VMA131Marine

Well they could reissue it with different decals. In a sense, it would be a different kit.

24,000? Are you sure about that? The total area of the Hawaiian Islands is only 16,636.5 km2. Even 2400 km2 would be a square with sides 48.9km long and that would be a quarter of the area of the Big Island.

Did you get the upgraded gun set? https://www.scalemates.com/kits/1074270-squadron-72507-haunebu-ii-gun-replacement-set

I would bet that they specified white serials for the decals, or they were incorrectly printed in white, then realized that white serials over white undersides would not work too well so they improvised the silver underside colour to make the serials visible.

The MiG-31s have received favourable reviews, even in comparison to the AMK kit. The Su-27 family of kits seems to be mostly good as does the MiG-29 family in 1/72. The A-6 Intruders in all scales are very good. The 'A' team definitely worked on this one. The 1/48 Su-15 Flagons are quite horrible, although some of the errors were corrected on the 1/72 versions I think the 1/48 MiG-19s are okay and the 1/48 Ta 152s

Don't forget the comical errors on the 1/24th Spitfires and then somehow repeated on the HobbyBoss 1/32nd versions The 1/48 Westland Whirlwind has serious shape problems The 1/48 and 1/72 Sea Furies are not good - Airfix, please scale down your Sea Fury to 1/72 The 1/72 Gannets aren't too bad, though the Revell kit is better for the most part. The 1/72 and 1/48 Wellington kits are mostly good apart from the overdone fabric effect. The 1/72 versions will still be the kit of choice for any variants that Airfix doesn't do. We can only hope that Airfix scales up their kit to 1/48

Seems a bit of an overreaction based on willful ignorance, especially since the box art shows B-36's flying in the background. Hmmm, these are still for sale: http://www.squadron.com/Squadron-Models-1-72-Haunebu-II-German-Flying-Sa-p/sqm0001.htm - Currently on sale for $32 http://www.squadron.com/Haunebu-II-Saucer-p/peg9119.htm http://www.squadron.com/Squadron-Models-1-72-Haunebu-II-Premium-Edition-p/sqm0002.htm

I've been using the quick setting TET for a couple of months. It seems to stick plastic just fine, but it does evaporate very fast. I generally put the parts together and then apply the cement. If you apply cement to the parts and then put them together, I can see were it would dry so fast that they don't stick together well.

12/6 is actually 62 1/2p or £11.06 in today's money after factoring in cumulative inflation - still not a bad price really. In 1910, 12/6 was one day's wages: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/#currency-result

I think your spinner spiral looks just fine when compared to some originals:

First and foremost, if they expect to survive long term, model companies strive to make money. There's nothing wrong with this, it's how they generate the resources to pay their employees and hopefully have some left over to invest in new kits. There is a long list of model companies that no longer exist because they failed to achieve this. If you don't like how Eduard presents their kits, then nobody is forcing you to buy them. However, when I look at what Eduard provide in the box, whether it's a ProfiPack kit or the more basic Weekend Editions they provide phenomenal value for the price; certainly more so than some of the big brands from China.

Learning to build models really well is a never-ending process and sometimes we forget just how much cumulative trial and tribulation has gone on when we see some of the fantastic completed builds on this site. In many cases, these are done by people who have finished hundreds of kits over many years. In model building, there really is no substitute for patience and experience. So maybe your goals for each build should change a little bit; challenge yourself to learn something new or to do something a little better than the last time with every new model. This maybe as simple as hiding seams a little better, or putting on decals without silvering or wrinkling, or anything else that you think you need to work on. You will find that improvements will probably be incremental. Sometimes, it may even seem like you are going backwards, but if you keep at it, and actively trying to be a little better at everything that goes into completing a kit, you will start to notice a difference between the new kits you complete and the ones you finished a while ago. That is how to gauge your progress; if you always compare your builds to somebody else's, rest assured there will always be somebody else who's better at it than you are. An analogy might be helpful. Unless you are Wolfgang Mozart, you wouldn't expect to be able to sit down at a piano one day and, without instruction just start playing like a virtuoso. Even with years of instruction and practice, you may become very proficient at playing the piano, but you still won't be Mozart.

Other than that Airfix will probably always have Spitfires, Hurricanes, a Lancaster, and apparently, a Mosquito in the aircraft lineup, I think Airfix has seen the same light that Hasegawa saw 20+ years ago. Most new releases sell very well initially and then sales slow to a trickle as the new kit buzz wears off in favour of other new releases. Hasegawa, and they must be onto something despite the criticism, keeps their product lineup fresh by rotating tooling in production and changing marking options frequently. Airfix is now starting to do some of that as we see their newer kits going out of production and then coming back a year or so later with new box art and new markings. This ensures that they don't have product sitting on the shelves for months and even years when it actually costs money to keep it there. Sometimes this is going to mean not getting a particular kit if you wait too long. This is all part of the strategy. I notice that the original issue of the 1/48 Supermarine Walrus isn't even listed on the Airfix website anymore. Just the upcoming 'Silver Wings' version. It's still on the Airfix USA site but out of stock. It seems reasonable to conclude that demand was considerably greater than expected and maybe a sign that a well executed kit will sell even if it's not of a mainstream subject. I suspect that the Hasegawa strategy also taps into the collector side of the market. With old Airfix, sure I could collect the same basic kit with the same marking options but with 10 different styles of box with a few box art variations. With the short run/limited edition approach, I can get different markings, different box art, extra resin and photo-etch parts and so on. It does somewhat surprise me that Airfix has not done anything to specifically cater to the more serious modeler/collector the way say Eduard does with Weekend Edition, Profipack, and Royal Class kits. If I were Airfix I would do a Limited Edition upgraded boxing with maybe window and wheel masks, aftermarket-type seat belts, a few additional marking options, maybe a photo-etch instrument panel and cockpit placards and then a 'bonus element' like the fragments of MiG-15 or Fw190 that Eduard put in their royal class kit or the beer glasses. The added cost to do that would be small but they could charge a significant mark-up due to the novelty and limited-run nature. Limited-run in this context is 250 copies or less, not 5000.

Note that HMX-1 still flies the VH-3D for use as the Presidential helicopter "Marine One." It will be a while before its replacement is in service.

Does Airfix still hold a license to produce the kits, I wonder?