Aftermarket stuff. Who buys it?

[Bassman]

Had a scan through this section and couldn't see any likely titles...

Do you buy any?

Being big into US trucks, I have a selection of Resin engines that can be substituted for the original kit fitment, when the mood takes me to try building (and for that matter completing) another one.

I bought a KFS Resin Transkit to convert a Revell 1/25 Kenworth W900 into a shorter bonnetted Australian variant (found the Resin bits, not sure where the kit is... LOL). The Transkit utilised the original kit engine which meant the interior would only be usuable for a driver without legs. I bought a Resin Detroit V6 for the model (shorter than the kit one and also one that can be installed in the real truck) so that I could make a better interior... One day...

Todays useless gem... As far as I can tell that Revell W900 is a scaled down version of the Monogram 1/16 Kenworth. I compared the instructions, though the smaller scale one is slightly simplified. I built the Monogram 1/16 Peterbilt but have yet to start the KW or the matching trailer (a 36' to keep the size down).

For some reason I bought the PE set for the Tamiya 1/48 Swordfish. I guess that could prove something of a learning experience.

[Coen]

I buy aftermarket stuff all the time.
Almost every kit that I've built has at least one AM kit or part of one added to it.
I haven't found a kit yet that I didn't want to add a little bit of something to.
I have built out of the box, just not often.
My BF109E-4 is out of the box.
My T34 was out of the box until I began kit bashing my Su-85M to improve it.

[Prumus99]

I tend to buy a lot of resin kits for both 1/35 scale stuff and 1/24-25 auto's, but I do have a lot of PE but I'll still new to using it on my builds.

[Scruffy]

I use it all the time, almost every time Some items are just better from aftermarket suppliers, and some kits really do need the help. Anything from etch to resin to decals, to track links, if I think the model will benifit from it, and I can afford it, I will try to incoperate it into the build.

[UKscalemodeller]

I used aftermarket etch fir the furst time on my entry to the group build, I must say I really like the improvement you get. I have a lot more etch and aftermarket decals sat waiting to be used.

[Gav0909]

I have used it on occasion, but its not a common thing for me due to cost.

That saying I am a huge fan of using metal turned barrels on my 1/35 AFVs, although the two I am working on just now won't have them, a) because one is a Challenger 2 and would need a resin barrel and b) I can't afford it just now for the other.

But I have used PE sets for aircraft and a resin cockpit to enhance an old tooling Spitfire once.

[Nige201980]

at the moment i cant really afford it it was the 1st time i used it on my tempest but that game with it so i will defo look for other kits with it in but for now that will be it maybe later on ill look into it more.

[UKscalemodeller]

When I first got back.into modelling I had an issue with the cost of after market additions but when I sat and thought about it . . .

If I continue at the current pace I will complete about 6 kits a year, this year alone I have bought about 30! So if I am buying 5 times as many as I am goung to build, why not spend more on less kits, buy better quality kits and am stuff to make the ones I do actually make look better. Same cost, same number built, but look better. Thats my reasoning anyway.

[Nige201980]

When I first got back.into modelling I had an issue with the cost of after market additions but when I sat and thought about it . . .

If I continue at the current pace I will complete about 6 kits a year, this year alone I have bought about 30! So if I am buying 5 times as many as I am goung to build, why not spend more on less kits, buy better quality kits and am stuff to make the ones I do actually make look better. Same cost, same number built, but look better. Thats my reasoning anyway.

That is a very good point.

[Paul]

When I first got back.into modelling I had an issue with the cost of after market additions but when I sat and thought about it . . .

If I continue at the current pace I will complete about 6 kits a year, this year alone I have bought about 30! So if I am buying 5 times as many as I am goung to build, why not spend more on less kits, buy better quality kits and am stuff to make the ones I do actually make look better. Same cost, same number built, but look better. Thats my reasoning anyway.

That's the best way to look at it, three 1/72 airfix kits could buy you a nice eduard 1/48. I would rather build 1 quality kit than 3 smaller/sub standard kits.

[Lee]

Totally agree

[Coen]

Ditto that Dudes.
My stash is also a constantly growing thing, it increases far faster than it depreciates now though. Before I moved to the house I built a kit or two every month. Id also buy one or two kits a month.
Now I'd be lucky to get one done in two. So the buying needs to slow down so my building can catch up. And that sucks when you see all these awesome kits all the time.

[pedrofernandes]

Regarding ... aftermarket stuff ....
I like to think I have a Love/hate relationship with photo etched, lots of trouble , lots of detail !!! I think that resin adds extra "bling" but make me all itchy!!! I think metal landing gears and tracks are great for extra detail and strengthening the model !! I think Extra decals are great so you can have something different from most of people !!!
All these and much more are reasons to buy aftermarkets... even hunting those old after markets in evilbay is awesome task!!!

Its really a shame that my patience doesn't concur with me !!! hihiihih!!! But I still buy them all !!!

[gregchez]

Ok stupid question.

Where do you get aftermarket parts from, and how do you know they will work in your model.

As I have a 1/48 TAMIYA A-10A THUNDERBOLT II kit that I want to do once I have gotten better and would love make it that bit more special. As I just love that plane and will be putting loads of effort into it to make it perfect.

Greg

[schweinhund227]

Ok stupid question.

Where do you get aftermarket parts from, and how do you know they will work in your model.

As I have a 1/48 TAMIYA A-10A THUNDERBOLT II kit that I want to do once I have gotten better and would love make it that bit more special. As I just love that plane and will be putting loads of effort into it to make it perfect.

Greg

best to look on line ! and Usually the A.M. set do State "in their titles"... what kits they are made for !
for Tamiya or for Trumpeter !! and in what scale !

places like Lucky Model Hong Kong or a well stocked Local Hobby Store can be a place to start....
it gets expensive after a while !

and A.M. sets don't always help ! on many occasions; I replaced kit parts with lesser detailed Photo etch ones... so I buy less A.M. sets now a days.... since I do OOB most of the time.... !

Good luck with your search !

[5Craven]

You can get aftermarket parts from good model shops both on & off line, ebay or the parts manufacturers direct. You should check that the set you buy is matched to the correct aircraft and kit manufacturer. For example this is the page for eduards photoetch for your kit http://www.eduard.com/store/Eduard/A-10 ... param=A-10 and they show pictures of what is added.

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

most of my kits has AM stuff too. Alu barrels, metal tracks and PE. O yeah... PE... I'm kinda addicted to photo etch. Love doing that. See my early tiger 1 and my sd kfz 222 for example. Got some out of the box builds, but when it's not too expensive, I'll buy AM updates.

[WebbyNZ]

Love aftermarket me

I generally buy aftermarket after I have had the kit and have had a chance to go through it but in the case of things like car kits ill often order a PE set or something at the same time.
I try to got for the mid range stuff, by which I mean I dont get the detail sets that are twice the price of the kit but I dont just grab the cheapest.
I look for the one that adds to where the kit is lacking or where it can add something the kit never had eg lighting

[Colin]

For my 1/32 Aircraft kits I'll normally buy some Eduard colour photo etch stuff, but still struggle with some of the smaller parts ... have never managed to use a complete Eduard photo etch set yet, its far to fiddly for me ... I know its a modelling art in itself, but if I can use most of those individual great sets in 1/32 I'm quite happy ... you might ask ,,, "but in 1/32 it must be easier" ,,, good question, but I've found in 1/32 we need even more detail that is not doable in the smaller scales and Eduard seem to provide that ... I'm happy to just use most of it now, my eyesight is letting me down even with glasses.

Again though, we come to the age old argument in the hobby, buy a cheaper kit and spend a bit on extra's or buy a state of art kit like Tamiya do that can be built OOB with little to no extra's, but even then extra's will come out for their latest 1/32 WW2 Corsair.

Aftermarket is fine, but speaking personally I just buy aftermarket now if the kit parts are showstopper in error, as in the latest HB 1/32 P-61 Black Widow that really need to be changed and now I think more carefully at Hobby Boss for rushing this one out.

Its all cool though and I don't let super accuracy take over my love of the hobby ... I'm a slow enough builder already

Its all Good.

[Bassman]

The only reason I got the Tamiya Swordfish set was the price... just over £10 (around $15 for those across the "pond").

I am on a bit of a budget, so aftermarket stuff now is a luxury.

I have the Revell Rountemaster bus and the etch for that was around £30 (a bit much for my wallet). I blame Modelzone for "forcing" me to buy another, inevitably via Amazon, when they were briefly doing them at £20. The intention was a standard OOB build and a front entrance version (when I realized that pretty much every window was arranged differently to the standard bus I put that on the back-burner). At least now, I could do a "what if" version in the old livery of my old local bus operatior City of Oxford Motor Services (as was).

[NovYank]

Anybody who's seen my stuff on the forum knows that I'm a fan of using AM kits, and for good reason; being that I'm primarily into armor there's a plethora of options. Your want to portray a tank that's not very common or an oddity? No problem.

A good example is Australian armor, not many companies gave purely Australian vehicles, but you could buy an AM kit to transform your kit into what you wanted.

Also, all the detail upgrades are terrific. Like independent link tracks, turned aluminium barrels, tons of PE, or the old standard of stowage.

[keith]

No all my builds are oob the main reason is moneythe other is I have very little feeling in my fingers due to working with power tools so these very small bits would be totally unusable for me

[Gav0909]

I wasn't going to use any AM stuff on this Meng AUF1, frankly I don't know how you could make it more detailed! However the kit indy link tracks are pretty pants, so I am thinking of saving up for the metal Friul model ones.

[Coen]

I don't think that Friulmodel makes tracks for it yet Gav.
I've been looking of and on all afternoon for a set of replacements for you and I haven't found a darned thing.
I think that she's just too new for the AM guys to have gotten to her yet.

[Gav0909]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-35-Friulmod ... 51ac009434

Coen, Friul do tracks for the AMX-30 which is the tank chassis used in the AUF1. There are two types of track, one with split rubber blocks, the other with single piece ones like those ^. And they are the same as the ones that came in the Meng kit. I believe these are designed to fit on the old Heller kit of the AMX-30/AUF1 that was around, but they might fit on the Meng kit too.

[Coen]

Shows ya how much I know about modern armour haha.
It's unfortunate, but I think that the only way that you can find out if those tracks fit is by trying to fit them. My point about the kit being so new and the AM boys haven't got to yet still applies I guess.

[Gav0909]

Yes it does, as I believe Meng are the only ones currently offering this vehicle, however it seems Heller used too, but I believe its now OOP. Hobby Boss are apparently releasing an Auf1 soon, so perhaps once that is out there might be some more AM stuff appear. But really the Meng kit doesn't need it, save for perhaps easier to build tracks.

[Coen]

I'd have to agree. I was looking through the T-90A kit that I have this afternoon and I had come to the same conclusion.
OOB is perfectly fine for that build. I've never seen a kit that fit that qualification so well before.
It's gorgeous.
That AUF1 mush be of the same quality. Just a beaut of a kit.!!

[HamilkarBarkas]

I usually build models out of box, i try to buy the ones that do not necessarily need aftermarket stuff to correct them or enhance detail. From time to time its impossible to go around aftermarkets so i´d say i´m a model builder who avoids them where he can.

[SuperDryBeef]

For ship, it's after market or nothing: plastic railings look terrible and for some reason ship kits always have out of scale guns.

[Colin]

For ship, it's after market or nothing: plastic railings look terrible and for some reason ship kits always have out of scale guns.

Definitely agreed on that, have bought a few 1/350 ships and reluctantly sold them on because they just NEED photoetch more so than any other type of subject IMHO (have never really tried armour yet) one was the Tamiya USS Enterprise aircraft carrier too that I'd always wanted, but to do it justice it would have needed etch for railings and sadly etch is not my strong point in modelling.

[Reddragon62]

I've thought of it many times. What they add to a kit is beautiful but it's out of my cost range.

[Coen]

You don't need it Gilbert... You just make your own haha.

[one48modeller]

I do buy it, like Friuli tracks and aluminum gun barrels, P/E for cockpits especially the seat belts by Eduard, although their is a certain charm in buying the whole resin seat, belts and all. Not too much into reisin cock pit side walls (too much grinding etc.).

All this is in spite of the fact that I really hate these on a "contest" model. Who should win? The guy who scratch builds all the detail of a bf 109 cockpit or the guy who slaps in a resin detail cockpit? WHEN, the resin cockpit looks a little better because it has a little more detail.

I pick the scratch builder. But is that just my false sense of work ethic?

Martin

[MakingModelsAgain]

I used to go over-the-flippin'-top with aftermarket. If there was some available for a particular kit, I'd add it. I crammed everything I could find into a Revel 1/72 P-47 - not all of it designed for that manufacturer and I once did a 1/32 Eduard Bf-109E-4 that ended up with just the fuselage, wings and prop from the original kit which wasn't cheap itself. I've done the same for a Tamiya 1/48 F4U Corsair (unbuilt), but since I've started doing a fair bit of scratch-building (mainly on the smaller scales), I think from here on in, I'd rather try that option over the resin route. PE still has a place in helping to fussy-up a cockpit, but even then, a bit of scratch goes a long way when you look down into the office once the fuselage is closed up. For large scale engines, then yes, a lump of resin is still unbeatable in terms of detail, but restraint is the key here. Plus, the sense of achievement when you DIY it, is wondrous and you don't hear that word used much these days.

[Rob]

For ship, it's after market or nothing: plastic railings look terrible and for some reason ship kits always have out of scale guns.

Ay, there's the rub! Not 'till last week. Earlier this year I bought Mirage's 1/350 Flower Class Corvette Anchusa. Lovely kit but crying out for railings, ladders and anchor chain. So I looked and found PE for it and succumed. It turned a cheap-ish kit into an expensive one, the PE costing far more than the kit! To add insult to injury, Mirage have just released a new version (HMS Spireae) which costs a couple of quid more than Anchusa but includes PE railings and ladders.

Oh well, review and build soon.

[Gav0909]

I have Dragons 1/350 USS Buchanan on its way to me and from looking online I believe it is probably one of the only ship kits (unless more of the same standard have since been released) were you wouldn't NEED AM stuff. The kit comes with PE already, but so much of it is slide molded etc allowing much more detail in the plastic parts.

Proof will be when I get it and build it I suppose!

[Lee]

Would like to see a review of that when you get it Gav

[Gav0909]

Yeah no bother, will get one filmed and up on YT and here when I get it. Never done a ship before so new territory for me!

[Reddragon62]

You don't need it Gilbert... You just make your own haha.

Lmao....That's funny Mike! Yeah but sometimes you just want to have the luxury of having it already made for ya! I see what it can do for a model but jeesh...The stuff can get up therein price. Anyway....If you have the means, buy all means use it!

[Jan01]

I usally build oob, but I have a couple of models with AM products. One for the 1/72 revell tiger that I am currently working on. This is a first for me so its a challenge. The other kit is a 1/35 AFV sd.kfz 251/1ausf D which I got a lot of AM pe for, I could have brought more for it but decided against it.

So some challenges ahead for me.