Airfix Classics Launched

[Modelraynz]

Hopefully some nice ac kits like f-80 and f-86d!!

 

Fot me here in nz, airfix have priced themselves out of impulse-buy territory for series 1 and 2  - if going to blow ~$24+ for a series 2! kit, might as well get something  tastier from the east online! 

 

(For comparison, i keep finding f-51d's  in my stash that id pick up around $14-16 when i saw em!)

 

So cautiously hopefull of new range (asuming wholesaler  dossnt price gouge on em!)

[Rabbit Leader]

23 minutes ago, Modelraynz said:

Hopefully some nice ac kits like f-80 and f-86d!!

 

Fot me here in nz, airfix have priced themselves out of impulse-buy territory for series 1 and 2  - if going to blow ~$24+ for a series 2! kit, might as well get something  tastier from the east online! 

 

(For comparison, i keep finding f-51d's  in my stash that id pick up around $14-16 when i saw em!)

 

So cautiously hopefull of new range (asuming wholesaler  dossnt price gouge on em!)

Unfortunatley this practice is starting to appear in Australia as well.

My LHS is now starting to price Airfix Series 2 kits at around $22, whilst a not so local hobby shop had the 1/72 Eduard Fw190 profipack for $23! - crazy hey?

I fear that these 'Classic kits' will somehow go the same way and although they may appear to be cheaper on Airfix's website, the price will no doubt spiral by the time they hit the international HS shelves.

 

Cheers.. Dave  

[Scott_]

Agree - it seems like a good idea. People in love with older releases get what they want, Airfix gets $$$, novices have less chance of getting "tricked" by old moulds. Here's hoping the range does well and prompts some more releases - I agree a BN Islander, Beaver and Skyvan for aircraft, Iron Duke and King George V for ships

[Modelraynz]

2 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Unfortunatley this practice is starting to appear in Australia as well.

My LHS is now starting to price Airfix Series 2 kits at around $22, whilst a not so local hobby shop had the 1/72 Eduard Fw190 profipack for $23! - crazy hey?

I fear that these 'Classic kits' will somehow go the same way and although they may appear to be cheaper on Airfix's website, the price will no doubt spiral by the time they hit the international HS shelves.

 

Cheers.. Dave  

Thats a good price for the profipack edition!!

 

Most of the suggestions  posted for aircraft id probably get a coupleof  (except skyvan....it just so...van like!!)

 

Fingers crossed  on the  price point, i cringed when the words "raising price' and 'add value to range" came out on a press release awhile back.... from my old retail  expirence modellers  love nostalgia and bargins...so could be a real winner, IF executed  correctly..... dont know anything bout the toy soldier market....but raised an eyebrow for an initial release choice

 

Ofcourse the risk is get the market wrong and you expend cash and effort just to create a bunch of future landfill!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fightersweep]

Excellent news from another one who's been banging on about this for ages too! I will support this venture with my wallet firstly with some Bofors guns, and if the figures are plastic (not the soft stuff) , lots of them too!

 

Is there any reason why not one aircraft was included in the initial line up? It seems to be what most of us want, and if this forum did help in some small way to influence this decision, them I'll add my list...

 

Dh Beaver

BN Islander

Cherokee Arrow

Shorts Skyvan

SRN1

F-86

Sopwith Pup

Beagle Bassett

Cessna Bird dog

Cessna O-2

.........................Oh! Just re-release everything. I'll buy it.

 

And Puuuuuuuuuurlease re-release the "Modern Cars" range so I don't have to pay one million Dollars apiece for them on eBay. Ta muchly! 

 

Once again, good call Hornby/Airfix. Time to cash in on the brand's nostalgia factor. Hope it does well.....so let's get spending chaps and support this new venture.

Edited May 15, 2018 by fightersweep

[The Tomohawk Kid]

20 hours ago, Albeback52 said:

Yes. I certainly welcome this move. I have long questioned the justification for listing old tool kits at new tool prices. Now we know exactly what is in the box. There will of course doubtless be lots of whining and whinging about releasing "crap old kits" but, nobody is forced to buy them! I will most certainly snap up the AFV kits listed! I hope this venture succeeds and, gives Airfix a much needed cash boost at a time it needs it. Certainly look forward to seeing some aircraft kits featuring in the Classics range

 

PSSST - Airfix  - how about ;

Sopwith Pup

B N Islander

Short Skyvan

 F2H-1 Banshee

F4D-1 Skyray

F-84G Thunderstreak

F-80C Shooting Star

F-86D Sabre

Saturn 1B/Saturn V

Vostok 1

HMS Iron Duke

HMS Repulse

HMS Prince of Wales

 

Allan

The Skyvan, Vostok, Saturn's V &1B and the Islander have all been reissued 'relatively' recently.

 

Thomo.

[SleeperService]

1 minute ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

The Skyvan, Vostok, Saturn's V &1B and the Islander have all been reissued 'relatively' recently.

 

Thomo.

Certainly in the UK the aircraft were pretty hard to find. Airfix/HH had just cut a lot of distributors out of the supply chain which meant non-brick and mortar sellers struggled for stock.

 

If we're asking for particulars the SRN-4 hovercraft please...

[Paul J]

Its a bit like what Revell did some years ago an d released them in period boxes/aretwork. Not against it though as its an oppurtunity to get some of the classic kits in our stashes again... to BUILD!! Quite up for some of the aircraft suggested already too!

[TIGER HOBBIESLIMITED]

Tamiya did this a good while back, a new 1/35 release Panther is close to or over £40.00, but the old 1970's version can still be purchase brand new in a slightly plainer box for just £14.95, and we sell more £14.95 version than we do of the £40.00 one.

Members of the General Public that we meet at shows like Cosford, lap them up as they cannot grasp the idea of the 1/35 Tamiya Tank for not much more than an Airfix 1/76 version.

 

So I think this is a good idea and at last the penny has dropped than sales from older releases is a bonus, and no way should they been as expensive as new releases, as the only cost involved is banging them out of a machine and sticking them in a box.  New releases we know have to re-coupe the newer tooling costs and modellers understand this.

 

Also young modellers and may be older ones too, the exciting artwork is and always will be the window into the model. We sellers see time and time again, great kits in boring boxes will be outsold by not so good kits in exciting boxes, it is the same with diecast.   This is more so when dealing we the general public, a good modeller should not give two hoots if their kit comes in a plain Piza Box as long as it is a good kit.  Passing members of the public with little Johnny, need a spark to buy, and there is no doubt the old Roy Cross and other Airfix Artist artwork should do the trick.

Edited May 15, 2018 by TIGER HOBBIESLIMITED

[The Tomohawk Kid]

1 hour ago, SleeperService said:

Certainly in the UK the aircraft were pretty hard to find. Airfix/HH had just cut a lot of distributors out of the supply chain which meant non-brick and mortar sellers struggled for stock.

 

If we're asking for particulars the SRN-4 hovercraft please...

 

I personally never found them hard to locate, I certainly saw the Vostok, Saturn's and Skyvan in regular shops and on-line.

 

Again the SRN-4 was rereleased a bit back, but shortly after release vendors couldn't give it away. However, given what Airfix have already listed I wouldn't be surprised to see it added to the list at some point.

 

Thomo.

Edited May 15, 2018 by The Tomohawk Kid

[fightersweep]

Well, there's certainly going to need to be some aircraft in that list at some point. Most of what has been asked for in this thread so far will never get a re-tool. The subjects are just sooooo 1960s and 70s, but knock them out in the Classic Range, and I'm sure we'll buy them. I'd like several BN Islanders and Cherokee Arrows, but I don't want to spend £30 a pop on eBay for them. If Hornby knock them out for £8.99 or £12.99, I will buy many. 

 

Personally, I think Hornby are going to wait until we've filled this thread up with our wants list, and then make their choices 😎

 

 

 

[bootneck]

For some, those early kits came and went before they started modelling therefore, they could be new to them.   I would certainly buy some of the early 1:144 aircraft kits if they get re-issued at a decent price.

 

Mike

[gavingav1]

31 minutes ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

 

I personally never found them hard to locate, I certainly saw the Vostok, Saturn's and Skyvan in regular shops and on-line.

 

Again the SRN-4 was rereleased a bit back, but shortly after release vendors couldn't give it away. However, given what Airfix have already listed I wouldn't be surprised to see added to the list at some point.

 

Thomo.

The srn-4 is a strange kit, it cant sell at £19.99 when re- issued but commands amazing high prices on the second hand market, it seems to hover between not enough demand for a full production run but is still a highly desirable kit to those who are interested, the tamiya Chevrolet LRDG is the same, cant sell them new at £20ish but was going for £75-£90 second hand, the model market is a strange place at times .

[fightersweep]

Agree with the above. Is it something to do with vintage boxings commanding the high prices? There are a lot of kit collectors out there.

 

Can't explain the Tamiya LRDG Chevrolet though. Saw that myself on the second hand market, and £20 new with the Masterbox figures included was a bargain!

[The Tomohawk Kid]

4 minutes ago, fightersweep said:

Agree with the above. Is it something to do with vintage boxings commanding the high prices? There are a lot of kit collectors out there.

 

 

Possibly, but I thought collectors would have wanted first generation boxings.

 

I just think it comes down to vendors and eBayers chancing their arm on prices thinking that they look rare as opposed to actually being rare, there are plenty of these re-issues knocking about including the near entire range of the Revell classic's and previous Airfix repops. If they were rare one would have to hunt a bit harder to find them.

 

Thomo.

 

 

[fightersweep]

5 hours ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

Possibly, but I thought collectors would have wanted first generation boxings.

 

Exactly. I was wondering if it was the original boxings on the SRN4 that were fetching the big bucks as that would make sense. Not so much more recent boxings. I get what you say about eBay though. I've mentioned previously on another thread that I love seeing the amount of current Airfix "Red Boxes" being listed as "Vintage". 

 

As for collecting. Well, I don't always buy the earliest versions. My sideline thing is buying the kits that I built as a kid, usually in pairs, so I can keep one on the shelf and build the other OOB. Always has to be the versions I bought back then, so Type 4s and 5s for the Airfix stuff, Black Box Heller, late 70s Matchbox etc. I suppose people collect different things for different reasons.

 

Steve

 

Edited May 15, 2018 by fightersweep

[IanC]

15 hours ago, Dave Fleming said:

There will be plenty who will build the likes of the Panther for nostalgia or just because they want to, regardless of accuracy etc.

The photo of the model on their website isn't going to attract many takers - whether nostalgic old lag or newbie.

 

Looks like the person who made it was making a statement!

[Heather Kay]

16 minutes ago, IanC said:

The photo of the model on their website isn't going to attract many takers - whether nostalgic old lag or newbie.

 

Looks like the person who made it was making a statement!

You should take a look at the Bofors. Eek!

[fightersweep]

10 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

You should take a look at the Bofors. Eek!

Interesting! 😲

 

Kind of cute though. That Morris Gun Tractor is doing with it's front wheels what Mater from Cars does when he's sad. 

[bootneck]

I've noted the comments about the SRN4 and I've been mulling over whether to add mine to my sale thread.  Not sure what it's worth, so probably would put it on at what I paid plus postage, which would be about £35 in total.  Think it would sell if I put it into the sale?

 

Mike

[Albeback52]

3 hours ago, The Tomohawk Kid said:

The Skyvan, Vostok, Saturn's V &1B and the Islander have all been reissued 'relatively' recently.

 

Thomo.

Fair point but, the aircraft in particular did not seem to be widely distributed and, are now about as hard to find as honest politicians. I have been trying for ages to get hold of the Skyvan and Islander at sensible prices. If this venture means they see the light of day once again, I won't complain

 

Allan

[Giorgio N]

I'm glad that this new "product line" may mean no more old stuff in the standard Airfix boxes ! At least the unsuspecting modellers would not buy old kits while hoping for modern ones.

Of course this would also mean no tank in the standard Airfix boxes as most are pretty old. Same for the ships...

The success of the program will depend on a number of things, some will buy these issues out of nostalgia, others just for the good price, some more for the box arts. I'd expect some modellers will also not touch these boxes at all, particularly if the content is as bad as some kits proposed.

Would I want to see aircrafts as well ? Not sure, some may deserve to be reissued in this line and I guess I'd have to list the usual suspects that others have already mentioned. I would expect we'll see no big sellers like Spitfire, 109 and Hurricane as these could take buyers away from the modern tools in the standard boxes. Let's wait and see, if they reissue some rarer subject I'll be happy to get one. If it's just old moulds for the sake of it then I'll pass

[shatters]

6 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

 

Of course this would also mean no tank in the standard Airfix boxes as most are pretty old. Same for the ships...

 

Did Airfix not say that there would be no new ships or armour? Seems more than a coincidence that this range is nearly all ships and armour.

 

Phil

[fightersweep]

Good point Phil. 

 

Let's just hope that the range will contain some aircraft eventually (and maybe some cars) There's a lot of hard to come by kits that would be perfect candidates without impeding on the main range.

[gavingav1]

2 hours ago, fightersweep said:

 

Exactly. I was wondering if it was the original boxings on the SRN4 that were fetching the big bucks as that would make sense. Not so much more recent boxings. I get what you say about eBay though. I've mentioned previously on another thread that I love seeing the amount of current Airfix "Red Boxes" being listed as "Vintage". 

 

As for collecting. Well, I don't always buy the earliest versions. My sideline thing is buying the kits that I built as a kid, usually in pairs, so I can keep one on the shelf and build the other OOP. Always has to be the versions I bought back then, so Type 4s and 5s for the Airfix stuff, Black Box Heller, late 70s Matchbox etc. I suppose people collect different things for different reasons.

 

Steve

 

A bout 5 years ago not long after the last re-issue my father sold a original issue bagged in a zip lock bag with tatty instructions and damaged decal sheet for £78 on ebay, he included lots of pictures and a very honest description of the item, who knows may be some modellers are believing the myth of a kits value and not doing any actual research into current pricing