[Louie]

As the title says the new Corgi French SPAD is now on Tricatus. It is in American markings and looks great. My only gripe is the mold seam that cuts through the middle of the cowling. Corgi should have taken a lesson from Matchbox who managed to use a solid nose piece to avoid this. Great job Corgi I look forward to owning this and several other upcoming SPADS.

[leeG]

I have Rickenbackers's pre-ordered. Biddle's is on my walk-in list. I buy it the first time I walk into a hobby shop that has it in stock. I'm interested in comparing Corgi's SPADs with my two Hallmark XIIIs.

[Elmer]

I agree with you, Louie. The two piece cowling with those seam lines on each side are an eyesore. But... what is a Corgi without a gappy fit issue? I mean, it is such a trademark of a Corgi model, it almost has to have a poor fit somewhere, right?

But really, couldn't that have been molded as one piece? Seems like a no brainer. But otherwise, looking at Tri's pictures, the rest of the model seems to have good to excellent fit... much better than the first Albatross. Now... which one do I get... Biddle or Rickenbacker... hmmm... eeny meeny miny moe...

[STARMAN 352ND]

It's not too bad...But the Matchbox Spad is a nice one to have along with the Hallmark one too.
JP

[Louie]

I appreciated the Hallmark SPADs for what they are when i owned them. I liked the scaling,assembly,finish, and faux wood grain and rigging. They will fit nicely next to the Corgi and MB planes. I absolutely love my MB SPADS. I did snatch the pilots out of my MB Fokker Dr1's and transplant them into the far superior C1 versions. The pilots are to scale and seem very happy. I do hope Corgi can step it up with the DR1's as I would like to have many different liveries in addition to the 3 I have from C1. My MB Dr1's I am afraid have gone the way of the Hallmark Dr1's eithe in the closet or on e-bay. While the Hallmark SPADs lacked some small detail they made up for it in other ways. MB made spectacular SPAds and anyone who loves WW1 and does not own at least one example of one is IMHO missing out. They are as detailed as Corgi and still can be found MIB for $15-20 less than a Corgi. You just have to live with 2 screw holes and no rigging. The pilots in the MB are more to scale IMHO than the Corgi supplied pilots. They appear to be about the size of Mickey Rooney. Nice to know he's still around. Corgi will be a huge boost to my WW1 line-up and will hopefully dazzle us with a wide variety of liveries and historic mounts. I too must admit I was disappointed with Corgi's last effort with the Albatross BUT I have also consoled myself with the thought that the MVR plane was really red and therefore showed the cavernous gaps near the nose more easily. The more colorful liveries soon to come are darker and more contrasting and should minimize this defect. I would like to see Corgi use more flats on the finish of the models. These were canvas covered crates and should appear so IMHO. The Georges Guynemer SPAD has a color that seems a bit yellow but alas the pics we saw were only pre-pros. I think the Hallmark version of his mount portrayed a more authentic color. This is another point in Hallmark's favor so if you have that plane rejoice. I doubt Corgi will do Frank Luke Jr's plane(SPAD XIII) so owning this by MB in addition to the Corgi's coming out will only add more depth to my rich and multi-faceted WW1 collection. Rock on Corgi looking forward to even better and improved models from them in the future.

[Elmer]

Thanks for that info, Louie... much appreciated.

The Biddle SPAD appeared in the UK (if I remember correctly) more than a month ago. When will it hit our shores?

[Canucklehead]

Originally Posted by Louie

They appear to be about the size of Mickey Rooney (R.I.P. Mickey).

I think Mickey Rooney is still alive Louie.

[smartd]

Originally Posted by Canucklehead

I think Mickey Rooney is still alive Louie.

In his 70+ year show business career he's appeared in many roles, he played Andy Hardy in a long string of Andy Hardy movies, he appeared in the movies "Boys Town", "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", "Babes in Arms", "National Velvet", and more recently "The Black Stallion"

---

Date of Birth: Current Age:

09/23/1920 87

[Louie]

Merci Beau coup mon amis. I fixed my post to reflect this latest information. Corgi will need him around a while it seems to use his likeness as pilots for the models they make.

[hunhunter]

Louie ,

Thanks for the analysis on the new Spad by Corgi. Hopefully the gap in the cowling isn't as bad as the pics from Tricatus. If the color was anything but white, it may of hid the gap, but with white, it is definitely an eye catcher. As for the rest of the plane, looks like Corgi did a pretty good job.


Regards,

Mike