"1/300 Scale, Manufacturer? USA Supplier?" Topic

I'd like to get into playing some 1/300 air wars. A friend of mine has a lot of pacific battle stuff, which is really cool. I'd like to do some Battle of Britain, and some North Africa air combat. Any suggestions on what manufacturer's product to use and what distributor in the US.

I don't need the "Perfect" planes, but I don't want sloppy stuff either or junk either. At this size, with a decent paint job any thing reasonably good should do just fine.

I-94 Enterprises has the best selection, carrying Scotia, Raiden and I think another brand.

i-94enterprises.com

The Last Square carries H&R which aren't as nice, but are a little cheaper.

lastsquare.com/zen-cart

I would use I-94 Enterprises, I would only buy H&R if I-94 did not have what you needed. I think H&R are over priced for what they are.

Mike

Mike, thanks for teh comments.

On the H&R pricing, if they are not as nice as Scotia and Raiden, then you are right to not pay the price for H&R. The last square has for example, German Fighters priced at $2.40 USD plus freight.

I don't know much US freight is, and I guess it depends on the size of the order, but let's just say $3. USD per plane with freight for Raiden and Scotia, buying 6 or more planes.

However if you buy direct from H&R they run .60 pounds each, which when converted to US dollars ($.95) and adding 40% for postage, they come out to $1.30 USD per plane.

Would you buy H&R under those circumstances or are the others worth more than twice the price?

Order H & R direct! Although it takes a little bit longer because he doesn't use an online ordering system it's a great deal. I've done it several times and had great service and I've saved a bundle.

And I-94 is your one stop shop for the other great lines-- Scotia and Raiden (although the latter is actually 1/285).

Freight within the U.S. won't be anywhere near $3 USD per plane. More like $0.25 USD per (depending of course on the size of the order and the weight of the planes in it).

Based on what you said in your first post about not wanting junk I'd say steer clear of H&R. A few of them are decent but IMO many are horrible. Scotia and Raiden are MUCH nicer (again, IMO).

I-94 is the U.S. distributor for Scotia and is now the OWNER of Raiden. He's also got a large and growing line of decals.

Another option for decals is Scale Specialties. Among his offerings are German bombers for the BoB and some U.S. for the MTO. His line is also growing.

ss-sms.com/index.html

Whatever stuff you decide on, congrats for getting into a very interesting period for history and gaming.

No, I didn't mean $3 USD per plane for freight, rather guessing at .50 per plane for freight bringing total to $3. USD
But thanks for your advise!

I-94 has just bought Raiden as well so will be manufacturing them in the US.

There's always GHQ as well, though I'm not familiar with their aircraft (I do 1/600) I'd expect it's like their microarmor – great quality but not cheap.

Would you buy H&R under those circumstances or are the others worth more than twice the price?

I have.

Well, since GHQ (1/285) has been mentioned, there is also CinC in the US.

They run 4.00 for fighters and 7.00 up for bombers. Not as large a selection, but nice models. They also have discounts based on the size of the order.

GHQ will run 9.95 per pack of 2 fighters.

Between CnC and ghq, I recall one of them having to assemble the wings on some models and one of them (perhaps same one), having propeller blades, neither feature did I like. But that was a long time ago and I can't say if they are still doing that. But I do find ghq is getting really expensive. I buy all my tanks and infantry from them.

@DanLewis – not sure about WWII, but CinC's WWI aircraft have props you have to attach, and usually the landing gear and the upper wing. Lots of bad words are needed to get through the process.

My only GHQ aircraft are Horsa gliders, and they're still in a box, so I don't know what they're like. I plan on getting some of CinC's gliders though as they are more affordable.

All of CinC's and GHQ's aircraft require at least a bit of assembly. Some aren't too bad – with CinC's Ki.61 and F6F it's just drop tanks and the prop; with GHQ's I-16 it's just the prop. Others are much more challenging however.

Don't get me wrong – both companies planes are superb. But the assembly can be a real chore on some of them.

Raiden is worth the difference in price followed closely by MSD/Collectair. I am in the process of slowly replacing all my aircraft with Raiden where possible for fighters and using MSD/Collectair for most of my bombers. This may take a few years as I have over 600, but I think the difference in quality is that significant. I use ROS only when no other option is available. I-94 having now purchased Raiden, will continue to be my one-stop shop for most things air-related. However, as I like the Red Sun, Blue Sky rules, I still visit Martin Fenelon's booth at the shows and buy his flight stands. I understand he is working on early jets for the Korean War. I am hoping he follows up on this with Vietnam. I have all the aircraft painted, Raiden Phantoms and MIGS and MSD F-105s. All I need are good rules for them!

I think the Raiden Battle of Britain fighters are absolutely first class, and I really like their Ju88A model too. Lovely workmanship.
May I also suggest you at least consider the plastic 1:350 ones designed by Dennis Knight that I sell on ebay ~

auction

auction

They're light in weight, which makes mounting them on stands easy, as there's more-or-less no problem with them over-balancing or tipping. Also cheap to post!

That said, if I didn't sell and enjoy these planes, Raiden are the ones that I'd buy for myself.