One of these days, I’m going to have to visit Hong Kong. Not for the food, or the culture, or the history- though all of those would be neat to experience. I am going to have to visit Hong Kong to pay a visit to Arnold Chiu and Anigrand Craftswork. They release kits at an amazing pace. I almost picture some almost magical like in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, or maybe Santa’s Workshop. I’m sure the reality is a little more down to earth, but it’d be neat to see anyway.
Their latest release is an aircraft new to me- the Republic XF-12 Rainbow, a four engined, high altitude, high speed reconnaissance aircraft. (This was before “F” designated fighters…. “P” was for pursuit.)
Their announcement says:
The beautifully streamlined XF-12 / XR-12 was a long-range photo-reconnaissance aircraft at the time near the end of the war, and it was the fastest multi-engined piston-powered airplane ever built. The XF-12 carried a variety of photographic equipment, including complete dark room facilities to permit the development and printing of films in flight. One of the most famous accomplishment of the XF-12 was a operation “Bird’s Eye” in 1948, it took off from Edwards Air Force Base and climb to 40,000 feet altitude. Its crew shot 390 photos on a continuous 325-foot long strip of film as it crossed the U.S. in 6 hours and 55 minutes, landing at Mitchel Field, New York. .
Anigrand Craftswork’s 1/144 Republic XF-12 Rainbow is the first detailed scale model kit in the market with this scale. It comes with many high detailed precisely resin parts and decals, as well as the clear resin casting canopy. It also includes three 1/144 U.S. Photo-reconnaissance airplane kits as bonus.
The unit price is only US$68 plus US$10 shipping charge.
“Beautifully streamlined certainly describes this aircraft. And as their announcement mentions, Anigrand’s practice of including bonus aircraft continues with this release, really representing a bargain at $68.
Drop by Anigrand’s website and take a look- they’re a great way to jump into resin kits. And if you like unusual aircraft, look no further!