Al's Kit Corner

Did anybody notice that this column was among the missing last month? I sure hope so! Anyway, that was due to the "Great Progressive Motherboard Meltdown" here at Al’s Place and I’ve decided to try making up for it by giving IM’s readers a twofer this month.

Microscale made an abortive attempt at entering the plastic kit business back in the 1970s by reissuing kits originally tooled by other manufacturers. From the 1950s era they released the Allyn 1/48 scale F4D, A2D, and XF-92, and the 1/60 scale YF-102, and from the 60s two 1/144 scale Topping desk models, the Convair CV-880 and CV-990 jet airliners.

Convair 880 Parts

Convair 990 Parts

All of these kits were very simple desk models and none of them included any interior detail at all, nor did they have landing gear, being provided with the same display stands included in the original releases. These crude kits were apparently not well received, as they were only available for a very short time. Most of them are now very desirable collectibles in and of themselves and seem to fetch handsome prices on eBay (http://www.ebay.com/) since none of them except for the Skyray have ever been kitted in the respective scales by any other kit manufacturer.

The Convair jetliners are typical of all the Microscale Model Kits releases. There is a grand total of nine parts (including the two for the stand!) in the 880, with the count dropping to five (!) in the 990. The parts in both kits are however nicely molded with little flash (how much could there be?!) but with absolutely no surface detail whatsoever. Gear well and control surface outlines, windows, and thrust reverser details are all provided on the excellent Microscale decal sheets included with the kits. Each kit gives options for three different airlines: Delta, TWA, and CAAC in the 880 (I gave my CAAC decals to friend) and Swissair, Alaska, and Northeast in the 990. The great decals sheets along with the fact that the two kits are true 1/144 scale (Revell’s CV-990 is slightly larger) have led to a high demand for these models among airline modelers and collectors despite their simplicity.

Convair 880 Decals

Convair 990 Decals

Memory fails me on the original retail price for these but I seem to recall it was around $5 each. I’ve seen them go for $100 and up on eBay. Microscale announced a series of 1/72 scale new tool kits at the same time these were on the market, among them a U-2, but never did release any more models, probably due to poor sales of the reissued Allyn and Topping kits. Vaporware is nothing new!

I haven’t decided what I want to feature next month so I’ll let it be a surprise. Till then, "Build what YOU like, the way YOU want to, and the critics will flame you every time."

Al Superczynski