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Any new Fairey Battles in the pipeline?


runeha

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Hi!

With Airfix's recent re-releases of new tooling of their earlier kits, I wonder if anyone has heard any rumours of a new Fairey Battle? I would love to see a new tool kit of this type from any manufacturer/scale, as there are preciously few options out there.

Best regards
Rune

Norway

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Would be nice wouldn't it! Airfix could tool it in such a way enabling trainers and TT variants. A bit like the way MPM did their kits.

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Being as there is a Fairey Battle waiting at Hendon to be lidar'ed then maybe. If Airfix never had great sales with their old kit then maybe not. I reckon we can be pretty sure of seeing a decent amount of new tool kits from Airfix in 2016 so maybe the Battle will be one of them, who knows?

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About 18 months ago FlyPast did a piece on the Battle. To illustrate part of the narrative, there was a rather snazzy computer generated action picture of (I think) one of the raids on the Belgian Bridges.

The picture was credited to Airfx........

Trevor

Forgot to mention that the artwork was not for the current release.

Just saying

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It is just a plane without any great history, the main time it was used , it was shot out of the sky. All credit to the brave men who flew them, but not something folks are going to celebrate by going out and buying armfuls of kits. Maybe that's why we lack a good 1/72 scale model. from Airfix?

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It is just a plane without any great history, the main time it was used , it was shot out of the sky. All credit to the brave men who flew them, but not something folks are going to celebrate by going out and buying armfuls of kits. Maybe that's why we lack a good 1/72 scale model. from Airfix?

The same could be said for the Bristol Blenheim, but that hasn't stopped Airfix....

Jonners

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The Blenheim was indeed another aircraft in the wrong place at the wrong time. However it served in many theatres, over 4 years plus, not just one campaign of any note. I think also that many more were built.

As you say (Bill) though Airfix have reissued it a number of times so there must be some market for it.

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I'd be up for a new tool one by Airfix!! I wouldn't be surprised if it's engineered as Paul suggested. I've noted the way they've engineered their 2014 Tiger Moth that it can accommodate the conversion from DH.82a to DH.82c so it would make sense to do the same for the Battle in order to accommodate TT and trainer versions. Mind you, this would mean tossing the old Airfix kit and Valiant resin nose correction into the bin!! *LOL* :D

Cheers,

Dave

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Best place for it Dave, the nose correction improves it a little but the whole airframe is so badly bodged as to be a virtual conversion/scratchbuild to make it accurate.

There was talk of Special Hobby doing another mould to replace their almost-as-bodged-as-the-Airfix one, but that was 8 or 9 years ago and can probably be filed in the drawer marked 'Spurious SAMI Rumours'

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The Battle was in the thick of it in France/Belgium with both the RAF and BAF and also Greece (doesn't the current boxing have a Greek one on the front?).

Then there's all the colourful Canadian machines. Don't forget the obscure engine test beds too.

So in terms of marking options, I'd say it's up there with the Blenheim for variety and that's surely half the battle (no pun intended) in shifting kits?

Trevor

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About 18 months ago FlyPast did a piece on the Battle. To illustrate part of the narrative, there was a rather snazzy computer generated action picture of (I think) one of the raids on the Belgian Bridges.

The picture was credited to Airfx........

Trevor

Forgot to mention that the artwork was not for the current release.

Just saying

Possibly an alternative box top considered with the Greek one

Edited by Dave Fleming
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I would be over the moon if Airfix decided to retool the Battle. It seems to me in recent years that Airfix have targeted my personal wants in the 1/72 market and every year are turning out exactly the kits that I want to see!

Roll on a Beaufort!

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I`d love to see a new Airfix Battle as well! I did ask MPM/SH if they were considering re releasing their Battle or re hashing it and they said not because it might be one of the kits which Airfix could re release soon,.......along with most other old kits from the Airfix range!

Don`t forget that the Battle was also used in action over East Africa by the SAAF and also in a training role by the RAAF, RCAF & SAAF! So what with the Battle of France/Belgium, the invasion of Greece and the often forgotten raids on the Channel Ports during the Battle of Britain,...I`d say that it saw quite widespread service!

Cheers

Tony

PS- Most Fleet Air Arm fighter pilots had their first solo flight in a `relatively' high performance single seat monoplane at Netheravon in a Battle and many pre war RAF fighter sqns had at least one Battle on charge to give pilots more used to biplane`s experience of Merlin engines, airscrew controls and a retractable undercarriage before they got their hands on a Spitfire or Hurricane!

Edited by tonyot
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It is still only March and we have already started to go down the road of speculating what new kits Airfix will be releasing in the new year. Being as the old/current Fairey Battle kit has been repeatedly deleted and re-released over the years I would say demand for the Battle is less than for something like the Hurricane but more than something like the Hovercraft. I don't know if it would pay Airfix to produce a new Battle, but the last time it was re-released it was soon deleted and you could pick the kits up for just a few quid in the end, nobody seemed to want them they were just everywhere and can still be found on ebay.

Mind you if Airfix does do a new Battle I may be tempted to buy as many as five kits, Garland VC, Greek, Belgian, East African campaign and some sort of stripey one.

I did like making the old Battle, for all its mistakes it was still a nice old kit to build.

Edited by old thumper
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About 18 months ago FlyPast did a piece on the Battle. To illustrate part of the narrative, there was a rather snazzy computer generated action picture of (I think) one of the raids on the Belgian Bridges.

The picture was credited to Airfx........

Trevor

Forgot to mention that the artwork was not for the current release.

Just saying

I got pretty excited by that artwork too but they used it on their "Victoria Cross Icons" box sets. Not to say they aren't planning a new tool of it but I don't think that's the artwork for it.

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Will Airfix do a new-tool of the Battle and, if they did, would it sell?

Well, they are releasing a Whitley later this year and one could argue that's a much more little-known aircraft.

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Will Airfix do a new-tool of the Battle and, if they did, would it sell?

Well, they are releasing a Whitley later this year and one could argue that's a much more little-known aircraft.

I hope it does sell, and I think it will because it will be the only Whitley available after a long absence from the shelves, just think of all the incomplete Bomber Command collections around!

As far as the Whitley being a much more little known aircraft than the Battle, I would say the Whitley is equally as well known as the Battle. In the same way that I think the Americans remember the Devastator the British remember the Battle, by that I mean that the Battle is more infamous that famous due to it's loss rate. I do think there is a tendency for people to only want to think of the later half of the war when the Allies were winning, the early war being a negative memory associated with defeat, to add to this later war aircraft look faster, bigger, meaner and often just more exciting.

Going back to whether the Battle is better known than the Whitley, I think that peoples knowledge of aircraft has been heavily influenced over the years by the Airfix catalogue. I remember as a child discovering the existence of certain types of aircraft thanks to first seeing them in the Airfix catalogue. How many people first discovered the Defiant, Whirlwind or Stirling thanks to Airfix?.

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Zvezda have released a 1:144 Battle, which is quite small, very cheap and looks like a Battle. It's listed as a wargamers' model, rather than an aircraft kit.

As for Airfix, a new Battle would fit with their recent policy of replacing many of the most inaccurate models in the 'legacy' range.

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I don't see a deliberate policy of replacing "many of the most inaccurate models". They appear to be working with three priorities: the classics, early WW2 British, and British from the 50s. This does include several of their most inaccurate models, but a short list would include others that don't appear within those priorities.

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I don't see a deliberate policy of replacing "many of the most inaccurate models". They appear to be working with three priorities: the classics, early WW2 British, and British from the 50s. This does include several of their most inaccurate models, but a short list would include others that don't appear within those priorities.

One theme conspicuous by its absence is the Great War for any of the services. For example the last aircraft they did was the Sopwith Pup (1978?).

Trevor

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It's one of those icon aircraft that we all know. For me there will never be one in 1/32 well maybe in resin ($$$$$$) so scratch build for me...well if l get around to it. As far as l know no vac kits of this either

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