planes, we should add them too to the list. What quality do they have? Some people say they are not quite so good. If you own some planes, could you tells us, do they have any quality issues?

The list lacks only the Germans from what I can supply as info. I will update it when I find some more time.

re/

21st century are a bit hit and miss on quality, but they are OK.

They come painted/ assembled wheels down, they are basic in detail, they look OK, some of the paint work is shabby at times with oversprays especially on the underside. Assembly is generally OK with occassional straightenings required of bombs,rocket tubes or undercart. One of my FW190 A's has the engine insert missing so the prop is very loose which is annoying.
So far though I haven't had any major complaints apart from a missing engine part. My only beef with them is that they make a model then release it in different schemes they find without thought as to Mk correctness for example

They make a Spitfire MkX ???? and it comes in 4 different schemes
Green & Grey RAF, Pink PR RAF, Tan & Brown US, Foliage Green & Dark Green RAAF (Clive Caldwell) The problem is that for the last 3 they are the wrong Mk Spit with no tropical filters, but they look OK all the same.

So far I only know of these models
P51D, 3 x schemes, Blue & Silver, Red & Silver, Yellow, Silver and Olive.
Spitfire MkX, 4 x schemes as above
FW190 A8, 2 x schemes
Me262A
P47 Razorback and Bubble top
Hellcat, 3 x schemes 2 x US, 1 x RAF
Dauntless, 2 x schemes
A6M2 Zero 2 x schemes
Ki 84 Hayate 2 x schemes

[Baron]

Ok, I will add them also to the list.

A few details about Bandai this time. Someone from Japan told me that Bandai joined forces with Wing Club Corporation to produce the Series BANDAI WING CLUB. Also another "name" was involved in these series: Eishindo Corporation. Long story short, the association between these "names" broke at one point and Bandai now has no right to issue new stuff using the "Wing Club" name, probably Bandai lost also the producing tools from Eishindo. Hence, it is not clear if Bandai will issue new sets and when. I am still to find out. Or maybe Wing Club Corporation will go on their own. Further research needed for this.

As for Takara, same story, the collaboration with Hasegawa ended and that is why they are inactive in this field for now. Seems that their Armour Series is doing well, Navy stuff also, so I hope they will return to Aircraft sometime.

FToys as we know are quite active, in September 2009 they released Wing Kit 3, while in March 2010 comes out Wing Kit 4.

The other names: Cafereo, Dragon Cando, etc are also active.

[Oberst Hajj]

Is 21st Century the only ones to make the Dauntless? I found a deal for 26 different 21st Century planes (already put together) for $50...

3 Dauntless
3 Hellcats
2 Spitfires
9 Zeros
1 Me 262
2 P 51
1 P47
4 FW 190

The P-51s and Hellcats I'm going to be getting some of new from the Bandai WC L2 series (better quality right?), the Spitfires I'll get when they come out new in March, and the FW190s I'll get new in the Takara series. So, the only thing I'm not going to be getting in better quality is the Dauntless and P-47 (the Zeros I'll pickup as one or two of the Takara series of Zeros.

At $2.62 a pieces, these are a really good price though.

[Baron]

Keith,

I have a Bandai Hellcat if you need close-up pics.
FW190 I have also one from Bandai, but I would consider the FW190's with weathering, from that producer from Hong Kong... Aviation Model I believe it is the name. I do not own one but I would consider those also... maybe someone could help us with more details, maybe pics.
Zero, I have a batch that must come, from Takara, the special Zero series; I will be able to tell you exactly the quality of those and also I will have pics if needed in a week or so. They should have weathering and high-quality.
Dauntless is not available with the Japanese so you do not have too many options. If you buy the 21st Century planes lot, please give me some feedback on the quality when you receive them... maybe some pics and first hand experiences. Good luck with the auction and keep me informed :D (by PM).

re/

[Roger Wilco]

Is 21st Century the only ones to make the Dauntless? I found a deal for 26 different 21st Century planes (already put together) for $50...

3 Dauntless
3 Hellcats
2 Spitfires
9 Zeros
1 Me 262
2 P 51
1 P47
4 FW 190

The P-51s and Hellcats I'm going to be getting some of new from the Bandai WC L2 series (better quality right?), the Spitfires I'll get when they come out new in March, and the FW190s I'll get new in the Takara series. So, the only thing I'm not going to be getting in better quality is the Dauntless and P-47 (the Zeros I'll pickup as one or two of the Takara series of Zeros.

At $2.62 a pieces, these are a really good price though.

Cafereo are about to release a divebomber series: Dauntless, Helldiver, Stuka and Comet (japanese) probably about the same time as the Spitfire Vb set

There is a seller with about 100 bandai zeros on Ebay at the moment too $3.50 each

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks for the update on the dive bomber set... I think I'll just hold off then.

[Baron]

Please help on a problem: Decals.

Did any of you have any Bandai planes? If so, how did you apply the decals (they are water transfer decals)? Please describe it here, because I do not succeed to apply them in a proper way, after they dry, they fell off if I touch them.

Please help...

[Oberst Hajj]

I've only done decals from CafeReo so far. I did the normal decal steps with a setting solution and then hit them with a dull coat. They seem to be doing fine. I should have hit the plane with a gloss first though, I got a little bit of silvering, but it's in the 40s here so to cold to really do lots of spraying.

[Baron]

I did the normal decal steps with a setting solution and then hit them with a dull coat. They seem to be doing fine. I should have hit the plane with a gloss first though, I got a little bit of silvering, but it's in the 40s here so to cold to really do lots of spraying.

Could you elaborate on that? Which are the normal steps? 40s like in years or degrees?

[Roger Wilco]

Well to start with I never got any decals with any Bandai planes I bought, I always thought there should have been.......

OK it sounds like they are a bit low in gum, probably dried out through age or are badly made.

What I would do is apply some gloss model varnish to the location that the decal will be placed on, apply the decal, let dry, carefully apply some decals set solution to the decal, let it dry then carefully apply some matt varnish over the whole model.

[Oberst Hajj]

That is the system I uses as well. And I meant that it was 40 degrees here... so not quite warm enough for spraying varnish.

[Baron]

I am used to Celsius degrees, not F, so with the 40...

Well I am not looking to apply varnish on the whole model... I do not know about that, but I will see how can I implement these solutions. The Decals do not stick... properly.

There is the option to buy separate decals, there are vendors who sell them and maybe those are better.

Thanks for info.

[Oberst Hajj]

That would have been 4 degrees Celsius ;)

[warrenn]

well if any one can translate dollars to yen i found a cool japanese site that has 1/200 aircraft and a whole lot more http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~konishi/

[afilter]

well if any one can translate dollars to yen i found a cool japanese site that has 1/200 aircraft and a whole lot more http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~konishi/


Wow, some nice models....a bit pricey....most of the smaller planes appear to be between $25-40 depending on where the yen is currently. Last I checked it was around 85-100 yen to the dollar.

[Carl_Brisgamer]

Wow, some nice models....a bit pricey....most of the smaller planes appear to be between $25-40 depending on where the yen is currently. Last I checked it was around 85-100 yen to the dollar.

I might still be tempted to buy a couple of Ki43's or A5M4's, if I could work out how to order and pay for them!

[Roger Wilco]

Anyone have any experience with Aviation Model (http://cgi.ebay.com/Aviation-Model-1-144-Focke-Wulf-Fw190-A-8-2-Uffz-Ernet_W0QQitemZ270507266659QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efb7d5263)'s pre-painted stuff?

I finally got to sit down and look at and convert my A-Model FW-190 A8's last night. Boy was I pleasantly surprised. They would have to be the best prepaint 1/144 models yet released that I have seen. The detail work is superb, its very fine and all the antennas are brass etched, including the loop antenna. the fit of the undercarriage is perfect (I made mine wheels up). The brackets that hold the drop tank on are brass etched as well. The paint work is very well done, but my only complaint is that the brass etched fram on the inside of the seperate main canopy has been glued in (at the factory) with superglue and it has etched the inside of the transperancy at the contact point, (should have used a less volatile glue), apart from that though these models are brilliant and well worth the money, under $10US including postage. They easily score 9.9/10

[Pooh]

Someone on the nexus site just posted a link to a japanese company that makes a wide variety of 1/200 ww2 airplanes. They seem to offer most of the japaneese and american planes and have a more limited selection of german, british and russian planes.

I have no idea how expensive they are as prices are listed in yen. I think the yen varies between 100 to 120 to the dollar. They are prepainted though the quality looks kinda poor.

http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~konishi/eigo200hikouki.htm

Pooh

[krolik]

2/7/10 Google has: 1 US$ = 89.4134478 Japanese yen

[Oberst Hajj]

So a P-51 is US$28.00 That is kind of steep :(

[Pooh]

Is it for 1 plane or the set? When you click on the link it shows sets of 5 to 7 planes.
for example the USN set has the wildcat, hellcat, corsair, dauntless, helldiver & avenger. Given the apparent quality, $5 or $6 or so per plane sounds more reasonable.

I can see it now. Someone buys 60 to 70 USN planes and the 1/200 scale Yamato and has 1 heck of a visual for a battle.

Pooh

[Oberst Hajj]

Well, they have the part number in the list per plane and then in the photo they show the part number of each plane next to it.

[Oberst Hajj]

I just fired off an email to them in English and Google translated Japanese asking if it was one plane or the set as pictured. I'll let you know what the say... if I can translate it back if needed!

[Oberst Hajj]

Looks like we will get some more Japanese fighters (http://www.algernonproduct.co.jp/if.htm) in mid-late May.

[kaufschtick]

Is 21st Century the only ones to make the Dauntless? I found a deal for 26 different 21st Century planes (already put together) for $50...

Not any more on the Dauntless's. F-Toys has had them out on E-Bay for some time now. I've seen them anywhere from $6.99 USD to $12.99. They have a Helldiver and a couple other ones too in that series.

BTW, I'm sure you've already realized this, but all of the 21st planes come fully assembled. Too bad 21st went belly up.

I was buying the 21st Century 2 packs in town for $2.00 each, that's $1.00 a plane! I snatched up a bunch of Dauntless's, but you can now get those on E-Bay.

[Roger Wilco]

Not any more on the Dauntless's. F-Toys has had them out on E-Bay for some time now. I've seen them anywhere from $6.99 USD to $12.99. They have a Helldiver and a couple other ones too in that series.

BTW, I'm sure you've already realized this, but all of the 21st planes come fully assembled. Too bad 21st went belly up.

I was buying the 21st Century 2 packs in town for $2.00 each, that's $1.00 a plane! I snatched up a bunch of Dauntless's, but you can now get those on E-Bay.

Sorry to correct you kaufschtick, its Cafereo that has the divebomber series not F-toys. I am assembling some Dauntless' and Helldivers at the moment, although a little fiddly they are very nice little models, the Helldiver comes with the option of an open bomb bay and all the models come with the option of canopies open or closed. That said I have some 21st century Dauntless' and they OK too! especially if you can get them so cheap, mine came as a double with a Japanese fighter, I thin it was a Zero, sorry I can't remember exactly what, I have far too many planes to know now.
RW

[kaufschtick]

Sorry to correct you kaufschtick, its Cafereo that has the divebomber series not F-toys.
RW

Cafe Rio, or Cafe Reo (my spelling is bad too!:)), F-Toys or Bandai...I can't keep track of them!:D Oh yeah, there is Takara out there too! Well, they're all good, and I tend to lump them all together as far as companies go.

When I'm browsing E-Bay, I'm just scanning the planes, so I know I'm calling them wrong from time to time (the companies), but it's all about the planes anyway. The companies aren't too important to me browsing E-Bay as it might be to someone who may be trying to go directly to the company website, so I have to apologize in advance for calling them wrong here and there!:)

[Baron]

There are also some "garage kits" as I understand they are called in Japan (nicknamed). Are made by some company called Fairy, if I recall. These are Resin Kits and they have some unique planes! I saw the Romanian IAR 80 and the IAR 81! The Resin kits are composed from 4-5 pieces as I can tell, but they are not painted. Anyone has some of these?

[Oberst Hajj]

I've picked up a lot of those new Cafe Reo divebombers as well, just not the Stukas... I have plenty of those already.

I've not got any of the garage kits, they tend to be pricey and I have no time to build and paint them!

[kaufschtick]

They also can come as a dogfight double with a Fw190 A8 There are also nice kits of P47's by Platz, I haven't bought any Platz kits yet, but Kaufstick said they were as good as or if not better than Sweet, which is saying something.

Platz is right up there with Sweet. I built two Fw-190Ds by Platz, and they were every bit as good as the two Fw-190s I bought from Takara.:)

[richard m schwab]

Rob!
You are right. I have built the Platz P-47 razorbacks and the The Fw-190-D9
they are as sweet [pardon the pun]:p as the Sweet kits. The decal options are what makes them nice!

Rich

[bumblie3]

Any 1/200 options out there.

I have searched many times and best I could find is the AIR/200 models at my LGS

http://www.lastsquare.com/

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/adfilter/Modeling/DSCN0821.jpg

Require a bit of work, but turn out nice and the price is good at $7 for a 2pk of fighters or $6 for a Val/Stuka.

http://i441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/adfilter/Modeling/DSCN0832.jpg

A cheap way to increase the numbers in your air force as many of the current planes in DoW and fire form the sky are available.

They lack the detail of the WoW models, but I just cannot bring myself to repaint a WoW model when I can get 3 planes for the same cost with Air/200.

Sorry, I seem to have missed this posting! You an find excellent 1/200 scale aircraft at this link, and most are available in kit form, or finished, but either way, they're not cheap.:(
http://www.helmet-aircraft-200.com/epages/Store3_Shop2318.sf
Hope it helps,

John.

[bumblie3]

well if any one can translate dollars to yen i found a cool japanese site that has 1/200 aircraft and a whole lot more http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~konishi/

Today's rate seems to be
1 Japanese yen = 0.011275 U.S. dollars.
Which averages about $30-$35 per miniature.
John.

[jmpltd]

If you are looking for 1/ 144 planes prepainted and at decent prices check these two out!

http://www.badcattoys.com/21cetodrmo1d.html

Be sure to check out the the 21st Century stuff Ultimate Soldier palnes- they also carry F-toys, and sevearl other nice brands.

http://store.foxholetoys.com/11442.html

Same here - Check them out

I game in both 1/ 144 and 1/200 but since my last outting when I brought the wrong planes I am going to just one scale :)

[Oberst Hajj]

Thanks for the links John, and welcome to the site.

[Baron]

If you are looking for 1/ 144 planes prepainted and at decent prices check these two out!

http://www.badcattoys.com/21cetodrmo1d.html

Be sure to check out the the 21st Century stuff Ultimate Soldier palnes- they also carry F-toys, and sevearl other nice brands.

http://store.foxholetoys.com/11442.html

Same here - Check them out

I game in both 1/ 144 and 1/200 but since my last outting when I brought the wrong planes I am going to just one scale :)

Thanks for the links!

[Naharaht]

I own a Furuta 1/200 scale Nakajima J1N Gekko (Irving), which is pre-painted. I bought it on eBay.

It would be difficult to use this plane in Wings of War because it was used mainly as a nightfighter with obliquely mounted 20mm cannon, 2 firing upwards and 2 firing downwards. However, there was an earlier version, which was unsuccessful as a long-range escort fighter armed with one 20 mm cannon and six 7.7mm machine guns firing forwards.

[AlgyLacey]

I would say yes. Our group had played WW2 air miniatures several times in the past using F-toy miniatures, and they are of very good quality.

I just invested in an F toys Spad VII in RFC colours. Build quality is awful! The prop falls out, the lower wing has parted company with the Port struts. The monkey that assembled it used enough glue otherwise to stick a 1:48 model together and on the ground it has a 10 degree list to Port due to a wonky undercart.

Disappointed:(

[Oberst Hajj]

That's to bad, all my F Toys have been really nice.

[Baron]

mine too.

btw, we can use sigs now?

[Oberst Hajj]

I'm testing out sigs for player location purposes... so, they are coming, but not as personal sigs per say.

[Baron]

ok, just thought I could use my IAR81 sig :p

[Warhorse47]

Okay, update from today. Found several prepainted minis in the 1/200 to 1/160 range at Hobby Lobby for $5 each. I grabbed 2 just to see how they would work and tomorrow will go back and grab the 2 P38s I left. They are called Sky Pilot and you can see the scale on the bases they come on. When you get them it is a bit confusing to get them off the base. Lift the tail up until it clears the small pin, then you have to spin the plane to unscrew it from the front of the base! It will then fall into pieces on you as the mounting screw holds the 2 halves together! A little super glue solves that problem, however. The Hellcat is in 1/190 scale, while the P40 is in 1/160 [N scale for you model railroaders]. The P38s are actual 1/200 scale. Other planes available are Mig3 in 1/140 scale, Spitfire, P51, Zero and D520 in 1/160, Corsair, Typhoon and P47 in 1/200. I presume the sizing is to keep the aircraft close to each other in actual size. These are nicely painted minis and all metal. I simply super glued a rare earth magnet under the plane and they stay very nicely on top of another magnet glued to the top of the mounting stand.
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Kevin-Andra/002-62.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Kevin-Andra/003-46.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Kevin-Andra/006-32.jpg
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Kevin-Andra/007-34.jpg

[richard m schwab]

Kevin!


The Sky Pilots are not sold in any scale. I have two D.520 they are 144 scale. They are nice planes.


Rich

[Warhorse47]

Yup, that's why I hunted up which planes are in which scales. Otherwise we would all be pulling our hair out. There are some on flea bay right now.

[Diamondback]

I'm thinking that if we were to order from BCMini, since they have a minimum order of $100 and minimum for free shipping of $300, and deal mainly in "random pack" products, we'd need to get a Group Buy together--for a while they were selling de-carded War at Sea minis in bulk-packs too.

Also, you might check out Hobbylink Japan at HLJ.com.

[Warhorse47]

Okay, here's a pic of the 1/200 P38s from Sky Pilot. I am impressed with these for the price,
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Kevin-Andra/003-47.jpg

[Warhorse47]

Well, we went to Paducah KY today and I found three more minis. Snatched them right up and when we got home rigged up some bases for them. Now who has cards for the Hellcat, P51D Typhoon, P40 and P38? I am actually very pleased with these, decent paint jobs and the detail is pretty good. All metal, so they will stand up to handling. Gonna have to repaint one of the Hellcats to change the number, thankfully the P38s don't have numbers on them.
http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff303/Kevin-Andra/006-33.jpg

[richard m schwab]

Kevin!

The Sky Pilots are not easy to find. Keep an eye out for the Mig-3!


Rich

[Warhorse47]

Will do! Are you hunting the MiG3 ?

[Baldrick62]

Due this May:

1/144 F-Toys Wing Kit Collection Vol.7
The series subtitles on various Japanese websites is confusing labeled as "WWII German and US Fighters" or "European Theatre" - although the line-up and marking don't quite tie-up.

Still, it is should be much a welcomed series; with an all new 1/144 P-39 Air Cobra, a new 1/144 mold of the P-40 last seen in the early Bandai wing Club release, and an 'old favourite', the Bf-109 in E-4 guise.

P39 Airacobra (USAAF, RAF, Italian)
P40E Kittyhawk (USAAF, RAF)
Bf109E-4 (Luftwaffe, Romanian)

Really looking forward to the Airacobras and Kittyhawks for my SWPA scenarios!

[richard m schwab]

Kevin!

I found some True North MiIG-3`s they look pretty good!

Rich

[pbhawkin]

so as to keep this stickied thread Up to date I include a link to another thread
http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/showthread.php?9427-1-144-Gashapon-Listings
that lists ALL Gasaphon releases for aircraft in 1/144 to date.

[Whiskysierra]

I was down at my local hobby shop today and noticed they had about half a dozen F-Toys Wings Collections Vol.2 kits on the shelf. I can't remember a price but the boxes were marked with what aircraft was inside. They don't interest me for playing with though, being 1/144th.

[BobP]

I posted a link to a place in Cali, bcmini.com They have F-Toys and a case is only $50,00. I showed the link in the 1/144 section DoW. $15.00 shipping so not a bad price for a case.

[BobP]

Just looking at this after all this time and F-Toys has issued a few new sets. For US planes there is the VS set that contains P-38's, one with Corsairs. Other than BCMINI there is HLJ and Hobby Collective have the new sets. All are 1/144.

[pbhawkin]

Bob,
I updated the thread (see link above) with all (I hope) new F-toys releases.
If anyone finds any errors please let me know so I can correct them (in particular the correct names of Japanese planes).

[BobP]

Only thing I noticed was the AVIONI list you say F6F Wildcat. The F6F was the HELLCAT. The F4F is the WILDCAT. Don't mean to be picky just pointing this out. Have to compliment you on compiling this list. Thanks.

[pbhawkin]

thanks fixed...and updated them as well with more F6F and F4U Corsair models (wow they are expensive though!).

[BobP]

Depends where you get the F-Toy from. BC MINI in CA sells them by the case for $50. HLJ and HC are in Japan so shipping is what brings up the cost. Price comes out to about $6-8 per plane and that isn't that bad. A local hobby store sells them for $12.95 but not a big selection. Rich S is the one who turned me on to F-Toys. I must have at least 150 of them.

[pbhawkin]

Bob, I was referring to the Avioni-X planes in the list that I had corrected not F-toys planes. Avioni-X prices were about $119 to $249 each!!

[BobP]

Sorry and yes I would say the is expensive. I was looking at a Shapeways Corsair (1/200) and it was $120. That is a bit out of my range.

[ArkansasChuck]

Is there an updated list for 2018 of 1/144 pre-painted options per chance? I could not find it with the search engine.

Thank you!

-Chuck

[BobP]

Chuck F-Toys & Café Reo are the best options for 1/144 pre painted planes. BCMINIS is a good place to get them. Depending what you are looking for. You have to do a little work in putting them together but they are painted.

[BobP]

240722

Here are some of the planes we used in a Pacific game. Some are hard to come by and if you can get them expensive.