| First Impressions Of Altaya's Emily, HE-177 and LeO-451. To begin with, all three of these models are finely detailed---far better than Corgi's 1:144 stuff and on a par with Dragon's efforts---perhaps better. Second, the paint jobs and insignias, letters, etc are, for the most part, quite acceptable. To be sure, there are minor problems. For example, they paint small side windows a light gray color when gloss midnight blue would be superior---a fault that is readily corrected. Also, the LeO-451's main wings slant downward due to a flaw in their joint design ( they should angle upward slightly ). I'll try to fix this with some careful bending. And the Emily has a few gaps at the wing roots and the tail area ( mine is now puttied up and drying in preparation for a touch up ). In addition, small things like open air ducts need to be painted black, navigation lights dabbed on, etc. Finally, I'm not satisfied with the upper surface paint job on the HE-177, so a redo is in order.
Still, I'm very pleased with these mass-produced models and enthusiastically await more that are in the pipeline. Even though I mentioned various repairs and redos I have in mind and will post pictures of these when completed, I would say that a collector who does not wish to go to that trouble will find that the Emily and HE-177 are perfectly acceptable as is----assuming that you don't get an atypical or botched model.
So far, so good, Altaya. Keep 'em coming. |