I bought the Beaufort kit way back, when I was in Darwin, took a look inside the box and closed it again for about 15 years before I summoned up my courage, prayed to the great God of Putty and took it on. As you found, it does build if you are patient and a bit lucky. I can't say it is a kit I would place at the front of the collection but as you note, nice to have a kit of an Oz version of the plane and back then it was all I could find in 1/72 of the Beaufort. Thanks for the video.
Good on you for giving it a go! Its all together now, but I'm faced with fixing up the panel lines which is a tedious job as I am sure you know haha! Thanks for watching mate :)
Great video and thanks for posting. I remember seeing these advertised back in the 90s but they were a bit too expensive so I passed. Wish now I hadn't! Despite their obvious shortcomings they have some pretty decent detail and look 100% buildable. At the time I did get the Encore reissue of the old FROG Beaufort which by that time the molds had suffered big time. If anyone thinks the High Planes kits are bad you should have seen the Encore one.....
Thanks a lot! Ah darn, you never know they pop up occasionally on the second hand market. It definitely has areas of decent detail and having gotten halfway through building it now, I can say it’s better engineering than most modern ICM kits! Man I’m going to avoid the Frog Beau like the plague! Thanks for watching😁
Short-run kits like this are often made with low-pressure injection using copper molds instead of tool steel. The dies are a lot less expensive and difficult to make, but they don't last for as many impressions as a steel mold.
Nice I didn’t know a lot about that, but I did expect the methods used would’ve been cheaper since it’s a smaller scale company. Thanks for watching😁👍🏻
Very nice review of these kits. Not familiar with High Planes model kits . Wonder if you can get instructions from Scalemates? Take care, and yes please build both!
Thanks as always mate! Yeah I had never heard of them before doing this video, but they are still knocking about. I did manage to find the instructions on Scalemates, but let’s just say they where pretty crude ones😆 I’ve been battling the Mk.8 and it’s almost ready for painting and it’s definitely going to get a video, and I’ll possibly do on when I start the Beaufreighter. Take care as always👍🏻😁
I'm pretty sure I have the Hi Planes Beaufort in my attic, haven't worked up the nerve or acquired the skill to attempt it. It's not a bad kit but needs a lot of scratch building to make a decent model
It definitely does need a lot of attention, I highly recommend sand paper, putty, a scribe tool and a good mini drill! I hope one day you give it a crack thoguh! Thanks for watching👍🏻😁
Terrible bad injection moulding. Compare these to Tamiya kits from the SAME time period to see the difference. Setting up a stable production environment costs a lot of time, money and dedication. At least one (or more?) of these three were missing.
It’s definitely not ideal, but I have to say while building it, it’s got a better fit than some modern ICM kits! I think your right and the thing would’ve been money, obviously Australia has a much much smaller market for hobbies then the States, Europe and the rest of Asia, and given that these kits where from High Planes early days the cheaper moulds would make sense. Thanks for watching mate.
@@Luca_Sprues_Model_Kits I used to work for an injection moulding company in the past(eighties). Even had to make a big injection mould out of a big block of steel in a machine shop. I would've been very ashamed if such a product would come out. But like I already said making moulds is expensive and setting up a production line is time consuming/expensive. It only makes sense if you have a big market.
Oh wow that would’ve been interesting work! Yeah y that’s it isn’t it. I would be curious to see if Hogh Planes improved their moulds over time but from what I’ve seen the early ones are all quite similar. Cheers mate😁
Great video mate, i have never seen inside these kits before they are very basic but they are Australian which is good and 28yrs old to be fair. Have you thought of doing a build video of these kits would like to see the finished model, look forward to your next edition Cheers John NSW
Thanks mate. They definitely are of their time, but as you said it’s rare to get an Australian model kit! I’m working on a video for the Beaufort Mk.8, it’s been a slow battle but I will have a build video when it’s done😁👍🏻 Take care mate. -Luca
I bought the Beaufort kit way back, when I was in Darwin, took a look inside the box and closed it again for about 15 years before I summoned up my courage, prayed to the great God of Putty and took it on. As you found, it does build if you are patient and a bit lucky. I can't say it is a kit I would place at the front of the collection but as you note, nice to have a kit of an Oz version of the plane and back then it was all I could find in 1/72 of the Beaufort. Thanks for the video.
Good on you for giving it a go! Its all together now, but I'm faced with fixing up the panel lines which is a tedious job as I am sure you know haha!
Thanks for watching mate :)
Great video and thanks for posting. I remember seeing these advertised back in the 90s but they were a bit too expensive so I passed. Wish now I hadn't! Despite their obvious shortcomings they have some pretty decent detail and look 100% buildable. At the time I did get the Encore reissue of the old FROG Beaufort which by that time the molds had suffered big time. If anyone thinks the High Planes kits are bad you should have seen the Encore one.....
Thanks a lot! Ah darn, you never know they pop up occasionally on the second hand market. It definitely has areas of decent detail and having gotten halfway through building it now, I can say it’s better engineering than most modern ICM kits! Man I’m going to avoid the Frog Beau like the plague! Thanks for watching😁
Short-run kits like this are often made with low-pressure injection using copper molds instead of tool steel. The dies are a lot less expensive and difficult to make, but they don't last for as many impressions as a steel mold.
Nice I didn’t know a lot about that, but I did expect the methods used would’ve been cheaper since it’s a smaller scale company. Thanks for watching😁👍🏻
Very nice review of these kits. Not familiar with High Planes model kits . Wonder if you can get instructions from Scalemates? Take care, and yes please build both!
Thanks as always mate! Yeah I had never heard of them before doing this video, but they are still knocking about. I did manage to find the instructions on Scalemates, but let’s just say they where pretty crude ones😆
I’ve been battling the Mk.8 and it’s almost ready for painting and it’s definitely going to get a video, and I’ll possibly do on when I start the Beaufreighter. Take care as always👍🏻😁
I'm pretty sure I have the Hi Planes Beaufort in my attic, haven't worked up the nerve or acquired the skill to attempt it. It's not a bad kit but needs a lot of scratch building to make a decent model
It definitely does need a lot of attention, I highly recommend sand paper, putty, a scribe tool and a good mini drill! I hope one day you give it a crack thoguh! Thanks for watching👍🏻😁
Short run models! Not for me. I have these models from SPECIAL HOBBY!
Haha they are not for the faint hearted! Happy modelling mate😁
Terrible bad injection moulding. Compare these to Tamiya kits from the SAME time period to see the difference.
Setting up a stable production environment costs a lot of time, money and dedication. At least one (or more?) of these three were missing.
It’s definitely not ideal, but I have to say while building it, it’s got a better fit than some modern ICM kits! I think your right and the thing would’ve been money, obviously Australia has a much much smaller market for hobbies then the States, Europe and the rest of Asia, and given that these kits where from High Planes early days the cheaper moulds would make sense. Thanks for watching mate.
@@Luca_Sprues_Model_Kits I used to work for an injection moulding company in the past(eighties). Even had to make a big injection mould out of a big block of steel in a machine shop. I would've been very ashamed if such a product would come out. But like I already said making moulds is expensive and setting up a production line is time consuming/expensive. It only makes sense if you have a big market.
Oh wow that would’ve been interesting work! Yeah y that’s it isn’t it. I would be curious to see if Hogh Planes improved their moulds over time but from what I’ve seen the early ones are all quite similar. Cheers mate😁
Great video mate, i have never seen inside these kits before they are very basic but they are Australian which is good and 28yrs old to be fair. Have you thought of doing a build video of these kits would like to see the finished model, look forward to your next edition Cheers John NSW
Thanks mate. They definitely are of their time, but as you said it’s rare to get an Australian model kit! I’m working on a video for the Beaufort Mk.8, it’s been a slow battle but I will have a build video when it’s done😁👍🏻 Take care mate. -Luca