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Large
Scale Planes are getting popular more and more. With their larger
size, these scale aircraft models can be easier to work on and
handle, but can still allow for many added detail parts to bring
them to life. Typically large scale means 1/32 or 1/24.
Big
Scale Planes used to be few and far between, with just a few offerings,
from companies like Revell or Airfix. Many of these aircraft kits
are still around today, but sometimes their moldings can be dated
to a time when they probably weren't very popular, and were more
expensive to the average builder.
Few
detail parts existed back then, so if there were any issues with
the kit that needed corrections, there were no resin or photo
etch parts to bring the kit back to being an exact replica like
today.
Now
Large Scale Airplane models are made by many companies. Not just
Revell or Airfix, but companies like Trumpeter, Tamiya, Zoukei-Mura,
and Dragon models, just to name a few.
Most
of these are modern toolings, with more parts in a kit than you
can imagine. Details from engines, to wing spars, to internal
fuel tanks, to removable cowlings. These kits produced today will
easily rival any 1/72 or 1/48 scale aircraft models.
But
the older Model companies are getting into the game with new kits
to add to their large scale aircraft lineup, including Airfix,
which just recently issued an all new model of the Hawker Typhoon.
Not a reissue, this kit was developed from the ground up, and
exceeds anything most modelers could ever dream of as far as detals.
Zoukei-Mura
(Super Wing Series) is a relatively newcomer to the model scene,
but their kits are exceptional in detail. Cross section parts
reveal all the inner working of an aircraft, from the spars to
the internal fuel tanks and gun placements. They even offer details
parts to go beyond the boxed model, though the kits are so detailed,
there isn't much you can add.
Whether
you preference is 1/32 or 1/24 scale, these kits offer more than
your typical models. With options such as posable flaps and rudders,
pilot figures, moving parts, removale pieces using magnets, and
more, these kits rise to an all new level of building.
Let's
hope the trend continues and we get many more large scale plane
models in the future.
Now
model companies are starting to get into making 1/35 scale kits.
These go well with the hundreds if not thousands of 1/35 figures
and military kits that are already available. And 1/35 is not
that different than 1/32. I think doing this makes the model appeal
to a larger model buliding base of customers.
Some
of my favorite aircraft are:
The
P40. I like it's sleek lines. The use of the "sharknose"
graphics are a favorite of mine also. The planes look good in
green or tropical desert paint schemes. I recommend The Flying
Tigers, a John Wayne movie. It gives some history about when P40's
were used before WWII in China, trying to fight off the invading
Japanese forces. The real planes wrre very basic, and not perfect
as far as a fighter, but they got the job done when needed.
Another
favorite of mine is the P51 Mustangs. I prefer the bubbletop canopy
versions. It's another sleek aircraft, and it does resemble the
P40 in some ways. (or the A36 Apache). Many of them were silver,
so from a painting aspect, they're usually an easy paint scheme
to apply to the model.
The
F4U Corsair is an aircraft I like too. The inverted wing is so
unusual. The dark blue paint schemes are easier to paint. The
radial engine just begs for more detail on a model.
The
Douglas Skyraiders appeal to me because it was the first aircraft
model I ever built in the late 1960s. It's a prop plane too.
I
don't have a particular jet fighter that I like. They're all pretty
similar. Though I have built a Russian Mig Fulcrum before, and
that was an interesting plane. The intake vents on top of the
wings were unusual (the Russians use the vents to suck up air
from above the runway on takeoff and taxing, rather than suck
up debris and dirt directly off the runway). I thought that was
clever.
Though
the Russians can be very practical when it comes to their engineering.
Almost the opposite of German engineering. Germans will use 5
knobs when only one is needed, the Russians will only use one
it seems.
There
are a lot of aircraft I haven't built, and given the time, I'd
love to build them all. There are still plenty more P40 and P51
kits.
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