Airco D. H. 2 in 1/32: RODEN or WNW?

[Borsos]

Hello to all those 1/32 specialists,

I'm planning some minor steps into 1/32 scale from time to time.
(Reason: I love the Fe 2b. Very much; I'm planning to build one for years. I saw the pics of the WNW kit and compared it to my Aeroclub 1/48 kit... I let out a sigh, two, three... closed the tabs with the WNW pics and returned to my Aeroclub kit; that happened once, twice, three times... Now I finally placed an order for the WNW Fe2b... But I'll build my Aeroclub kit too... of course... someday...)
I want to gain experience with pushers in 1/32 and because I like the D.H. 2 too, I want to make a start with her.
The WNW kit is listed for 79$, the Roden kit is there for 32,99€. What do you think, is the Roden kit so bad that this is worth the difference in price?
Thank you in andvance

Borsos

[lcarroll]

Borsos,
    I haven't built the Roden Kit but I have done the Wingnut one and it is an exceptional model. Given the complicated and delicate design I'd personally not look forward to doing the Roden version however several of our members have done an outstanding job on it. I enjoyed the Wingnut Kit so much I'm seriously considering ordering a second one before it goes out of stock, it's truly an excellent Kit.
Cheers,
Lance

[RAGIII]

I own both,( haven't built either) I have to say that although I generally really like Roden kits, the WNW kit is far and away better. JMHO,
RAGIII

[Edo]

Hi Borsos,
I love the DH2 too, I build the Eduard kit (a very good one indeed!) and bought the Roden kit as well.
Unfortunately I bought it AFTER having build a WNW Albatross... and even if at the time a DH2 was not in WNW cataogue, soon after opening the Roden box, I reclosed it and post a selling advertisement on eBay.
I waited a bit, but when the Duelist kit come around I bought it at once and I was very happy with it!
Now, the Roden kit is not a bad one, it is just a step back from WNW: surface detail is not that great and details are not that crisp... does it worth twice the price?  At the end I think it all depends on if you have a 'memory' of a previous WNW kit, and on how 'badly' that particular model is appealing for you (in my case, a DH2 is worth it, a Fokker DVII is not).
And, of course, how deep are your pockets! 

ciao
Edo

[Des]

I built the Roden DH.2 when it was first released, here is a link to my build, it is only a short build log though http://www.ww1aircraftmodels.com/page12.html

At the time I was impressed with the Roden kit, it did have its issues but they were fairly easy to overcome, some scratch building was required and overall it ended up as quite a nice looking model. Price wise it is worth every cent I paid for it and I have a second kit in my stash. I also have a Wingnuts kit of the DH.2 but to date have only browsed through the box contents, it looks pretty good.

Is the Wingnuts kit worth more than double the price of the Roden kit, a good question, I am very happy with the way my Roden kit turned out and will probably never build the Wingnuts kit simply because of my philosophy to build only one of each type of aircraft.

Des.

My Roden 1:32 scale DH.2

Click picture for a larger image

   

[Kai]

To me it's simple - build the Roden kit.

It's a hell of a lot cheaper & as it's your first WWI effort pusher, you can afford to make mistakes & learn, as well as picking up some skills.

Plus, $79 is before VAT - not sure where you live, but you could end up paying 3 times the price of the Roden.

[Borsos]

Hello,
thank you very much for your opinions and recommendations!
Des, your D. H. 2 looks awesome! Great progress with the Roden kit!

It is not my first time dealing with a WWI pusher, in my "earlier modelling life" - when I only built 1/72 kits - I built several DH2 (the old Revell kits, a scratch built 1/144 version...) This one I kept for sentimental reasons. It got a little dusty, It is eduard 1/72:


But there is one crucial point I had to learn changing from 1/72 to 1/48: Statics... In 1/72 you hardly can thin down your wings that much that they start to sag. This never was an issue for me until now. Plastic tail booms? no problem in 1/72... Stretched sprue for rigging? No problem, just take some white glue... I had to learn this when I built my first 1/48 kits, that stability became part of my vocabulary. And I'm sure in 1/32 these things matter even more. Today I receeived the Roden Albatros D I in 1/32. What a beast! It's so huge...

Edo, I too have the eduard 1/48 D. H. 2 at home and I totally agree, it is really a beautiful kit.

I see opinions differ and the Roden kit doesn't seem to be that unbuildable beast. I built some Roden kits in 1/72 some years ago, the Pfalz D III and the Camel I can remember, and they were not that bad in the end...
I think I'll wait with my decision a little longer. Maybe fate helps me deciding and the WNW kit is sold out until then...

Thank you and greetings to you all!

[nmroberto]

The Roden kit will be OK if you don't mind scratching quite a bit. For example, Roden doesn't supply any of the pulleys for the rigging, no seatbelts, etc. 

I wasn't too thrilled with the Roden kit.