I agree because this is why we have a million iterations of Spitfires, Bf-109s, Tigers and so on. It's quite daunting. Disagree because for counter argument there is Airfix. They spent a lot of time and energy recently to cover a lot of British vehicles (even the lesser ones) and they are doing a great job. It's not high end, but the quality is so much better than it was before and the prices do reflect that as well. Their 1/24 Spitfire costs less than this and it wipes the floor with it. My main problem is that we have here Italeri, one of the big players, partners with Tamiya, has a good range from WW2 vehicles to cars, trucks and whatnot... And then comes and fails to make a decent version of one of the most iconic Italian WW2 fighter ever made and charges as much as a Zoukei-Mura kit costs. If this would be 40-50 euros I would say it's still not what I would have expected due to their heritage, but at least the price is fair. But even then we can still point towards Arma Hobby and how much better quality they are and the detail is staggering. And there is Border Model as well. Yes, the kits have problems, but the detail is crisp. Here... Italeri couldn't even be bothered to add more rivet detail. So it's not just about how esoteric the subject is, it's also about how much better manufacturing is these days and how much finer detail they can produce, even smaller businesses. They had a fantastic thing here and they fumbled it.

@@rogueplastic I totally agree that the Macchi is overpriced. I haven't bought one yet, because of the price. While Italeri does make some strange decisions, I enjoy building their kits because of the subjects and the challenge. I will say that they are improving though, I built the TF-104 and Mirage III (both in 1/32) and they are both good kits. I also agree that Airfix is now a top manufacturer, their quality is fantastic and their choice of subjects is also fantastic.

Thank you!

I do have my eyes on that one as well. But I am torn between that and the Zoukei Mura one in 1/32.

Thank you! Yeah, on other variants the machine guns should be there. I am hoping this means that they are going to make different variations eventually. To be fair, this kit seems to be more of a D variant than a G.

My stands come in various sizes. It really depends on the subject. If it's a fighter plane, then you can go up to 1/32 scale with my biggest stands. If it's a B17 in 1/32, that is going to be too big for what I currently have on offer. This is going to be my first Kate and I am very excited. I hope the experience is going to be as good as it looks.

Yeah, the Stuka is an excellent kit. Only fault I can bring up is the cockpit. I think they did mess it up a bit. With this, it feels like they did give more attention to the internal detail as well. And the outside it's just gorgeous. Happy to hear that the glue stand serves you well.

Thank you kind sir!

Thank you very much! I use Tamiya masking tape cut in to thin strips. To cut them up easy, look for INFINI Easy Cutting Type A mat. It looks easy , but it was a very finicky job and in the end I ended up hand painting it anyway.

Thank you very much! I am happy that you enjoyed it.

Yeah, I know this whole debacle around rivet details, panel lines etc... On one hand, I agree that not seeing the rivets is not a problem and in fact, it is more realistic, given that most riveting is made flush with the surface and even filled with putty and such. On the other I do understand why people do it and like it, as it is an extra bit of detail on the plane's surface that can give a bit more interesting look. It's just sad that a cheaper kit like the Ju87 from Border Model in 1/35th scale has more surface detail than this 100 euro kit.

Don't worry, you're going to build a great model. I am sure of it.

Good observation. Well, the paint does inhibit the properties of the cement, that is true. In a later video you can see me actually scraping the paint off the parts where I am going to glue. The reason is that to make sure the bond is perfect. I do use water based acrylics, so they don't really eat in to the plastic surface as lacquers do, but they are still good enough to act as a layer between the plastic parts. I also found that 1-2 layers of paint is not a huge issue, but when you also have varnish on it, now that can really mess things up and you definitely need to clean the surfaces before gluing.

Why wouldn’t I use ca glue for example on painted parts instead?

@@johndaltrocanto another great question. Sometimes I do, but the main reason why I would avoid it is because of the paint I use. As I said, water based acrylics don't eat in to the plastic surface, so they don't have that strength bonding to the plastic as enamels, or lacquers. CA glues are not eating in to the surface either, rather they stick to it really, really well. In this case they stick really, really well to the paint layer, which doesn't stick as well to the plastic. I would rather have plastic cement doing a seemingly less strong bond where it dissolves the paint whilst fusing the two parts together than having two painted surfaces held together by ca glue. But truth be told, I am not a chemist, just basing all this on observation. Plastic cement literally melts the plastic and fuses them together, whist CA is just really, really good at sticking to surfaces.

@@rogueplastic Understood I plan on using the ultra nasty lacquer paints (with booth and respirator) so ca glue should work for me I guess. Thanks for the info, I’ll keep on watching the rest of the videos, first real model is coming up soon so I’m consuming as much modeling content as I can, and yours is really good, thanks for not gatekeeping your knowledge.

@@johndaltrocanto Thank you very much for the kind words. Happy to hear that you are enjoying my videos. All the best with your model. I am sure it will turn out great!

Well, this is probably a good debate topic. Some resources say that the G variant was a conversion of the D. So we could assume that some of them had their observation window still on. Also some resource also state that besides the pods it was able to carry one 1000kg bomb under the fuselage. And I heard many people saying that the canons were so heavy that it shouldn't have been able to and this kit is wrong. First I thought that Border Model just made a big mistake here, but now I am second guessing it. Anyway, this is already a "custom build", so if I have to make up a story of this being a D3 variant with gun pods, I don't mind.

@@rogueplastic I agree with everything you said. After all, we collect models and not exact copies of airplanes. I just wanted to warn you that there may be a lot of people under the video who will point this out. This happened to me when I posted a photo of my model. It was funny to read how people's asses are burning because of this :))))

Oh yeah, I know the type. The so called rivet counters. There is always the one person who is going to be very displeased with your work, no matter what.

Thank you very much!

I use Unigloves brand and get it from Amazon. But I think any brand will do, the only thing that matters is that it has to be nitrile and powder free. Especially powder free! Well, it is sadly the usual Italeri quality. So if you are used to that, it shouldn't come as a surprise.

I think the PE stuff can work somewhere, but here it felt like a lazy solution, or trying to fix an oversight they did during designing the kit. For the control surface joint covers it can work. But those panels on the wing roots? I don't know... I am generally not a fan of PE as bending usually sucks and then there is a problem of paint not sticking to it proper. Even with the primer, one can risk paint peel and scratching it off. Yes, the exhausts are usually folded. I did check my book and on the pictures I could see the weld line along the top sruface, but it was quite faint. One might be able to add those on top with some think putty string, same as the pro modellers do the weld seams on tanks. This kit is a scratch builders wet dream as there is a lot of detail missing which can be added onto by hand.

With every model built, one gets better by experience. Or at least I hope I do. :-) I knew that Italeri will drop the ball on it here and there. Wasn't expecting so much ball dropping in 2023 though. I don't think Tamiya will put this in their boxes, that's for sure. Would be very surprised if they would.

Looks like the price will stay high for a while. But that's the thing. This is the best Macchi 202 on the market for now. Until this changes, it is a good purchase.

Thank you very much!

Thank you! This was one of the paint schemes and I did like it. Could've went with one having a yellow cowling, but that was too much even for me. It's nice to have some details to pop out besides the usual greens, browns, light greys and blues. The white stripe is pretty much an identification marking on Italian fighters as far as I know. Haven't seen one without it yet.

Thank you very much!

It was my pleasure to build this iconic Japanese fighter.

Happy that my video was helpful to you. Yeah, the gap was a bit annoying. Good call on the water based putty. It is another favorite of mine.

I built their newer 1/72 Hurricane mark I kit before starting the Zero and wheels up landing gear doors fit really well - no huge gaps.

@@Modelquatchi Looks like Airfix does some hit and miss from time to time.

Thank you! Yeah, this project was a big one (not just in size), even without throwing after market at it.

Interesting... It seemed like a sturdy construction, but apparently not everything is great with Tamiya models.

Thank you very much!

Thank you!

Thank you! The stands are my own creations. You can find links in the video description to my Etsy and eBay shop, etc...

Yeah, this Me410 is not teaming with rivet detail, but still better than the MC202. At least the price of it is not inflated.

It's from PJ Production, a Belgian little business. Sadly they stopped production, but you might be able to get some from vendors whilst stocks last.

Thank you!

Thank you very much.

Thank you very much! I make these stands myself. I have an Etsy and an eBay shop. Follow the links in the video description.

Thank you!

Thank you for the A+! 😊

Thank you!

Good idea. Will do one then.

No problem, I hope the videos will serve well.

Thank you very much!

Thanks!

Thank you very much!

Thank you!

Thank you very much! I am happy that you enjoyed it.

Thank you! I know that a lot of people like to do the stripes first then the camo, but I do like if the camo gives a bit of preshading to these. I would assume that these were painted on after the camo was applied in real life as well as they serve as identification markings. In the end I do feel this way is a bit more comfortable, rather having masked off areas for a long period of time where the mask might peel up here and there and paint gets underneath. And its a miracle I managed to pull that off without overspray.

@@rogueplastic Oh yeah, I do get that, and I wasn't coitizing. Heck, your improv and fixing of the kit looks way better than 99% of my work. But I just saw the way you were doing multiple masking layers and thought I'd share how I handled the complex geometry of that tail stripe. But then again, my MC202 is a 1/72 scale and I did the white stripe with many layers to really make it pop, then masked and used a flat tan spray paint to provide a base, then took the masking off and added my green squiggles by hand. But as you said; camo patterns in the Regia Aeronautica weren't really standardized so pretty much anything goes beyond the roundels and tail markings. Also, side note; for big and detailed models, I find the long form, multi parts really enjoyable and helpful to watch

Don't worry I'm not taking it as criticism. Yeah, white really needs a lot of layers to get a nice opaque coverage. Thanks for the feedback about the content type.

It is closer to the wing edge you are right. It's according to the instructions. I did also check the book I am referencing and although there aren't too many top-down images, one smoke ring scheme also has this difference. I assume this is due to the fact that the left wing is longer than the right and the position of the marking is not measured from the edge of the wing, rather the distance it should be from the fuselage.

Noted!

Thank you very much!

Thank you! I am happy as well, that I didn't put it on the shelf of doom.

Yeah, it's been a while. Editing is still not as fast I would like it to be, but getting there.