Small Scale Military Headquarters

As I rotate planes on display on my shelves, I find myself occasionally pleasantly surprised. Some purchases made several years ago seem less impressive now, others I find I like even more so as my appreciation for them has grown.

Since the holidays always bring out the optimist in me: what planes (and other pieces) do you find now in retrospect have grown on you the most?

What pieces turned out to be ever more pleasant surprises?

What things (like Pickle's glorious Horten) do you wish you had snagged?

I actually collected mostly 1/32, which I sold off a couple years back to focus on 1/35 kits once it became apparent no new releases were forthcoming. However, I have a Tiger and Panther plus a bunch of Wehrmacht I got cheap when everything went on sale. They stay on constant display.

But I definitely wish I had been able to get a Horten.

Winterstar wrote:...... what planes (and other pieces) do you find now in retrospect have grown on you the most?

What pieces turned out to be ever more pleasant surprises?

The jets. Definitely the jets. About the time the first jets came out, the 262, MiG, F-86, and F-104 were near the end of 21st Century. The landing gear improvements with the proper sized wheels and tires and the correct positioning of them along with correct profiles and various component accuracy pushed 21st C planes more into the catagory of scale models and less as toys.

I regret not getting the two Battle of Britain Spits. NK-K is post Battle.

Good topic! One plane that has grown on me has been the BBI P-51... When it was released in 2004, it was light years ahead of the original 21c version and despite several major flaws, still has something that's just "fancier" about it over even the 21c retooled P-51. The BBI BF-109G2 is another plane that grew on me. The original was highly detailed, but BBI chose a very bland scheme, even for a North African/Mediterranean aircraft. A few years later, they released the second repaint in the early "Hartmann" scheme with the more familiar gray and green cammo and the wing cannon. It really made the aircraft look fantastic in my opinion and it's now one of my favorites in 1:18.

Other 1:18 planes have remained favorites since I got them... They looked good 10-12 years ago and still look good now. The 21c Stuka, P-38, Spitfire, Huey, Supercobra, F-86, Mig-15, and F-104 all fit that description to me. Even the 21c ME-262s, though I've never really forgiven 21c for the sloppy way they made the canopy hinges and covered the rear seat on their ME-262A.

Other planes have lost their luster a little for me... The 21c P-40, P-47s, ME-109E, BF-109G and FW-190D9 are my best examples of that. They're not bad models - and I have several out on display - but they're clearly not the best. The JSI repaint of the original 21c ME-109E improved the look of the plane with the revised (and more accurate canopy) but its still only an average model. To me, many of the Admiral Toys planes also fit in this category. Not bad, but not the best.

I suppose I should answer my own questions:

Planes that grew on me: the Admiral White 7 Me 262 grew on me a lot more than I had expected. While the nightfighter had such a glorious paint scheme, I had some qc/fragility issues with it. The grey scheme has grown on me.

Tman, you've answered some of my questions in regards to the bbi P-51's. I never picked any of them up and have often wondered if snagging one might have been a good idea. I tended to favor bbi over 21st due to perceived fragility differences (never really had issues with any of the bbi modern stuff I had) but never quite got around to getting everything...

Maybe something to consider before prices go completely insane....

About a year ago I did a minor revamp of my display and I was left with 3 distinct impressions. The first I love my P-47s slightly less than I used to. The second was I really didn't appreciate my NKK Spitfire until I repositioned it. I've always loved the Spitfire itself but the model wasn't a piece I had necessarily sought out. It just sorta fell in my lap as part of a larger deal/trade. The last was that I had done my bombcat a great disservice by not displaying it when I first bought it. I had the spotcat so I had had my reservations about spending $300 on a second F-14 despite it being my favorite plane. However time has proven I made the right choice.

As far as regrets 21st century 262a-1, probably the Harrier, and Pickel's Horten, 222, and probably Hind.

I've heard nothing but good things about the bombcat.