> The original Revell WWI kits have been re-released (or illegally copied by Eldon
> and re-released by Entex, Fujimi, et al) many times. Are the ESCI kits
> re-releases or copies of the Revell kits. I believe the later Academy/Minicraft
> kits are copies of Revell or ESCI. Anyone know for sure?
Some of the Revell kits are now in their catalog, these being:
Fokker D.VII, Sopwith Camel, SPAD 13, Nieuport 28, and - to a lesser
extent - Fokker Dr.I. I have been able to find these at better hobby
shops. Not re-released for quite some time include the Nieuport 17,
SE5a and Albatros D.III.
Eldon/Entex/Fujimi/ESCI kits are from the same molds, which are copies
of the Revell ones. Most are inferior, but can be used to an extent.
Except for the Fokker D.VII, all seem to suffer from the wings
"shrinking". Everything else is practically the same as the Revell
kits. The only kit I can think of that this is actually a blessing
is the Nieuport 17 clone. Using the (now) ESCI kit, one can convert
this easily to a Nieuport 11 or 16 (see the article I posted a few
weeks ago).
>From what I believe, the Academy/Minicraft kits were from new molds
(I could be wrong, though.) They just screwed up soooo baaaddd that
the only things these kits are good for is collecting dust on the
manufacturers shelves.
Hope that answers your questions. Anybody else that has anymore
info, please post. If I'm wrong in some of my statments, I
apologize, but what I've said above are things I have been led to
believe.
Matt
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Matthew Bittner WW1 Modeler, ecto subscriber, new dad
meba@cso.com Omaha, Nebraska
"I don't know about you, miss kitty, but I'm feeling
a whole lot yummier!" Catwoman, _Batman Returns_
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