VMA131Marine

I'm sure Airfix is aware that both the 1/72 and 1/48 Mosquito kits are subpar compared to the competition. Although I believe the 1/48 kit is still the most accurate externally, even compared to the Tamiya kit. Airfix obviously has plenty of research material since the 1/24th was developed under the Hornby regime. I don't know if the absence of the 1/72 kit in the 2019 catalogue presages a new kit in 2020 but I have to think it's in their near term plans.

New P-35s in 1/48! Count me in! Let's hope for the P-43 Lancer next year

Some helicopters sell: Hueys, Cobras, Blackhawks, and Apaches.

It is the only logical business reason for the difference between the way Airfix operates now and the way it operated pre-1980. And I will note that Trumpeter/HobbyBoss is part of a much larger plastic products company, which ensures full utilisation of their production equipment. If you know anything about lean manufacturing, you know it frown on having expensive equipment sitting around doing nothing. There are other companies following the Airfix pattern: Wingnut Wings for one: they do all the design work, but the cutting of the molds and production of kits is all outsourced.

I think time already has! The other thing to consider is that Airfix no longer has the facilities to do large scale runs of their kits (I believe they have an injection molding machine for running test shots). Airfix has to schedule a run of a particular kit with the third party molding company in India. That company has other customers also competing for mold time so Airfix can't just get a new batch of a particular kits molded on short notice without paying a huge premium. Based on everything that has been written, it seems like the lead time for getting a run of a particular kit is upwards of 6 months to a year. In the 60s and 70s when runs of kits were typically in the tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands in a few cases, a kit manufacturer could afford to have its own molding facilities because they were sure they could be fully utilized. Now, production volumes are so low that the equipment would be sitting idle most of the time representing a huge sunk cost in capital equipment, which would take years to recoup.

I think what you are seeing is the effect of Airfix getting an initial small batch of kits air-freighted from India, followed up a few weeks later by the main shipment by sea.

Airfix needs to go measure this one: http://www.maam.org/p61.html

I believe British operation names are essentially randomly picked code words (Operation Corporate anyone ) whereas US major operation names have to be viewed in a somewhat political light.

Does anyone else besides me find it more than a bit tragic that the Corgi range for 2019 has nice renditions of a Halifax B.III and a Ju 88A-5 but the Airfix range doesn't? 

Yes! And I'm not even sure how I might have posted in this one. Weird!

Does anyone else besides me find it more than a bit tragic that the Corgi range for 2019 has nice renditions of a Halifax B.III and a Ju 88A-5 but the Airfix range doesn't?

How is that bad for Airfix exactly? It's not even bad for the modelling community if the profits get plowed into genuine new tools.

The first question would be which 1/48th Sopwith Camel kit did you buy: Eduard? Revell(Eduard)? Revell(Monogram(Aurora))? SMER? The Eduard Profi-pak kits are already quite detailed and the only thing they really need, which is not included, is rigging wire. As noted, Revell reissued the Eduard kit without the photo-etched details of the Profi-Pak kit. You should be able to get an Eduard detail set for it from Hannants or Eduard directly.

There is even a famous incident: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_F-84_Thunderstreak_incident F-84 Thunderstreak incident A F-84 Thunderstreak of the German Air Force(Luftwaffe) Date: 14 September 1961 Location: Near Berlin, East Germany Result: West German fighters landed safely Belligerents: West Germany, Soviet Union Commanders and leaders: Siegfried Barth, Ivan Konev Units involved: JaBoG 32, Western Group of Forces The 1961 F-84 Thunderstreak incident, occurring on 14 September 1961, was an incident during the Cold War, in which two Republic F-84F Thunderstreak fighter-bombers of JaBoG 32 of the German Air Force(Luftwaffe) crossed into East German airspace because of a navigational error, before landing at Berlin Tegel Airport. The two planes successfully evaded a large number of Soviet fighter planes by finding cover in a heavy layer of clouds,[1] but also by the actions of an airman at the United States Air Force air route traffic control center at Berlin Tempelhof Airport who ordered the planes on to Berlin rather than forcing them to turn around and face the pursuing fighter planes.[2] The event came at a historically difficult time in relations between the two Germanies. Only a month before, the Berlin Wall had been built, which completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. It also came three days before the West German federal election, held on 17 September 1961.[1] Aftermath Upon arrival at Tegel, the two planes were immediately hidden in hangars and journalists were prohibited from taking pictures of them.[2] For years after, it was believed that the two planes had been repainted as aircraft of the United States Air Force and returned to West Germany by USAF pilots, or that they had been disassembled and transported back to the West in pieces.[4] The arrival of two massive Douglas C-124 at Tegel from Frankfurt am Main also fuelled speculations that the two F-84s would be transported back in these aircraft.[2] Another theory (which turned out to be true) held that the two aircraft were hidden by the French authorities at Tegel and, later, buried at the airfield, where they were accidentally rediscovered in the 1970s.[7] In an exhibition at the Luftwaffenmuseum Berlin-Gatow in 2006, pictures of the two buried and then rediscovered Thunderstreaks at Tegel were shown, finally clearing up the question of what became of the two planes.[2] The pilots of the two Thunderstreaks, Pfefferkorn and Eberl, were banned from flying and transferred to the ground crew at Lechfeld.[3] The F-84F Thunderstreak, in service with the Jagdbombergeschwader 32 since inception of the unit on 22 July 1958, was phased out of service on 13 July 1966, the Geschwader having accumulated over 80,000 flight hours with the planes.[8]

The problem with trying to create a list like this is separating out what I think Airfix will do from what I want them to do. Nevertheless, I will try: New Tool 1/72 HP Hampden 1/72 Grumman TBF-1c Avenger 1/72 DeHavilland Mosquito FB.VI 1/72 Messerschmitt Bf 109F-2 1/48 Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIc 1/48 Westland Lysander 1/48 HS Harrier GR.I New Variant 1/48 Hunter FGA.9 1/72 Buccaneer S.2B/S.50 1/72 Wellington Mk.II 1/72 Wellington Mk.III 1/72 PBJ-1D Mitchell 1/48 Blenheim Mk.I Bomber Here's what I'd like from Airfix: 1/72 Avro Vulcan 1/72 Avro Anson 1/72 Bristol Beaufort 1/72 DH Comet 4C 1/72 Douglas A-20 Havoc/Boston 1/72 Douglas SBD-3/4/5 Dauntless 1/48 Lockheed Hudson 1/48 DH Vampire series 1/48 DH Venom series 1/48 Avro Lancaster 1/48 HP Halifax series 1/48 Short Stirling