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Airfix 2020


jenko

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Looking at an Xtrakit Supermarine Scimitar shoot upto to £31 in 2 days on eBay, a decent Supermarine Scimitar F1 might not go down rather well, but I doubt that it would be for 2020, the scaling down of the Sea Vixen to 72nd would be better as that would go well with the new Buccaneer S2 for use on Eagle, Hermes and Victorious.

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Recent posts speculating on what the next 'big' Airfix subject might be have speculated on large aircraft such as Halifax, Vulcan and completely forgotten that the last 'large' subject was the Hellcat!  The only thing we learn from History is that we never learn from History.

 

What about the 1/24 Mosquito?  I'm told that the toolings for Bomber and 2 Stage variants were all completed at the same time as the original issue.  If so, it's always been a bit of a mystery to me as to why they were held back: to make way for the Hellcat perhaps?

 

If there is to be a 1/72 tooling of a large aircraft, there have been some pretty wild suggestions in earlier posts!  Realistically, and following their perceived criteria, it could be:

- Privateer

- Halifax

- Liberator (if the Fortress sold well)

- Sunderland

- Catalina

- Lincoln

- Neptune

- Vulcan (if the Victor sold well)

- Hercules

As outsiders/second rank I would put

- Horsa

- York

- Commando

- Superfortress

- Atlantic

- Orion

Or of course there may be nothing at all!  But above all, it has to be something that will make money, not satisfy the whims of a few individuals.

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, Denford said:

 

What about the 1/24 Mosquito?  I'm told that the toolings for Bomber and 2 Stage variants were all completed at the same time as the original issue.  If so, it's always been a bit of a mystery to me as to why they were held back: to make way for the Hellcat perhaps?

 

What about a 1/48 Mosquito?

Research/Design Finished

With so many variants available, so many operators, this might even make financial sense.

I assume you can scale down the detail of a 32 scale easier than you can scale up a 72 scale, and add detail

areva

 

 

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In my opinion, Airfix is only likely to kit something flown by British units or their possible opponents and preferably multiple versions possible.

After the weak sales of the Nimrod, they will probably avoid modern maritime aircraft.

If the cooperation with Academy on 1:35 tanks spills over to 1:72 aircraft we could see their B-29 issued as a Washington as well as the Catalina in RAF markings

I would be very happy to see a good stretched C-130J and Curtiss C-46 Commando,

 

14 hours ago, Denford said:

- Privateer

- Halifax

- Liberator (if the Fortress sold well)

- Sunderland

- Catalina

- Lincoln

- Neptune

- Vulcan (if the Victor sold well)

- Hercules

As outsiders/second rank I would put

- Horsa

- York

- Commando

- Superfortress

- Atlantic

- Orion

 

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4 hours ago, LN-KEH said:

In my opinion, Airfix is only likely to kit something flown by British units or their possible opponents and preferably multiple versions possible.

After the weak sales of the Nimrod, they will probably avoid modern maritime aircraft.

If the cooperation with Academy on 1:35 tanks spills over to 1:72 aircraft we could see their B-29 issued as a Washington as well as the Catalina in RAF markings

I would be very happy to see a good stretched C-130J and Curtiss C-46 Commando,

 

 

What weak sales they sold every one as they were produced to order, the cock up was the retailers who after the TSR2 kit limited run, ordered the Nimrod in larger quantities forgetting that the kit was 3 x the size and 3 x the price, so most modellers would likely buy 1 maybe 2 at most rather than multiples. It would have sold normally and have an average production run if produced as a standard kit rather than a limited run, and would probably have been re-popped by now, with better decals if it hadn't had one silly overlarge single production run which is why the kit decals were naff printed as they had to produce 20000+ large sheets in one very short run !.

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Personally I would like to see a Douglas Boston (havoc et all) , Lockheed Hudson, fairy battle, Lysander and a Lockheed Hercules. 

Apart from the battle and Lysander, loads of countries used the above with very different schemes. 

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I have no interest in the subject but I think there is commercial value in Airfix producing the US ‘Century Series’ fighters, in sequence, so we know which one will be appearing next. Plenty of colourful schemes and even some without stars and bars.

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10 minutes ago, Aeronut said:

I have no interest in the subject but I think there is commercial value in Airfix producing the US ‘Century Series’ fighters, in sequence, so we know which one will be appearing next. Plenty of colourful schemes and even some without stars and bars.

A new (and accurate) F-100 series might be nice; lots of non-US operators for that.

A new 1/72 F-104 would likely be popular.

The F-105 has a certain following and could be a good choice if the F-105B was one of the options. The Trumpeter kit is okay, but I think each kit has a mix of features from different variants. I would still pick the Revell 1/72 F-105s over the Trumpeter.

I'm less sure about the F-101, F-102, and F-106, especially since there are good kits of the latter two from Meng. 

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13 hours ago, VMA131Marine said:

A new (and accurate) F-100 series might be nice; lots of non-US operators for that.

A new 1/72 F-104 would likely be popular.

The F-105 has a certain following and could be a good choice if the F-105B was one of the options. The Trumpeter kit is okay, but I think each kit has a mix of features from different variants. I would still pick the Revell 1/72 F-105s over the Trumpeter.

I'm less sure about the F-101, F-102, and F-106, especially since there are good kits of the latter two from Meng. 

Completely not their subject area. And what's wrong with Hasegawa offering for the Starfighter? BTW does Hase make earlier A to D options? 

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4 hours ago, Robert said:

Airfix have not done a 1/72 Spitfire recently 😁,

 

Regards

Robert

Yeah... I've recently bought three kits for a small spitfire project: Tamiya, Eduard and Airfix pr.XIX. Airfix is perfectly toyish unfortunately... Same about their mk.I They surely could attempt e.g. mk IX market. Not everyone gets and likes overcomplicated Eduard so I do not believe market is occupied. 

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1 hour ago, Dennis_C said:

Completely not their subject area. And what's wrong with Hasegawa offering for the Starfighter? BTW does Hase make earlier A to D options? 

 

There's nothing major wrong with the Hasegawa 1/72 Starfighters. There are several details that are wrong, like the shape of certain large panels, the lack of features on the wings and the lack of the gun gas purge vents, so a new F-104 kit to the standard of the most recent kits in the market would be welcome. At the same time I personally don't think that a kit made to Airfix current quality level would be a huge improvement over the Hasegawa kit, it may be better in some areas but inferior in others. Said that, the Starfighter is a popular subject in Europe and if Airfix have good sales in this part of the world it's a subject they may consider. More so as the competition would mainly come from the Revell kit, that is itself inferior to the Hasegawa offering.

On the matter of variants, no, Hasegawa do not offer early Starfighters in 1/72, only the G based airframes.

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Airfix has the ability to make very good large kits. The 1/24 kits they have produced are excellent examples of their skills.  What I would like to see would be 1/48 British WWII twin or four engine bombers (those currently missing in kits).  But given their past abilities it would not be surprise me if they did a new 1/48 C-130 - they would do a nice job of it.

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A 1/48 Lanc is a good shout too - only the ancient Tamiya effort to compete with it-  the apparent (?) popularity of the WNW and HK models Lancs in 1/32 shows that people are prepared to shell out in excess of £300 on a 'boutique' kit but a lot of other people have been understandably put off by the price and the 'where the hell do I put it' factor...

 

 Perhaps Airfix doing a 1/48 Lanc at (half?) the price - say £150 which is only a smidge more than the 1/24 Mossie and Hellcat RRP might cut the mustard?

 

TT

 

 

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For what its worth, this is a list of what I would like off Airfix, and I have only included subjects where I feel there is a gap in the market

1/72 F84F Thundersteak

Continues Airfix theme of upgrading older kits, numerous operators with scope for numerous decal options, no truly good kit currently available

1/72 Mirage IIIc

Upgrade of old kit much needed

1/72 Mig 19

1/72 Grumman F7F Tigercat

I Would love a good quality Tigercat in this scale but I cant see it ever happening

1/48 MD450 Ouragan

Never kitted in this scale by a mainstream manufacturer

1/48 DH Chipmunk

Again no mainstream injection moulded kit

1/48 Venom/ Sea venom 

Airfix have kitted most post war RAF FAA jets so this surely is only a matter of time

1/48 Fairey Firefly Mk V

1/48 Fairey Battle

1/48 Vampire T11

Upscale of 1/72 kit overdue

Of course any or all of the above may be commercially risky but after the 1/48 Walrus anything may be possible

 

 

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2 hours ago, TEXANTOMCAT said:

Perhaps Airfix doing a 1/48 Lanc at (half?) the price - say £150 which is only a smidge more than the 1/24 Mossie and Hellcat RRP might cut the mustard?

 

TT

 

 

Shut up. My wallet* is listening 😉

 

Trevor

 

*bill fold to our North American cousins. 

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2 hours ago, Acinonyx Jubatus said:

1/48 DH Chipmunk

Again no mainstream injection moulded kit

A 1:48 DHC Chipmunk would be good - plenty of options there.

 

Judging by comments on this forum a 1:48 Bristol Beaufort would be a no-brainer!

 

Personally I would really love a 1:48 Brigand though! 😍

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