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1/48 - Northrop T-38A & C Talon by Trumpeter - released - new T-38A Thunderbirds released


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Yet another 'own goal' from the Hobby Industry.......Its a steadily shrinking market so now they 'compete' by bringing out duplicate kits....We've recently seen the IAI Kfir, H-34/Wessex, A-6 Intruder (not two but THREE manufacturers), 1:32 Skyraiders, Raiden, P-51s, and now two T-38s......all very expensively tooled kits.....when are the manufacturers going to start collaborating more on projects so they avoid this and focus on bringing out more of the many subjects that are crying out for newly tooled (or even first ever) kits.....I despair......I have two of the Wolfpack T-38 kits and I very much doubt that the Trumpeter one will be a). any better and B). any cheaper than this excellent kit so whats the point ?

Mark

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agree with you Mark, but we are much better off now, than say 20 years a go. So many new manufacturers out there. I can live in hope of the Indian Su-30MKI (probably set to be the most numerous Flanker sub type) in 1/72 and 1/48.

Regards Phil

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I don't know that the market is "shrinking" but, collaboration between manufacturers??. Sorry, I just cannot see it. As they will all be competing for a share of this allegedly shrinking market, then surely collaboration with each other is the last thing on their minds?

Allan

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Odd choice , although the tooling decisions will have been made years ago probably , if they want to see a decent return on their research,(stop giggling there!) , then perhaps Trumpeter should release it in 32nd , after all there's a huge pent up demand for a decent 32nd T-38 , just think of the marking options ,,!

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I agree with Mark's comments above in that duplication is frustrating when there are so many subjects still not produced but, given that some of the companies now seem to do such limited production runs it at least means that we have an improved chance of getting hold of some of these aircraft if we aren't able to crash in straight away with a pre-order (exhale). And in theory, shouldn't this result in some more competitive pricing?

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I don't know that the market is "shrinking" but, collaboration between manufacturers??. Sorry, I just cannot see it. As they will all be competing for a share of this allegedly shrinking market, then surely collaboration with each other is the last thing on their minds?

Allan

We'll have to agree to disagree.....I've been working in the decal industry for some time and we do our level best to collaborate with the others decal manufacturers to try and avoid duplication (unless we are able to provide a better product based on improved or new research) so why should it not work for the kit manufacturers ?. I would agree that we have seen some modest growth in the number of people entering the hobby in recent years but this can be transitory and is still, IMHO, not sufficient to really support multiple releases of the same subject from the growing number of manufacturers, particularly the new ones. To take one example, Avantgarde are a brand new manufacturer who took the brave decision to market a highly sought after and quite complex kit for their first subject - The IAI Kfir C2/7. I cannot imagine they will have been entirely happy to have seen another brand new Kfir kit, in the same scale, hit the streets at almost the same time from another manufacturer (Kinetic) who are also relatively new. Thankfully, the former seem to have recovered from this setback and are set to launch two new kits of other highly sought after 1:48 subjects, the L-29 Delphin and CM-170R Magister but I dare say their initial income predictions from the all important first issue will have taken a hit, particularly given that it was a quality item. Zoukei-Mura are another firm that appears to have fallen foul of this duplication - 3 out of 5 of their first 1:32 kits have been almost simultaneously duplicated by other companies, in most cases for considerably less cash. I appreciate (as the owner of two of their kits) that they take a rather novel approach to their kit design and production but I suspect this has a limited target audience and they will have been hurt by sales figures in the wake of the cheaper and arguably equally good quality kits from other, more established players. I do not believe that any new manufacturer can really afford this during these challenging economic times.

Mark

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If Trumpeter follow their usual pattern, it's likely that the Wolfpack kit will still be the only option.

Enzo runnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnns!

You mean that they will do a lousy job with the kit or that eventually they will not produce it?

Edited by Sernak
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You mean that they will do a lousy job with the kit or that eventually they will not produce it?

There's a good chance that it will a beautifully moulded, engineered and detailed kit, which is a joy to build but has some serious shape errors which make it into a caricature of the subject.

I must stress that I have no knowledge of the kit. I'm just going on Trumpy's previous track record.

Here's hoping it is more Wyvern and less A-7.

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Thanks for the reply Enzo.

I know what you mean - I have the TA-7C, and when I opened the box and looked at the sprues, I was quite disappointed with the wrong-shaped air intake and engine exhaust!

So, yes, from that point of view let's hope that they will do a good job!!

Cheers

Sernak

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Perhaps it's the angle of the photo but the lower curve of the nose and forward fuselage doesn't look quite correct. Be interesting to see the parts photos when they are released and hear what the experts think.

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Nowhere near an expert on the T-38, but on seeing the above picture I thought the same as Col. Maybe it's the photo and the lighting but the nose appears somewhat bloated, the forward fuselage seems too tall and the cockpit sills appear too curved. This is the nearest angle I could find to compare against the real jet:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/Northrop-T-38C-Talon/2165982/L/&sid=c3ff795d4ceda355e020767cf0b84f02

It'll be interesting to see some different angles to make a more in-depth comparison.

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Maybe it's the photo and the lighting but the nose appears somewhat bloated, the forward fuselage seems too tall and the cockpit sills appear too curved. This is the nearest angle I could find to compare against the real jet:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/USA---Air/Northrop-T-38C-Talon/2165982/L/&sid=c3ff795d4ceda355e020767cf0b84f02

Yeap, you're right the nose does appear to be somewhat bloated and perhaps shorter than the real thing.

I think one of the reasons they show at exhibitions these early examples is for, to gather opinions and "spot" various mistakes.

Let's hope when they FINALLY decide to release this kit, to have fixed all these issues (and the ones we couldn't identify) so, our work will be less 'painful'!

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I think one of the reasons they show at exhibitions these early examples is for, to gather opinions and "spot" various mistakes.

Which are then ingnored. Remember the experience with the Spiteful kit? Photos of test shots were posted on BM together with a request for comments and advice. Advice was given freely - some members went to a lot of trouble to provide planes and photos identifying the problems - but when the kit was released not a single error had been fixed.

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