Holy Crap.

Governments at all levels are worse than I thought.  Story here. Tar and feathers.

Apologies

I’ve been very busy the last week.

Little angel

Global climate change update

Now he tells us.  Nevermind that he was so confident that the scientists understood completely forces that any normal person could tell you were probably beyond complete human comprehension.  Nevermind that they were urging countires to enact onerous taxes to solve a problem that may not even be a problem.

Homeland security?

Why is the Deparment of Homeland Security chasing counterfit goods?  Story here.

1:1 scale Spitfires

Here is a great story.  I can’t wait to see what they pull out of those crates.

April MMCL meeting

The April MMCL meeting was held tonight.  Even with the great summer weather, there was a good turnout.  In addition to a raffle, slideshow and a discussion of our upcoming contest, there was a show and tell.  Below are some of the models brought by club members.

A 72nd scale Fairey Hendon. You don't see one of those every day.

and

A 72nd scale Airfix P-38 backdated to a D model.

and

More in God's one true scale, a 72nd Go-9

and

A 48th scale CR-32

and

48th scale He-112

and

Sd.Kfz 222 dio, as featured in this month's Tactical Notes

 

New decal manufacturer

I attended the Region 4 Regional in Dayton on Saturday.  I’ll post a report and photos soon.  One thing I did discover is a new decal manufacturer with an interesting idea.  Fundekals is a new decal manufacturer.  The make aircraft decals in 72nd, 48th and 32nd.  Jennings Heilig is one of the principals of the firm.

The neat idea the firm has is small decals sheets covering one aircraft.  The instruction sheets are downloaded by the buyer from their website.  The cost of each sheet is between $3 and $5.  I like this idea.  I wish them well.

Cool model stuff

Khee-Kha is a neat little manufacturer of civil and floatplane resin and decals from Alaska.  (H/T  Jim Bates)

Tooting my own horn

The latest issues of RT (IPMS/Canada) and the IPMS Journal (IPMS/USA) are out.  Since I have two book reviews in the Journal and a small article in RT, I’ll refrain from reviewing either issue.

Kit comparison: J2M3 Jack Hasegawa v. Sword

I like Japanese aircraft.  They are unusual and they have some really interesting markings and paint schemes.  The first Regional contest award I ever won was a first place in 72nd scale Prop at a Region 4 regional in Cleveland.  The model was a Hasegawa J2M3.  Sword has recently come out with a new J2M3 and I picked it up so I thought I’d compare the two kits.

HASEGAWA

Hasegawa J2M3 box

The Hasegawa kit dates back to the 80s, if not before.  It is a very typical Hasegawa kit from that period.  The modeling is excellent.  It has engraved panel lines and the interior is pretty basic.  The decals are the typical Japanese manufactured decals.  They are well printed but a tad on the thick side.  The kit parts come on two sprue trees (along with the small canopy sprue).  The canopy is molded in the closed position.

Hasegawa sprue 1

and

Hasegawa 2

SWORD

The Sword kit is brand new.  The kit is on one sprue tree (plus the clear parts tree).  The molding is finely engraved with a fairly well detailed interior.  The decals are of modern manufacture and while I haven’t used them yet, they look as if they would be as good as any aftermarket decals.

Sword J2M3

The exhausts on the Sword kit have been molded separately, which I think was done to allow two things: a) to allow the later J2M5/6 to be issued as a separate kit and b) to allow the builder to hollow out the exhaust stubs.  The canopy of the Sword kit is also made to be easier to build an open cockpit version.

Sword 1

Comparison:

The kits are very similar.  The shape of the main components match exactly.  The engraving on the Sword kit is a little more delicate and detailed.  However, the small parts, particularly the landing gear legs and prop are better on the Hasegawa kit.  The decals are better on the Sword kit, but not a lot.  Sword has the better interior.

The big difference is price.  The Hasegawa kit can be had for between $14 and $18. The sword kit is a whopping $30.  For the price difference, you can buy a lot of aftermarket to add to the Hasegawa kit.

Conclusion:

If I was going to go whole hog, I’d start with the Sword kit.  If you were going to build OOB with a closed canopy, the Hasegawa kit is the natural choice.  While I think the Sword kit is an improvement and I am happy to see it, I don’t think it is enough of an improvement to justify that kind of price.