Hello all, I've decided to expand my small collection of military models. I'm mainly a civvie collector and usually buy Gemini 200. G200 offer a nice variety of airlines with good quality. What does everyone recommend as the military equivalent of G200? A nice variety of planes with good quality?
I have researched some manufacturers and listed the above. The planes I'm interested to collect are jets. Is Century Wings and Calibre Wings the same manufacturer? I have seen threads refer to CW as Century Wings and CW as Calibre Wings.
I copied the names from my retailer website. No Century Wings models for sale.
My thought- you’ll want to approach this by first ID’ing which military jet you want. That in turn changes the manufacturer dynamic.
Case in point-the F-4 Phantom. Air Commander and HobbyMaster are the two leading choices. If you want an F-4E in jungle camo, Air Commander is the way to go. If you want an Israeli F-4, you’re buying HobbyMaster. Because they’re the only ones who made one.
You can't really quantify one brand as the best overall, as all of them have good and bad moulds and schemes. The best in general are Calibre, HM and Corgi.
My thought- you’ll want to approach this by first ID’ing which military jet you want. That in turn changes the manufacturer dynamic.
Case in point-the F-4 Phantom. Air Commander and HobbyMaster are the two leading choices. If you want an F-4E in jungle camo, Air Commander is the way to go. If you want an Israeli F-4, you’re buying HobbyMaster. Because they’re the only ones who made one.
The OP might not even want just jets.
Quote:
Originally Posted by planemark
And specifying your preference in scale would help. Lots of options in 1:72 and few in 1:200 (Hogan, Herpa, Gulliver).
& does he want jets or props? WW1, WW2, post war or modern?
You can't really quantify one brand as the best overall, as all of them have good and bad moulds and schemes. The best in general are Calibre, HM and Corgi.
Thanks mate. Did not think it could be different with military planes. Gemini is a one stop shop for me. There are other civvie manufacturers they didn't really offer me anything G200 did not release. Will be a new experience looking at three brands than the one
And specifying your preference in scale would help. Lots of options in 1:72 and few in 1:200 (Hogan, Herpa, Gulliver).
Thanks, I already got the 1:200 covered with Gemini. Their C-17 is a very heavy piece of diecast It's fighter jets I plan on collecting. Immediate planes on the list are Typhoon, F-15, F-16, A-10, Harrier and the F-14. Love that film - Top Gun. Must be 1:72 and 1:200 is too small for fighter models.
Thanks, I already got the 1:200 covered with Gemini. Their C-17 is a very heavy piece of diecast It's fighter jets I plan on collecting. Immediate planes on the list are Typhoon, F-15, F-16, A-10, Harrier and the F-14. Love that film - Top Gun. Must be 1:72 and 1:200 is too small for fighter models.
Thanks, I already got the 1:200 covered with Gemini. Their C-17 is a very heavy piece of diecast It's fighter jets I plan on collecting. Immediate planes on the list are Typhoon, F-15, F-16, A-10, Harrier and the F-14. Love that film - Top Gun. Must be 1:72 and 1:200 is too small for fighter models.
For the Typhoon it's HM hands down- theirs is as perfect as diecast gets. Ditto the A-10. For the Harrier it depends which version you want- Corgi's is GR3, HM's is GR7/GR9. Both brands do different versions of Sea Harriers- Corgi's is the early version used during the Falklands war.
If you are looking for a nice F-15, I would recommend the F-15E from the 391st TFS from Hobby Master. It comes with a TON of ordinance if you are into that kind of thing. For the F-14 I would recommend getting your hands on one of the Jolly Roger birds. Its probably the most common F-14 type on the market and is always reproduced and in quite a few different livery options. So it makes for a good entry level pick. At least when it comes to the design. You really can't go wrong. If you are looking for something with more personality and flair, or perhaps even a more basic low viz F-14 then I would recommend either the VF-31 Tomcatters, VF-32 Swordsmen (That one is still pretty common even though its been on the market for about 4-5 years now) VF-2 Bounty Hunters (kind of hard to find these days) or VF-41 Black Aces. All of these planes are made by Hobby Master and come in Hi-Viz and low-Viz options so you are pretty spoiled for choice.
here is a good resource for the various Hobby master models so you can see their designs and then choose accordingly.
For me HM,Calibre and Corgi.....But sometime other manufacter have some gem...... For ex FOV have the best chinook on the market and Air Commander the best F4.
HM is the best in terms of quality and range - CalibreW is better quality but only good if you want F-14 and SU-24's - their range is restricted - Century Wings are great but the range is limited too F-8, SR-71, A-7 - which are great models.
Corgi are not as good quality as HM but have a decent range but is Brit centric
I really feel bad for Corgi. They largely invented the hobby but are now totally overtaken by Hobby Master and Calibre Wings, in terms of quality, quantity of release, and price.
Corgi made some very nice models. Hopefully they'll manage to survive and will not disappear, as did most British aircraft manufacturers.
Since you want to be a jet collector the answer is Hobby Master, pure and simple. No-one else has close to their range, in 1/72 scale. Now that's not to say their models are all that. In fact some toolings are really quite poor, but I don't want to sway your opinions, yet. You can pick and choose the odd model from elsewhere that either they haven't done, or you feel others have made a better go of.
In terms of the HM "not dones" that puts you in a tricky position. Most offerings available just aren't that good. Like all of us you have to ask, "how much do I want this type, do I think a quality manufacturer will do it, if yes how many years will I have to wait?" Examples might be:
Mirage III: HM will probably never do it because they say the Dassault licence cost is prohibitive. Same goes for other French jets unfortunately. Look for an old Falcon release.
Sea Vixen: IMHO unlikely from Calibre or HM as only one operator and few liveries. The Sky Guardians/ Witty/ AV72 releases (all the same tooling) are dreadful, look for a cheepo Altaya and fix it yourself.
SR-71: Century Wings or Air Force 1 but neither is very good and Century is technically inaccurate. Another company is rumoured to have a production licence from LM. Do you wait and see?
Su-30: It seems likely that HM will get to the tandem Flankers, and do so with their trade mark thin walled construction and wacking great horizontal joint through the middle of the nose. Personally I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for Calibre.
And so it goes.
It's also worth knowing that some companies have produced models for others using their toolings, and some companies have taken over defunct companies' toolings. Also HM made toolings for other companies.
HM made the Corgi F-104, MiG-21, A-4 and A-10 toolings.
HM made the Century Wings F-14 tooling and it's own much newer F-14 tooling is almost identical.
Gemini used the Witty F-15 and F-16 toolings for their releases.
JCW and I think Herpa are using the old Witty/ Sky Guardians Flanker toolings. These were pretty poor so you're basically getting a much more expensive repaint.
JCW and again I think Herpa are using the old Witty/ Sky Guardians Eurofighter tooling, which is nowhere near the standard of HM's new version.
AV-72 are using Witty/ Sky Guardians terrible old Sea Vixen and Javelin toolings.
There's more examples out there but those will start you off.
If you want scales other than 1/72 that's another matter. I don't really know about the smaller scales so I won't comment. In 1/48 Franklin Mint were kings and did a pretty extensive range. Many can still be found on eBay. AFAIK they were all gear down only with no pilots. The gear was often pretty crude and overall accuracy could be iffy. They had a naughty habit of releasing what were meant to be quite different versions of a type without modifying the tooling, just doing the livery. HM have so far only done one 1/48 jet, the Panther. It's an old tooling and not up to todays standards, but it does have folding wings. Corgi has produced an excellent EE Lightning and not so good British engined Phantom.
Since you want to be a jet collector the answer is Hobby Master, pure and simple. No-one else has close to their range, in 1/72 scale. Now that's not to say their models are all that. In fact some toolings are really quite poor, but I don't want to sway your opinions, yet. You can pick and choose the odd model from elsewhere that either they haven't done, or you feel others have made a better go of.
In terms of the HM "not dones" that puts you in a tricky position. Most offerings available just aren't that good. Like all of us you have to ask, "how much do I want this type, do I think a quality manufacturer will do it, if yes how many years will I have to wait?" Examples might be:
Mirage III: HM will probably never do it because they say the Dassault licence cost is prohibitive. Same goes for other French jets unfortunately. Look for an old Falcon release.
Sea Vixen: IMHO unlikely from Calibre or HM as only one operator and few liveries. The Sky Guardians/ Witty/ AV72 releases (all the same tooling) are dreadful, look for a cheepo Altaya and fix it yourself.
SR-71: Century Wings or Air Force 1 but neither is very good and Century is technically inaccurate. Another company is rumoured to have a production licence from LM. Do you wait and see?
Su-30: It seems likely that HM will get to the tandem Flankers, and do so with their trade mark thin walled construction and wacking great horizontal joint through the middle of the nose. Personally I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for Calibre.
And so it goes.
It's also worth knowing that some companies have produced models for others using their toolings, and some companies have taken over defunct companies' toolings. Also HM made toolings for other companies.
HM made the Corgi F-104, MiG-21, A-4 and A-10 toolings.
HM made the Century Wings F-14 tooling and it's own much newer F-14 tooling is almost identical.
Gemini used the Witty F-15 and F-16 toolings for their releases.
JCW and I think Herpa are using the old Witty/ Sky Guardians Flanker toolings. These were pretty poor so you're basically getting a much more expensive repaint.
JCW and again I think Herpa are using the old Witty/ Sky Guardians Eurofighter tooling, which is nowhere near the standard of HM's new version.
AV-72 are using Witty/ Sky Guardians terrible old Sea Vixen and Javelin toolings.
There's more examples out there but those will start you off.
If you want scales other than 1/72 that's another matter. I don't really know about the smaller scales so I won't comment. In 1/48 Franklin Mint were kings and did a pretty extensive range. Many can still be found on eBay. AFAIK they were all gear down only with no pilots. The gear was often pretty crude and overall accuracy could be iffy. They had a naughty habit of releasing what were meant to be quite different versions of a type without modifying the tooling, just doing the livery. HM have so far only done one 1/48 jet, the Panther. It's an old tooling and not up to todays standards, but it does have folding wings. Corgi has produced an excellent EE Lightning and not so good British engined Phantom.
That's about it.
Corgi's A-4 & A-10 were not HM toolings but Corgi's own, & nowhere near as good as HM.
Corgi's A-4 & A-10 were not HM toolings but Corgi's own, & nowhere near as good as HM.
Can't win 'em all. Thanks for keeping the story straight.
I don't own the Corgi A-4 or A-10, but although they're not as good as HM, I get the impression they can be worth a look if you're after a specific livery. The same can be said of a lot of the "second division" manufacturers. Even the "magazine" models are worth a look for gap fillers of the more obscure types. I have a few. The Skyray, Sea Vixen, Draken, Super Etendard all spring to mind. Two haven't been done by mainstream manufacturers. Two are, IMO, much better than the mainstream efforts.
I think the JCW F-15 shouldn`t be dis-counted. No seam lines. It`s a beauty. Especially the F15C of the 33rd Fighter Wing. If you can find one.
The Altaya splinter camo Viggen is particularly good to go along with their Draken, again, if you can source one. Better than Aviation72`s i would suggest.
Thanks, I already got the 1:200 covered with Gemini. Their C-17 is a very heavy piece of diecast It's fighter jets I plan on collecting. Immediate planes on the list are Typhoon, F-15, F-16, A-10, Harrier and the F-14. Love that film - Top Gun. Must be 1:72 and 1:200 is too small for fighter models.
Typhoon - HM.
F-15 - HM but be prepared to get out you modelling tools and replace the nozzles with aftermarket KA versions. Decide if you want ramps up or down releases and choose your nozzles accordingly. Alternatively consider waiting several years to see if Calibre gets round to it.
F-16 - HM, but Calibre looks promising. You may have to wait a few years for the release of your dreams.
A-10 - HM.
Harrier. There are no good, i.e. accurate and well finished diecast Harriers in 1/72. If you want a crude but fairly accurate AV-8A/ GR-1/Sea Harrier FRS-1 then it's Corgi. Technically they are accurate for inflight display only. If you want a well finished but inaccurate Harrier II or Sea Harrier FA-2 then that's HM. The Harrier IIs need quite a bit of work to make them accurate gear up or down. The FA-2 is just a poorly shaped tooling but can be tweaked pretty easily for gear up display. Gear down would be more trouble than it's worth.
F-14 - well that's an argument. After many years and at least five manufacturers there's still no perfect F-14 tooling. Even that most expensive of companies, Calibre, didn't get it quite right. So it all depends on your taste, wallet and what defects your eye picks out. One thing's for sure. The more you look, the wronger they all are - so don't look too close!
F-15 - HM but be prepared to get out you modelling tools and replace the nozzles with aftermarket KA versions. Decide if you want ramps up or down releases and choose your nozzles accordingly. Alternatively consider waiting several years to see if Calibre gets round to it.
F-16 - HM, but Calibre looks promising. You may have to wait a few years for the release of your dreams.
A-10 - HM.
Harrier. There are no good, i.e. accurate and well finished diecast Harriers in 1/72. If you want a crude but fairly accurate AV-8A/ GR-1/Sea Harrier FRS-1 then it's Corgi. Technically they are accurate for inflight display only. If you want a well finished but inaccurate Harrier II or Sea Harrier FA-2 then that's HM. The Harrier IIs need quite a bit of work to make them accurate gear up or down. The FA-2 is just a poorly shaped tooling but can be tweaked pretty easily for gear up display. Gear down would be more trouble than it's worth.
F-14 - well that's an argument. After many years and at least five manufacturers there's still no perfect F-14 tooling. Even that most expensive of companies, Calibre, didn't get it quite right. So it all depends on your taste, wallet and what defects your eye picks out. One thing's for sure. The more you look, the wronger they all are - so don't look too close!
Don't forget that Corgi also did a GR3 Harrier, & HM did GR7/9 versions.
Don't forget that Corgi also did a GR3 Harrier, & HM did GR7/9 versions.
Yeah, I didn't want to write out the whole lot. GR1 and 3, same comments really. Harrier II is short hand for all Mac Air's big wing plastic Harriers, AV-8B, II+, 5/7/9. Same comments on those too.
Perhaps another candidate for Calibre to do correctly. Then again, we'll all be dead and buried at their pace.
The Calibre Wings F-16s are already available for pre-order on their website.
Well, considering that by memory Calibre first mentioned the F-16 in MAY 2017 I wouldn’t really say that was already. That’s only the first two releases anyhow. And yes, it may be several more years until they get round to whatever your personal favourite version and livery is.
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Best manufacturer for military models
It's fighter jets I plan on collecting. Immediate planes on the list are Typhoon, F-15, F-16, A-10, Harrier and the F-14. Love that film - Top Gun. Must be 1:72 and 1:200 is too small for fighter models.
