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Airfix for 2019


Julien

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Agree with many of the sentiments echoed above. I'm just glad Airfix are still afloat, and not only that, still offering new tools including a new "Superkit". I have my wants just like everyone else, but I'm realistic enough to know that new releases are chosen for their profit potential. There were a lot that were "underwhelmed" by the Hellcat. I wasn't. It may not be my favourite WW2 fighter, and it maybe aimed more at the US market, but I can see it's a sound business decision. Not only that, it looks like an amazing kit. Therefore, my wallet will be opening for one. Very pleased to see some aircraft finally appear in the Classics range. Some good choices too. I've already stated that I like to build old kits, and I will probably buy most of these releases too. Oh! And good call on the Buccaneer and Mig 17. 

 

Considering the rocky financial road Hornby have been on of late, this year's catalogue is pretty healthy in my meagre opinion. I hope they sell lots of kits and keep things on the up, because I can't imagine my modelling world without Airfix. 

 

Of course, all of the above is just my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Steve

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8 hours ago, Paul821 said:

 All I need now is for someone rescue the Frog moulds from where ever they are, clean then up and let us have a Frog Classic range - that we see me happy for many years.

A Director of Lines Bros (actually the son of one of the Founders) told me the moulds had been sold to the USSR, excepting only those of the Axis powers.  Where these were first sold I don't recall, but they (excluding any that may have become lost) are now with Revell Germany.  From time to time kits from them appear, notably the Ta152 which can easily underprice those of Dragon and Aosima.

By hearsay (and I never bought one) the Russians didn't treat their moulds well and used the wrong sort of plastic.  I remember lamentations over the poor quality of certain kits, notably the Shackleton, which was then the only available kit.

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On 1/11/2019 at 6:21 PM, Dave Fleming said:

I think the decal options for the Vintage Classics are the same schemes as the original releases, so no repeat of the inaccurate Black scheme for the Dominie from it's last release I hope!

 

Hopefully they remember the Heron originally had an RAF Queens Flight option!

 

I'd quite like an admiral's barge Heron. I have one in the stash from their classic civil aircraft release from about 12 years ago. I think I'll go with the civil markings with that one but I'm definitely going to get one of the new releases for a FAA aircraft. Good choice of re-release by Airfix.

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Why arrogant ? Old kits are old kits. And when it is a vintage kit, it' s little a example of arrogance still re-released new kit. Eduard is more small company as Airfix and is younger - after two decades make a Tempest in quarter scale a five years back make limited re-release and today he make complet new tool Tempest with state of art surface details. Or Tamiya new tool BoB Spitfire. They have nice & shake n' bake Mk.I but make complet new tool what is much more shake n' bake with many clever (landings gear)construction solution. Tamiya and Eduard leads the way, and Airfix desperate need money and re-release realy very old kits from deep of Cold war era. Especialy when new tool Black Widow can be a realy bestseller. Yup, make it a HobbyBoss, but Airfix have best name... New MiG-23, Vulcan, Hs-123... When airfix was reborn, and make new, cheap and relative accurate kits for few bucks, and i bought all new kits... - many 2x, Mustang 7x...

 

Old kit i never bought...  I think - when you need a money, you can sold a new, high quality kits...not real museal tools 😕

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...And Airfix have been slowly replacing those old kits with new tools. At least Airfix now put those old kits in a "Classic Range" so people know what they are getting, and people like me who want those old kits can buy them again with new decals. They're selling, so there must be a market for them and making money is all that matters. It also has to be taken into account the number of those old kits that may never be re-tooled such as the SRN-1, Beagle Basset, Cherokee Arrow, deHavilland Beaver etc. Still nice kits that I'm sure we'll see in the classic range eventually. 

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To replace old tooling you need money.. 

 

Thats the fundamental issue. It’s argueably been in short supply at Hornby 

 

Also comparing Airfix to Eduard is possible  but perhaps a bit fatuous as they both make model kits but Eduard is solely a specialist manufacturer they produce kits and aftermarket solely for the core enthusiast market ( us here on forums and those that actually build models.......) Airfix produce for the enthusiast market and the general toy / gift  market. Which is why their range is like it is. 

 

You’ll never see an Eduard kit in a toy shop as that’s not their distribution model. 

 

Thus the Airfix range is not broken or incorrect it just reflects their distribution channel to market. You have to give the marketing and sales folk at Airfix some credence that they know how to construct a range of products that sell to the channels they go to market in. 

 

No no one is saying to Eduard hey you need a range of click together easy assembly kits for younger modellers. The reason no one is, is because we realise that’s not Eduard’s market.

 

Embrace it. Don’t rail against it...

Edited by Plasto
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Release of ancient kits can be only forgiven if Airfix brings a new tool Black Widow in several years :) That's the machine deserving a bit better treatment than re-release of a kit with huge rivets and seat+pilot style cockpits in 2019. 

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I'm happy with Airfix! All I want from them is not even a complete kit, but one large(ish) part that can be sold as an accessory/extra to their existing range: a starboard fuselage half with a non-staggered waist gun position for their B-17G. Add half a dozen pieces for an early tail position and I'm even happier! Aftermarket is good for the decals so no worries on that front 😊. V-P

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1 hour ago, Dennis_C said:

Release of ancient kits can be only forgiven if Airfix brings a new tool Black Widow in several years :) That's the machine deserving a bit better treatment than re-release of a kit with huge rivets and seat+pilot style cockpits in 2019. 

Airfix needs to go measure this one:

 

http://www.maam.org/p61.html

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13 hours ago, Dennis_C said:

Release of ancient kits can be only forgiven if Airfix brings a new tool Black Widow in several years :) That's the machine deserving a bit better treatment than re-release of a kit with huge rivets and seat+pilot style cockpits in 2019. 

There are many, many other subjects in this category.  Why is the Black Widow so special?

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39 minutes ago, Denford said:

There are many, many other subjects in this category.  Why is the Black Widow so special?

I agree there are many more subjects deserving Airfix attention. But Airfix is actually releasing old tool P-61 while there is no state of the art model of this airplane. We have Dragon which is not in production now while it's still a good kit, we have a recent and good-looking but easy assembly HB (and I would personally wait until someone scrutinize it well). 

Airfix's recent tools are very close to 'state of the art' quality so would be nice and likely commercially viable if they actually do a new tool p-61 instead of digging out ancient molds.

BTW I totally understand and accept re-release of Heron, Dominie etc since those are unlikely to be a success with a new tool while still should sell ok both to enthusiast and little Johnny markets.

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I like the Heron re-issue.  Been looking for a reasonably priced Heron to build.  I would like to match the one outside Croydon airport (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croydon_Airport#/media/File:Airport_House_at_the_old_Croydon_Aerodrome_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1571720.jpg)

 

The Mig-17 looks good, as does the Tiger Moth. 

 

I also like the fact that the Classic kits seem reasonably priced too. They ought to sell well, and because the tooling costs are minimal, it should make some profit for Hornby and allow them to invest in more new tool kits.

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2 hours ago, Dennis_C said:

I agree there are many more subjects deserving Airfix attention. But Airfix is actually releasing old tool P-61 while there is no state of the art model of this airplane. We have Dragon which is not in production now while it's still a good kit, we have a recent and good-looking but easy assembly HB (and I would personally wait until someone scrutinize it well). 

Airfix's recent tools are very close to 'state of the art' quality so would be nice and likely commercially viable if they actually do a new tool p-61 instead of digging out ancient molds.

You won't get a new tool P-61 from Airfix in the foreseeable future: period.

If you look at the choices that they are making, it must have the option of re-release in a different 'guise'.

Ruling out one-offs and experimental versions, the P-61 variants don't differ that much (not like fighter and bomber Blenheims for example), there are only 2 colours (Olive Drab and Black) and essentially only one user, USA.

The fact that their P-61 is not 'state of art', is really neither here nor there.  The same could be said for many other of their (and others) earlier releases.  They have, no doubt through careful research, ascertained that it will be the only one on the market.  So the old tooling (being the only option) could sell and make money which is after all the whole object.

In the highly unlikely event that they were to retool the P-61 it would have to be at the expense of something else.  Hands up those who would sacrifice the Buccaneer or Spitfire XlV for a P-61...

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If there’s one thing in all the new releases have in common, it’s “legs”. The Buccaneer fills a big gap, replaces expensive alternatives, and come with nearly 3 decades of RAF and RN markings; the Hunter can be released as most of the more common marks, with users all over the world; the Tiger Moth is iconic, and still around in large numbers — and how many people who’ve bought or gifted a joy-ride in one would like a model or a kit of it as a memento ? It seems like a strategy of new tools that can be stalwarts in the range well beyond payback and into profit, and re releases of things the eBay market suggests there’s demand for, with nice new decals...

 

Makes sense to me....

 

best,

M.

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Denford,

Despite wanting to agree with you, i think the P-61 is up there with the Sea Vixen and Javelin as being one of those aircraft that are a bit left field, but would sell, especially if the Hellcat makes enough of a financial return in the US to invest in kits like the P-61. Depending on what the production run is, if they sell all of the Classic P-61s, would that not be encouragement to produce a new state of the art one at some point in the next 5-10 years.

As to the sacrifice, with the wee mistake by Airfix last year, i think the Spit was put back a year because they knew so few new tools were appearing this year. I also wonder if any other new tools were delayed to get something else in this year in the hope to get money in sooner rather than later. 

In that vein, i wonder if the apparent success of the P-51Ds will provide B and C models, along with P-47s. After that i think P-38, 39, later 40s, 63, might be lined up along with a top notch P-61 mostly for an American market. Over here, the Tiggie, Buccaneer, and Hunters could lead to Tempest, Mosquito and a whole line of the missing bombers. A whole line of Meteors, Vampire and Venoms would not be too far behind that either.

If people didnt get what they wanted, i dont think we are gonna have to wait for too long. 

Arabest,

Geoff.

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Don't know, maybe I missed something when I built them, but I struggle to understand why "Classic Airfix kits" would be the ideal choice for kids and beginners...

That could have been true in the '70s but aren't there way better alternatives on the market today, with better fit and mould quality ? Some may not like the Hobbyboss easy kits concept,  fair enough, but what about the Zvezda ones ? Perfect fit and very easy to build. Don't want an easy kit ? Academy's 1/72 WW2 fighters may not be always accurate but when it comes to easy builds they are great. And Hasegawa's may be expensive here today, but they are even easier than Academy.

My memories of many classic airfix in the late '70s- early '80s are of soft plastic that could melt if I applied too much glue, not a great fit and as a beginner I found them more difficult to build than Matchbox. And that was almost 40 years ago... with the options available today I'd say that many of these classics are best left to adults hit bu an attack of nostalgia, let's give the kids something better

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Probably more related to the Airfix 2018 thread than 2019, however has anyone seen the box artwork for the RAF Mitchell kit number A06018? Looks like it’s available direct via Hornby, however have not seen any evidence of this on the Airfix website, workbench forum or online sales. If anyone has one, a quick photo would be nice. 

 

Cheers and thanks.. Dave 

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I agree with you Giorgio. I got back to building plastic models in 2011 by buying a new-tool Airfix Hurricane IIc, maybe not the most accurate etc kit, but it was a joy to build and got me hooked (again). That lead me to start collecting "those kits that got away when I was a kid" (by age, not character). I did finish a few of those old Airfix, Heller and Frog kits, but the deeper I got into this hobby and the more I learned of the new kits and also built them, the more convinced I became that giving a beginner one of those "classic" kits we could be certain he/she`ll never look back when he/she dumps the whole modelling hobby, being frustrated with lousy fit and oversize/lacking details. I on the other hand dumped those old kits and kept on modelling the new ones :yahoo:. In my opinion, and that´s just my opinion but I´ll say it out loud anyway; manufacturing, distributing and marketing of those crappy old kits does not benefit anyone in the hobby of plastic modelling, in the long run. Give me those new tool kits, please, and dump the oldies forever. There´s enough of them hiding unbuilt in various stashes around the world, and there  are good reasons why they are so. Ugh! V-P

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Good afternoon all

 I totally agree with Giorgio and VP why releasing these old classic kits when there are already good new tools kits  ? for exemple why releasing the old P61 Black Widow when Dragon and more recently Hobbyboss have released "good kits'' of this aircraft  ..

 I think that if a company wants to make money it just has to give the modellers good new tools kits of interesting aircraft and Airfix did that with for example the 1/72 Spitfire  Mk 1, P 51D Mustang , Typhoon etc ..

Cheers

Patrice

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2 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Probably more related to the Airfix 2018 thread than 2019, however has anyone seen the box artwork for the RAF Mitchell kit number A06018? Looks like it’s available direct via Hornby, however have not seen any evidence of this on the Airfix website, workbench forum or online sales. If anyone has one, a quick photo would be nice. 

 

Cheers and thanks.. Dave 

It's also dropped from the 2019 catalogue

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3 hours ago, Giorgio N said:

I struggle to understand why "Classic Airfix kits" would be the ideal choice for kids and beginners...

I have 2  neighbors (brothers) who are 7 and 12 who come over and tinker with models with their dad. They asked for the Airfix classics (in original boxes) because they were “cool”. 

 

Yes, they are glue bombs. Yes, they are a paint mess. But they have fun and talk about them for weeks. 

 

To be fair, I would not pay modern prices just because they are in modern boxes. These kits are readily available at tradrs’ tables for a couple of dollars here in the US. So grab a couple on occasion. 

 

Point is, the attraction can be there, but not at the “new” price point. 

 

Tim

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10Theres a lot to say for the classic range, mainly nostalgia...….some of those classic kits were beyond even pocket money for a kid in the 50s-60s...…...my mom and dad wouldn't waste money on stupid things like plastic kits, especially if the coal man or rent man was due and they had to be paid...…...all I could do was look in awe at the kits in the shop window or, one of the posh kids at school showing off his latest kit to his mates in the playground and probably breaking it before he went home.  Now these kits have returned gives me the opportunity to add them to my nostalgia collection.  Blister pack, poly bag or box, they are gems.  The nice thing about these new issues is its knocked a hole in profits for those speculators on Ebay.  The kits that are scheduled for re-issue I note are selling at well over 100% or more where listed on various auction sites

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Well, I don't see a new 1/72 Hawker Demon being too high on Airfix's priority list (sad to say) so the opportunity to buy a kit which was never that bad anyway and would now come with usable Cartograph transfers, instead of the rubbish Airfix foisted upon us during the 70s to 90s, at a price point lower than full series 1 is most welcome.  In terms of excitement it is second only to the Buccaneer and followed by the Dominie and "Jetstream". 

 

Of course, as an exclusively 1/72 scale modeller, my scope for excitement at Airfix's 2019 release programme has been severely  limited by the continuing regrettable diversion of design resources into the scale that dare not speak its name.  A diet of reheated leftovers will only keep us 1/72 modellers going for so long.

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1 hour ago, Seahawk said:

limited by the continuing regrettable diversion of design resources into the scale that dare not speak its name. 

Which scale would that be then?

 

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