It’s a great time to be a modeler. It seems like every other week, some amazing new kit is announced. But there’s still plenty of ground to cover…so here’s a list of eight dream kits that, if produced, I would buy immediately, no questions asked.
1/32 Eduard MiG-21MF
Eduard’s 1/48 MiG-21 lineup is not only the best treatment of the Fishbed in any scale, but quite possibly the finest series of 1/48 jet kits ever produced. And while I’ve settled on 1/48 as my scale of choice for jets, I’d gladly make an exception in this case.
1/32 HK Models PBY Catalina
The PBY is one of my favorite aircraft of World War II, and yes, I know that HPH makes a stellar resin kit of everyone’s beloved seaplane, but 1) I’m not a fan of resin kits and 2) as much as I love the Cat, I’m not paying $800 for one. HK could do a real bang-up job here, and it’d be interesting to see what their imaginative engineering could bring to the table.
1/35 Meng British Challenger 1
Yes, there’s the old Tamiya kit, which I’m quite fond of for what it is, but this old girl is due for a revisit. Meng already has a proven track record with other late Cold War tanks – see the Leopard 1A3/4 and the AMX-30 – and I’d love to see what they could do with the Chally.
1/35 Meng M270 MLRS
Meng has already produced what has to be the definitive M2 Bradley, and they’ve already shown the capacity to produce derivative vehicles from their tank kits – including the Panzerhaubitze 2000 (from the Leopard) and AUF-1 (from the AMX-30). Seeing as the MLRS is based on the Bradley chassis, at least a few bits could be reused. Besides, there’s an MLRS-shaped hole out there, with the existing attempts out of production and rather poorly-regarded.
1/48 Kitty Hawk AH-1W Supercobra
I’m currently enjoying Kitty Hawk’s AH-1Z Viper kit, and the design has a modularity to it that could easily allow for an AH-1W tooling. I know, I know, my “grew up during Desert Storm” is showing.
1/48 Academy F-4G Wild Weasel
Another Desert Storm-era want. The Hasegawa kit is somewhat lacking, and markings even moreso. If you want to do a Desert Storm F-4G, your only options are to track down a long out-of-print AirDocs decal sheet, or to cobble things together on your own. Whereas a new-tool Wild Weasel would almost certainly result in a new decal sheet or two.
1/32 [Anybody] OS2U Kingfisher
I have fond memories of the old Monogram kit I built when I was growing up. It was one of the first kits where I actually gave a shit about the finish. Nowadays I find that kit sorely lacking in just about every respect…but I still love the Kingfisher. I’m sure someone will do it justice in 1/32 one day, I just wish that day was known!
1/32 Tamiya P-47 Thunderbolt
The Jug is my favorite aircraft, and Tamiya’s 1/48 P-47 lineup is far and away the best treatment the big lummox of a fighter has ever received. The Trumpeter and Hasegawa 1/32 kits wish they could be half as good as the Tamiya quarter scales. And given how good Tamiya’s Spitfire, Mustang and Corsair have been in 1/32, I can only imagine what they’d do with the Jug. Another bonus – some of the best scheme options of any aircraft that’s ever flown.
Meng M103A2/ M48A1/ Meng M48A2 (REVELL is shit)/ 1/32 F2H2 Banshee. Then I die happy.
Doogs, I will die happy after building a wizz-bang 1/32 Beaufighter (RAAF) model preferable and/or a 1/32 Me-410. Would love to see the HK mob do them as Revell seem reluctant to improve their ancient, crappy Beau. Cheers.
Interesting list. In my opinion, however, I think a Chieftain is loooong overdue now, and Meng are the guys who ought to do it. We have a decent Chally at least. Not so for the Chieftain.
Ditto on the Catalina and P-47. Bring it on.
Definitely with you on the Meng Challenger and MRLS, also all the 1/48’s as well. I’m not anti 1/32 but I get the impression a lot of focus goes into these kits these days that are astonishingly expensive for most people, that is not to say 1/48 kits are cheap these days. I would personally add:
1/48 F-16E/F or Sufa from Tamiya
1/48 SU-27/30/33/34/35/37 by like GWH or Kinetic
1/48 Buccaneer Series (new one, old one is stupid money and a bit crap in todays standards)
Along with the F-4G we need a new RF-4C. Also a Desert Storm vet.
On a personal note, I’d like a 1/72 C-141 and a T-1.
Nice list,,,,, Catalina would be added to my stash immediately!
Rumor has it that Merit International is going to come out with a 1/350 Enterprise (CV6). They’ve got Yorktown already. I remember you once claiming you’d do a WWII ship it had made some history along the way. Be hard to turn down E.
Eric Bergerud
totally agree about the p-47, and i’d also like to see a good 1/48 or 1/32 p-38. the fork-tailed devil seems utterly forgotten.
New Series of 1/100 bombers. A 1/72nd B-1B or B-52H has wingspan and length on the order of 2ft. It’s not displayable. A new tool would likely not be affordable.
A 1/144 B-1B or B-52 is a foot long (the equivalent of 1/72nd scale jets) and yet are extremely toylike in their tiny feature sizes (tires are doll-button sized, weapons are Chiclet sized, exhaust nozzles look like towel crenellations, there is limited or no chance to display deployed flight control surfaces…).
Take that scale up to 1/100 scale and the size of the model is now 15-17 inches which is the equivalent of a 1/48 Jet Fighter. Forty eighth is the ‘American Scale’ and it is closer to double 1/100 (1/96) than it is 50% above 1/72 which gives the /feel/ of massiveness in a bomber without the penalty factor.
The Tamiya B-52D/H is an excellent example of the difference between a 1/144th scale Crown or Revell kit and a 1/72nd (ex) Monogram.
Since aircraft like the Dragon B-1B, itself descended from the Panda tooling, originally came out at ungodly cost of around 40 dollars and since the 1/144th Trumpeter Tu-160 and Tu-95 remain in this area, you can hardly call them competitive for price.
A 1/100 B-1B, B-52A-H and B-2A Spirit would replace the tired 72nd Monogram and Italeri molds while providing an opportunity for vastly more detail than say the 1/144th Revell kits, all of which have been out on the market since the 90s if not the 80s. The kits available then reflected a transitional state of the art with primarily raised panelines, lousy body contour shaping and often quite difficult assembly.
A 1/100th followon, while certainly not likely to be cheap, would be on the order of 60 dollars vs. the 140-180 you saw in Trumpeter’s wave of 72nd Tu-22M/Tu-95/Tu-160 kits. As a respectable price for a 48th equivalent jet-fighter size airframe, this would allow a little wiggle room (+/- 20 dollars) with which to include AGE Yellow Stuff and details bomb bays as well as uniquely valuable improvements which have been standardized on the Airliner (1/200th) scales for ages: namely metal gear and cockpit/windscreen inserts which are integral to the fuselage and thus take any masking or puttying _well away_ from the actual windscreen panels themselves.
Followon kits could include the C-17, the RQ-4 and the R.1 Sentinel.
I would also like to see a 1/35th series of CCVL/M8 Buford/M8 Thunderbolt tanks as, even though only built in small numbers, these were type-qualified for mass production and are some of the coolest looking of the light tanks tested in the 1980s for the Airborne Divisions then part of CENTCOM.