bradleygolding Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 It is possible of course that they are just trying to get two issues out in December, but are closed between Christmas and New Year, so we will get one on the 1st and another later, maybe the 20th or so? Then back to normal in Jan. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 What we may well see new for next year seeing as no other announcements are made, are the remaining ones from 2017; the B-25, Sea Fury, Phantom, and the Wellington already announced plus any surprises.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhantomBigStu Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 1 hour ago, Paul J said: What we may well see new for next year seeing as no other announcements are made, are the remaining ones from 2017; the B-25, Sea Fury, Phantom, and the Wellington already announced plus any surprises.... As said before the remaining 2017 releases were meant to be out this year but circumstances meant the toolings didn’t make it to the factory in time, I’d be shocked if there’s a lack of 2018 releases because of that especially with 2018 being a double centenery year 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plasto Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 2018 might be a more critical year than ever to release really popular subjects that will achieve really good sales numbers... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shatters Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 This thread is missing something...... Oh yes more wild speculation needed...... 1/72 venom 1/72 venom 1/72 venom Phil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 How about a Venom in 1:72? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albeback52 Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 14 hours ago, Gerrardandrews said: Am I on my own, wanting Airfix to tool.kits Military, Ships, Vehicles and Sci fi 😊 And my main interest is Aircraft, or is the above going to end up being taken over by the Cottage industry 😉 Or, maybe we have been spoiled the past 20 years 😏 The sad missed kits, Airfix 1/48, Scimitar, Revells 1/32 Do 17, Eduards 1/32 Spitfire Mk I, I don't think we will see these kits, back in 2008, I did think it was a done deal, but times change 😊 No, I don't think you are alone but, one has to be realistic. The days of Airfix's huge and diverse range of subjects are gone - probably never to return. As a company, Airfix is currently in no position to really expand its range and, is quite right (in my view) to concentrate on a core range of its best selling subjects. I don't agree with all their subject choices but, I would rather see them produce kits I don't like than produce no kits at all. I'd like Airfix to expand their range but, I don't see it happening any time soon. That said however, I don't exclusively build military aircraft. If I want an airliner, tank, ship or Imperial Stormtrooper there are plenty other companies out there producing subjects not covered by Airfix Allan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Gollin Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 . One of the options that Airfix have is to decide what to do with the "voluntary retired" moulds. Those assets have been paid for but are, PRESUMABLY, costing money being stored in a warehouse in China. Yes, many of the kits are outdated, but they could be sold on to third world manufacturers (IF they have old moulding machines which can use the moulds). Whether people think that is good (inject a little extra money into Hornby/Airfix) or sad (many kits will disappear never to reappear) I can't say. I would be sad if the 1/600th County Class cruiser disappeared as it was my first kit and I still have a soft spot for it, but it is hopelessly outdated other than a "toy" kit. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeronut Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 29 minutes ago, Phil Gollin said: . One of the options that Airfix have is to decide what to do with the "voluntary retired" moulds. Those assets have been paid for but are, PRESUMABLY, costing money being stored in a warehouse in China. Considering how many kits Airfix have produced over the years and just how few of those moulds have been reported as lost, I'd love to see a photograph of that Warehouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 20 minutes ago, Aeronut said: Considering how many kits Airfix have produced over the years and just how few of those moulds have been reported as lost, I'd love to see a photograph of that Warehouse 3 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aeronut Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 I thought it might look like that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 2 hours ago, Phil Gollin said: One of the options that Airfix have is to decide what to do with the "voluntary retired" moulds. Those assets have been paid for but are, PRESUMABLY, costing money being stored in a warehouse in China. Yes, many of the kits are outdated, but they could be sold on to third world manufacturers (IF they have old moulding machines which can use the moulds). Whether people think that is good (inject a little extra money into Hornby/Airfix) or sad (many kits will disappear never to reappear) I can't say. I think the moulding is in mostly in India, but a lot of the older moulds went to Heller, and are probably back in the UK. They did try doing the 'kitstarter' thing, but I though it was a bit overpriced, (considering it was really the cost of running some old mould, decals and and instructions) but as was stated earlier, they do seem to be aiming for more for the direct to customer route, so maybe rather than the kitstarter they need to set a figure for pre-order of an older mould. Or, do a specific 'classic' range, with retro styled 60 or 70's box art style for the middle aged collector. I suspect the bean counters would decide it won't make enough money.... Has anyone ever asked Airfix how much a minimum run of an old mould is, and how much? Worth noting Dalpol are still using the old Airfix railway mouldings, and they are available for about £8 a go on ebay, but I presume Dalpol to be a tiny company with much smaller overheads. I still think they missed a trick by not repopping their 54mm Napoleanics for the 200th of Waterloo in 2015 (for example) or what happened to the dinosaur moulds? They were decent IIRC and children love dinosaurs. I'm sure @Ratch knows more about this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr T Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 1 hour ago, Troy Smith said: I think the moulding is in mostly in India, but a lot of the older moulds went to Heller, and are probably back in the UK. They did try doing the 'kitstarter' thing, but I though it was a bit overpriced, (considering it was really the cost of running some old mould, decals and and instructions) but as was stated earlier, they do seem to be aiming for more for the direct to customer route, so maybe rather than the kitstarter they need to set a figure for pre-order of an older mould. Or, do a specific 'classic' range, with retro styled 60 or 70's box art style for the middle aged collector. I suspect the bean counters would decide it won't make enough money.... Has anyone ever asked Airfix how much a minimum run of an old mould is, and how much? Worth noting Dalpol are still using the old Airfix railway mouldings, and they are available for about £8 a go on ebay, but I presume Dalpol to be a tiny company with much smaller overheads. I still think they missed a trick by not repopping their 54mm Napoleanics for the 200th of Waterloo in 2015 (for example) or what happened to the dinosaur moulds? They were decent IIRC and children love dinosaurs. I'm sure @Ratch knows more about this. Not sure about the dinosaurs. Modern children who might want build a dinosaur are not going to be impressed by the Airfix ones which despite being around in the early part of this century are not exactly state of the art shape wise. Look at the T. Rex or Brontosaur and a modern reconstruction, or even the ones in 'Walking With Dinosaurs' Dippy in the Natural History Museum was re configured a while back to reflect our knowledge of what sauropods looked like (I showed the box art to my son who has a degree in Geology and Palaeobiology and he fell about laughing) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plasto Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 (edited) Kit Starter told you all you need to know about the current ‘popularity’ of Airfix’s more esoteric subjects. The first subjects we were offered were the ‘infamous’ birds then some of the historical figures such as Anne Boleyn and the Black Prince iirc there were also some cars on offer. None of those chinned the bar in terms of votes by a loyal enthusiast fan base the only one that did was an aircraft kit. My take away from that and presumeably Airfix’s is stick to Aircraft. Also don’t try a web based co creation campaign based on nostalgia without knowing exactly what tools you have that are serviceable. ( although we did learn the 1/48 buccaneer tool is U/S) While that warehouse house is undoubtedly full of mold tools for older kits who knows what’s serviceable out of them and if they do they aren’t telling. When was the last release of an old tool kit by Airfix? Anything in 2017?? I think our nostalgic assertions that xxx would be a sure fire seller is sort of proven wrong by the whole Kit Starter experiment. Any reasonable business would see that. Edited November 28, 2017 by Plasto 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 1 hour ago, Martin T said: Not sure about the dinosaurs. Modern children who might want build a dinosaur are not going to be impressed by the Airfix ones which despite being around in the early part of this century are not exactly state of the art shape wise. Look at the T. Rex or Brontosaur and a modern reconstruction, or even the ones in 'Walking With Dinosaurs' Dippy in the Natural History Museum was re configured a while back to reflect our knowledge of what sauropods looked like (I showed the box art to my son who has a degree in Geology and Palaeobiology and he fell about laughing) Thanks Martin I really don't know about their accuracy, I have memories of still having the remains of a Tricertops and Anklyosaurus somewhere. did some digging. http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=3363.0 Turns out they did 8 Triceratops, Stegosaurus, T. Rex, Dimetrodon, Brontosaurus, Pteranodon, Ankylosaurus and Corythosaurus. the first six were redone as two box sets about 10 years ago. I'd be interested to know what is so inaccurate about the Dinosaur kits, if you can ask your son? Maybe worth a separate thread though if you do get an answer. 15 minutes ago, Plasto said: Kit Starter told you all you need to know about the current ‘popularity’ of Airfix’s more esoteric subjects. The first subjects we were offered were the ‘infamous’ birds then some of the historical figures such as Anne Boleyn and the Black Prince iirc there were also some cars on offer. None of those chinned the bar in terms of votes by a loyal enthusiast fan base the only one that did was an aircraft kit. My take away from that and presumeably Airfix’s is stick to Aircraft. Also don’t try a web based co creation campaign based on nostalgia without knowing exactly what tools you have that are serviceable. ( although we did learn the 1/48 buccaneer tool is U/S) Some good and valid points, though the dinosaurs might actually be a better things for children, (who are not part of the Airfix fanbase) they were easy to make, an impressive size when done (well, the two I made were) and the sort of thing that would be worth doing for the schools project they were running. @Plasto IIRC you talked about helping on 'make and take' and what children enjoyed, do you think dinosaurs would be successful in that scenario? I have picked up all the 'infamous' birds kits, I only did the Bullfiches back in the day, but previous to the aircraft obsession I was fascinated by birds. I was pleased to get Gunze Sangyo issues of the Woodpecker and Litttle Owl cheap (both for abour £12 inc post from Japan) but I don't think they 'work' very well as kits,certainl not without a fair amount of work, I used a saw blade to scrape inn a lot more feather detail on my tester Bullfinch. But, I suspect that the old dino kits packed up for mass sale (eg like Aldi with the starter kits) would be a good intro to kits for children? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plasto Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 (edited) Troy, I’ve done a lot of Make and take events using the bagged kits Airfix supply for those events. At a make and take you have a somewhat captive audience and the kids build what you have. The make and take kits I’ve worked with are the Spitfire the 109 and the gnat (which is a poor choice for this type of thing) and also a few ww1 tanks. All of them have issues when built by kids with no prior modelling experience. The primary Issue is the cockpit detail is designed to satisfy a 40 ++ year old modeller so is overly fiddly for kids and as the cockpit is the first step it doesn’t inspire confidence or enjoyment. Kids want to get from a lot of bits to the finished thing ASAP. Pragmatically I told a lot of the kids I helped out to leave the cockpit bits out. This gets them a finished plane quicker they get a less frustrating modelling experience. I think a dinosaur kit if it was easy to build and had good fit would work At a make and take. Any kit would work (perhaps not the birds and Anne Boleyn and friends) If its simple fits ok and is an interesting subject. However the question is would dinosaurs work as a viable retail product?? Given your competing against a load of dinosaur toys from all over the place. Most of which need no assembling and can be played with out of the packet. As shock horror kids actually want to play with the models they have built. Edited November 28, 2017 by Plasto 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr T Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Hi Troy, in a nutshell, the posture is suspect on a number of them. The bipedal animals should be much more horizontal as they used their tails as a counter balance. The Brontosaurus was probably not a tail dragger as depicted and its neck probably not capable of being bent into shape modelled and most legs were held erect rather than sprawling. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plasto Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 None of which matters to kids building casual models of Dinosaurs. I took Troys point to be that dinosaurs appeal to kids, Airfix have dinosaur kits. Could that be a sales opportunity for Airfix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratch Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Hi Troy, the economics of production runs goes something like this; the shorter the run the more expensive the cost and the longer the run cost falls dramatically especially when you get to big numbers (think 20K+). The thing that adds the most cost is the setting up of the machine - you don't just throw a mould in there and get perfect product off immediately - and setters tend to be better paid than machine operatives. I don't think Anne Boleyn or The Black Prince were offered as Kitstarters. Anne had been in the catalogue not so long back as a Dogfight Double with Henry VIII. The Black Prince would have been a good choice given the prices they fetch on e-bay and I would have put my name down for another. Unfortunately Airfix didn't do their homework for Kitstarter. I think they just went out to the mould store and saw what they stumbled across first. The Boy Scout is a much sought after kit, but Darrell Burge told me categorically that they wouldn't re-issue it. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plasto Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 Here is the Kit Starter info from Airfix’s website.. https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/kitstarter Anne,Henry and the Black Prince all made the starting line... The problem is what a very small minority of collectors value often does not translate into a viable reissue. As the ‘Black Prince’ sort of proves. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelraynz Posted November 28, 2017 Share Posted November 28, 2017 What we need is.....more airfix football figures!! remember those. ..? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VMA131Marine Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 3 hours ago, Ratch said: Hi Troy, the economics of production runs goes something like this; the shorter the run the more expensive the cost and the longer the run cost falls dramatically especially when you get to big numbers (think 20K+). The thing that adds the most cost is the setting up of the machine - you don't just throw a mould in there and get perfect product off immediately - and setters tend to be better paid than machine operatives. I don't think Anne Boleyn or The Black Prince were offered as Kitstarters. Anne had been in the catalogue not so long back as a Dogfight Double with Henry VIII. The Black Prince would have been a good choice given the prices they fetch on e-bay and I would have put my name down for another. Unfortunately Airfix didn't do their homework for Kitstarter. I think they just went out to the mould store and saw what they stumbled across first. The Boy Scout is a much sought after kit, but Darrell Burge told me categorically that they wouldn't re-issue it. The other problem with Kitstarter was that it was prohibitively expensive if you were outside the UK because of shipping costs and it wasn't possible to order enough kits to get over the free shipping threshold because they limited the maximum number you could order. That effectively limited the market to UK modelers. I think they should do what Revell has done with their old kit reissues: pick 2 or 3 of the old molds per quarter and do a limited release. Call them "Airfix Classic" or something and put in a good quality decal sheet. That way the old moulds would be generating at least some income. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chillidragon Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 3 hours ago, Ratch said: "Anne [Boleyn] had been in the catalogue not so long back as a Dogfight Double with Henry VIII." Dogfight Double?!?? I'll still be laughing at that tomorrow. Brilliant. Made my night! Dapol thought that they had lost the old Airfix JCB and Lowmac EK moulds (issued separately by them; my originals are in one box) but they later turned up. All the Dapol kits I've built have been well moulded, and some of those moulds are old. I do regret not being in time to buy the Praying Mantis when I wanted one; my then local Oriental Arts shop had some beautiful bamboo cages (bird size, but I didn't fancy a caged bird) in which it would have looked a bit startling at first sight, being several times life size. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhaselden Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 I miss the old 54mm soldier figures - Bengal Lancer, Grenadier, 95th Regiment of Foot Rifleman etc. They were quite well detailed and looked rather good when built. I made several as a yoof and they came out quite well. Then again, probably not much market for them...and there are plenty of specialist figure manufacturers out there providing competition in what I imagine is a rather small market (at least small compared to aircraft). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 (edited) 19 hours ago, shatters said: This thread is missing something...... Oh yes more wild speculation needed...... 1/72 venom 1/72 venom 1/72 venom Phil Mate, you really should work on that stutter, i'm sure what you really meant was, 1/72 Venom 1/72 Vixen 1/72 Scimitar. 17 hours ago, Procopius said: Considering how many kits Airfix have produced over the years and just how few of those moulds have been reported as lost, I'd love to see a photograph of that Warehouse Carefully arranged to hide the Lost Ark no doubt. Steve. Edited November 29, 2017 by stevehnz 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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