[flyXwire]

Okay, just to start an informal poll about which ones of the FM aircraft moulds you own? I'll start with mine and these are not necessarily in order:

1. P-38 Lightning and the F-5 Photo Recon version

2. SBD Dauntless

3. 'Rufe' floatplane

4. F-4J and C versions

5. Mig-29

6. Mig-17

7. F-16 Thunderbirds

8. F-18 Blue Angels

9. F-86 Sabre

10. AV8B Harrier

[STARMAN 352ND]

Well i have a few FM in my collection and i would say the best ones are the:
1. F4 Phantom
2.P-38J Lightning
3.B-25 Doolittle Raiders (Both)
4.F-18 Blue Angels
5.F-16 Thunderbirds
6.A-10 Hog
7.F-86 Skyblazers Sabre
8.F4U Corsair
9.Mig-29

[flyXwire]

JP, How's the B-25 mould like - quality wise? Thanks!

[STARMAN 352ND]

I love it...It's a very nice B-25..I like the lines in it and most of all that baby is heavy.
There is no seam gab in these at all ...The B-26 had a little one down the center of the fuse but not the B-25's.
Two things i did notice the "Ruptured Duck" has a better looking OD scheme to it which i like alot better and the Jimmy Doolittle bomber does not have the nose gun.
Mine is perfect no flaws or decals.
Check out the pictures.

"RUPTURED DUCK" LAWSON'S BOMBER




DOOLITTLE'S BOMBER



JP

[Elmer]

Originally Posted by flyXwire

JP, How's the B-25 mould like - quality wise? Thanks!

That one does look nice! I read Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo in Jr. High and did a book report on it. Part of my project was a large medal I made with the Ruptured Duck nose art on the medal. No question the story had a tremendous impact on my interests.

OK... you know I have to ask (and in all seriousness!!)

JP... how many exposed screwheads are there and where are they located?

[mustangdriver]

Hey J.P., is that a piece of metal I see in the background? That looks familiar! Ha Ha.
Out of the Fm group I have the
P-38-Great
P-40-not so good
P-47-great
P-51-crap
F4U-Good
F6F-Great
SBD-Great
B-17-Good
B-24-Great
B-25-Great
B-26-Good
C-47 Good
UH-1-Great
F-104-Great
F-4 Great
F-14- Great
F-15 Good
F-16 good
F-117 Great
ME-109 Good
FW-190 Good
Stuka Great
Spitfire Great
Hurrican Great
ME262 great
A-10 great

[Epapazian]

I stopped buying these a few years ago due to quality and space issues, so I don't have more recent entries like the JU-52, HE-111, etc. Of those I have, I am especially fond of the JU_87B and D, the SBD, F-6F and the Doolittle B-25. A lot of the earlier planes in this line, including the German FW-190A and BF-109 were terribly lacking in detail to suit me.

[SKUNKY]

The B-25 mold is okay, but I wouldn't classify it as "great". I have Ruptured Duck. The biggest issue I have with it is it sits way too high on it's main landing gear, giving it the appearance that it's engines have been removed. If anything, the Mitchell should have a slightly nose high attitude. This seems to be an issue with other FM tricycle gear aircraft. Also. it does have a rather noticeable seam running vertically just behind the bombardier's section...Otherwise it's not too bad, but I prefer Corgi 's B-25 in 1/72nd...This thing is just too big for the sparce amount of detail it holds.


Elmer, there are a grand total of 9 exposed screw heads under this beast..5 along the centerline of the fuselage (including a smaller one in the nosewheel well) and 2 each under the engine nacelles.

FM just doesn't come up to today's diecast standards. I would much rather have smaller aircraft models with more detail. Having a model in a larger scale just accentuates any lack of detail it has.

[stalag8611]

Here's my FM hanger"

A-10 Warthog - Philadelphia Freedom	Good
B-25 Doolittle Tokyo Raid	Very good
B-25 Tondelayo	Very good
BF 109F	Good
BF 109F Philipp	Very good
F- 4 Phantom	Excellent
F-14 Tomcat S.O.	Very good
F-15 Eagle	Good
F-16 Falcon Wild Weasel	Very good
F-18 Hornet	Fair
F-4 Phantom	Fair
F4U Corsair VMA3232	Very good
F6F-3 Hellcat	Fair
F-86 "Huff"	Excellent
FW 190	Good
FW 190 Barr	Very good
JU 87-B	Very good
ME 262 Barr	Good
P-38 Lightning	Fair
P-40 Robert Scott	Very good
P-47 Thunderbolt	Very good
P-51 Mustang - Korea	Poor
SBD-3 Douglas - Leppla S.O.	Excellent
Spitfire Douglas Bader	Very good

[FormerViperDriver]

I think their P-38s are one of their best moulds. I have four of them, and seriously thinking of getting a 5th one ("Jack").

And Elmer, listen to this: no exposed screw heads! Rare for FM/Armour...

I have many other FM/CDC/Armour models. And yes, by today's standard, they tend to not measure up, but I still like most of them, and remember a time, not that far back, when they set the standard for diecast. But things do evolve. I hope they figure this out some day soon.

Agree with Skunmeister on their recurring problem with main gear being too long (nose-down attitude on the ground) on several of their models (B-25, MiG-15, MiG-17 for sure). But the P-38 doesn't suffer from that flaw.

FVD

PS: I believe I'm correct when I say I have at least one of every FM/CDC/Armour mould except the Zero (although I do have the Rufe floatplane version), AH-1 Cobra, F-22 and He-111. The most I have are F-4s (6 at the present time). And oh, yeah, their horrible Mirage II of course. I'll probably get F-22 and He-111 at some point.