Thomas V.

Or never again....

Another " shut up and be thankful that we are getting xy" comment, without even reading properly what I wrote. Firstly I wont be thankful to any manufacturer for producing anything, be it car, milk or scale model...they are not doing it for altruistic purposes, but to make money- and have every right to do so. Secondly, my comment reflected their unchecked enthusiasm for announcing highly complex kits in large numbers, compare that to any known manufacturer even those that received huge subsidies-no way! Someone is simply enjoying boosting interest in a non formal way that leaves enough space for the info to be forgotten or withdrawn at a later date. Hope they prove me wrong....

I do not think so, time will show.

Everbody is entitled to its own opinion,a serious company would not make such statements, as said before I am all for Tanmodel producing each and every model they announced, but anyone who ever had the opportunity to work on creating a model kit will know that such release list is simply not realistic even for old names in the business, not to use harsher words. Tanmodel is a public entity and as such is certainly capable of taking both positive and negative criticism, if not than they are in wrong business.

It would be wise for Tanmodel to talk less and do more, there is not a single kit manufacturer today that would be able to produce in short or mid term their so called " future releses ". Producing 1/32 F-111 is huge undertaking on its own, not mentioning other "projects" that they are "planning". I have nothing against Tanmodel and wish they truely produce many nice kits, but to announce such big number of extremely complex kits to be released is more than diletantism and I would say that someone at Tan has poor sense of humour.

Their 1/48 Spitfire is in my opinion the best 1/48 single engined prop kit on the market today-but its not perfect-as it could have been, Its way over complicated-parts breakdown in some cases ( two parts upper engine cowling etc...)-is dubious , and should not be found in 2013 kit. While I love Eduard I do think they are more than a bit devious-their " new kits " like 1/48 Emil family and recent Fw 190A-5-8 in 1/72 are nothing more than pantographed larger kits with all of the former shortcomings incorporated into "newly developed" kits. Regarding Spitfire they can pantograph 1/48 kit without worrying about accuracy, but 1/72nd should be far more like their 1/144 offering, than 1/48th one. Simple and accurate kit without four part wheel well, two part cowling etc....

I have been bithing about Revell more than enough, but I just want to ask ( Revell ) how many retailers outside FRG will buy any of the the mentioned releases, especially sellers that already carry ICM. Releasing ancient old Monogram kits...truely way foreward! Congrats Revell for best mixture of poor planning+drop of quality+price hikes...

Gets my vote for the prop kit of the year, anyone even remotely interested in the subject should get one, phenomenal tooling!

Type 82, Beech and He 70 are ICM toolings, Roland is by Eduard. Now I do not want this to be turned into Revell bashing, even inside FRG these releases make absolutely no sense, while getting better decals by Cartograf, price will be 40-45% higher than from original manufacturer. Where are late F-86D, Me 410B-2, Do 217, F-102A, He 177A-5 etc...

I do not want to spoil the fun but you will not like the price...

After big comeback in the late ninties and after capturing much of the European market, in recent four years they become sloopy. Regarding tooling quality and accuracy there were many big flops in the last five years mostly due to outsourcing of CAD. Then,in the last year almost thirty percent price hike in Europe- made most of new boxings seriously overpriced and beyond the amount that majority of buyers are willing to pay To top it all, Company that used to listen carefully to its distributors and retailers is now almost deaf to all constructive criticism. I would like to be able to write more positively, but I am afraid that recent takeover by Hobbico signs end of quality models for a fair price-essentially end of Revell that we knew and loved. P.S. What can be said for a Company that dismisses subjects like those mentioned below as being too risky ( taken into consideration for 1/32 scale )...other than you simply do not know how to do your job anymore. Bu 131/133/181 Bf 109 C/D Ta 152H Ju 87B Hawker Hurricane Mk.I Hawker Tempest Mk.V F-86A/E etc...etc...

If I were Airfix I would tool following. 1/24 --------------------- Spitfire Mk.I/I.a Gladiator Mk.I/II Mosquito NF.38 1/72 and/or 1/48 ---------------------- Vampire Family Meteor F.4/FR.9/T.7 Buccaneer S.1 and S.2 etc... Sabre Mk.4 Beaufighter Mk.I

Airfix has been successful lately because it produces aircraft model kits in time when most of their competition led by new age managers has been trying to take advantage of Popular movie and game franchises. If just one Chinese company (with huge government subsidies ,like they had until 2012 )decides to re-enter aircraft model kit market and starts asking and listening to experts ( already happened in armour subjects ), Airfix even with current pricing does not stand a chance, nor does anyone without in house manufacturing and highest quality of toolings. For Airfix to take on any future newcomers, or established brands with changed policies, they must find alternative source to manufacture toolings. By that I mean they need to start making/outsourcing models with current Gen 3 of Slide Molding technology,and styrene quality needs to improve. Other than that, boxing / decals / instruction-very good if not great ( especially A.Tooby artwork )

I was(and still am ) bitching abuout Airfix panel lines depth/width, upon opening the box I could not believe my eyes,Wildcat has nicest panel lines since Korean toolings...Well done Airfix and hope you will continue down the same path....

This is no new tooling, its R.V Aircraft model kit in KP/AZ boxing. Just hope they do Si 204A...as R.V. intended.

Almost all European manufacturers have entered true mainstream market- Special Hobby with Cobra and Vampire, now Gnat and Zephyr, ICM and Zvezda latest aircraft kits are masterpieces of current technology, Eduard leads the way at least quality wise....what do all the before mentioned manufacturers have in common- in house production process, from preparatory work to packaging, and yet they are still able to produce high end kit for affordable price. Maybe its time for Hornby to start thinking about moving production from India back to Europe, even outside EU. Ukraine has host of very good tooling manufacturers and due to unfortunate current events they offer very cheap service.

Yes I did in Nurnberg with other retailers/distributors some of them present on this forum....and while they are sharp, they are way way too deep....no amount of paint can hide such panel lines.

Devolution is not only linked to political or constitutional terminology.....

Fair enough for Italeri but their market presence is definitely out of "mainstream" league, B-17 is exception, no other recent Revell tooling has panel lines comparable ( in negative sense ) to some of the recent Airfix ones ( compare new Revell F4U with any recent Airfix 1/72 release ) Lancaster, C-47, Do-17Z,Gnat, Vampire T.11, all the Spits except Korean toolings, Lightnings,early and late Harriers.... of course there are positive examples like Blenheim Vixen, Javelin...but there are too few of them compared to number of releases. Almost all new kits like Whitley, Beaufighter, Kate, F4F, Ju 87B-1 have poor panelling-again not comparable to other European brands like Zvezda...ICM...Revell...Special Hobby etc....Funny... He 111 has delicate panel lines comparable to Blenheim.

I am more than happy with everything said, but Airfix has only one problem and that is not accuracy- its quality and consistency. A. Their styrene is definitely not to current standards for mainstream manufacturer ( many short run manufacturers have better quality) B. Their transparancies are poor-and that cannot be remedied easily. C. Panel lines...panel lines...panel lines....probably the only mainstream manufacturer in the last few years with devolution of surface details ( Typhoon excluded ).

Interesting to see new Zero tooling in 1/32 scale, covering lower end of the Japanese market and catering huge number of popular (box)art collectors.

Had RoG produced truely outstanding tooling instead of mediocre one, my guess is that people would buy it in droves even with todays pricing, but when almost 15 years old tooling still surpasses it in every way except parts count than they cannot ask premium price. Smaller 1/72nd scale aircraft kits have been more or less unaffected by rising prices, but almost everything bigger in 1/72 as well as 1/48 and 1/32 has been highly overpriced, currently I have five non movers A. Jaguar GR.1(Airfix/Heller) 30 euros- should be around 20-21 euros B. Mil Mi-24 Hind-D ( Monogram ) 30 euros- should be 20-22 euros C. Fw 190F-8- 45 euros- should be 30 euros max. D. Douglas C-54 58 euros- should be 40 euros max. E. Concorde ( Airfix ) 58 euros-........ Just comparing prices with my collegue who retails the same brand in the USA we have in some cases 40% discrepancy in RRPs- a pure rip-off of European buyers.

Gents, I usually would not start topic in which we talk about internal company policies but last year for me as a RoG retailer has been more than " interesting ".After many unanswered letters questioning recent changes , public or forum outcry is the last option to avert ( probably lost battle ) what in my opinion will. result in demise of RoG as a Company that offered best price-quality ratio on the market ( may seem like exaggeration-unfortunately it is not). My business numbers are irrelevant in wider picture of the company, but none the less can show more than worrisome trends. RoG is No.1 European kit manufacturer with unprecedented retail network that served both the Company and modellers very well enabling Revell to price their products cheaper than competition , and at the same time further spread customer base. Hobbico takeover has been praised by many-myself included because it gave possibility to many retailers to offer micro RC and numerous popular franchise products in time when model kits sales are fraction what they used to be decade ago. Last 10 months RoG prices have risen from 25% to 35%, at the same time halving number of sold kits( central european markets). Such price hike has last been seen with Hasegawa and Dragon in 2008/9 ( 35-50%) and as a consequence Hasegawa presence is almost none exsistant compared to decade 1998-2008, Dragon never regained poisition it held in AFV market. Unfortunately RoG seems to go the same route, as a retailer and model collector ( cannot call myself modeller - last built model 6 years ago but last bought model less than 6 days ago ) would not like to see Revell ending like Italeri and some other companies. Fellow collectors/modelers/enthusiasts etc... its in your hands-are you willing to fork out 30 euros for old and innacurate Monogram kit ( Mi-24 ) that should cost 20 euros, almost the same amount for 1/72 armour etc...etc...,start making some "noise" that is the only way Revell will start to listen. Rant and holiday almost over. Regards. Tom P.S. If there is more appropriate sub-forum for this text,would be thankful to moderators to place it there.

Italeri has its own 1/72 Osprey, recently we have seen numerous Italeri toolings being issued by RoG-I would place my bet on Italeri, although Hasegawa would be more than nice.

Given how 1/72 scale is very well covered with MPM/Special Hobby kit, hope that its in 1/48 ( for starters ).