Nobody Significant

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Gotta love those Viggen's in splinter-camo! Yummy! I have the 1/48th Tarangus kit in the stash that I keep looking at..... And the SR-71 is a classic we'll never see the like of again. I have big hopes for the Revell 1/48th new-tool kit due some time in 2021.

Flippin' heck that's a lot of aftermarket extras....! Looking good so far though. Keep it up. Far more "effort" that my lazy a** would be willing to do I must admit. The ADV variant is my personal fave of all the Tornado variants too! Purely from an aesthetic PoV, it's by far the prettiest IMHO.

No worries. But it's not like I'm bitter or anything..... 😡

I've had the EXACT same thing happen to me, but without the happy ending: an evil-bay buyer bought a kit off me - for almost the exact same price too(!) - then claimed it was missing one piece (no actual evidence provided to support their claim), got evil-bay to refund their money from my account, but then NEVER RETURENED THE KIT!!!!!. Then they quickly closed their account so I couldn't open a case against them in return. So I'm with Dr Loopy - NAME AND SHAME! I would be interested to see if this was the same scammer that conned me under a new account-name? I have since stopped using evil-bay for anything at all.

I completely agree about Humbrol Acrylics being the worst paint I've ever used. Once bitten, never again, But that aside, and it's very probable that I'm missing something, but I've never had any issues with either Tamiya, or Vallejo(!). I always use good old Tamiya Fine Surface Primer straight from the rattle can, and then spray on top of that. Tamiya I always spray thinned with good old X-20A, and Vallejo Model Air I spray either neat, or with a few drops of their Flow Improver. Never had a single problem that wasn't of my own making (don't try to mix Tamiya gloss and matt paints as one example!). Admittedly, I have never had to sand-back any paint as drastically as Che Guevara above, but still.... I have heard somewhere that Acrylic/Polyurethane primer's can peel as per Che's problems above, so maybe that's the issue? Maybe? Perhaps? I'm guessing here obviously. Personally, I cannot use any lacquer-based products due to the smell ! But I am more than happy to stick with my Tamiya's and Vallejo's - I have nothing else in my arsenal, and like both equally. The Vallejo's are better to brush-paint that's for sure. As for a matt-coat, I swear by Vallejo 28.518 Acrylic Matt Varnish, which IMHO is just wonderful. Like I said, that's just me. Maybe I am stranger than I thought I already was? _________________ Separately, what are "acrylic lacquer" paints (never heard of them before), what should you use to clean your airbrush after, and most importantly, do they, or the cleaning product(s) smell at all?

Agreed. Although that doesn't explain why some manufacturers can make superbly engineered models with fantastic precision (Tamiya, Bandai...), and some still can't get it right (Revell, Kitty Hawk...). It's the huge disparity in quality that irks me. But then doing the research to find the gems amongst the dross is kinda fun in and of itself. 😉

I stopped modelling proper when I went off to Uni in 1983, although in practice I had effectively stopped two years earlier when I started my A-levels as I just didn't have the time, being a bit of a swot, and also not being bright enough to be able to cruise through my A-levels without studying hard. So the quantum leap in quantity and quality of kits when I got back into the hobby in 2011 blew my mind (to say nothing of the growth of after-market stuff - all utterly unheard of in the early 1980's and before). So I was very surprised (nay, staggered!), to find that "new" manufacturers <<cough "Kitty Hawk" cough>>, even in 2011, could still produce such poor-fitting and badly engineered kits. Yes, the details levels had gone up, but the fit and engineering was, and still is, still very variable between manufacturers. This in itself I find very surprising in this day and age of mega-precise CAD/CAM and digital modelling tools etc etc. With all the tools available, and yet they still get things badly wrong.... How is that even possible? Thus, having been burned badly, I now do a lot of research online to find the best quality kit I can of a given subject, when I decide I want to build said subject. For me, the fit and engineering of a kit out-weighs pretty much all other considerations when deciding which manufacturer's version of any given subject deserves my hard-earned...

Not just Revell. Some "new" manufacturers seem not to care about the build-quality of their kits. I tried, and failed, to build the Kitty Hawk 1/48th F-35B a couple of years ago. I swear Kitty Hawk never even did a simple test-build of their kit once before sending it to market. The fit of the parts was just horrible! I felt like I was back in the 1970's fumbling with the worst that Revell could offer from back then. I swore never to touch a Kitty Hawk kit ever again after that experience which has given me "modelling-PTSD", and I am much more careful about kit research now before I select any subject.

Completely agree. There were no alternatives available to the average modeller (ie: kid aged under 15) in the 60's and 70's. I started modelling when I was about 7 if my aging memory circuits are correct, and my choices were Airfix, Airfix, or Airfix at my local toy shop. Then a second toy shop further away in the centre of town opened, and that started selling Frog and Revell (even worse quality!). When I saw my first Tamiya kits, they were priced well out of my pocket money range, so I just ignored them for that simple reason. When I could finally afford one, the step-up in quality was just stunning to my teen-age eyes.

..."display"...? By that I assume you mean "on display in the cellar, in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, stuck in a disused lavatory, with a sign on the door saying "beware of the leopard"..."? My "display department" is actually a series of Really-Useful and cardboard boxes in the loft. The wife won't have it any other way. 😡

...and I have the new Vulcan on pre-order... Does that count?

Fantastic job. All I can say is that you have patience that makes Job look like a rank amateur! Just thinking about what it took to achieve all the above extra detailing etc etc gives me the screaming heeby-jeebies.

I could be wrong (according to the wife, that's a very common occurrence), but I believe that Airfix (under Hornby) have pretty much always been profitable? It's the other sub-brands that have brought the overall group profits down into negative numbers...???