Aha! The kit that proves I didn't "destroy the hobby." Back when the Dragon P-51D came out and I published my famous review that ended with a photo of the stomped model in my trash can, and all the Easily Offended were easily offended and absolutely certain I had finally destroyed the hobby with that (although everyone who tried to build one to prove me wrong ended up proving me right), Dragon then came out with this kit, which you will notice in the instruction sheet lists the Subject Matter Experts they consulted in creating it. Which proves that sometimes a "damned good whacking" can achieve its intended result - and has since, since all the 1/32 kits they have done since have been "best in class."

You might want to check my review at Modeling Madness so you can avoid the minefields three klicks down the trail. 🙂

https://modelingmadness.com/review/axis/cleaver/tmc110c7.htm

Highlights:

"Overall, this kit is an ill-fitting pain in the posterior which, if you persist with it, will turn into a very good-looking model in the end. The trick with this kit is to test fit everything three times before gluing once. While it appears to be a state-of-the-art kit, it is really a limited-run kit with state-of-the-art molding of parts, though not accurate state-of-the-art molding of too many parts. You get better fit from most MPM kits.

"The three places where things are particularly bad are the cockpit and the two engine nacelles.

"Getting the cockpit into the fuselage and successfully closing it up is an event that can turn the atmosphere over the work bench a deep shade of royal purple, complete with rolling thunder and lightning flashes. As to the two engine cowlings, do not waste time building the engines and installing them, unless you are planning to display the model with the cowlings off. As with many kits that have features like open engines or dropped flaps, the model is really designed for the engine cowling to be open.

"The instructions for this kit are particularly frustrating. They would have you build the entire cockpit, then glue it into the fuselage. DO NOT DO THIS! Instead, glue the cockpit side walls to each fuselage in turn (the locating pins are very helpful), making sure each wall is tightly in position along the upper edge, which will then allow you to position the upper decking correctly later. Once this has been done, attach the cockpit floor to one side of the fuselage. Be very careful to check that the 20mm cannons are in proper position; it is a good idea to cut off the gun barrels - they can’t be seen anyway, and doing so will insure that the lower fuselage center section fits when attached."

Be sure to read on about the engine nacelles...

Love your entry, my friend @coling!
It will not be a walk in the park, but a great model wil surely emerge!

@coling - the story of the Trumpeter Wildcat is nice... and also entirely frustrating, since they have obviously not learned one thing from that lesson on their first foray into 1/32 kits. I'm at the point of hating the company for "poisoning the well" on every one of their kit choices, since after they produce one of their doorstops, other manufacturers of mainstream injection kits won't do that one. I'm thinking at the moment most particularly of their deHavilland "Hornet" series, all their P-40s, their "Hellcat". Their stuff may be fine for modelers in a closed-off society like China, who are unlikely to ever be able to access outside information on any particular airplane, ever see one, etc. But for those of us who can do all that...

Hey, Tom. I agree with you heartily on many of Trumpeter's major letdowns, especially the 32nd P-51B, which seems to have prevented others from releasing better versions. That's a bit hard for me to understand, since many of us prefer the B to the D, as did many pilots. On the other hand, their Me 262 is excellent and the MiG-3 is very nice. Older releases like the Wellington and Chinook are also good - IMO. They may have different teams working on different projects with some better than others. China has some truly great modelers, like Yufei Mao, very knowledgeable as well as skilled. I think you are right, though, that the Chinese and Asian market dwarf the North American market in sales importance and that can decide what gets made and how. Frankly, I am surprised and pleased at how responsive to the "experts" Chinese kit manufacturers have been thus far.

BTW, I have been building the Trumpeter F-4F-3, with the pit and landing gear/engine compartment finished. Some fit issues in the cockpit related to the shape change, but I overcame these with careful filing and an Eduard detail set. Not many good aftermarket decal options out there so it is in on hold for the time being.

Great that fit looks good so far, my friend @coling. There's a good amount of nice detailing at the cowlings area, would be a pity to lose some of it because of filling and sanding, due to bad fit.

Regarding the big raised tabs at some areas mold release points: since they can be found even at late, "good quality" kits, may I suppose that it's the kit designers choice, as the heftier mold release points might be necessary for those areas, in order to not compromise the part overall quality? Well, just a thought...

@coling - you are going about construction of this kit the right way. Keep it up and you'll get to a good result.

Thanks, John. I am getting better and better at paring and filing down these raised bits and the process is fairly relaxing to do. I hope I can raise the confidence level of other builders on this kit. It's a beauty.