Peter Roberts Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 As a modeller who mainly builds things with wings (flying type) I have been pleasantly surprised by the almost explosion of activity with new aircraft models. Airfix in particular have been quite prolific. But where are all the new car kits? I say it's time the likes of Airfix and co. broadened their production - how about a Ford Cortina, or its Lotus cousin? In 1/24 scale. Then there's the D Type Jags, and the Aston that won Le Mans. And there's a plethora of great F1 cars to be done. No-one has done the Brabham BT-19 in 1/20 or 1/24th scale as a mainstream kit, and it is 50 years this year since it won both Drivers and Constructors Championships. What a great opportunity! And while we're at it, how about a Weslake Eagle or a shark nose Ferrari? The BRMs of the era were awesome looking cars too. That's just off the top of my head - with a bit more thought I'm sure there is a whole series waiting there. Or is this all just a day dream? I hope not. PR 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1fuN0 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Heloooooo chaps Peter, you are absolutely bang on... After building cars and bikes for 30 odd years, the list of 'why have they never done a' could probably fill a room. A lot of the kits not available in Injection moulded kits are available in resin from manufacturers like MFH and Profil 24 and the like, but at a higher cost. But, generally, these dont suit the average modeller, or shall we say, the man in the street. Yes, it would be fantatsic if Airfix re released their old car kits like the Victor, the Cortina etc, but is the market there for them to be profitable (as always, all about the money). Not only cars, but bikes too. Why has nobody got a street version of the GSX-R 750 & 1100, probably one of Suzuki's best selling bikes. Why are there no Pagani's, Koenigsegg's or any of the Modern Maserati's. The Bugatti Veyron.... The Mclaren P1..... Unfortunately, with the manufacturers, its what is going to sell that i think is the foremost criteria and people will probably buy more of the latest ferrari, than a 50 year old Vauxhall... But...... I think the tide is sloooooowly turning. Look at some of the new Heller releases, the new Opel from Belkits. Might take a while, but we may just well see that Lotus Cortina (eventually) hitting the shelves... Mad Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 1967 Eagle Weslake is advertised in latest AMW. It's 1/12 scale and presumably expensive, but maybe in the future someone will hear your call. It's a nice looking GP car, I ran the Airfix/MRRC version on my Scalextric - in the late seventies there was a toy shop in Walthamstow still sold that range! Cheers Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willie fixit Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 morning all, peter is quite right, i have been collecting 1/9 bikes since 1966 and i have emailed italeri a few times to suggest they re-release the protar bikes and cars the reply is that there is no plans to do so at this time,quickly followed by release of another spitfire,i am not anti aircraft (up untill 1967 i had all the airfix range) there must be more model spitfires than there were real ones,sure italeri have released the manx norton and mv 500 but they hold so many more cars and bikes,i have also asked other companys about the possibility of making 1/9 bikes, some answer no others don't bother to reply,as i am now 67 there is not much hope of seeing any more bikes in my lifetime,although in another 5 years they may re-re-release the manx and mv,the upshot is that we must be greatfull for what we are given and don't expect things to change,sorry for the rant,it's the age. keep on building and enjoying willie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roymattblack Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Sadly, I agree. I'd love to see Airfix make some new car kits. By 'new' I mean stuff they haven't already done - not just 'another' Ferrari Enzo or whatever. They have a gigantic selection of Scalextric designs to tap into, as they did with the Jaguar XK and Aston DBR9 a few years ago. However, the bottom line is that they will sell 100 times more of yet 'another' Spitfire or Hurricane, than they will a new car. So, they will keep churning out variants of wingy-stuff. Nowadays, their name seems to fit their market. Roy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1fuN0 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 morning all, peter is quite right, i have been collecting 1/9 bikes since 1966 and i have emailed italeri a few times to suggest they re-release the protar bikes and cars the reply is that there is no plans to do so at this time,quickly followed by release of another spitfire,i am not anti aircraft (up untill 1967 i had all the airfix range) there must be more model spitfires than there were real ones,sure italeri have released the manx norton and mv 500 but they hold so many more cars and bikes,i have also asked other companys about the possibility of making 1/9 bikes, some answer no others don't bother to reply,as i am now 67 there is not much hope of seeing any more bikes in my lifetime,although in another 5 years they may re-re-release the manx and mv,the upshot is that we must be greatfull for what we are given and don't expect things to change,sorry for the rant,it's the age. keep on building and enjoying willie Willie... Italeri announced the Manx and MV 4 cylinder re release this year. Mad Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Why are there no Pagani's, Huayra on the way from Aoshima this year... There are way more new car kits being released in each year than there I could possibly build in a year, an one wall of my garage is covered with shelves full of car kits that I haven't yet built. So it's not REALLY a problem for me... A nice new Airfix 1/24 DB4 would be lovely, but it IS just a daydream. bestest, M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shood23 Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 The problem is everyone has different want list of cars they would Like to see made, for me personally I would like to see more 2000 to present f1, dtm, indy car, btcc would even be ok, le man, All with proper details none of this no engine crap. where as roy (given the last few builds) probably would like to see cars between 1955 and 1970, with the way current manufacturers are either myself or roy will be in this same thread with the same complaints, someone is always going to be disappointed and the makers will never be able to get it right but at the same time they can't just make every car they are asked to make, a current supercar will always sell well but something like a prost ap04 will only be for a limited few making the process more expensive for the company per kit sold. Simple answer it won't happen and we should be happy with what we have within our relatively small genre of model making as has been pointed out planes are the top thing closely followed by boats and military compared to those automotive is a speck on the planes windscreen (given I don't like planes it's probably got a different name for it) Shaun Rant over, also don't take any of this as attacking i share the same frustrations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Séan Pádraig Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 There is also a problem for the Kit manufacturer even when they produce a kit will it be the correct 'spec' relatively speaking anyone wanting to build a classic 1960's Mini has Tamiya, Revell and Fujimi kits but all are similar.... no van or pickup options or Elf for that matter.... even a base model 1959 Morris Mini Minor variant requires a bit of scratch building from the available kits. What are manufacturers to do... or modellers for that matter go with very expensive resin kits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little-cars Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Unfortunately if you want variety you have to go for non mainstream/profitable subjects. With cars this normally means 1/43rd scale. As an example John Shinton mastered and produced the BT19 many years ago. This kits has been sold on to SMTS and they cast a batch up every few years. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpion Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Heller have a nice mix of French cars of all ages in 1/24. AMT and Monogram/Revell have the same for US cars. Between them the Japanese manufacturers provide a decent range of Japanese cars, especially from the 1970s on. Most German marques are also well represented, with Opel the obvious exception. Airfix is letting the British side down badly - apart from Minis and E-Types, there's not much out there. Who could resist a Morris Minor Traveller? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastcat Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Who could resist a Morris Minor Traveller? Well sorry to be mean Chimpion but I could for one! And there lies the problem. Outside of the UK, who else would buy it? Japanese subjects however obscure are well represented because of the home market. You'd buy a Morris Traveller, I wouldn't but I would buy a Healey 100/4 or an Allard. And I'd not buy a Cortina or Escort either. Doesn't bode well for the manufacturer does it. Yes, there are a number of E Types but Airfix badly need to update theirs - it's truly awful due to cheap tooling and age. The Revell kit in 1/25 isn't much better. Gunze's 1/24 kit, when you can find it, has errors - it's too skinny at the back and the rear wheel arches are wrong and Heller's isn't an easy build. So it's not as rosy as it looks. I can only ever see British stuff being the province of cottage style industries with the exception of a few charismatic cars only - those with worldwide appeal. In other words, if you want it, you have to pay the price. Meanwhile, there are other media, apart from plastic and if you don't mind modelling in 1/32 and combining a bit of scratch-building there's quite a variety of subjects available in the slot-car world. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastcat Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 i have emailed italeri a few times to suggest they re-release the protar bikes and cars the reply is that there is no plans to do so at this time I think some of the moulds were lost or worn out (always struck me as budget tooling in the first place) so we may never see some of the more esoteric Protar kits again. I'd love to see some classic racers in 1/12 scale. But some manufacturer needs an awful lot of nerve to have a go. On the other hand, there's a real appreciation of classic machinery in Japan. The Tamiya Honda six seems to have sold well so there's hope yet.............. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptcruiser Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) Agree with the above ref subject matter, but there are also licensing issues for anything modern which will add to the costs. Nothing is coming out (in 1:24/25) for RRP much less than £25 (stands back to be proved wrong) which can be off putting. The bottom line is that cars and bikes probably forms 5-10% of the total market. Airfix would have to break into the 24/25 market as anything they did before was mostly someone elses in the first place. 1/32 is not a popular scale for other than slot cars. The Japanese and US manufacturers focus on local market drivers/desires. But wouldn't it be great if...... Rich Edited February 5, 2016 by ptcruiser 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roymattblack Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 The really sad thing about the Airfix 1/32 E Type, is that the overall shape is SO correct. FAR better than just about any other kit of the car. The details, wheels and fittings let it down, as does the age of the moulds. I bet if Airfix re-tooled it, it would fly off the shelves! Roy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Roberts Posted February 5, 2016 Author Share Posted February 5, 2016 Wow, yes! Some great other subjects raised here. Great point about all those Japanese car kits - there are heaps! Chaps, let's hope the kit manufacturers read these forums! With apologies to "If you build it, they'll come", maybe "If they make it, we'll buy it" applies. Let's hope we have some brave manufacturers out there. PR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverTorque Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I'd say that the overall modeling world is "standing still". There are plenty of kits that could be done but there is no will. I'm tired of seeing the same kits every year. I'd like an MV Agusta F3/F4 in 1:12, a Ferrari F2015 T, the new 488, the McLaren P1, the new mercedes AMG GT ecc... the list is long as my arm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roymattblack Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) I think we need to just accept that Airfix - and others - won't be making anything new or interesting 'GB' wise at any time in ANY future. Cars just don't fit in as far as plastic kits go, where money is concerned - particularly British stuff. It's wingy stuff that makes money. Edited February 5, 2016 by roymattblack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Let's hope we have some brave manufacturers out there. Well, I give you Ebbro... Japanese ex-Tamiya perfectionists. And what do they release? Obviously... Tyrell and Lotus classic GP cars in 1/20, and quirky French "Marmite" cars and light commercials in 1/24 I LOVE Ebbro... the Wingnut Wings of model cars, as of today... as for an AMG GT... this year from Revell. Once the licensing issues are sorted, I doubt it'll be too long before we get a 488, and the P1 will be coming from Aoshima eventually... bestest, M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 (edited) Money where your mouth is time: Suppose we could fund a "Wingnut" style approach to model cars. And let's say there's interest from enthusiasts for a state of the art (Tamiya 300SL+, Ebbro DS19 or Wingnut level), injected, Jaguar E-type Series 1.5/2 Coupe or Aston Martin DB 4/5 (with separate "parts pack" convert the base kit into a DB4GT Zagato). How much would you be prepared to pay? Me, I reckon £60, but that's about my limit. And £15 for the parts pack. Now, the big question -- how many do you think we can sell? Let's say it's 150 parts -- that's roughly £1.5m in tooling *. Then there's marketing, distribution, stock costs etc, etc. They reckon for a start up, the costs are around 1/3 product, 1/3 marketing, 1/3 sales. So let's say £4.5m. Then there's the margin. Vendors will want to sell the kit for twice what they paid for it. So, with a RRP of £60, that's £30 per kit. You need to sell 150,000 units to break even on a single mould, ignoring the costs of starting a business... I'll have one, everyone reading this thread will have one. So that only leaves us with 149,987 kits to sell before we make money.... Anyone want to play who isn't a multimillionaire film auteur? bestest, M. [*]http://www.custompartnet.com/estimate/injection-molding/ 3 sprues 12"x8", 50 parts per sprue, 100,000 units Edited February 5, 2016 by cmatthewbacon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fastcat Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 The really sad thing about the Airfix 1/32 E Type, is that the overall shape is SO correct. FAR better than just about any other kit of the car. That really is the saddest thing and sums up the situation. I think there are issues with the shape - the boot's too flat for a start but none of the kits of the E type are perfect and overall the Airfix kit was a good effort. I'm sure that a retool would give it a new lease of life. The same applies to their Aston Martin. Both of these kits have international appeal so I'm sure they'd sell. And they could take a leaf out of the Chinese an Japanese makers book and include p/e wheels and parts. I'm thinking steering wheel spokes, headlight surrounds, dashboard etc. That would reduce mould tooling but put the kit firmly into the adult market for price and build. Trouble is that with a dwindling market no manufacturer is prepared to take a risk. When production runs were in the millions for some kits they could afford to gamble a bit. I wish more of the slot-car makers would release their products as white kits and not just ready to run. There's some great stuff out there from Revell/Monogram for a start. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roymattblack Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 (edited) For anyone who's prepared to do a bit of kit-bashing, there are some fantastic subjects available as plastic or resin body shells in 1/32 and 1/24, for the slot car market. A prime example would be the Revell Jaguar XKSS, and replace the body with a 1/24 resin slot car D Type shell. There are lots of 1/32 shells that could use various Airfix 1/32 cars to make something else. Have a peep at all the shells available here, and it's only one of many such online shops: http://www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/spares/bodies.html And for those trying to find decent wheels - especially wires - for any of the Airfix cars, have a peep here: http://www.pendleslotracing.co.uk/spares/wheel-tyre-packages.html Just a thought... Roy. Edited February 6, 2016 by roymattblack 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 And for those trying to find decent wheels - especially wires - for any of the Airfix cars, have a peep here: ...would it kill them to do one set of 15" wires in 1/24? Really...? ;-P bestest, M. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roymattblack Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 (edited) You can get various 1:24 wires from GPM: http://www.grandprixmodels.co.uk/searchdetail.php?ref=RENA24007&/Renaissance-1:24-Wire-wheel-set-16%22-model http://www.grandprixmodels.co.uk/searchdetail.php?ref=PFLA24003&/Profil-24-1:24-Wire-Wheels-(x4)-model http://www.grandprixmodels.co.uk/searchdetail.php?ref=PFLA24004&/Profil-24-1:24-Wire-Wheels-(x4)-model http://www.grandprixmodels.co.uk/searchresults.php?view=grid&page=8&m0=wire%20wheels&m1=&m2=&m3=&m4=&m5=&m6=&m7=&m8=&m9=&m10=&cat=DATABASE%20SEARCH&sale=&date=&order=car&pos=&special2=&special=&view=&show=&back=54&np=9 They also do them in 1:20, 1:18 and 1:12 scales. Roy. Edited February 6, 2016 by roymattblack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Oh, I know about those... but I baulk at paying 2-3 times what the kit that they are going on cost to buy some wheels. Half as much again as the £8.95 that the 1/32 ones from Pendle Slot Racing cost would be much more reasonable... bestest, M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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