Need feedback on Admirals Me-262. Good price?

[hotrodrock]

Bad Cat has the Admiral white 7 (believe thats right) on sale for $30. Is the Admiral on par with the other companies 262's. The Admirals don't seem to bring near as much on ebay etither.

[Panther F]

It's the white #8 for something like $27.00. I have the white 7 and plenty other 21st Century planes.

It's like comparing DML to Tamiya. Both are excellent model kits, just one is a little better made.

[tmanthegreat]

The Admiral Toys "White 8" has the distinction of being the first 1:18 ME-262 to be released and really is a fine model. The paint apps are supurb with very few flaws. It is largely up to par with all but the most recent 1:18 planes. If you've got a 21c plane from 3-4 years ago like the FW-190, P-40, or P-47, then the AT ME-262 is far more detailed. It assembles quite sturdily as well.

What the AT plane lacks when compared to the 21c ME-262 (at least from what I've seen and heard) are many of the finer details. Not all the control surfaces on the AT ME-262 move, the landing gear bay and cockpit are also not quite as detailed. There's no pitot tube on the wing, JATO canisters, or optional ordinance. The worst part about the plane is the pilot figure, but you can easily find 21c German pilots to replace it in the cockpit. Thats what I did!

The AT ME-262 also has some positive points over the 21c ME-262 including a smooth fuselage behind the cockpit (no gaps over a space for a second canopy like on the 21c plane), narrow nose landing gear and the wire antenna.

I felt that plane was worth the $50 I spent the preorder price when it first came out, and it is very much a steal for the $27 that BadCat is offering for it. Get one and you won't be sorry

[acisne]

Bad Cat has the Admiral white 7 (believe thats right) on sale for $30. Is the Admiral on par with the other companies 262's. The Admirals don't seem to bring near as much on ebay etither.

I got one, and I think it is one heck of a deal for that price. I do not have the 21C to compare it.
BTW, are you the same HRT from the Diecast-Pub?

[olifant]

I too only have the AT version but consider it robbery for $27. Buy one and you won't be disappointed.

[Birddog]

Definitely need to get one, you won't be disappointed. It's a huge steal for that price and the paint is awesome....

[Threetoughtrucks]

The AT 262 is one of the very few planes I own (3 1/18, 4 1/32 and two helos, 1 1/18 and 1 1/6) and I love the AT.

OK, OK, so what does TTT know about planes? Yeah, but I know what I like.....of course I'd rather have the 262 with a pair of treads but you take what you can.....actually the 262 would be like a KT with wings..

Go for the 262 at the BC sale price...

TTT

[STUKA]

probably the best price you will find for the jet....

I'm happy with mine - and it looks amazing - you wont regret this one -

[KAMIKAZE]

I bought 3 of them because $27.00 was a great price for the jet. No regrets here. It's a pretty cool looking plane. The paint and markings on mine were flawless.

Mark

[Razor17019]

Got to go along with the rest of the gang - great plane at a great price!

Can't beat it. I paid 37 when I got it an thought I got a deal then.
At 27, you might as buy 2!

[Yankee John]

I bought one of these for that price too- Best 1/18th scale bang for the buck!

It comes with the historically correct rudder swaz decal's too. As already stated, the pilot isn't the greatest.

John

[Forward Observer]

I ordered both the Admiral and the 21st Century Me262 at the same time.

Both just arrived today and after spending a little time with them, here are some of my thoughts on both.

For the money, I prefer the Admiral over the 21st Century. The 21st C model is a bit more detailed, but it has other issues and given the current bargain price of the Admiral version I think it is the better buy fof the following reasons.

I'm not going to repeat the detail differences that have already been pointed out, but will mention some other observations about the general engineering of the models and the ergonomics their packaging.

The Admiral version is simply more efficiently and elegantly packed than the 21st Century model. The folks at 21st Century could really take a lesson from Admiral on how to pack a collectable model.

The Admiral plane comes packed in an extruded plastic sandwich inside it's box. Because of this it is very well protected and the paint job close to flawless. This also makes it very easy to remove, set up and assemble. It is also just as easy to dis-assemble and re-pack in its box.

Once you remove the sandwich from the box and separate it you can probably assembly everything in less than 5 minutes. The main wing is pre-assembled into one piece, so you just snap it in and secure with a couple of screws--pop in the rear wings, a small under body antenna, and you're done.

The Admiral plane is a bit lighter than the 21c version, but because its assembly and packaging is engineered so well, it simply feels more sturdy than the 21c version.

Admiral could stand to put a big color picture of the model on their box, since it has no windows to see what is inside, but given the venue of their sales that may not be very important.

On the other hand, the 21st Century version Me262 comes in their usual huge and overly complicated rectangular box with the clear window. You have to open both ends of the box to cut all the tape that holds the platform in just to get the thing out. They literally took almost twice the volume as Admiral did to pack what is essentially the same model and at the same time made it feel flimsy when compared to the competition.

Then there are so many tie down wires it took me close to 30 minutes just to get the parts off the extruded plastic platform without damaging them and all the while trying to be careful to save everything for re-packing if necessary. It would proabably take an hour to re-pack it all if one had too.

Furthermore, in several places the paint job was marred by those same plastic coated wire tie downs. There were obvious smooth abrasions in the otherwise matte finish caused by the tiedowns. I use steel wool to lessen this effect, but one has to be careful since the steel wool will tend to also polish the matte finish if you overwork it.

The wing is in two separate pieces and has to be assembled into one using metal screws along with a third piece that has part of the wheel well covers.

The hinge of one of the flap covers of this piece had been either glued or painted in a locked position. I had no choice but to break off a piece of the hinge to get it open. I was able to make a satisfactory repair, but will always have to be careful if I want to open or close it in the future.

The next problem that I encountered is that one of cowlings covering the gun housings in nose is slightly warped and tends to pop ajar. In addition both of the tail wing elevators and the rudder flaps are so loose that they will not stay in a fixed position, but simply droop down or flop around.
I can probably fix all of this, but it is irritating to have to deal with.

Finally, the 21 C model also comes with extra fuel tanks, bombs, mounts for both, plus rocket assist pods----however, in my opinion, most of this is extraneous junk that detracts from the model just as much as it might add.

Of the two, I will repeat that the 21C model is a bit more detailed and I also favor the paint scheme of this model the best, but if I knew what I know now I would have only purchased the Admiral and not have bothered with 21C model simply because of all the irritating problems mentioned.

Cheers