[wmosner]

Received both of these today and must say that they are both excellent. No quality control issues with either model, casting looks great as well as the various markings on each. The pilot of the Ding Hao was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and had kills in the Pacific and European theaters and the Bf 109F has kill markings for naval vessels on it's tail which is kind of unique for a fighter on the Eastern Front.

[Hornchurch]

Originally Posted by wmosner

The pilot of the Ding Hao was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor


... and the Bf 109F has kill markings for naval vessels on it's tail which is kind of unique for a fighter on the Eastern Front.

Maj Howard; one seriously cool & brave man


Got that for warding away a bucketload of Me.110's, from a B.17 formation -

REPEATEDLY.

Apparently, at the end of the combat, he was down to (only) 1 x 50'cal, still in working order & continued to fight aggressively.


I would have imagined , that '109 would have been skip-bombing Russian frieghters, on the Berants-Sea ???

[Celtic]

I got the Ding Hao, Bf 109, and Berlin Express (no all at once), and find all of them excellent. Of the three, I think the Berlin Express is the most excellent, though the quality of each is absolutely top notch. I'm very impressed with GA's apparent dedication to improving the breed with each new release. Their one drawback is they have only three moulds--which means I now have three GA 109s, two GA Spits, and four GA Mustangs, and am beginning to reach the old limited-mould-saturation point.

On the other hand, Hobby Master has been introducing lots of new moulds, and while this is nice, it seems to me that their dedication to quality has slipped somewhat. I stopped buying HM with the Lexington SBD because of the various complaints in the HM threads. I was looking forward to getting the HM Hellcats, but the poor fit in the tail-to-fuselage assemblage is a real turnoff, and now I probably won't get any of those. What gives with HM, or are these problems just my imagination?

Is it possible neither GA or HM will be the expected competition for Corgi, GA for lack of moulds and HM for lack of quality?

[Berkut76]

Originally Posted by wmosner

...the Bf 109F has kill markings for naval vessels on it's tail which is kind of unique for a fighter on the Eastern Front.

Take a look at this:

The pics is from Classic Publications Jagdwaffe The War in Russia January - October 1942. I heartedly recommend the whole series as it's pretty much the only somewhat balanced account of the air war on the Eastern Front from Luftwaffe perspective, which is more or less fair toward VVS.

Regards,

Sergey

[ZS-VAN]

I must say that I have put my GA purchases hold due to QC issues and GAs lack of response to queries. That said I have 6 with 2 on pre-order. Thing is, reading your reviews and comment l'm sorely tempted to get more.

[parsig9]

Originally Posted by Celtic

Is it possible neither GA or HM will be the expected competition for Corgi, GA for lack of moulds and HM for lack of quality?

I love the 109's and will buy more in the future. Had to look up Huy in Osprey and online. Seems he was stationed in the Med. and took the tail markings with him north.
I have no GA Spits (enough Corgi's to sink...)and skipped Berlin Express too but I have the others and love them. The Bald one's aerial turns me off some but not enough to ditch it.
Saturation, I agree. Keep in mind though, that GA has only been with us for less than a year. I think we'll see some of these molds we have been wanting for years, we just have to give them time.

[hworth18]

I have all the 109s, and Spits.. The Mustangs are fewer, as I have only 2 of them, but all of mine are almost perfect, with No QC issues at all..
Gemini is my 2nd favorite brand, next to Corgi..

[ZS-VAN]

Originally Posted by hworth18

I have all the 109s, and Spits.. The Mustangs are fewer, as I have only 2 of them, but all of mine are almost perfect, with No QC issues at all..
Gemini is my 2nd favorite brand, next to Corgi..

Good one Hworth, helping restore some of my faith in the brand. I really do like these molds. They're different enough to make them desirable.

[hworth18]

Originally Posted by ZS-VAN

Good one Hworth, helping restore some of my faith in the brand. I really do like these molds. They're different enough to make them desirable.

One plus is that even though Gemini doesn't communicate very well, they seem to listen to collectors and make corrections where needed (Spit color aside) as they have fixed just about everything they can within reason..
(I think the Spitfire color was a fluke and that the 1st 3 Spits were too far into production to change)..

[ZS-VAN]

Point taken Harry. Appreciate the insights. I guess l'm just open to good influence and willing to roll over on this one. With all the preceding hype they've just got to make this work. Most of right elements are there.