>While visiting Philadelphia over the holiday I came across some of the WWI
>kits by Smer. Any comments concerning these? The ones I saw were all marked
>1/48th but I believe they were actually closer to 1/40th?
I love 'em. As a modeler who took a 20 year layoff, I can't afford to get my
skills into the 90s on $30 Eduard and DML kits. I've built the DH2, the
Avro 504K, the Dr.I, and am currently working on the SVA5. All the ones I've
built are either 1/48 or 1/50, which is close enough for government work. I
have not scaled them against Datafiles. Since I'm not building them for
contests, any scale problems don't bother me much. I believe only the SPAD VII
is in 1/40 scale.
The kits require some work. I haven't had any bad fit problems, but there
is usually a lot of flash, and those old moulds include raised insignia that
need to be sanded off. I've made my own detail parts, like wing skids,
gunsights, and control columns. I'm not really into cockpit interiors, so
I use the figures which are passable. Indeed, the figure that came in
the Dr.I kit is the best I've seen out of a kit box.
If you're building for a contest, or like superdetailing with photoetch parts,
you probably won't like the Smer kits. If you want an economical way to get
your collection going and your skills up to snuff, give them a try.
Bill Ciciora