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1/48 - Fairey Firefly Mk.1 by Trumpeter - released


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On 3/9/2018 at 11:25 PM, Laurent said:

Ok thanks. It sound like there's no product manager as the design departement. Nobody supervises the designers (CAD, decals, documentation) and ensure that common best practices are used.

"but its 2018 and should not happen"... I completely disagree, it is because were are in 2018 that it happens: we are in the age of cost reduction and just-in-time production. We are talking about an industrial company, not about a modeller who produces aftermarket products in his garage.

Sorry I don't agree with the cost reduction theory due to the cost of kits are going up and up. I should also mention for the cost companies are including details that won't be seen eg fan blades but miss something that will be seen like a seat harness.

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5 hours ago, AussiePhantom said:

Sorry I don't agree with the cost reduction theory due to the cost of kits are going up and up.

There's no strict causal relationship between production cost and retail price. Retail price is adjusted to demand and to the existence of Chinese-produced equivalent kit. Examples:

1) was there a competing kit to the HB Ka-27s or 1/72 Jaguar ? No. So the retail price was fixed very high

2) was there a competing kit to the HB AMXs or KH Super Etendard ? Yes the Kinetic kits so HB+KH fixed a low retail price to try to undermine the Kinetic kits.

 

5 hours ago, AussiePhantom said:

I should also mention for the cost companies are including details that won't be seen eg fan blades but miss something that will be seen like a seat harness.

Fan blades are easy and quick to design as they are periodic 2D objects. Seat harness are more difficult to design as they are contorted and can introduce undercuts which may require splitting the seat in more parts.

Edited by Laurent
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On ‎07‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 8:16 AM, davidelvy said:

I wonder if, as far as Trumpeter are concerned, near enough is good enough. They obviously don’t set out to make inaccurate kits, but errors are inevitable. Whereas other manufacturers may take time to correct these perhaps Trumpeter take the view that the priority is to get the kit out in the market and start paying for itself rather than spend time and money on what, to them, may be minor corrections. Even if the kit is heavily criticised there will still be enough sales to make a profit. In the meantime, the next kit is on its way. 

Actually, I think you have probably got it nailed! From their point of view, a very pragmatic and practical approach as they know they will satisfy the majority of their customers

 

Allan

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I’m building the NOVO 1/72 kit at the moment. To be fair and elevator hinge line apart, it looks ok. The correct hinge line appears as a line on some of the drawings and if replicated on the plastic, some cutting, filling and tut-tutting could cure the problem?

 

My biggest worry though would be the price. Do we have an RRP for it?

 

Trevor

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1 hour ago, Max Headroom said:

I’m building the NOVO 1/72 kit at the moment. To be fair and elevator hinge line apart, it looks ok. The correct hinge line appears as a line on some of the drawings and if replicated on the plastic, some cutting, filling and tut-tutting could cure the problem?

 

My biggest worry though would be the price. Do we have an RRP for it?

 

Trevor

 

50 minutes ago, tempestfan said:

The review on HS quotes 45 quid. It’s available from a German dealer at 34 €, a € less than the equivalent SH.

The SH has a resin cockpit, and is mostly decent, with useable decals.

 

 

Here's the review, with detailed photos 

http://www.hyperscale.com/2018/reviews/kits/trumpeter05810reviewjh_1.htm

 

Detail looks like a 72nd kit,  and the decals are garbage, wrong colours and roundel proportions for starters.

 

Sure, it'll build nicely, and "look" like a Firefly, as opposed to anything else, but basically the only decent kits Trumpeter did of British subjects were done using someone else researching, IIRC, Monochrome in  Japan, for the Seahawk and Wyvern, and the 24th Hurricane. (Why this has not been scaled down is mystery, as it good..)

 

Since then, the do shoddy research list is, Spiteful/Seafang, despite asking for, and getting assistance here, that was not used.

 

Then, Vampire, DH Hornet, Attacker,  all with major errors,... 

 

Then the Defiant F.1 (sic) and  Sea Vixen FAW.2,. Both done better by Airfix, and not even the sense to do different versions....

 

They can't even get things right they have in China, like the MiG-21 F-13, which is a real shame as Eduard don't plan on the first gen ones.

I'm writing this to remind those who seem to think Trumpy bashing is bias, as opposed to bitter experience.....  

 

Are any of their recent kits actually accurate?   I don't pay attention to modern jets, don't know about them.

 

 

 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

 

The SH has a resin cockpit, and is mostly decent, with useable decals.

I have an SH 5, and it really looks good in the box, but I think that one only has a resin u/c bay. I‘d say a bit better than decent. What my post missed is „from the same source“, I guess he priced the kit in order to sell some. The SH is available elsewhere for under 30€, and seeing the review there’s nothing to make me save a € buying the Trumpeter...

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A couple of things stand out from the sprue shots over and above the elevator issue. Firstly the wheel hubs are a bit shallow and then the fret - not sure about the circular holes for the intake guard. The fret could have been better utilised for cheek intake guards and an instrument panel.

 

I quite fancy a quarter scale MK.I, so it may well come down to price and availability of the SH and Hobbyboss examples.

 

Trevor

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On 6/15/2018 at 12:21 PM, Troy Smith said:

Since then, the do shoddy research list is, Spiteful/Seafang, despite asking for, and getting assistance here, that was not used.

 

Then, Vampire, DH Hornet, Attacker,  all with major errors,... 

 

Then the Defiant F.1 (sic) and  Sea Vixen FAW.2,. Both done better by Airfix, and not even the sense to do different versions....

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

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On 6/15/2018 at 12:21 PM, Troy Smith said:

Are any of their recent kits actually accurate?   I don't pay attention to modern jets, don't know about them.

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

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  • 4 weeks later...

In-box review in your favourite forum: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235040785-fairey-firefly-fr1-148/

 

Quote

Conclusion

As some will know, I am ex-FAA as is my Father, therefore I have a great interest in FAA aircraft, the Firefly being one of my favourites, so it is a great pity that once again Trumpeter have taken a wonderful British aircraft, matched it with their complete lack of proper research and ruined what could have been a very nice kit. Yes it will build nicely, yes it sort of looks like a Firefly FR.1, and if those are the standards you build by, then that’s fine, it’s your hobby, but for me this will be consigned to some other use, and I will stick with my AZ kits.

 

V.P.

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On 6/20/2018 at 1:51 AM, VMA131Marine said:

 

The 1/72 Gannets aren't too bad, though the Revell kit is better for the most part.

 

That's because they are a part for part rip off of the CMR kit

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6 minutes ago, NAVY870 said:

That's because they are a part for part rip off of the CMR kit

I suppose we should be thankful they picked an accurate kit to rip-off instead of using dodgy plans. It certainly isn't the first time they've done that; the HobbyBoss 1/48 Mirage III is a clone of the Eduard kit.

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