Well there is ONE noticeable issue - The Wing guns look to be parallel to the Wing Leading Edge, and not parallel to the Ground line (Inner most gun above & outermost below the Leading Edge. Tamiya did get that right with their kit in the 90's. Still, a well-designed 3D printed resin insert and some minor surgery to cut out the gun panel on the LE and it would not be a difficult fix - you could even use the kit plastic guns! If you take a close look at the box art it does actually show the correct configuration! (Now it was hard to see clearly here , but those gaps for the guns all looked even, not sloped - especially in one other online review/unboxing I have seen.)
Other than that small caveat, this is a Beautiful kit and I will certainly be trying to fing one. I think the Tamiya kit has just found a real competitor, even at a higher cost.
BTW, the Detailed version include a lot of PE and maybe masks, resin and Alternative plastic (eg other type of propellers or a later cockpit for the D-30 already announced.)
The "basic" kit is good enough for me if I were to get the kit. The advanced one is way too advanced for me (I generally don't do open hatches or gun bays.)
I'd have to agree with Dan @dbdlee, the "basic" kit looks like there's more there than you'd need. I'd like to see the advanced kit version just to see what else comes with it. If the gun placement is the kits biggest problem, (granted a noticeable and basic one for P-47 fans) the kit should be fantastic.
I can confirm the Mini Art guns are not perfectly parallel to the ground. They ARE offset to the leading edge, but not enough. (They miss the mark by about 5 degrees each, so 10 total, not small...) I will use Tamiya gun inserts.
Even the most compressed Mini Art landing gear choice is near 2 mm longer than the Tamiya gear. I may use the Tamiya gear.
The kit is otherwise fantastic in precision and fit, but be wary of all locating tabs, and scrape a little off most of the suspicious internal contact/locating points, and you should be ok. It is complex.
The 4 piece cowling fits very well to itself, when fully assembled APART from the model, but it requires trimming of the engine framing to slide on as a one piece part. Be reasonably wary of all the locating tab "help", or suggested sequence of construction, and everything should fit beautifully. The clear parts are improved to an acceptable degree by a dip in Gunze gloss clear (or Future). A very good kit, and far superior in clear part accuracy (particularly the windscreen slope) to the Tamiya's inaccurate canopy. This canopy superiority also applies in spades to the Dora Wings C Razorback vs the Tamiya, and in my opinion the Dora Wings is even better than the Mini Art, due to the guns being correctly lined up with the ground, and having less cowl taper (which should be very slight): Actual taper front of cowl flaps to first panel line (15 mm distance) is 28.2 to 28.0 mm, Tamiya 29 mm to 27 mm (an absurd 4 inches), Mini Art 28 mm to 27 mm (slightly excessive), Dora Wings 27.1 mm to 27.0 mm. (Near correct taper, but too narrow overall). I received a 28.0 mm first panel line cowl width measurement from the Commemorative Air Force P-47N, so all the kits appear to undershoot there, despite agreeing on 27.0 mm. 28.2 mm is confirmed elsewhere as the fuselage maximum. The real thing shows very little cowl taper, and I am disappointed Mini art went for two scale inches. It is passable, but very marginal. Tamiya at double this value was always a joke, and even worse was their clear parts, which looked awful on both canopy versions.
Well there is ONE noticeable issue - The Wing guns look to be parallel to the Wing Leading Edge, and not parallel to the Ground line (Inner most gun above & outermost below the Leading Edge. Tamiya did get that right with their kit in the 90's. Still, a well-designed 3D printed resin insert and some minor surgery to cut out the gun panel on the LE and it would not be a difficult fix - you could even use the kit plastic guns! If you take a close look at the box art it does actually show the correct configuration! (Now it was hard to see clearly here , but those gaps for the guns all looked even, not sloped - especially in one other online review/unboxing I have seen.)
Other than that small caveat, this is a Beautiful kit and I will certainly be trying to fing one. I think the Tamiya kit has just found a real competitor, even at a higher cost.
BTW, the Detailed version include a lot of PE and maybe masks, resin and Alternative plastic (eg other type of propellers or a later cockpit for the D-30 already announced.)
The "basic" kit is good enough for me if I were to get the kit. The advanced one is way too advanced for me (I generally don't do open hatches or gun bays.)
I'd have to agree with Dan @dbdlee, the "basic" kit looks like there's more there than you'd need. I'd like to see the advanced kit version just to see what else comes with it. If the gun placement is the kits biggest problem, (granted a noticeable and basic one for P-47 fans) the kit should be fantastic.
Would of been nice if they had provided an insert for the gun ports. But I agree with Brett the gun ports look parallel to the ground.
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
I can confirm the Mini Art guns are not perfectly parallel to the ground. They ARE offset to the leading edge, but not enough. (They miss the mark by about 5 degrees each, so 10 total, not small...) I will use Tamiya gun inserts.
Even the most compressed Mini Art landing gear choice is near 2 mm longer than the Tamiya gear. I may use the Tamiya gear.
The kit is otherwise fantastic in precision and fit, but be wary of all locating tabs, and scrape a little off most of the suspicious internal contact/locating points, and you should be ok. It is complex.
The 4 piece cowling fits very well to itself, when fully assembled APART from the model, but it requires trimming of the engine framing to slide on as a one piece part. Be reasonably wary of all the locating tab "help", or suggested sequence of construction, and everything should fit beautifully. The clear parts are improved to an acceptable degree by a dip in Gunze gloss clear (or Future). A very good kit, and far superior in clear part accuracy (particularly the windscreen slope) to the Tamiya's inaccurate canopy. This canopy superiority also applies in spades to the Dora Wings C Razorback vs the Tamiya, and in my opinion the Dora Wings is even better than the Mini Art, due to the guns being correctly lined up with the ground, and having less cowl taper (which should be very slight): Actual taper front of cowl flaps to first panel line (15 mm distance) is 28.2 to 28.0 mm, Tamiya 29 mm to 27 mm (an absurd 4 inches), Mini Art 28 mm to 27 mm (slightly excessive), Dora Wings 27.1 mm to 27.0 mm. (Near correct taper, but too narrow overall). I received a 28.0 mm first panel line cowl width measurement from the Commemorative Air Force P-47N, so all the kits appear to undershoot there, despite agreeing on 27.0 mm. 28.2 mm is confirmed elsewhere as the fuselage maximum. The real thing shows very little cowl taper, and I am disappointed Mini art went for two scale inches. It is passable, but very marginal. Tamiya at double this value was always a joke, and even worse was their clear parts, which looked awful on both canopy versions.