New Tool Airfix Vulcan 1/72 - Black Buck rebox announced

[Forsaken]

Been trying to get information on whether or not the kit will come with a conventional bomb load, I have seen one link that shows one but it could be from another V Bomber for all I know. I saw on the Airfix forum that one bloke tried asking about it as well but received a very vague response followed by curt responses from the moderators. Airfix as per usual not doing much to help themselves. 

 

In general it annoys me that Airfix don't include more information about their kits as you can pre order them but obviously it would be nice to know what you will get. I am close to giving up on them anyway due to poor customer service in general.

[Adam Poultney]

6 minutes ago, Forsaken said:

Been trying to get information on whether or not the kit will come with a conventional bomb load, I have seen one link that shows one but it could be from another V Bomber for all I know. I saw on the Airfix forum that one bloke tried asking about it as well but received a very vague response followed by curt responses from the moderators. Airfix as per usual not doing much to help themselves. 

 

In general it annoys me that Airfix don't include more information about their kits as you can pre order them but obviously it would be nice to know what you will get. I am close to giving up on them anyway due to poor customer service in general.

Based on the schemes we've seen, the CAD images in the recent article and the sprue pictures containing the relevant parts in the same article, I think it's safe to say we'll see the conventional bomb load. 

The two schemes are XM594 with blue steel and XM602 as a conventional bomber. 602 never carried Blue Steel (the latest one to do so was XM595), so unless they change that scheme, we're getting conventional bombs.

[The Tomohawk Kid]

Oh why oh why why don't folk wait until until they have the kit in hand or there has been a credible 1st hand review? How is it possible to comment with any certainity about panel lines from a CAD render?

 

Tommo.

Edited August 25, 2020 by The Tomohawk Kid

[robvulcan]

I’m amazed just how judgemental and impatient people are about this. We’re model makers are we not ? We are supposed to be patient.

I am quite sure Airfix will nail this kit and let’s face it the old kit is pretty well perfect anyways needs more work sure but I’m just thankful that my fave plane is finally getting a new kit. 
I’ll be happy with any bomb bay or exhausts. 
Let’s face it it’s pretty easy to scratch certain items and if you think they are going to release only one version of this you don’t give them much credit for business sense. 
I’d love them to do a B1 but I doubt they ever will. But that is a much bigger ask. 
patience it will all be good on the night I’m sure   

[robvulcan]

On 08/08/2020 at 21:10, WV908 said:

It's funny because in your linked story, the writer gets XM594's engines wrong haha! 

 

It's a shame there's no 100 series on the sprues too as technically, if airfix did another two separate wing sprues and another tail cone on a sprue with new intakes we could have a B1 too. Logic dictates that the B1 sprue would have the 100's anyway. Similarly I expect the eventual K2 sprue to have the payload bay fuel tanks, as was done with the Victor boxings (It would be silly not to do a combined XH558 / K2 boxing considering she was one)

 

Cheers,

  WV908

So an entirely different kit then. The B1 and B2 have so many differences. The only items that are the same is the nose really. Even the B1a ecm was slightly different but not by much.

tail fin, tail cone, wings, intakes, exhausts, wheels, landing legs, gear bays, engine tunnels, exhausts, etc etc the whole aircraft is deceptively different if done correctly. 
that said I would love them to do it  

Edited August 25, 2020 by robvulcan

[Truro Model Builder]

It truly amazes me how much negativity is expressed on this forum. Sometimes it's as if Private Fraser from Dad's Army, See-Threepio and Marvin the Paranoid Android all teamed up.

 

"Hey, look! Airfix are finally releasing a brand new Avro Vulcan, which everyone has been screaming out for since time began, and which means the old mould, which was horrendous to get anything decent out of, can finally be consigned to the bin and we can enjoy building the new one!"

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2020 by Truro Model Builder

[Forsaken]

3 hours ago, robvulcan said:

I’m amazed just how judgemental and impatient people are about this. We’re model makers are we not ? We are supposed to be patient.

I am quite sure Airfix will nail this kit and let’s face it the old kit is pretty well perfect anyways needs more work sure but I’m just thankful that my fave plane is finally getting a new kit. 
I’ll be happy with any bomb bay or exhausts. 
Let’s face it it’s pretty easy to scratch certain items and if you think they are going to release only one version of this you don’t give them much credit for business sense. 
I’d love them to do a B1 but I doubt they ever will. But that is a much bigger ask. 
patience it will all be good on the night I’m sure   

I guess because I have the old version still unbuilt and yes I know it's not great but a conventional bomb bay and load is the appeal for me. I just figured as release date was getting closer someone may know. It would be great if they did a Black Buck version as well. As far as Airfix and business sense go? No, I don't have much faith in them sorry. The way their moderators behave on their own forum and the way a related forum operates just leaves me with little hope in terms of basic business sense and customer service from Airfix. 

 

Edit: Airfix have updated the pics for it https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/avro-vulcan-b-2.html 

It now shows a conventional bomb bay and load. 

Edited August 25, 2020 by Forsaken

[The Tomohawk Kid]

I would like to put a modicum of my comment up thread, its should be read as coming from someone who very rarely buys an Airfix kits and does not hold a torch for them and won't be buying this kit, for no other other reason it does not float my boat.

 

However, Airfix are due the respect extended to other manufacturers and not prejudged, their kits should be critically appraised from someone who actually has the beastie in hand to examine. Sure it might be a clunker or a work of art or anywhere inbetween, but make that judgement properly.

 

Tommo.

Edited August 25, 2020 by The Tomohawk Kid

[Truro Model Builder]

3 hours ago, Forsaken said:

I guess because I have the old version still unbuilt and yes I know it's not great but a conventional bomb bay and load is the appeal for me. I just figured as release date was getting closer someone may know. It would be great if they did a Black Buck version as well. As far as Airfix and business sense go? No, I don't have much faith in them sorry. The way their moderators behave on their own forum and the way a related forum operates just leaves me with little hope in terms of basic business sense and customer service from Airfix. 

 

Edit: Airfix have updated the pics for it https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/avro-vulcan-b-2.html 

It now shows a conventional bomb bay and load. 

 

Would you like some custard with that humble pie?

 

I think Airfix have rather more business sense than you credit them with. 1/72 Buccaneer, 1/72 Phantom and 1/48 Hunter are some good instances.

[Adam Poultney]

18 minutes ago, Truro Model Builder said:

I think Airfix have rather more business sense than you credit them with. 1/72 Buccaneer, 1/72 Phantom and 1/48 Hunter are some good instances.

Agreed, and I think this vulcan will be a huge success considering how well the old one sold for a kit of its age. 

Hopefully they continue with the range of cold war jets and bring us a good 1/72 Sea Vixen and 1/72 Javelin. 

 

But then there are some odd ones in the range that they seem to have made work. The 1/72 Whitley and 1/48 Walrus are ones I would expect would be hard to make a good case for, but those kits seem to sell well enough

Edited August 25, 2020 by Adam Poultney

[Mr T]

Looking at the runners, I not the fin is designed with a seperate cap and I would guess it implies a fin top RWR. Airfix try to get the best out of the moulds of their larger kits and so a Black Buck  and tanker option wouldn't surprise me. 

[Adam Poultney]

2 minutes ago, Mr T said:

Looking at the runners, I not the fin is designed with a seperate cap and I would guess it implies a fin top RWR. Airfix try to get the best out of the moulds of their larger kits and so a Black Buck  and tanker option wouldn't surprise me. 

the RWR version is included in the photos. 

Black Buck, K2 and B2.MRR could all easily be done on a single sprue. 

All black buck would need is the pylons and stuff that goes on them, a B2.MRR would need its pylons and pods for them, and a K2 would require a new tail and then they'd likely add the bomb bay fuel tanks. The only ones they can't do are any up to and including XH556 as they have different intakes that would require the wings to be retooled.

Given what we've seen with the Victor, two boxes covering pretty much every shuttle l variant and scheme they could get out of the tooling without huge modifications (which would be needed for the early B.Mk.2), I expect to see either two or three boxes for the Vulcan. 

[Forsaken]

10 hours ago, Truro Model Builder said:

 

Would you like some custard with that humble pie?

 

I think Airfix have rather more business sense than you credit them with. 1/72 Buccaneer, 1/72 Phantom and 1/48 Hunter are some good instances.

I still disagree. Their customer service and their choice of moderators to represent them is terrible. I know many people who no longer buy Airfix due to that. 

[Truro Model Builder]

7 hours ago, Forsaken said:

I still disagree. Their customer service and their choice of moderators to represent them is terrible. I know many people who no longer buy Airfix due to that. 

Back in March I realised I had discarded parts from the Airfix Sea Fury that I should have retained (a lesson there, folks). I contacted Airfix to ask for replacements, willing to pay a fee as it was my own stupidity. I received a message explaining that due to furlough etc they would be unable to replace them at that time.

 

Two weeks ago Airfix's 'terrible' customer service sent me two full sets of the parts I needed, long after I had written off any chance of getting any. No fee requested. 

 

And frankly, if somebody stops buying Airfix because of the way their comments are moderated on a forum they are even more stupid than the idea sounds.

[Forsaken]

1 hour ago, Truro Model Builder said:

Back in March I realised I had discarded parts from the Airfix Sea Fury that I should have retained (a lesson there, folks). I contacted Airfix to ask for replacements, willing to pay a fee as it was my own stupidity. I received a message explaining that due to furlough etc they would be unable to replace them at that time.

 

Two weeks ago Airfix's 'terrible' customer service sent me two full sets of the parts I needed, long after I had written off any chance of getting any. No fee requested. 

 

And frankly, if somebody stops buying Airfix because of the way their comments are moderated on a forum they are even more stupid than the idea sounds.

You must have got them on a good day. When I requested a part which was left out of the box by their mistake, they sent me the part to an entirely different kit. So yes, again, terrible customer service. 

 

Why would it be stupid to stop buying Airfix due to the moderators they appoint on their site being rude and aggressive? Seems to me a great reason to stop buying their products. 

[Truro Model Builder]

I'm beginning to think that arguing with you is like wrestling with a pig in s***. After a while you begin to suspect that the pig likes it. However, I've had that description applied to me, with a certain amount of truth.

 

So, because they sent you a wrong part then that is a reason to slate them and say they have bad service and poor business sense? Seriously? Perhaps you were unclear in your request. Or maybe the person handling the request was on their first day in the job. All I know is that whenever I have needed Airfix customer services I have always had excellent service and never found cause to complain.

 

And do you stop to think that they do not actually moderate the forum themselves, that perhaps it is contracted out to a specialist? Perhaps instead of slagging them off to all and sundry you might like to contact the management at Hornby and explain these issues to them and ask politely that they look into them.

 

Though not a member I generally find that the Airfix Forum is well run. Then I read, from one of your previous posts on this topic "The way their moderators behave on their own forum and the way a related forum operates" and add to that the fact that, of your nine (at present) posts on BM since you joined, you have spent most of them slagging off Airfix and arguing with me. It all makes me wonder if your problem lies not with Airfix at all but closer to home.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Truro Model Builder

[Paul Thompson]

FWIW, Airfix the last few years have exhibited sub-optimal quality control, so I've needed a few times to get replacement parts or decals from their customer service. They have always been polite, and if the items were in stock they have always sent them in timely fashion, and requiring no poof of purchase. What else do you want? Blood?

 

Paul.

[Meatbox8]

32 minutes ago, Paul Thompson said:

FWIW, Airfix the last few years have exhibited sub-optimal quality control, so I've needed a few times to get replacement parts or decals from their customer service. They have always been polite, and if the items were in stock they have always sent them in timely fashion, and requiring no poof of purchase. What else do you want? Blood?

 

Paul.

I've bought many, many red boxes from Airfix.  Only one, the 1/72 Blenheim IV, had any issues.  No transparencies.  I sent off a message to Airfix and got a replacement set within a few days.  Great service.  I was under the impression, from posts on BM, that manufacturing and quality control was subcontracted out to a firm overseas and this was thought to be the issue at the time.

 

Anyway, certainly looking forward to the new Vulcan although I'm going to have to save my pennies.  Just a few years ago I wouldn't have imagined Airfix would produce all three V Bombers in 1/72.  That fact alone, not to mention how they are slowly producing all my favorite Cold War types, assures my loyalty to the brand.

[Adam Poultney]

Just now, Meatbox8 said:

 

 

Anyway, certainly looking forward to the new Vulcan although I'm going to have to save my pennies.  Just a few years ago I wouldn't have imagined Airfix would produce all three V Bombers in 1/72.  That fact alone, not to mention how they are slowly producing all my favorite Cold War types, assures my loyalty to the brand.

This! All three V Bombers in 1/72 with modern toolings? Brilliant! Airfix are the only brand they produces a decent set of them in 1/72.

Now we just need another brand to see the success of the new Vulcan and bring out their own one but a B1/B1a. And then a Victor B1 (and tanker variants).... And then a Sperrin.... Then an Avro 707... And a HP88..... Then a Valiant B2..... Ok I'm probably not bring realistic but come on, a Vulcan B1..... If I'm planning on buying 5 of these ones I'm scared to think what my back account would be like if there was a Vulcan B1 kit available

[RichG]

2 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

Now we just need another brand to see the success of the new Vulcan and bring out their own one but a B1/B1a.

Well Adam, considering the frequency of new kit releases, and some quite esoteric subject choices in recent years (including those that only saw UK service), I  would say that is certainly not the impossibility it would have been only a few years ago. In fact it may be that those subjects/variants not yet produced in kit form come into sharper focus as manufacturers cotton on that there might be a better market than churning out endless versions of the usual suspects. We can but hope.

 

Having said that I am pleased that Airfix have done the versions they have; although I still have my doubts we will see parts for a conventional bomb load in an initial Blue Steel release of the Vulcan. Although the photographic evidence on the Airfix website does suggest otherwise and I will be really pleased to be proved totally wrong on this occasion*   

 

On Airfix service, only ever had one kit to complain about: a Phantom FG.1 with a badly warped sprue, which meant I couldn't get several critical parts to fit. I had to supply numerous bits of information, photographic evidence of the problem and proof of purchase (I had purchased the kit direct from Airfix). Even though I was only asking to replace one part - the cockpit tub.  More recently, I sat (!) on the canopy of a Lancaster kit I was building which I had purchased some years before, breaking it in several places. It was replaced by Airfix, by return - no questions asked     

 

Rich

 

* PS I have always had a hankering to do Vulcan B2 XM599 35 Squadron, RAF Cottesmore. From this classic photo releasing a full bomb load of twenty-one 1000lb bombs, during an exercise in 1965 

Edited August 26, 2020 by RichG

[Space Ranger]

The only complaint I have about Airfix is that they have not scaled their 1/48 Javelin and Hunter(s) down to 1/72!

[Patrick Martin]

23 minutes ago, Space Ranger said:

The only complaint I have about Airfix is that they have not scaled their 1/48 Javelin and Hunter(s) down to 1/72!

and the Sea Vixen and Walrus

PM

[Space Ranger]

6 minutes ago, Patrick Martin said:

and the Sea Vixen and Walrus

PM

Yep. Them, too!

[stever219]

41 minutes ago, Space Ranger said:

The only complaint I have about Airfix is that they have not scaled their 1/48 Javelin and Hunter(s) down to 1/72!

Or their 1/72th Harrier GR. 1, 3 and 7 up to 1/48th.

[Space Ranger]

15 minutes ago, stever219 said:

Or their 1/72th Harrier GR. 1, 3 and 7 up to 1/48th.

Well, I am not a 1/48 builder, but on behalf of those who are, I fully endorse your position and second the motion.