[flyXwire]

Originally Posted by Ara1

Congrats flyXwire, it's a neat little plane.

And how! Now if FM would just do an F1M2 "Pete" floatplane in 1/48th....

[Black 6]

Well I lost out today on a great Ebay deal for one of these little gems. It would have cost me around $48.00 shipped. What happened? I came back to the forum for a quick read of this thread to make sure I wanted it, started reading and lost track of time. I returned to the auction with 1 second left. DOH!

Next time I will know I WANT IT.

[Ara1]

Don't feel bad Black 6. The canopy looks too high and the landing gear fairings didn't look too great. I think the only worthy Zero in 1/48 is Marushin's offering. If you can get by the canopy and gear fairing issues, well them, yes, FM's Rufe is the only A6M2-N in town.

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by flyXwire

And how! Now if FM would just do an F1M2 "Pete" floatplane in 1/48th....

Now that is a plane that would be snapped up fast. Float plane/ biplane combination would look great in a collection.

[mikeb1958]

I bought this off our man Harry a few months back and LOVE IT! Yes, I know there is some minor inperfections as with every die-cast model, but I don't care. She is still a beauty anyway!

[Black 6]

That's the thing that caused my downfall in getting this model. I saw the auction and price too late to do any real research on. I'm a big sucker for float planes but knew there had been discussion in this thread a while back with some critical remarks. So I thought I had enough time to flip back to the forum, find the thread and do some reading about what people thought of it. Well, I I got too much into it and didn't get back to the auction in time.

I agree there are some flaws in this particular model. I would now be able to overlook most of them since the model looks right, for the most part, from a distance (so to speak). OF course, I would not pay much more for the model than what I say this one go for, so the price point is very important to me. The higher the price the more I expect things to be correct. The only caveat I have to that last statement is in regard to scarcity of the model, the subject or manufacturer (thus Marushin gets a pass, and the Rufe gets a pass as nobody will make one in the foreseeable future).

Hopefully this doesn't sound like a rambling missive from the Unabomber, but I would buy the model. faults and all, if I see it at or near this price again. Anything higher will be passed on. But I think it would look great on the shelf with my Marushins.

[hworth18]

The Rufe is a fine piece and the "flaws" stated are mostly just because Franklin saw fit to use existing tooling rather than retool for a single plane.. I don't blame them one bit for doing that as it gives us a rare floatplane in 1/48 that we normally wouldn't have.. The ONLY reason I got rid of mine was space considerations and the fact that I am running out of it..

[mikeb1958]

Originally Posted by hworth18

The Rufe is a fine piece and the "flaws" stated are mostly just because Franklin saw fit to use existing tooling rather than retool for a single plane.. I don't blame them one bit for doing that as it gives us a rare floatplane in 1/48 that we normally wouldn't have.. The ONLY reason I got rid of mine was space considerations and the fact that I am running out of it..

Yes, I have run out of space 150+ diecasts ago. They are packed carefully in a climate-controled storage space until we move in about 2.5 years.

[hworth18]

Originally Posted by mikeb1958

Yes, I have run out of space 150+ diecasts ago. They are packed carefully in a climate-controled storage space until we move in about 2.5 years.

I found a way around my need for a Rufe, so I picked up two...

In 1/144 that is....

[Celtic]

Originally Posted by mikeb1958

Yes, I have run out of space 150+ diecasts ago. They are packed carefully in a climate-controled storage space until we move in about 2.5 years.

I have a room full of shelves of boxed planes. Just added two shelves over the top of the window, and am about to add some 2 foot-wide selves in a space vacated by moving a display case full of Legends into the living room. The full-size bed in one room has three rolling storage bins underneath, full of old Dragon models (that'll probably never see the light of day again), and in about 2.5 years I'll probably be forced to burn down the house and start collecting all over again...is there a problem?