With new acquisitions and new releases, I've expanded this section to cover plastic aircraft of all sorts in micro-scale. There are a reasonable selection these days, though it is by no means extensive. The original section contained details (some lacking...) on Nichimo's 1/300 scale collection of US Navy aircraft. This has now been expanded to include the 1/288 scale large aircraft out of Russia (or Ukraine), the 1/300 scale pre-finished models of Japanese large modern aircraft, assorted 1/300 WWII aircraft from China, and Nichimo's 1/300 WWII Japanese aircraft.
Overall, the quality of these models vary. Nichimo's offerings tend to be excellent, and at least on par with most of the traditional metal offerings. The Eastern Express models are somewhat lacking in detail, and the construction of them is challenging (though certainly no worse than, say, CinC's F-14).
Index
Nichimo 1/300 Scale Modern US Naval Aircraft
Nichimo 1/300 Scale Imperial Japanese Aircraft
Each set generally contains 2 US carrier aircraft, plus a plethora of decals for them. The boxes have full-color illustrations of the aircraft, greatly simplifying painting. In addition, the decals are excellent -- many colors, a lot of variety, and sturdy. Frankly, the kits are worth it for the decals alone. The quality of the models is good, and generally equals that of the cast metal kits available from regular micro armor manufacturers.
The six sets are:
No. 19 Hawkeye & Ground Support Equipment
No. 20 F-4 Phantom II & EA-6B Prowler
No. 21 F-18 Hornet & S-3 Viking
No. 22 F-14 Tomcat & A-7E Corsair II
No. 23 A-4F Skyhawk & RA-5C Vigilante
No. 24 A-6E Intruder & F-8E Crusader
I have including photos below of the sets that I have (4 of the 6 out there)
(The model on the rifght is from Nichimo, on left from Skytrex)
Assembled, but not well painted
F-8 Crusader
F-4
and EA-6B Kit
F-4
EA-6B
Nichimo at one point produced a series of 1/300 World War II Japanese aircraft, packed two per box. They were labelled the "Samurai Super-Micro" series.
I have only acquired one so far, a daul kit with the Kawanishi Shiden-Kai "George" and the Mitsubishi Type 0 seaplane "Pete."
Shiden-Kai
Type 0
Here is a typical example of the decals included in the kit:
No. 1 A6M5 Zero
Assembled model and sprues
No. 2 Ki-61 Hien
Box
Assembled kit and sprues
No. 3 Kawanishi N1KJ Shiden Kai
Assembled kit and sprues
No. 4 Type 97 Nakajima B5N "Kate"
Box
Assembled kit
No. 5 J1N1 Gekkou "Irving"
Box
Assembled kit and sprues
F-Toys make a series of perhaps six modern Japanese aircraft -- all large aircraft. I have so far acquired two -- the P3J and the Shin Meiwa US1 amphibian. Both are pre-painted anti-submarine aircraft requiring minor assembly. The models are excellent, though of limited use on the gaming table. They are manufactured by F-Toys, a Japanese (?) company that specializes in pre-packaged miniatures. They are widely available on eBay, though the price varies widely.
JASDF P3J
Shin Meiwa US1
A series of 1/288 models of fairly obscure Soviet and post-Soviet era heavy aircraft from Russian or Ukrainian manufacturers. I've purchased most (or perhaps all?) of them, but only assembled the AN-72P naval patrol aircraft so far.
AN-72P
Assembly was more difficult than expected, as the parts did not fit well together. After much sanding, here is the assembled model:
The model required a fair bit of filling, for which I used Games Workshop's truly excellent liquid green stuff. Their paints may be decidedly sub-par, but this is a truly wonderful product. It goes on like a thick paint, and the granularity is very fine, so it sands down quite smooth.
The model is also off balanced -- the tail will sink to the ground on its own. To make up for this, I put about a 1/2 pound of scrap lead in the nose.
After I painted the model, I went to install the glass cockpit. Here is the sprue:
As you will note, there are quite a lot of glass canopies provided, but the instructions didn't specify which to use. Normally, this wouldn't have been a major problem, as you would just pick the one that fits best. However, none of these fit well. After a fair bit of sanding and swearing, I did get one in, though the fit required more filling.
The kit, while it has its faults, it does come with an excellent set of decals, which hold together well and go on easily.
Here is the completed model. I struggled with the windscreen, and ultimately chose to paint it rather than leave it clear.
