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  • 1 month later...
54 minutes ago, PhantomBigStu said:

If I were a betting man I would wager todays workbench will have an annoucment or two for 2018.....:) fingers crossed 

 

What gives you that impression? - I hope your right Stu, however I think it's a bit early for 2018 announcements.

 

So if we were both betting men, I'd be happy to take your money!! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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15 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

 

What gives you that impression? - I hope your right Stu, however I think it's a bit early for 2018 announcements.

 

So if we were both betting men, I'd be happy to take your money!! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

Never mind, I was being thick, they idn't start till later in the year, though in 2015 they did start now, thats why I'm not a betting man......

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26 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

 

What gives you that impression? - I hope your right Stu, however I think it's a bit early for 2018 announcements.

 

So if we were both betting men, I'd be happy to take your money!! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

From Airfix Facebook page :

 

"Tomorrow, we're celebrating Workbench's 50th edition! Trust us, you WILL NOT want to miss this one...**cough** 2018 announcement **cough**"

 

Allan

 

 

Edited by Albeback52
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14 minutes ago, Albeback52 said:

From Airfix Facebook page :

 

"Tomorrow, we're celebrating Workbench's 50th edition! Trust us, you WILL NOT want to miss this one...**cough** 2018 announcement **cough**"

 

Allan

 

 

 

Didn't see that, should trust my gut more :)

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2 hours ago, Phil Evans said:

1/72 Wellington 1c for 2018

How much do I owe you Stu?? 

Oooo... Wimpy - very well played Airfix! 

 

Cheers.. Dave

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  • 5 weeks later...

Sorry chaps, couldn't find a better thread than this one.  If the admin. wallahs know of a better one I'll be happy to see this post moved.

 

In Hobbycraft (Oxford, Botley Road) today.  Airfix kit section almost non-existant.  Now only a single bay wide and I'd be surprised if there were more than 30 kits on display and very, very few of those were aeroplanes.  Not only that but the display bay had the unmistakeable aura of a bay that wasn't being restocked as the more sought after stuff is sold; only the "unloved" and "odd" kits left.  The Humbrol paint stand also looked as though it wasn't being restocked.

 

Still lots of Revell, Tamiya and (I think) some Hasegawa kits.

 

Anyone know if this is just a a Hobbycraft thing or a harbinger of bad news regarding Hornby?

Edited by TheLurker
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It'll probably be a result of Hornby deciding to withdraw the various concessions about the place which they did some months ago. This was done as part of their new financial approach, IIRC (there was a thread on it somewhere here).

 

Hobbycraft hasn't held much in the way of Airfix stock for some time now, at least not in the one which is two minutes' drive from my front door (near-permanent roadworks permitting); pretty much the whole rear wall of the store held a mixture of Airfix and Revell; now it's two shelves width of Revell.

 

The other recent casualty near to me of this policy was Boswells in Oxford. They had an entire section of their toy department (pretty much all of the first floor) devoted to Airfix, Revell, 00 Scale, Scalectrix, Corgi cars, etc, etc. Hornby decided not to go on with this, and the modelling/train/die-cast department is now one shelving run of Revell kits. I wouldn't be remotely surprised if these don't disappear in due course to make room for more Lego, or Cars 3-related stuff. 

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13 hours ago, XV107 said:

The other recent casualty near to me of this policy was Boswells in Oxford. 

Yeah, I managed to pick up a couple of bargains there when the Hornby concession was shut down.  

 

I thought the restructuring (horrid word) only affected concession depts in shops such as Boswell's and not stand-alone companies like Hobbycraft who I'd expect to be wholesale customers of Hornby's rather than being in any sort of closer partnership.   The Botley Rd. shop seemed pretty well stocked with Airfix kits only 6 months ago so today's visit was a bit surprising. 

Edited by TheLurker
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Hoping for a B-17G with upper wing halves. My 2016 release doesn't have any. Does have 4 lower wing halves so it looks like it can be landed up side down. I'm not sure which mark of B-17 had that capability, but I'm sure it wasn't the G.

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15 minutes ago, Trenton guy said:

Hoping for a B-17G with upper wing halves. My 2016 release doesn't have any. Does have 4 lower wing halves so it looks like it can be landed up side down. I'm not sure which mark of B-17 had that capability, but I'm sure it wasn't the G.

That's unfortunate, and concerning, haven't checked mine, will do in the morning just in case mine has 4 upper wing halves and we can trade :)

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46 minutes ago, TheLurker said:

Yeah, I managed to pick up a couple of bargains there when the Hornby concession was shut down.  

 

I thought the restructuring (horrid word) only affected concession depts in shops such as Boswell's and not stand-alone companies like Hobbycraft who I'd expect to be wholesale customer's of Hornby's rather than being in any sort of closer partnership.   The Botley Rd. shop seemed pretty well stocked with Airfix kits only 6 months ago so today's visit was a bit surprising. 

 

Sorry, I could've put that a bit better; I meant I took this as a warning sign of something being afoot, and a precursor to the change to concessions - the Hobbycrafts near my house, near my place of work and near my parents' house all stopped stocking Airfix/running the stock down ages ago, with Revell taking over in all three (although their kits were present, playing second fiddle, in one of the stores, IIRC), albeit with slightly reduced stock holding.

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I have never been especially impressed by Hobbycrafts approach to kits. They used to get stuff in about six months after it was released and let stocks run down to near empty shelves. Looking at other things they do, they seem to expand and contract their ranges depending on what is popular. My guess is that kits take a lot of space but are not producing a lot of income. I am not a huge fan of Hobbycraft as they are at the top end for prices ( and I am not talking kits here, I make my own jams,  marmalades and my daughter is a keen cake maker) and have a bad effect on  any other craft and hobby stores in the area.

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MY local one has good stocks of recent Airfix, so so stocks of Revell a few |Tamiya tanks but I popped in for paint yesterday and aw it had had a re stock of Italeri, including Stirlings and both boxings of the Sunderland. So guess stocking must depend on sales//management policy/phase of the moon.

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I was in the Dundee branch a couple of weeks ago and noticed that the modelling and model railways section had been moved to the other side of the store and reduced in size by somewhere in the region of one third to one half of what it had been previously , all the usual brands were still represented but in smaller numbers with Airfix perhaps still having the greatest presence.     I am planing to visit their Falkirk store next weekend and expect to find much the same has happened there.

 

From comments made by my wife who was looking for some craft materials I got the impression that this might have been part of a wider re-organisation than merely reducing the modelling stock as she discovered that the choice of things she was looking for was much reduced from her previous visit a couple of months ago and that for some items the choice had been reduced to a single range from a single manufacturer where previously there had been a far wider selection.

 

As regards pricing policy a couple of years back I decided that I really did want an Airfix Valiant after all , obviously once all of the overstock bargains had ended and it was getting a bit harder to find , and saw one in Hobbycraft for £40.00 which I think was to the top end of RRP when it was first released and decided that by that point I was not going to find it anywhere for much less especially if postage was added and so bought it.     The box was rather tatty having been on the bottom shelf of the display at the right height for passing shopping trolleys, sticky pawed toddlers and pushchairs which the shop manager who served me commented on , I suggested that maybe in those circumstances a couple of pounds could be knocked off the price but was apologetically told that individual stores have no discretion whatsover in making such decisions.

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4 hours ago, Des said:

I was in the Dundee branch a couple of weeks ago and noticed that the modelling and model railways section had been moved to the other side of the store and reduced in size by somewhere in the region of one third to one half of what it had been previously , all the usual brands were still represented but in smaller numbers with Airfix perhaps still having the greatest presence.     I am planing to visit their Falkirk store next weekend and expect to find much the same has happened there.

 

From comments made by my wife who was looking for some craft materials I got the impression that this might have been part of a wider re-organisation than merely reducing the modelling stock as she discovered that the choice of things she was looking for was much reduced from her previous visit a couple of months ago and that for some items the choice had been reduced to a single range from a single manufacturer where previously there had been a far wider selection.

 

As regards pricing policy a couple of years back I decided that I really did want an Airfix Valiant after all , obviously once all of the overstock bargains had ended and it was getting a bit harder to find , and saw one in Hobbycraft for £40.00 which I think was to the top end of RRP when it was first released and decided that by that point I was not going to find it anywhere for much less especially if postage was added and so bought it.     The box was rather tatty having been on the bottom shelf of the display at the right height for passing shopping trolleys, sticky pawed toddlers and pushchairs which the shop manager who served me commented on , I suggested that maybe in those circumstances a couple of pounds could be knocked off the price but was apologetically told that individual stores have no discretion whatsover in making such decisions.

I found a valiant in hobby craft in the same condition a couple of months ago but they knocked 10% off which I thought was fair.

 

Phil

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Same with my Hobbycraft.   Went in the other week and went upstairs to find no kits.   Basically they'd been moved downstairs and there was a lot less of them.   Now no Tamiya or Italeri and the area of kits had been reduced so only a few fairly recent Airfix and Revell.    

 

Mind you I went up a few weeks later and a table with some of the Tamiya kits had reappeared further down the shop away from the other kits for some reason.  I've bought about 30 kits from Hobbycraft [ probably the most prolific kit buyer in this particular shop ] and even though I've bought some good kits from there [ like the Valiant  and Lightnings ] they could do with stocking more new kits than ones made in the 70s.   I've been hoping for instance they'd stock the Javelin but no sign of it.   

 

I've had some bargains in there too in the past.  They used to be a bit carefree in there and I'd walk to the counter with a £30 kit and I'd only pay about £15 at the counter.  Some of them were genuinely reduced but I think some were just badly labeled plus I had one er........... rather large expensive bus kit for free.   The person at the counter didn't charge me for it.  

 

They also used to exchange things easily but I noticed now when I went to exchange a kit for another one the other week they asked for my name and address.  

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I think Hobbycraft are basically a waste of time and space kit wise. The Edinburgh branch used to have a very large modelling section. Now however it has been relegated to the back corner of the first floor. In fact, so much reduced in size I almost missed it. Modest and predictable selection of Airfix/Revell kits with a few other sundry items thrown in. Certainly not worth the trip. I won't be back.

 

Allan 

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The two closest to me are Team Valley - an absolute pain to get to without a car - and Silverlink, which means a long bus journey through the delights of Wallsend.  Personally, I'd rather take a bus through the ruins of Aleppo...

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On 7/23/2017 at 9:10 PM, shatters said:

I found a valiant in hobby craft in the same condition a couple of months ago but they knocked 10% off which I thought was fair.

 

Phil

Congratulations on that Phil , the claimed lack of discretion is obviously discretionary which is quite possibly one of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition (Blame Netflix and obsessive watching of Deep Space Nine re-runs when I could be modelling instead).

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