1/72 ES-11D Cats Eye Lecon Plane

[Mintox]

In between waiting for some parts for the Commanchero, Ive decided to start and review the two Cats Eye kits the client has sent me to evaluate and build. One is the John Moscato kit and the other is from (in yellow resin) Tanmen.

I will do a proper parts breakdown comparison but the most obvious difference straightaway is the size of the rotodomes. 

[Bolt]

Wow. Massive difference. It will be interesting to see how other components scale differently.

[Gabe Q]

Oh wow, super excited to see all the differences. 

[Thom]

Awesoime! Will be nice seeing the comparison and going together. 

Although a correction, I think it should be 'Lecon Prane.'

[derex3592]

Great! Can't wait to see this happen! Very exciting! 

[Mintox]

7 hours ago, Thom said:

Awesoime! Will be nice seeing the comparison and going together. 

Although a correction, I think it should be 'Lecon Prane.'

I didnt want to go all the way down that path! 

[Thom]

2 hours ago, Mintox said:

I didnt want to go all the way down that path! 

Ah, self-moderation. I've heard of that.

[sierra-ii7]

Epic - I don't think there has been a comparison of these two kits anywhere - can not wait for this build to take shape

[Mintox]

I haven't had much of a chance to sit down and do a parts comparison and breakdown on both kits as promised but its coming.

What I did get a chance to do is tape together quickly the basic parts of both kits to get an idea on their relative size to each other. They are very close in length to each other but where they differ is the Tenmans is slightly wider in the wings with a more pronounced outer wing sweep and the obvious taper on the fuselage engine housings as they go towards the back. The Tenman kit is the second image.

 

[Thom]

You got Slim and Chunky there!

Both look good though. Maybe do one as an 'A' model or another preceding the D variant? I never finished mine (yet) but I was doing it as a non-canon 'E' model with slight alterations.

[Mintox]

34 minutes ago, Thom said:

You got Slim and Chunky there!

Both look good though. Maybe do one as an 'A' model or another preceding the D variant? I never finished mine (yet) but I was doing it as a non-canon 'E' model with slight alterations.

Yeah I think ultimately the client wants both built. The Tanmen will be the first one off the rank but its interesting to compare them. 

[Mintox]

 

First up, apologies for my rubbish photos. I'll attempt to rate each part out of 5, 1 being poor while 5 being excellent. My ratings will include things like accuracy, detail and fit. I will of course try to remain objective in my assessments. Let me know what you think. 

Fuselage Side View

Both kits are roughly the same length. The Moscato kit is sleeker from the side than the Tanmens, while the Tanmens has a more pronounced bulge on the belly.

The Moscato wing joins the side of the fuselage in a more traditional plastic kit style while the Tanmens wings have a rounded stub on the end of the wing that fits into the semi circular hole on the side of the fuselage. Having played with temporarily fitting the wings on both kits, the Tanmens would require more work to fit flush to the sides.

The Tanmens also has the upper part of the fuselage as a separate piece that includes the rotodome mount (missing the forward leg of the mount as I have removed it as it had cracked from its bottom mount so to avoid potentially damaging it more). Tanmens forwarded fuselage is a separate piece that is hollow and allows the cockpit 'plug' to be inserted before affixing the forward part to the main body.
The Moscato fuselage is one solid piece of resin with the tail being a separate part that plugs into the rear of the fuselage. The rotodome mount is also separate made up of two parts (not shown).

The Tanmens engine intakes and engine housing are also part of the main fuselage and taper towards the rear while on the Moscato kit these parts are separate and are also of a uniform shape and length. 

Other differences are:

• Tanmens doesn't include a refueling probe although the position for where it would mount is present. Moscato refueling probe is a separate part that will need to be glued into its mounting slot. 
• The long, chin mounted side looking sensor is molded on the Tanmens while on the Moscato it is a separate part.
• The Tanmens has the join on the top of the fuselage behind the rear cockpit that looks like a large hatch as per the line art. Moscato kit is missing this detail. See the line art image below for reference.
• Fuselage exhaust ports differ slightly. 
• The arrestor hook on the Moscato kit is molded on the rear bottom of the tail section. Tanmens is a separate part that neatly folds into a recess and is much longer than the Moscato one.
• The Moscato kit also has a nice crease that runs the length of the sides to the wing root. The Tanmens fuselage is an overall more rounded shape. 
• Moscato cockpit is molded as two hollows that accept the separate cockpit instruments and seats. Cockpits of both kits seem to be very close in size and shape.

Ratings

• Moscato: 5 - I like the fact John did the crease along the sides. This is shown on the line art. Admittedly it could be interpreted to be a simple line on the fuselage side but I reckon he nailed it. John also added a lot of panel line detail, some of which you can see below. 
• Tanmen: 4 - I like the fact they captured the hatch behind the second cockpit (its on the line art) and I think the engine housings are probably closer to the line art design. They loose a point on making the rotodome part of the fuselage as there is a nasty mold seam under the mount that will be a bitch to fix. (cant be seen in the photo below). Tanmen also molded the forward canards on the body but these have broken off the kit and will need to be replaced. 

 

 

[Thom]

The one that was available from SSM, several years past, was the Moscato version.

[coronadlux]

I have the Moscato version. I really like his attention to detail. Wish I could have grabbed a lot of his older kits back in the day.

 

[Mintox]

29 minutes ago, coronadlux said:

I have the Moscato version. I really like his attention to detail. Wish I could have grabbed a lot of his older kits back in the day.

 

Tell me about it. His stuff is great. I did manage to get one of Johns 1/72 Tactical Pods. Great model. 

[Goodman Models]

Great reviews! I plan on doing my Moscato copy with wings folded on the deck! Working on vac form canopies for it.