tempestfan

I do not see how this is connected to the place of the moulding. It’s a case of squeezing out the last half penny. The automotive industry knows this as the Lopez effect for 25 years plus. Airfix has had junk coming out of China, Revell has it occasionally from Poland, and it certainly wouldn’t be a problem to get junk from Germany if you‘re prepared to spend ridiculous amounts only.

As they pay their moulding facility to inject plastic, I‘d incorporate the standard to be met in the agreement, and if it’s not met, reject the rubbish and make them pay for substandard stuff that gets through. This may harm the prices , however That’s nasty, but faults like this occurred on French made kits, too. I think I have a 1987 boxing of the Mitchell... err...Marauder that has similar defects. Some of this may be down to the fact that at least pre 1981 moulds were designed to run on their specific equipment, and may not work without fine tuning on any other machine. At least that’s what I think I read about Matchbox tools. A replacement service will inevitably multiply cost. IMHO that makes sense only if they can either pass the full cost to their supplier, or gamble that they have only a 1% complaint rate or lower. A Series 6 kit may not be a suitable contender for the latter as the majority won‘t be bought by people who don’t care (even if they probably could fix it).

Not sure about the „outsell“ aspect but if they see a market for the Fury in 1/48, there must be one in 72nd too. And most of the design work is recyclable. And - no competition! (Unless SH or someone made a new tool that escaped me) I‘d say a fairly safe bet, if not for 2019 then 20. Still a Fury is no Venom. Even less competition, in any scale.

A couple of years ago, the 21st Century toys kit may have been a viable alternative, as at least the Brett Green review on HS suggests it’s more than decent. However, when I look at baybay and the prices asked there, that no longer seems to hold true...

Make it 50 shades and it instantly gets more interesting. And you get more google hits with your build thread... That 1/48 F-4J looks like a much-modded Esci mould, especially in the cockpit. I assume the two lower fuselage sections on the fuselage sprue are for the recent RF‘s that Italeri extrapolated from the Esci moulds?

Mike, you may not be aware that Airfix actually retooled the clear parts for a number of subjects including Hampden and Wellington ca. 1974. The more recent ones are much thinner and may even be usable - all in all a 1975 boxing in grey may be the best bet if one can’t get hold of the Falcon set.

BTW, a H-6 would be inappropriate for Dunkirk, I think. The differences aren’t that major, and I haven’t yet opened any of my Airfix He‘s so am not aware what alternatives the kit has. However, be sure not to use the shorter A-Stand for the MG FF as I think it wasn’t yet in use at the time, but the one which is more or less fully hemispherical. If both are supplied, that is...This will be a relatively visible aspect - I can’t really make out whether the film model has the bulbous one.

I don’t have the Eduard in 72nd, but its larger brother. It really looks good in the box, and I guess the smaller one will be very similar in concept and execution. Mine are Weekend Editions and cost less than ten € each. Assuming the smaller one is not more expensive, you will have to be lucky to get new Hase and Aca at a similar price (2nd hand may be different). You will not be disappointed with the Eduard neither in terms of absolute nor relative value.

I was just implying that there's still one more match to play, nothing more. And I don't think the Belgians are so frustrated that they play without guts. Anyway - the press (especially that ugly type) will take a bad story with just as much delight as a good one, probably with more. Nothings tops beating someone stylised into a hero (by the very same papers) into oblivion if it sells....

They do not have bronze yet...

From your pic, it looks as though the bay is longer for about the length of a small flap in plastic as compared with the drawing. Can you confirm?

Would not even require a tooling investment... How about Kane vs. Kanté? More livery options than the a.m. ...

Those must be the Okolelov drawings referred to by Sergei above - the author is (in cyrillic) to the bottom right below the scale bar, the source (mag) next to the (C) bottom left.

Would be interesting to know how they define „conversion“ - the parts breakdown is significantly different, and with all its shortcomings, I‘d say the surface details of the older one were more crisp. The older one appears to owe a lot to the 1979 1/48 Spit II, just like the then-companion G-10.

I have abstained from buying the new tool kit, but the pics in the IPMS Deutschland review suggest there in fact is the gullwing effect- to me, it even looks a bit exaggerated. So Mike, do you refer to the new tool? If so, the pics have fooled me.