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Airfix 2018 range announcement due 10.00 09/01/2018


Stephen

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10 hours ago, Army_Air_Force said:

I've no idea how the Airfix Snap-together kits are selling, but I'd like to see some cheap, low part count, low detail, bagged kits for kids as an intermediate step between snap together and the current starter kits. 

Based on the regular Airfix "top 5", the VW Camper seems to be doing very well for them.

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16 hours ago, rayprit said:

As its harmless fun and we dont know whats going to happen, shall we be even more riduculous and hope for a Bristol Brabazon?  I do believe Airfix had planned to make it, BUT they could not find a box big enough to put it in and no lorry big enough to take the weight of the box,,,,,,be nice to see it upscaled to 1/32

 

 

I and I suspect quite a few others wouldn't turn my nose up at a Brabazon (plus some Venoms, Vamps and Sea Venoms in 1/48th).

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Hi - i wish all merry X-mas !

 

I hope for 1/24 Tempest Mk. V - engine is similar with Typhoon.... and it is a famous aircraft, now with new tool kits in 1/48 and 1/32 - so 1/24 is logic - and it is a popular subject worldwide.

 

Another popular subject (and never realised in this big scale) is - Me-262. Schwalbe is one from most popular WW II aircraft and in car scale isn´t in market.

Or - last Spitfire Mk. IX... Main version of Spitfire in mid-late period of WW II and after war... When Airfix made a C/E wing you have a plenty of colourful camouflage...and it is most popular version of Spitfire... (used with many nations...) and engine parts from it you can used in Mk. VIII and in new tool Mustang...

 

Don´t forget - Hornby have a problems and they must make a popular subject... no specialites for few modelers.... And Tempest, Schwalbe and Spit Mk. IX are very popular....

 

Or 1/48 heavy bombers... - all kits from Monogram and Tamiya on this theme are ancient and obsolete...

 

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46 minutes ago, AlCZ said:

 

 

Don´t forget - Hornby have a problems and they must make a popular subject... no specialites for few modelers.... And Tempest, Schwalbe and Spit Mk. IX are very popular....

 

 

 

I tend to agree. Their willingness to make a 1/72 Supermarine Swift didn't help them in the big picture as it didn't sell well.

 

A bigger problem is the number of modelers who will say a kit of (whatever they are feeling nostalgic for or keen on at the time) would be great, but then have no intention of actually buying the kit if it comes into existence. As I recall, Hornby got stung pretty hard when they took the chance on a 1/72 Nimrod. I recall seeing lots of posts about people getting great deals on Nimrod kits that shops couldn't shift.

 

If I think about it from a logical point of view, a fresh tooled 1/72 Buccaneer family would likely serve them well if they did it. Start with a RAF S.2B, as it was the last variant in service and nearest in memory, and work back from there.

Edited by upnorth
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23 minutes ago, upnorth said:

 

I tend to agree. Their willingness to make a 1/72 Supermarine Swift didn't help them in the big picture as it didn't sell well.

 

A bigger problem is the number of modelers who will say a kit of (whatever they are feeling nostalgic for or keen on at the time) would be great, but then have no intention of actually buying the kit if it comes into existence. As I recall, Hornby got stung pretty hard when they took the chance on a 1/72 Nimrod. I recall seeing lots of posts about people getting great deals on Nimrod kits that shops couldn't shift.

I seem to remember the re-released Rotodyne suffering the same fate. I think you've nailed it. Unfortunately.

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Why not to issue F.3 Lightning in 1/72? I know they will need to rework F.2A/6 toolings, but wouldn't F.3 sell in good numbers? And based on F.3 tooling - would it be possible to make extra bits to issue F1/1A/2 as well?

 

Otherwise I do expect that Airfix will announce couple new kits - but unlikely they will hit the shelves earlier than Q1 2019. Hopefully at least one of them would be a 1/72 post-war jet: Bucaneer, Venom, Meteor or something less 'significant'.

Edited by Dennis_C
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29 minutes ago, Dennis_C said:

Why not to issue F.3 Lightning in 1/72? I know they will need to rework F.2A/6 toolings, but wouldn't F.3 sell in good numbers? And based on F.3 tooling - would it be possible to make extra bits to issue F1/1A/2 as well?

 

Otherwise I do expect that Airfix will announce couple new kits - but unlikely they will hit the shelves earlier than Q1 2019. Hopefully at least one of them would be a 1/72 post-war jet: Bucaneer, Venom, Meteor or something less 'significant'.

 

I agree that a 1/72 F.3 Lightning would be good, it was the most aerobatic of the Lightnings and the one usually sent to shows when the aircraft was in its heyday.

 

However, it would not simply be a case of reworking the F.2A/F.6 toolings as the later variants were quite different from the F.3/F.1 in many ways. Completely new tooling would be required to do the early Lightnings properly in scale.

 

If they decided to do early lightnings, would they bother to make their own fresh toolings, or would they borrow Sword's toolings and make smaller styrene sprues to replace the photoetch and resin components?

Edited by upnorth
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If I had anything to do with Hornby/Airfix, I would be pushing the RAF centenary in 2018 as hard as I could manage it. That would mean getting the associated merchandise out in the same calendar year as it is announced, not later *cough* Phantom FG1 *cough*.
Some wishful thinking from me for 1/72nd scale - the Buccaneer needs a 21st century update, as does the Tornado - how about a modern GR4 kit out of the box as the out-of-service date approaches?

Straight-wing Hunters and small-bellied Lightnings would go down most nicely in some quarters (though I understand Revell are re-releasing the Hunter F6/FGA9 next year, and the Lightnings would require new fuselages and wings).

A state-of-the-art Fairey Battle would be most appreciated.

Revisit some WW1 aircraft to mark the end of the Great War (and get in there before Eduard gets interested again).

Bringing out a revised Vulcan to the standard of the recent Valiant and Victor would go down a treat.

Wishful thinking, I know.

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43 minutes ago, st george said:

I'm still waiting for the 1/24 BAE Hawk. I'm sure it would sell well. Put me down for at least 2.

Give it a decent selection of things under wings and an accurate rear end, and I'm with you.

Any idea how well the Revell kits in 1/32nd sold? I had one of each offering (Red Arrows/not Red Arrows), but that's probably not representative.

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They need to stick to the basics but freshen them up for the mass audience and for the aficionados. For me it's all about 1/72, and surely there's money to be made there cos you can stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap. Their Spitfire I/II and 22 are excellent, their P-51D likewise. The B-17 looks nice too. So I'm thinking P-51B, P-38s, B-24s, Mosquito w/2 stage Merlins, Harvard, Tempests, Sea Fury, metal wing Hurricane, Spitfire XIV which can cross-kit with the 22 to make a 21, a bit of German stuff e.g. Fw190D, Me163. On jets, the Sabres look nice, and the Vampire is lovely. What about a new F-80, a Jaguar, F-84s straight and swept, Buccaneer...

 

Justin

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8 hours ago, AlCZ said:

 

 

Or 1/48 heavy bombers... - all kits from Monogram and Tamiya on this theme are ancient and obsolete...

 

They maybe old but that does not make them bad. I have seen the Monogram B-17 % B-24 built this year with no issues, and the tammy Lancaster is still a good kit.

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4 hours ago, Dennis_C said:

Hmm... Tornadoes - how good are existing kits? Airfix seems heavily un-interested in current RAF inventory, but if no good Tornado is on the market - why not to go for one?

New kits in 1/72 of the GR.4 and F.3 (in particular) would be most welcome. The new Revell kit has 1/48 pretty well covered.

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Airfix do have a lot of 1:72 World War II U.S. aircraft in their back-catalogue that are prime candidates for a re-tool:

 

-J2F Duck

-OS2U Kingfisher

-P-61 Black Widow

-SBD Dauntless

-SB2C Helldiver

-TBD Devastator

-TBF Avenger

 

In many of those cases, the only alternative is at least somewhat limited-run. The Hasegawa SBD and TBF are generally expensive and hard to find, and their cockpit detail is sparse by today's standards, while Airfix could probably undercut the prices of the Academy SB2C and Hobby Boss P-61, at least in Europe and North America.

 

In the case of the P-61, Airfix also have the chance to do what neither Dragon nor Hobby Boss did and produce one kit that can be built as any wartime P-61. If they make the kit decal options a turretless A model and a B model, everything needed for a turreted A would be in the box. For bonus points, they could throw in the upper fuselage auxiliary fuel tank and some underwing ordnance, but that would just be icing on the cake...

 

Also, there isn't as pressing a need from a modeller's point of view, but new toolings of the P-38, P-47, F4U and F6F would probably all sell well, and the market is wide open for a truly mainstream early P-38.

Edited by Sabre_days
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4 hours ago, Neil Lambess said:

As somebody who has managed a model shop for the last 3 years , I'm surprised at how well the DH88 sells .and it well overdue for a reboot . I believe it's the oldest surviving Airfix tool still in production? 

The first kit I ever built under my own steam!

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11 hours ago, Dennis_C said:

Hmm... Tornadoes - how good are existing kits? Airfix seems heavily un-interested in current RAF inventory, but if no good Tornado is on the market - why not to go for one?

If you are talking 1/72 then, Although they have been around for a while, I think the Revell kits are about the best of the bunch. Reasonably priced and still plenty of them around. A new series of Tornado kits to Airfix current standard would of course be very nice!!

 

Allan

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7 hours ago, Julien said:

They maybe old but that does not make them bad. I have seen the Monogram B-17 % B-24 built this year with no issues, and the tammy Lancaster is still a good kit.

I'd agree with that Julien. Finely detailed (by standards of the day) both they and the B-29 are still worth having and can still be had at reasonable prices. Personally, I hope Airfix DON'T do any 1/48 WWII (or later) heavies. 1/72 is quite adequate. I would also suspect that such kits would be very expensive and,taking into account their large size, both factors might actually restrict sales.

 

Allan

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On 24. 12. 2017 at 11:14 PM, Bedders said:

They need to stick to the basics but freshen them up for the mass audience and for the aficionados. For me it's all about 1/72, and surely there's money to be made there cos you can stack 'em high and sell 'em cheap. Their Spitfire I/II and 22 are excellent, their P-51D likewise. The B-17 looks nice too. So I'm thinking P-51B, P-38s, B-24s, Mosquito w/2 stage Merlins, Harvard, Tempests, Sea Fury, metal wing Hurricane, Spitfire XIV which can cross-kit with the 22 to make a 21, a bit of German stuff e.g. Fw190D, Me163. On jets, the Sabres look nice, and the Vampire is lovely. What about a new F-80, a Jaguar, F-84s straight and swept, Buccaneer...

 

Justin

 

I'm not a big WWII modeler but, unless I've missed something, I think there is still a market gap for a good Bell P-39 in 1/72.

 

As I understand it, most of the 1/72 kits of the P-39 have outline troubles around the canopy regardless of their age.

 

I know it didn't last long in RAF service, but I have a feeling that lots of VVS fans with a leaning towards 1/72 would love to have an accurate, modern tooled option.

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52 minutes ago, upnorth said:

 

I'm not a big WWII modeler but, unless I've missed something, I think there is still a market gap for a good Bell P-39 in 1/72.

 

As I understand it, most of the 1/72 kits of the P-39 have outline troubles around the canopy regardless of their age.

 

I know it didn't last long in RAF service, but I have a feeling that lots of VVS fans with a leaning towards 1/72 would love to have an accurate, modern tooled option.

I think you might be right there.

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On 12/23/2017 at 10:24 PM, SeaVenom said:

 

 

I and I suspect quite a few others wouldn't turn my nose up at a Brabazon (plus some Venoms, Vamps and Sea Venoms in 1/48th).

The Brabazon has the same 230' wingspan as a B-36. This would be a kit costing £300+ at least.

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