Scimitar F1 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I had a very good look at the sprues and built up kit on Saturday. The surface detail is simply stunning and imho raises the bar above the Tamiya Corsair that I also fondled. The latter's detail is fine but the surfaces are smooth and not like the real thing - the Typhoon is far closer to nailing it. Once you have seen this you will never look at a large scale kit in the same way. The King is dead - long live the King! Will 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerbob Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Real Corsairs ARE quite smooth. bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Séan Pádraig Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 The King is dead - long live the King! High praise but let us not forget that one swallow does not make a summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FZ6 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I have the Spitfire I, Sea Harrier and the Mosquito in 1:24 and you can see how they have evolved from something fairly basic in this scale unless extra detail is added to a masterpiece with everything in the box. Even the sculpting of the pilot has improved massively. If you don't have shelf space to display it consider how fantastic it would look hanging from the ceiling! Now I really must finish that mossie..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 If you don't have shelf space to display it consider how fantastic it would look hanging from the ceiling! And imagine the heartbreak if it falls! Of course you'd have to buy another one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abacus Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 High praise but let us not forget that one swallow does not make a summer. ......nor a marriage! (Sorry) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 The £80-£90 bracket was clearly repeated to others, besides me, so hopefully that will be the level. Not too long to go before we find out for sure it seems. I'm just thinking about that price tag and how it relates to the next generation of modellers. Having spoken to a couple of colleagues who have kids, it seems that the latest, must-have game for Xbox, Wii or whatever will cost at least forty quid. After a month or so the Next Big Thing is released... So, three games at Christmas will keep 'em happy til the end of January. Compared to that, the Airfix Typhoon is very competitive. And of course, the kids are actually building something and learning new skills into the bargain. I will report that one AM producer was rather annoyed with Airfix, saying they'd put all the bits in and there was nothing left for him to do. 1/24th groundcrew figures! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 1/24th groundcrew figures! RAF groundcrew? Who would want a set of figures sitting on their backsides drinking tea? Note - before I receive a deluge of complaints, let me point out that this is a deliberate attempt to wind up my good friend Enzo, who used to be one! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I'm just looking at the sprue shots and wondering if it would be possible to leave one of the upper wings loose so it could be removed to display all that gorgeous internal detail. I've been thinking a similar thing. Doesn't the Tamiya 1/32 Spitfire have tiny magnets to hold the panels in place? If that sort of magnet is available on the market, they could be incorporated into the build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 RAF groundcrew? Who would want a set of figures sitting on their backsides drinking tea? Tea?!?!?!?! How very dare you?!?!?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shar2 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Those tiny magnets are available as a colleague of mine has used them in several builds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Tea?!?!?!?! How very dare you?!?!?!? All right - some of them would be drinking tea. The rest would be fast asleep. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnT Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Can't help but say again what I said on another post "A British manufacturer is producing a model of a British warplane famous in WW2 as one of the best ground attack aircraft of that conflict in a scale that no other manufacturer is likely to do and with a level of detail that appears from all that's been said to rival if not exceed the efforts of the competition from abroad and at a price which appears to be likely set at a level much lower than the opposition would produce. Now as a British modeller I am having trouble seeing what's not to like. If our local football team just did the equivalent it would be like stuffing Real Madrid/ Barcelona away from home in the Champions League." Before this if anyone had told me that good old cheapy Airfix could produce a large scale model of any subject to this level seemingly out gunning our far eastern friends on subject, price, detail and finish then I would have said the good old Scottish double positive "Aye - right?" Yet that is exactly what they appear to have done. Time to be happy for a UK company I think. One swallow does not make a summer as has been said but perhaps the winter has passed? 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Perhaps I might be allowed to point out the "farce" of the Mosquito came about because Hornby wanted to demonstrate that they were serious in their intent, even if it hadn't sold; the fact that it sold three times what had been anticipated was a welcome bonus, and gave them confidence to branch out into other new subjects. High praise but let us not forget that one swallow does not make a summer.And one mouthful of humble pie does not make a full meal, either. Safe to assume that you feel all of the new 1/72 & 1/48 kits were complete failures, too, then? The detail is, apparently, less fine than that on the Tamiya Spitfires; maybe I'm a little dense, here, but shouldn't 1/32 rivet and panel line detail be finer than the same in 1/24th? The separate lower wing panels could have something to do with the projected armament that will be supplied, with rocket rails and bombs (with their attendant pylons.) You may not be aware that the pylons for the 1000lb bombs had to be moved outwards one station, so that the u/c doors didn't touch them; think of the number of flashed-over holes all that lot would entail, and a separate panel just might make some sense. Oh, yes, and, as well as Chris Thomas, Hornby had Arthur Bentley, and his drawings, on board. Edgar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avro683 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 On the engine cover panels yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vppelt68 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I like the boxart and the empty rocket rails. No use flying past an enemy without using ones' weapons :-) Good job, Airfix! V-P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 I will report that one AM producer was rather annoyed with Airfix, saying they'd put all the bits in and there was nothing left for him to do. How about a conversion set for the 12-gun wing? Sounds like it's right up Alley Cat's alley... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fea Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Ayup... Although I did chat about the 'why did they do that?' with fellow modellers around and about the halls, If the Traders can discount as much of the Typhoon as they did the large Javelin, if it came down from the figure of Eighty Quid given by the lads on the stand to sixty,( the javelin being discounted in places by almost twenty Quid), down to less than half the price of the Mossie on release, then whatever the 'Why', i won't have any hesitation in buying not one, but two on release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 All right - some of them would be drinking tea. The rest would be fast asleep. What a despicable thing to say. Not a single one of them would be drinking tea. They would be drinking Probably Wobbly or Dortmunder Onion. Yes... some of them would be asleep - but with good reason! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GordonD Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 What a despicable thing to say. Not a single one of them would be drinking tea. They would be drinking Probably Wobbly or Dortmunder Onion. Yes... some of them would be asleep - but with good reason! Of course the problem with the Typhoon is that - unlike the Harrier - there's no room to have a kip in the wheel well! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enzo the Magnificent Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Of course the problem with the Typhoon is that - unlike the Harrier - there's no room to have a kip in the wheel well! I must point out to the BM massive that it wasn't me wot had a kip in the wheel well of a Harrier... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denford Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 How about a conversion set for the 12-gun wing? Sounds like it's right up Alley Cat's alley... Don't know about a 12 gun wing, but Airfix advised that they had 'organised' the sprues so that a car door version could be produced if the response for this version justified it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Séan Pádraig Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 The King is dead - long live the King! High praise but let us not forget that one swallow does not make a summer. And one mouthful of humble pie does not make a full meal, either. Safe to assume that you feel all of the new 1/72 & 1/48 kits were complete failures, too, then? As you quoted my swallow comment I guess your reply was aimed at me so let me respond. Firstly, my comment was in relation to the praise of the new kit and the fact it was the equal (or better than Tamiya's) now I have only inspected the new Typhoon kit via these pages but can see that this new tooling from Airfix is impressive and easily holds up against the best of Tamiya, my point was that Tamiya produces thsi level more often and so while the new Airfix Tyhpoon equals or indeed even surpasses the best of Tamiya, it will (IMVHO) take a few more consistant releases before most modellers would call Airfix their true equal... no more no less and definitly not a dig at Airfix who must be commended on their continued growth.... Secondly, I never said in any of my postings that any Airfix offering in any scale were failures (not sure how you could read that into my comments anyway). I've never been one for accuracy in my builds, I've even built the dredded 'Battle' regardles of any corrections so I would never attack any kit for being 'wrong'. I leave that to far more knowledgable modellers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scimitar F1 Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 It is more the trajectory I meant. Airfix have done something that Tamiya has never done. The Javelin is a beautiful kit but it is still on the same plane as say the Tamiya F-16. The Airfix Typhoon carefully built from the box using masks rather than decals will look like nothing else in plastic. And Tamiya have made some less than stellar kits - the big Phantoms are not brilliant for example. Rather than have a sterile discussion on the merits of the 2 firms I am going to rejoice that we have a 1/32 Corsair and a 1/24 Typhoon. Will 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Séan Pádraig Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 And Tamiya have made some less than stellar kits - the big Phantoms are not brilliant for example. Fair comment, I bow to your experience regards the Phantoms, not having built one is any scale... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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