Hobby Master 1:32 Hellcat Mistakes-Part Two

[donnieboy]

I'm making this a new thread rather than adding to my ealier post on the new Hobby Master 1:32 Hellcat (Minsi III)
because I need to cut Hobby Master and poor Willian Liu some slack. After doing some intensive research in both my vast military aircraft library (quit braggin', Don) and on the internet, I've concluded I was too harsh on Minsi III. Turns out Hobby Master mostly got it right. Minsi III was an early F6F-5 that still had the small side windows behind the cockpit (they were eliminated later on in the F6F-5 production run). I came across several pictures of David McCampbell sitting in the cockpit of Minsi III, and you can see the small side winows behind him. Hobby Master also got the Hellcat's windscreen right. The F6F-3 had a small horizontal cross-brace across the top of the windscreen, as well as a curved plexigass area in front of the bullet-proof glass in the windscreen's foward vision panel. Both of those were elimated in the dash-5, as they are in HM's model. That leaves only one obvious error in the HM Minsi III. The F6F-5 got rid of the dash-3's oval bulge on the side of the cowling that covered the emerging exhaust stacks, but it's still there on Hobby Master's model (but not on the real Minsi III). I suppose you could Dremel it off and touch the cowling up with dark blue glossy paint. If that one goof doesn't bother you, go ahead and buy the model. I intend to wait for Hobby Master's next Hellcat version, which Mr. Liu swore would be correct. Actually, he just swore at me, but that's another story!

[snake]

Well done, donnieboy.

Appreciate the insight. However, the dihedral looks totally wrong, and the model still just looks wrong to me. Had no real plans to get it, but at the price, and my thoughts on it, no sale.

William is a busy man at HM these days, and I appreciate his efforts, but you can't get everything 100% right. Lets hope the future HM 1/32 Hellcats are better, and cheaper. If not, this could be a big money loser for them.

[donnieboy]

Thanks, Snake-I don't have an informed opinion on the HM Hellcat's dihedral, but I've had other dealers say it's inaccurate also. For two hundred bucks, I think the plane should be spot-on. Funny thing is, Hobby Master's 1:72 Hellcats look okay to me. Let's hope Hobby Master gets the next 1:32 Hellcat right!

[Sabrefan]

On the Hobby Master site they talk about the Hellcat's model dihedral. They say they got it right at 7.5 degrees. Looks good to me, and I am a huge Hellcat fan.

[tmanthegreat]

Saberfan, is that you?!? Long time no see - and welcome back! Figured you were dead or something

[mountian-man]

The Pre-pro photos released by Hobby Master show
a rediculously incorrect dihedral. Photos of the final product posted
on the Diecast Hanger Pub Forum show a more sensible dihedral,
but the angle on one wing slightly greater than the other, giving a slight
lopsided effect. My guess is that the wing folding system is fussy/difficult to posistion
causing misalignement.

[Sabrefan]

Hi T-man, yes it is me. I am back after a long illness. Did I miss much?

[tmanthegreat]

Well, it seems some retailers now have the HM 1:32 Hellcat in stock. Flying Mule has some excellent pictures of the actual product. It looks better than I was expecting, but I still can't fathom a 1:32 scale fighter costing over $200, even if it is diecast. I've purchased Corgi 1:32 within the past year and not even the last 1:32 Mosquito I got cost that much! Well, it was close, but actually still not as expensive as the Hellcat...

[[CAT]CplSlade]

And the Mosquito is larger, to boot.

[mountian-man]

The flying mule pics are a good reference. Although it looks better than the pre-pros, the Wing fold joints look gappy, and more disturbingly the canopy seems too large/out of scale. For $219 this isn't going to make the cut,
I'd much rather build it from a kit...

[cnq]

cost of diecast planes is rising rapidly.....It's fortunate I'm still able to afford the plastic kits for now

[mountian-man]

Rise in price is theme that keeps popping up across the diecast/plastic model world. It's becoming clear to me that we're now in a time of transition, between things being too expensive, and politically unstable to manufacture in China, and a future where small companies will begin using technology (3D printing) to make models here at home (Much like what some of the forum members here have pioneered over the last few years).

[tmanthegreat]

Items from Hobby Master, Corgi, etc. have always been collector items. They are ideally pieces with made with good quality, made in a small allotment, and which thus have a higher price. The typical "collector" doesn't always have everything, nor do they get everything, unless they can afford it. That's always been the traditional nature of the small scale military game, particularly with traditional collector items like WM Brittains, K&C, etc. that were around long before the likes of Hobby Master, Unimax FOV, 21c, etc. It was sort of an "elitist" activity as those who could afford to collect did so; others who couldn't afford to didn't.

21st Century Toys - and to a lesser extent Unimax Forces of Valor and BBI - mass produced 1:32 scale items up until several years ago. There was that span of years where you could get a decent 1:32 plane or tank at Wal Mart for $15. Those were items intended for the masses and the fact that they were out there brought a lot of people into the collecting hobby that perhaps would not otherwise have been collectors. When the market swung back to being an actual collector-oriented market, many of those people were priced out of the hobby. Its unfortunate, but simply the nature of the game.

What does irk me is when companies produce things intended for a collector market, but do not put a good deal of quality into them for the price point. The HM Hellcat - and indeed an increasing number of other small scale items - are becoming that way...