Airfix Victor delayed?

[71chally]

I'm a little bit miffed that you don't get the whole aeroplane in the kit!

Leaving out the bomb doors (while the operating rams, deflectors etc are included), which actually contribute to the form of the real aircraft just seems a bit odd to me , even more so at £60.

 

Comparing this with a Tamiya kit is a pointless exercise.  Most of their kits are world renowned as being at the top of the hobby and will always command good prices.

But if we want to compare, a model shop I went into the other day had some Tamiya kits (inc an F-18) for sale cheaper than the Airfix Swift, or choose to compare the Airfix Victor with the AMK 1/48th F-14 which will apparently be sold at £45. 

 

Whether we here can afford the Victor or not is one thing, but what saddens me is that Airfix have traditionally served the mid market, from the youngsters saving their pocket money, people spending their hard earned to try modelling for the first time, to the other end of the spectrum, the enthusiast market.

I know as a youngster there would be no way that I could afford £60 on a kit.

 

 

[Tripod]

On Sunday at the Middle Wallop show, I turned down a 1/72 Victor, Valiant and Nimrod at £10 for the three. I don't think anyone's being priced out of the hobby - they may be priced out of buying particular kits, but that's life.

 

(They were Rareplanes, Contrail and Formaplane kits, but there's a lot of fun to be had there for someone. I may be tempted if I see them again...)

[Rabbit Leader]

22 minutes ago, Tripod said:

On Sunday at the Middle Wallop show, I turned down a 1/72 Victor, Valiant and Nimrod at £10 for the three. I don't think anyone's being priced out of the hobby - they may be priced out of buying particular kits, but that's life.

 

(They were Rareplanes, Contrail and Formaplane kits, but there's a lot of fun to be had there for someone. I may be tempted if I see them again...)

 

Throw in an extra quid to buy a blunt razor blade and you've got yourself a bargain (p.s - the blade's to slice your wrists, not the plastic!!).

All in jest ... cheers.. Dave.

[Uncle Dick]

The Victor is not my favourite type, but I have still committed to purchasing 2 (down from 4) of the Airfix new tools - something about British cold war exotics at the Woomera test range sucks me in every time (these 2 seen at RAAF Richmond)

 

 

Now if AIRFIX really want to excel at it I would not mind a fully deployed brake chute option as that really would look stunning!

 

The above image from this very interesting incident report http://jsaxon.org/bluesteel/books/victorin.htm

[CurrantBunbury]

But that is a great story! Thanks for sharing it. 

 

The lack of bomb bay doors is a bit of an odd one. Is it definitely the final arrangement? I know people were examining sprues at Telford and couldn't see any evidence of them, but I did wonder if those were still provisional. 

Edited November 24, 2016 by CurrantBunbury
Remembered I wanted to say something else!

[Shane]

7 hours ago, 71chally said:

I know as a youngster there would be no way that I could afford £60 on a kit.

 

 

 

Nor I, but I built as many Series 1 and 2 kits as I could afford - not many as a 5-10 year old, more as I entered my teens. Then, part time job, and the bigger kits were achievable from time to time as well as the odd gift.

 

Allowing for inflation, much the same ones who could have bought the Series 6 and larger kits back in the 60s and 70 could afford them now, if they haven't chosen a different hobby. If that's not many youngsters, nothing has changed.

 

Shane

 

(who could finally afford the Airfix Sunderland 20 years after it was released but by then itwas out of production, and it didn't return for almost another ten years)

[delticfan]

Obviously I've chosen a bad time to return to the hobby with the price rises etc. It is not a surprise as model railways have seen similar massive rises in prices with the result that people have slowed down and even stopped certain purchases. Gone are the days of impulse buys. When I say I've chose a bad time that's maybe not strictly true with a great Victor kit and Phantom on its way, they will just cost a lot more, but I'll buy them all the same. I do agree it would be a great shame if a youngster passes on a kit as they can't afford it.

[snowen250]

9 hours ago, 71chally said:

 

 

But if we want to compare, a model shop I went into the other day had some Tamiya kits (inc an F-18) for sale cheaper than the Airfix Swift, or choose to compare the Airfix Victor with the AMK 1/48th F-14 which will apparently be sold at £45. 

 

.

 

 

 

That wasnt a Tamiya kit though. That is a  Italeri kit reboxed.....

 

[sloegin57]

5 hours ago, CurrantBunbury said:

The lack of bomb bay doors is a bit of an odd one. 

 

Possibly because Blue Steel Victors did not have conventional bomb doors in the accepted sense, just three fairing doors that moved into place after the missile had been released

 

Dennis

[Truro Model Builder]

13 hours ago, 71chally said:

 

I know as a youngster there would be no way that I could afford £60 on a kit.

 

 

 

Probably not, but you can get any number of different subjects with Airfix on the lid for under a tenner each. Not something you can say with a lot of manufacturers, to be honest.

 

[71chally]

4 hours ago, snowen250 said:

 

That wasnt a Tamiya kit though. That is a  Italeri kit reboxed.....

 

I know that, the majority here know that, but how many kit buyers do, or care.

 

Dennis, my point about the bomb doors is that they form part of the basic shape of the aircraft, unless configured for carrying Blue Steel, I would expect them in a kit to be honest (like the Vulcan kit did). I won't buy the initial release of the kit now because of that but hope that future boxes will have them.

 

Having said that Currentbunbury makes a good point and maybe they just weren't present for the Telford reveal?

[Ratch]

14 hours ago, 71chally said:

Whether we here can afford the Victor or not is one thing, but what saddens me is that Airfix have traditionally served the mid market, from the youngsters saving their pocket money, people spending their hard earned to try modelling for the first time, to the other end of the spectrum, the enthusiast market.

I know as a youngster there would be no way that I could afford £60 on a kit.

Could you buy a Short Sunderland with your pocket money, that would be a realistic comparison. Airfix still serve the pocket money market with its series 1 & 2 kits.

[PhantomBigStu]

I wasn't a kid that long ago and I had enough pocket money to acquire a vast amount of lego, and the prices of them I recall aren;'t much different to kits I'd save up and buy the bigger ones if I really wanted them or waited till birthdays/xmas either as presents or with gift monies....sure it would have been the same if I was a young plastic basher.....not that the victor is aimed at them, aimed at us (ahem) adults, 

[Flankerman]

The price of a pint (of beer) today is roughly £3 - so you can buy 20 pints for the price of an Airfix Victor.

 

The price of a pint in the late 1960's was about 2 shillings - the Airfix Sunderland at that time was 12 shillings - so you could only buy 6 pints for the price of a Sunderland !!

 

So in pints of beer, I would contend that the Victor is actually cheaper !! 

 

Ken

 

[sloegin57]

2 hours ago, 71chally said:

Dennis, my point about the bomb doors is that they form part of the basic shape of the aircraft, unless configured for carrying Blue Steel, I would expect them in a kit to be honest (like the Vulcan kit did). I won't buy the initial release of the kit now because of that but hope that future boxes will have them.

 

Having said that Currentbunbury makes a good point and maybe they just weren't present for the Telford reveal?

 

Comparison with the Vulcan cannot be made as the Vulcan had both types, free-fall with bomb doors and Blue Steel, in service at the same time.  With the Victor Mk.2, 21 aircraft from those already in service, were converted under the Retrofit programme to carry Blue Steel - the subject of the kit produced by Airfix.  Apart from one aircraft, which was modified after the Wittering Wing disbanded, none of the Blue Steel aircraft were ever configured to free-fall configuration thus the full length bomb-doors, as on the original Victors, are an irrelevance for this kit.  It might be possible to have the fairing doors available to fit should a modeller wish to model a Blue Steel Victor without a Blue Steel but personally I see no point in that.

 

The only Blue Steel capable Victor to be modified with full length bomb doors was XM717 which arrived at Wyton as a VTF spare.  It took us from the 11th February 1969 until the 29th March to reconfigure the aircraft with bomb-doors and limited MRR capability.

 

Dennis

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Flankerman said:

The price of a pint (of beer) today is roughly £3 - so you can buy 20 pints for the price of an Airfix Victor.

 

The price of a pint in the late 1960's was about 2 shillings - the Airfix Sunderland at that time was 12 shillings - so you could only buy 6 pints for the price of a Sunderland !!

 

So in pints of beer, I would contend that the Victor is actually cheaper !! 

 

Ken

 

 

Now that's my kind of logic - you must be an Engineer !!

 

Dennis

Edited November 24, 2016 by sloegin57

[PhantomBigStu]

42 minutes ago, Flankerman said:

The price of a pint (of beer) today is roughly £3 - so you can buy 20 pints for the price of an Airfix Victor.

 

The price of a pint in the late 1960's was about 2 shillings - the Airfix Sunderland at that time was 12 shillings - so you could only buy 6 pints for the price of a Sunderland !!

 

So in pints of beer, I would contend that the Victor is actually cheaper !! 

Ken

 

[PhantomBigStu]

I can't seem to add to the quoted post above, so i write it here, good point, so in beer terms the ratio works out 3.33 to 1, whats the price of the sunderland £18 pound? times that by 3.33 and what do you get? £60....whats the price of the victor again? so actually things haven't changed, just the victor is far more complex a kit than the 60's sunderland

[AWFK10]

34 minutes ago, Flankerman said:

The price of a pint (of beer) today is roughly £3 - so you can buy 20 pints for the price of an Airfix Victor.

 

The price of a pint in the late 1960's was about 2 shillings - the Airfix Sunderland at that time was 12 shillings - so you could only buy 6 pints for the price of a Sunderland !!

 

So in pints of beer, I would contend that the Victor is actually cheaper !! 

 

Ken

 

More to the point, over a period of 6 years in the 1970s, the price of Airfix kits increased substantially - quite possibly by 75%, which some Airfix kits have risen in price by over the last 6 years. However, my parents' wages rose with inflation. Mine haven't. I'm taking home less money - in absolute, not relative terms - than I was in 2010. While few other things have gone up by 75%, they've still gone up and many of them have to be paid for. Plastic models don't. Not a whinge, just cold, hard fact.

[delticfan]

My wife uses a similar comparison method to pints of beer, it's shoes and dresses, I'm going to tell my wife a Victor cosfs half the price of a pair of her shoes that way she'll understand and let me have one. Then again I might mail order it and she won't know so I'll buy two instead!

[71chally]

Dennis, if the the conventional doors were included, some of us could have built something other than a BS aircraft, for example I was considering doing an SR.2.

Others might have wanted to do a standard B.2, or even consider the work to convert to a B.1 or K.2.   Without an aftermarket set or scratch, there will be a lot of Blue Steel builds appearing over the next few months.

I can't remember the last time I built a kit in a scheme or configuration that it came in in the box, that's just me I guess.

I do think that two basic parts that make up the shape of the original aircraft wouldn't have been a big ask on a £60 kit.

 

This does look a fine kit and has to be worth the wait, but I will be waiting for a later boxing unfortunately, give me time to save up at least!

A model shop near my work has 50% off across everything in January, so will look out for it them if still on the shelf.

 

 

BTW, very interesting to hear about your involvement with the type Dennis, have you any pointers to pictures of the BS Victors undersides without the weapon in place?

 

[mcdonnell]

If the 'value for money' factor is considered for the new Airfix 1/72 Victor,how does that compare with the GWH rendition in 1/144 scale at one penny short of £30-00p? I know,it's twice the price.However,side-by-side on the display table,I reckon the Airfix kit will be better value for money and contain far more than twice the amount of plastic in the box.

This debate could apply to most kit subjects,I'm sure.At the end of the day,the Victor has been long overdue as a 'new-tool' kit in 1/72 scale.If we love the subject enough,we'll save for it and buy it.If the sales are a success,maybe Airfix will complete the trio with a 'new-tool' Vulcan.

[VMA131Marine]

1 hour ago, mcdonnell said:

If the 'value for money' factor is considered for the new Airfix 1/72 Victor,how does that compare with the GWH rendition in 1/144 scale at one penny short of £30-00p? I know,it's twice the price.However,side-by-side on the display table,I reckon the Airfix kit will be better value for money and contain far more than twice the amount of plastic in the box.

This debate could apply to most kit subjects,I'm sure.At the end of the day,the Victor has been long overdue as a 'new-tool' kit in 1/72 scale.If we love the subject enough,we'll save for it and buy it.If the sales are a success,maybe Airfix will complete the trio with a 'new-tool' Vulcan.

 

For the most part, you aren’t paying for the box and it's contents. I'd bet there is not much more than £5 worth of materials in that £60 Victor kit. You're paying mostly for the mold and the research that went into making it.

[Blue Monday]

2 hours ago, mcdonnell said:

If the sales are a success,maybe Airfix will complete the trio with a 'new-tool' Vulcan.

 

That, of course, will be some time after they issue new-tooled kits of the Westland Gazelle and the Westland Scout/Wasp combo in 1/72!

 

BM.

[perdu]

yeah right.........

[davecov]

4 hours ago, delticfan said:

My wife uses a similar comparison method to pints of beer, it's shoes and dresses, I'm going to tell my wife a Victor cosfs half the price of a pair of her shoes that way she'll understand and let me have one. Then again I might mail order it and she won't know so I'll buy two instead!

 

Makes sense. After all, she never buys one shoe on it's own.

 

Dave