"Who sells 1/144 World War 2 Planes?" Topic

Looking for planes for a project. Where are the best place to buy?

I've got some surplus ones for sale, depending upon what you are looking for.

E-mail: rkentjr AT hotmail (d0t)

c o m

All brand new – some factory painted and fully assembled; some others need assembly but are factory painted. All in original packaging.

I need early WW2 (British, Italian) for revolt against British in Iraq.

Reviresco has Gladiators and Fiats in 1/144, but be aware that the proprietor was just injured in an accident and they will not be taking orders for a while.

Creations Chaubet has a G.50 and a Skua….
link

Shapeways may have expanded since I last looked.

I scratchbuilt most of mine for the early war because there were so few out there.

I'd just look for the Wings of War prepainted ones.

On Shapeways, take a look at Kampflieger Models; they have models of the Gladiator MkI and MkII, the Fiat CR32, CR42, and G50. Decapod Models also does the CR42 and Re2000, plus a few uncommon aircraft like the Ju86K and the Blackburn Roc and Skua. This is just a scratching of the surface by someone who wasn't going to spend a lot of time.

LT

For the Iraq campaign, you are dealing with all sorts of planes that will probably never find their way into 1/144 (except on Shapeways maybe), like the Fairey Fox, Vickers Valentia, Fairey Gordon, etc.

Nice collection

Thanks… those are 1/300 though, for a similar minded commission.

You can find the pre-painted kits on eBay. The normal prices for these run around $10 USD per plane +/- $1 USD-$2. Search for 1/144 F-toys, 1/144 Takara, 1/144 Bandai, 1/144 21st century etc. and of course by the specific model you're looking for (1/144 hurricane, 1/144 bf-109, 1/144 spitfire, etc.)

I've bought many of my 1/144 pre-painted planes from these eBay sellers:
trade_lab_japan
ityg27
mtcc75
7toys7

As far as I can tell, only F-Toys is still releasing 1/144 pre-painted models of WWII planes. The others might still do an occasional release, but it's hard to know.

I've bought quite a few F-Toys kits from modelwarehouse.biz, but they tend to keep a limited stock, so you have to buy them while they have them or they run out. However, this is also a good place to get an idea what F-Toys kits exist, and what the models looked like.

The lowest price-per-plane way to buy F-Toys kits is to buy complete boxed sets, especially right after they are released. Each box comes with 10 plane kits, one of each advertised painted plane and one "secret", which is supposed to be somehow cool and collectible, but is often just a weird topic unusable for wargaming (like a P-51 in Japanese markings, or something). I can only find F-Toys sets on eBay now, but I used to be able to get them from Hobby Link Japan and a few other vendors I've lost track of.

- Ix

There are a few options for bare plastic model kits as well.

Sweet Aviation Models makes some nice looking kits at reasonable prices (and they come 2/kit). You can buy them straight from the web site, sometimes cheaper from eBay, and also from modelwarehouse.biz. All of their kits look really nice, but some are a bit quirky. I really liked building the A6M2 Zero and the Macchi C.200, but the Wildcat does not have an option to be built wheels-up, and the hurricane comes with one plane in opaque plastic and the other in clear plastic. There are probably other oddities in other kits.

Mark I Models makes some of the nicest 1/144 kits available, but not a wide variety, and most of their kits cover variations of planes it is hard to find from other manufacturers. I'm not sure where to get these; I used to buy these from rollmodels.com, but they're gone now.

I avoid any kits made by Minicraft or Academy. Every one I've tried to build has been ill-fitting, full of gaps, badly proportioned, and low on detail. Yech.

I also had a bad experience with the Revell 1/144 P-40, so now I'm skittish about Revell. However, Revell does some plastic kits (on other topics) really well, so I wouldn't rule them out automatically. (But I definitely won't buy another Revell P-40.)

- Ix

Just a suggestion – consider using 1/200 scale planes instead, for a few reasons:

• They are cheaper and easier to get. Check out the selections from
  Armaments in Miniature, the Warlord Blood Red Skies collection, Wings of War, and Magister Militum. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few other sources…
  
• The bombers are smaller. I'm guessing from recent posts that you need ground attack planes for 15mm games; many 1/144 scale twin-engine bombers are around 6" wingspan, but only around 4" wingspan in 1/200 scale. Much easier to store, use, transport, etc.
  
• The selection of models is much wider, and still growing. By now you can get a lot of early war planes you might need for the Middle East (e.g. French planes).
  
• The market is more durable. The 1/144 aircraft market started as a niche modeler's market and the kits are limited runs that become rare (and therefore expensive) very quickly. The 1/200 market is aimed straight at wargamers and the planes remain in production for a long time.
  
• The models are more durable. Most 1/144 kits are plastic, and meant to be displayed, not handled, so often have fragile bits or weak connectors holding parts together. The 1/200 models tend to be single-piece castings that are extremely durable during handling and storage.

All of these reasons count double if you're planning to do any dogfight gaming. My CY6 group settled on 1/144 because several of us already had large collections, but I personally decided on 1/200 because I could actually find them, afford them, and store them. It turns out I really like painting the AIM planes too. David Schmid knows how to sculpt models so they are easy to paint and look really nice when finished. I've bought hundreds of planes from him and I'm still going…

- Ix

I must agree with Yellow Admiral, 1/200 is the way to go. AIM are a favorite of mine.

Also Skytrex Action 200, Zveda and Scotia Grendel are possible sources.

It sort of depends if you are looking for metal, resin or plastic kits.

You can see a mix of AIM, Wings of Glory and Skytrex British and Italians in my early WW2 Battle for Malta campaign.

//K

I will third 1/200. Yes, I am dual scale.. or bi-scale… or whatever…. I do 1/200 in jets and football war, 1/144 for WW2 and SCW. If I was not so heavy into 1/144 I would redo all my 1/144 with 1/200. I have some of David's jets in front of me now.

Also Skytrex Action 200, Zveda and Scotia Grendel are possible sources.

I knew I forgot a few.

- Ix

Unfortunately I have already committed to 1/144 scale aircraft but I plan on using 1/200 scale bombers.

We do that for our CY6 games. It's a good compromise. The scale disparity doesn't actually look all that funny (the fighters are still noticeably smaller than the bombers), and nearly every bomber of the war is made in 1/200 scale. Few of them are made in 1/144.

I actually prefer 1/144 fighters. If all those nice one-piece resin AIM castings were in 1/144 scale, I never would have started collecting 1/200 scale.

The hardest part for you is going to be finding early war planes (or really, interwar planes). I think most of your best options are already listed above: Shapeways, Reviresco, Mark I Models, Creations Chaubet

Some of the very best 1/144 planes I've seen are from Shapeways designer hwerke. A bunch of those are early war planes, but I doubt if any of them are useful in WWII Iraq. Sadly, his set of designs has been completely unchanged for years, so don't look for more designs from him.

- Ix

I'd just look for the Wings of War prepainted ones.

Those are 1/200.