[Epapazian]

When I first heard about the Altaya 1:72nd scale biplane series I was excited. After all, nobody does interesting planes like these. But then I thought, Yes but these are the same guys that turned out those mass produced, low quality IXO models. Nevertheless, I bought six of the Altaya biplanes and quickly realized that I had some work to do to make them presentable. All showed unmistakable signs of frenzied and hasty assembly, painting and decal application with not even a hint of quality control. In addition to dents, and poorly assembled parts such as wingtip floats, the worst problems were terrible glue blobs and drippings, especially where wire braces were applied, plus incorrect colors and oversized insignias and lettering, which were often just slapped on with minimum regard for alignment or proper location.

Sounds pretty bad, doesn't it?

But not really. I have just completed my final redo of the sixth plane I acquired from this series. Most required about an hour's work to eliminate the glue blobs, and make other corrections. After this, it took me roughly two hours per plane for painting, plus another hour for decal application ---all spread over two or three days to allow the paint to dry and cure. Result: I'm the proud owner of some unusual biplanes which I would rate as fair to mildly good, although hardly Corgi or Hobby Master in quality. Here are some pictures that will show you what I mean. My favorites are the Fiat CR-42, HS-123 and I-15. The others are OK but not nearly as good regarding their level of detail.

[Epapazian]

[skydriver]

Nice collection of some different airplanes you have. There is something about an open cockpit airplane that just screams fun.

[stalag8611]

Wow, holy macknew, great looking make overs. Thanks for sharing.

[djjeffhall]

Oh my goodness, that is an amazing set of birds. Congrats, you did an amazing job.

[STARMAN 352ND]

Outstanding job.....
JP

[HotTrap429]

FANTASTIC! Three cheers for Epapazian the artist.

BTW, I like the Japanese float plane the best! What is it?

[flyXwire]

Originally Posted by HotTrap429

FANTASTIC! Three cheers for Epapazian the artist.

Here, here!

[hworth18]

Great job Ed!!! I didn't know Altaya made a Pete??? I might look into getting that one..