Small Scale Military Headquarters

I'm thinking of getting both planes from Oxford, as they seem to be reasonably priced. Are they nice in person? From pics the Macchi seems to have a nasty join line along the fuselage side. The Hien looks good though.

Comments about these and other Oxfords appreciated.

Don't have any Oxford myself, although I really should pick up the Arado 196, but they are a decent, budget, line.

And they continue to give us some interesting subjects that the other manufacturers haven't done. Some models are better than others, and think you can pretty much tell by the pics.

Haven't heard any specific reviews of the Hien or Macchi 202.

My local hobby shop had the Oxford Macchi a while back. I was tempted to get it. I do recall the seam. Oxford does not have the quality of Dragon, Hobby Master, WarMaster, IXO or Corgi items, but they do offer some interesting subjects and for very reasonable prices. They have some connection to Corgi, though, as some of the Oxford models use the same Corgi toolings.

The Oxford "MC-202" is the same as the one released earlier by Atlas and is one of the worst diecast fiascos ever made. First, it's a MC-205, not a 202. Add to that the cavernous panel lines on portions of the wings, those broomstick canons on the wings and, best of all, the fact that they forgot to indicate the presence of the main landing gear, making this a glider, and you see why I rate it so poorly.

On the other hand, the Ki-61 isn't that bad, although there seems to be no documentation for the markings and tail color chosen.

I just happen to have a picture of the Atlas "MC-202"'s underside which reveals the absence of the landing gear bay doors as well as the worst paint and marking job I have seen in some time. I do not think that Oxford has bothered to make the needed correcti0on in its release.

The IXO/ Altaya Ki-61 is a better Tony with gear down/ up option.

I think the Oxford is the same tooling w/ gear up only though.