SPITFIRE 1:144th!?!

[godders]

WOW!

Was just browsing and getting lost in hyperspace when I came across Minicraft's 1:144th range....including a Spit!

I can't actually work out how small that is.

Has anyone had a go????

[Work In Progress]

WOW!

Was just browsing and getting lost in hyperspace when I came across Minicraft's 1:144th range....including a Spit!

I can't actually work out how small that is.

Has anyone had a go????

Well, it;s exactly half the size of a 1/72 one, obviously.

The Minicraft kit is old and not all that good. About the only half-way decent ones in their 1/144 WW2 range are the B-17, B-24 and P-51D. They are all ex Crown kits.

If you fancy a go at a really nice 1/144 kit try the Revell Hunter or Starfighter, or anything out of the very lovely Sweet range. Alternatively have a look on here where an Eduard Ju87 is getting a full superdetailing job:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=79428

[godders]

Doh! Of course it would be half the size of a 72nd!

Will have a go at the Sweet one for an experience. I haven't done much 144th apart from a few airliners and large military.

[bootneck]

Hi Godders,

if you like the 1:144 stuff then you could join SIG144

Here are some images of their 1/144 kits on display at the Lincoln Show earlier this year

Mike

Sweet, Anigrand and Revell helicopters

Tornado Alley

[Work In Progress]

Doh! Of course it would be half the size of a 72nd!

Will have a go at the Sweet one for an experience. I haven't done much 144th apart from a few airliners and large military.

The Sweet stuff, for the single engined WW2 fighters, is extremely good value. usually you get two kits in one box, or sometimes it's one aeroplane and a piece of scenery such as a chunk of carrier deck.

[Troy Smith]

The Sweet stuff, for the single engined WW2 fighters, is extremely good value. usually you get two kits in one box, or sometimes it's one aeroplane and a piece of scenery such as a chunk of carrier deck.

Revell did a 1/144th Spitfire MkI in the 70's, along with a load of other WWII types. the Spitfire wasn't to bad shape wise from memory, I stilll have one somewhere.

The quality of these really depended on the bigger Revell kits they were scaled down from, so the Hurricane and fw190 were bad. I had a load back in the 70's as they were often found cheap in newsagents back then! The halcyon days when model kits turned up all over the place.

Co-incidentally I saw a 1/144th Airacobra on ebay recently, and had a search about, I found a list of these somewhere and was surprised there were a load i had not seen 'back then'

The ones I had and built were

British

Spitire I

Hurricane I [which is very poor shapewise]

Typhoon

Tempest V

US

P-51B

P-47 D bubbletop

F6F

F4F

German

Me-109E

Fw-190 A 3

Me-262 A

Ju-87B

I still have built, several Hurricanes, Spitfire, Typhoon and Tempest I think.

The ones I never saw back then, which I saw on this list, I think on the Airfix Tribute Forum? were 4 more US, Airacobra and Dauntless and two more, and 4 Japanese, IIRC, Zero, Ki-44, Ki-61 and Ki-84...

I'll see if i can find the list later. I wonder what happened to these moulds?

HTH

T

[Giorgio N]

Another name to keep in mind for 1/144 military types is Platz from Japan: some of their 1/144 kits are better detailed than many 1/72 ones ! Unfortunately they are quite expensive, although each box contains 2 model kits.

[bootneck]

The ones I had and built were

British

Spitire I

Hurricane I [which is very poor shapewise]

Typhoon

Tempest V

US

P-51B

P-47 D bubbletop

F6F

F4F

German

Me-109E

Fw-190 A 3

Me-262 A

Ju-87B

I still have built, several Hurricanes, Spitfire, Typhoon and Tempest I think.

The ones I never saw back then, which I saw on this list, I think on the Airfix Tribute Forum? were 4 more US, Airacobra and Dauntless and two more, and 4 Japanese, IIRC, Zero, Ki-44, Ki-61 and Ki-84...

I'll see if i can find the list later. I wonder what happened to these moulds?

HTH

T

Hi Troy,

some more that you may have come across are the B-25 H/J Mitchell and the Grumman Wildcat. I think that many of them ended up with Academy/Academy Minicraft/Minicraft and they can often be picked up at model shows.

Herewith images of the Revell ones:

I have images for the box arts of the Academy/Minicraft (I think these have origins from the Crown product line) and can produce them if interested.

A quick look shows the following:

Boeing B-29A Superfortress

B-25 H/J Mitchell

B-26B Marauder

Junkers Ju-88 A-4

Heinkel He-III H

P-38 Lightning

Me 110 Zerstorer

Supermarine Spitfire Mk V

Rupublic P-47D Thunderbolt

Grumman Avenger

Hawker Tempest V

North American P-51D Mustang

Boeing B-17G Fortress

B-24J Liberator

Avro Lancaster Mk.3

Aichi E13A 'JAKE' recon seaplane

PBY-5A Catalina

Douglas C-47A Dakota/Skytrain

Some WW2 types in the Sweet range:

Macchi MC.200

Hawker Hurricane Mk.I - fabric wing type

Grumman Wildcat FM-2

Hawker Hurrican Mk.1 - Battle of Britain 1940

Hawker Hurricane Mk.1 Tropical Type

Macchi C.200AS - Tropical Type

Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero (there are 'many' variants produced by Sweet).

Grumman Wildcat FM-2 - with flight deck section included

Grumman Wildcat VI (FAA decals) - with flight deck section included

Messerschmitt Bf109 F-4 - Winter version

Messerschmitt Bf109 F-4 - Tropical version

North American P-51B Mustang

Japanese Flight deck set - deck section plus aircraft lift

US Pierced Steel Planking (PSP) matting for temporary airfields

Casablanca Class flight deck section

HTH

Mike

[Test Graham]

I think the early 1970 Revell kits were the Crown mouldings, first time around in the UK. I had the Spitfire, Bf109E and Ki44. The Sweet kits are quite another generation.

[godders]

Hi Godders,

if you like the 1:144 stuff then you could join SIG144

Here are some images of their 1/144 kits on display at the Lincoln Show earlier this year

Mike

My Word!!! They are all 1/144th?? They are FANTASTIC. I think I'm sold so will deffo give some a go.

Cheers Mike.

[gingerbob]

WOW!

Was just browsing and getting lost in hyperspace when I came across Minicraft's 1:144th range....including a Spit!

I can't actually work out how small that is.

Has anyone had a go????

SOMEONE has- I once saw a 1/144 Spit IX at a contest, Israeli markings, and the hood was slid back, the door was hanging open, and it had (presumably scratched) cockpit detail! Very impressive, but if I tried to do that I'd

A) end up with multiple fingers glued together, along with a set of tweezers, and

pop something in my head- my eyes don't do the extreme close-up like they used to, and when I try (slow learner?) painful things happen.

Come to think of it, I built a Revell 747 in 1/144 when I was a lad, but I don't think that counts! (The kit with Space Shuttle piggyback). I think the only 1/144 kit I have now is a PBY- I love the type, was amazed at how nicely rendered the kit was, and it is so cute!

Impressive line-up from the Lincoln show... and I didn't know Revell did that whole series way back when, though for some reason the box art instantly suggested they were "borrowed".

bob

[ExRAF]

I couldn't manage the level of detail shown in those photos if I built the same aircrat in 1/48 or above. Very impressive!

[Troy Smith]

WOW!

Was just browsing and getting lost in hyperspace when I came across Minicraft's 1:144th range....including a Spit!

I can't actually work out how small that is.

Has anyone had a go????

Godders, and anyone esle....here's another example of what you can do in 1/144th... this is worth a browse if you don't check the work in progress section often...jaw dropping.

Eduard 1/144 Ju-87D Stuka. Now with home made canopy!, I'm (still) going slightly mad!

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...=79428&st=0

cheers

T

[Anneorac]

Check out some of the pre-painted 1:144 trading models produced buy F-toys, Doyusha, Tomytec Gimix and Café Reo. Remember, just because something is pre-painted doesn’t stop you from painting it or improving it yourself.

In fact quite a few of the Platz kits like the F-1, T-2, F-2, F-4EJ and UH-60J are all F-toy sprues. If you’re after a 1:144 Spitfire the F-toys Mk.Vb is way better than the Minicraft/Crown/Arii/Revell (all the same kit) effort. Same has to be said for the Café Reo B-17 which is far better than the awful kit now sold as part of the Minicraft range.

On a similar vein, the pre-painted F-4EJ Airfix Mini kit is one of the best 1:144 scale Phantom out there but suffers from a problem you will encounter with many kits in this scale which is large and overly simplified wheels and under carriages.

Anne

[bootneck]

Check out some of the pre-painted 1:144 trading models produced buy F-toys, Doyusha, Tomytec Gimix and Café Reo. Remember, just because something is pre-painted doesn’t stop you from painting it or improving it yourself.

In fact quite a few of the Platz kits like the F-1, T-2, F-2, F-4EJ and UH-60J are all F-toy sprues. If you’re after a 1:144 Spitfire the F-toys Mk.Vb is way better than the Minicraft/Crown/Arii/Revell (all the same kit) effort. Same has to be said for the Café Reo B-17 which is far better than the awful kit now sold as part of the Minicraft range.

On a similar vein, the pre-painted F-4EJ Airfix Mini kit is one of the best 1:144 scale Phantom out there but suffers from a problem you will encounter with many kits in this scale which is large and overly simplified wheels and under carriages.

Anne

Hi Anne,

Thanks for you post

I agree about the pre-painted models. I have quite a few of them, my speciality being the F-Toys F-4J Phantoms. Taking off the original USN markings and paint and then re-do as RN Phantoms (tiny bit of work on the exhausts) and, at that scale, a very presentable British Phantom.

I've also got a few Buccaneer S.2's by Area 88. They also look very good.

Another series is the Heliborne collections. I'm currently working at converting a Merlin HC.3 to a navalised version; plus working on one of their V.22 Ospreys.

Mike

[Prop Duster]

oops sorry

Edited December 10, 2011 by Prop Duster

[keefr22]

Revell did a 1/144th Spitfire MkI in the 70's,

I couldn't find a Zero for my Final Countdown diorama, so I converted a Revell Mk1 Spit!!! ;

I still have another Spit & a Tempest & P-51 somewhere, for their age they're very nice little kits!

Keef

[smackers]

I've got a canopyless Crown Zero that would have been perfect for that dio Keef, just added some Sweet Zero's to the stash so the Crown one is excess to requirements.

Airfield Accessories do cockpit interiors in white metal for 1/144 scale kits, heres a shop link

Hasegawa did 9 Japanese twin engined WWII aircraft in 1/144, the smaller ones included a blast pen and starter truck or cargo truck

2 of the aircraft were represented in 2 different versions making 11 kits available though they missed out doing both types of Ki-46 Dinah

These kits appear on ebay from time to time and you should expect to pay around £5 plus p&p each, any less is a bargain

The aircraft were as follows

Kit ref: Aircraft

SM1 Mitsubishi Ki-46-III - Dinah

SM2 Kawasaki Ki-48 Sokei- Lily

SM3 Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu - Nick

SM4 Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu (Nightfighter) - Nick

SM5 Nakajima N1J1-S Gekko(Nightfighter) - Irving

SM6 Nakajima N1J1-R Gekko (Reconnaissance) - Irving

SM7 Mitsubishi Ki-67 Hiryu - Peggy

SM8 Nakajima Ki-49 Donryu - Helen

SM9 Yokosuka J1N1-S Ginga - Frances

SM10 Mitsubishi G4M1 - Betty

SM11 Mitsubishi Ki-21 - Sally

The Minicraft Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina is of note, it's a very nice kit and available to buy as a colourful Air Sea Rescue version with alternative decals for a dark blue over grey version with red dots in the stars. Kit is also available as a Black Cat, mine is still sealed so i don't know if it has an alternative paint scheme available in that boxing.

The Revell P-39 Airacobra is considered rare.

Sweet do some lovely kits, heres a shop link with a list, clicking on the product gives you more details

Antsizedman has a blog dedicated to small kits, here he repainted an F-Toys Spitfire Mk.V and very nicely done too. There are lots of WWII (and other era inc sci-fi) articles on the blog so well worth a look.

Mike

[Troy Smith]

Dug this thread up, as Revell have seen fit to re-pop some of their old 1/144th range, specifically

Spitfire Mk.1

Hurricane Mk.1

Hawker Typhoon Mk.1B

Hawker Tempest Mk.V

Messerschmitt Bf.109E

Focke Wulf Fw.190A

Junkers Ju.87B Stuka

Messerschmitt Me.262A

with a retail of 1.99, [Wonderland has them at 1.79]

Hopefully with some useable decals.

HTH

T

[modelman182]

Ahhh... 'Titchy things' scale - I love it!

Sweet and Platz are both great quality. Some of the Minicraft kits are good - much as has been said already.

I enjoyed the Sweet Wildcat:

Especially detailing the cockpit...

I've also done the AMT SR-71A kit in 144th

Highly recommend giving the scale a try.

Kev

[BrandX]

Dunno...1/144? Behemoth scale! Found this 1/350 B-25 a while back on ARC:

This is the original thread, but unfortunately the author has taken the pics down from The Bucket -spoilsport!

ARC Micro Mitchell

However, for the half-blind among us, there are some cracking 144 items around, and it's getting better all the time -Eduard's teeny MiG-21s are what more kits in this scale will start to look like, and there is a dynamic aftermarket on the rise (not just for the airliner guys!):

Brengun

Retrokit

And if you can find any of the Goffy upgrades for Revell's 144 Tomcat, get in -because you're worth it!

I should mention also one of the most beautiful 144 builds I have seen: the superb Platz F-8 exhibited at the first Hendon show by (I think) a Mr Ware. It was neatly bisected, with an exquisite scratch-built engine displayed. And they say size isn't everything!

Edited August 1, 2012 by BrandX

[Nick Millman]

Hasegawa did 9 Japanese twin engined WWII aircraft in 1/144, the smaller ones included a blast pen and starter truck or cargo truck

Those Hasegawa kits were originally released by Imai in Japan circa 1973 but Hasegawa bought the molds and re-released them with the same box art.

The Revell Japanese 1/144th Mini series range was more extensive than often realised. There were 12 kits shown in the 1976 Revell Japan catalogue:-

H-1001 97 Kanko (Kate)

H-1002 99 Kanbaku (Val)

H-1003 Susei (Judy - inline)

H-1004 Shiden (George - early)

H-1005 Hayabusa (Oscar)

H-1006 Shoki (Tojo)

H-1007 Hien (Tony)

H-1008 Hayate (Frank)

H-1009 Zero-Sen

H-1010 Raiden (Jack)

H-1011 Shiden Kai (George)

H-1012 Saiun (Myrt)

The rest of the range was:-

H-1013 Spitfire

H-1014 Hurricane

H-1015 Typhoon

H-1016 Tempest

H-1017 Me 109

H-1018 Fw 190

H-1019 Stuka

H-1020 Me 262

H-1021 Mustang

H-1022 Thunderbolt

H-1023 Corsair

H-1024 Hellcat

H-1025 Warhawk

H-1026 Wildcat

H-1027 Dauntless

H-1028 Airacobra

There was also a range of Japanese subjects in this scale by LS which were very good quality kits issued as boxed pairs.

[smackers]

Those Hasegawa kits were originally released by Imai in Japan circa 1973 but Hasegawa bought the molds and re-released them with the same box art.

Thanks for that info Nick, i never knew that and i did suspect they weren't originally Hasegawa just because they were the only 144 kits they did.

Collectakit confusingly states he has some other 144 kits by Hasegawa (Fw-190 and Hurricane) and i can't find any further info online.

Hopefully Revell will re-release the US and Japanese types in future for the same bargain price