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They did bring out a B-377, yes, and while Airfix seems not terribly interested in 1/72 airliners it would look very tempting in BOAC colours with a big Tooby illustration.

 

Given the scale of their armour deal, an extention into more 1/72 aircraft would enable Airfix to bolster their line-up of US types with more modern versions of types Airfix has done before, that are so outdated as to be not really credible nowadays, and which Airfix themselves may not get around to for a long time. The PBY, B-29 / Washington, and B-24 in particular look like attractive updates from the old Airfix tools.

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39 minutes ago, Albeback52 said:

Think you're right there. That was a decent kit. I'd like to have seen the B-17C/D but, I guess that is a bit optimistic 😂!

There are a number of great subjects currently not available :B-29/B-50 and, C/KC-97 to name but a few. I think they also did a 1/72 Stratocruiser?

 

Not sure if they sold all that well though. Except for the B-29s I haven't seen any of the others at anything other than totally silly prices

 

Allan

 

The K/C-97 was a game changer for Academy - for years and years it had topped the 'most wanted' polls, there was apparently 'huge' demand for one. In the end the kit was a poor seller. 'Too expensive' was one claim, but you could argue you either want a 1/72 KC97 or you don't! (Added to which it was a lot cheaper in Korea than in the US and elsewhere). Academy didn't do any large 1/72 aircraft after that.

 

Although Airfix have in the past said they weren't going to re-box other people's kits anymore, one of the things I've learnt is not to take everything they say at face value and also things change - the Academy kits gave them an instant 1/35th range, which was a precursor to be able to launch their own kits (Cromwell). And funnily enough, their previous reason for not doing 1/35 had been that they needed a range of subjects to open up new market sectors.

Edited by Dave Fleming
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19 minutes ago, Dave Fleming said:

The K/C-97 was a game changer for Academy - for years and years it had topped the 'most wanted' polls, there was apparently 'huge' demand for one. In the end the kit was a poor seller

Ah, the eternal trap for kit manufacturers. Mistaking "Kits I really want to see" with "Kits I actually intend to buy". See also Revell's misadventures with the 1/48 PBY and Ju52, and arguably the 1/32 Hunter.

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Reading through the Airfix catalogue, I see there's going to be a new range of Humbrol acrylic paints in dropper bottles. Does this mean that they're changing the supplier again? IIRC, there was a change a year or two back to manufacture by HMG in Manchester, resulting in a new type of jar (back to flip-top, although the catalogue shows the current range in the screw-top containers that were used before them).

 

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6 minutes ago, Richard Humm said:

Reading through the Airfix catalogue, I see there's going to be a new range of Humbrol acrylic paints in dropper bottles. Does this mean that they're changing the supplier again? IIRC, there was a change a year or two back to manufacture by HMG in Manchester, resulting in a new type of jar (back to flip-top, although the catalogue shows the current range in the screw-top containers that were used before them).

 

 

The paint in the 18.2ml flip top jars was much better than before

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2 hours ago, Work In Progress said:

Ah, the eternal trap for kit manufacturers. Mistaking "Kits I really want to see" with "Kits I actually intend to buy". See also Revell's misadventures with the 1/48 PBY and Ju52, and arguably the 1/32 Hunter.

Maybe, but I've got three each of the Ju-52's and the PBY's and a couple of hunters. If I had more space I'd  also have an Australian and a French PBY.

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9 hours ago, VMA131Marine said:

I’m working on the Blenheim I currently. It has been a straightforward build so far. I have the airframe completely assembled and the transparencies on so it’s just about ready for paint.

 

I'm pleased to hear! The world seems to be divided into two types of people - those who struggle with the Airfix Blenheim and those who don't. :lol:

 

I belong to the former. Amongst other things, I couldn't get the front fuselage and glasswork of the Mk I to fit. In the end I swapped it for a Mk IV front end. Which still didn't really fit properly but looked a bit better. The result:

 

spacer.png

 

 

Be great to see yours when complete so please post!

 

Ian

 

Edited by IanC
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33 minutes ago, matti64 said:

Maybe, but I've got three each of the Ju-52's and the PBY's and a couple of hunters. If I had more space I'd  also have an Australian and a French PBY.

Your noble sacrifice is noted, all the more so because, sadly for Revellogram back in the day, it is exceptional

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1 hour ago, Dave Fleming said:

 

The paint in the 18.2ml flip top jars was much better than before

Given the packaging and manufacturer I'm wondering if the paint in the 18ml pots is the Railmatch formulation.  Good news to my mind if so.

Edited by JosephLalor
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1 hour ago, Dave Fleming said:

Workbench update confirms the Tractor and Scammels from the catalogue, and that the 'beginner' kits are simplified, but with full versions as well

 

https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/news/workbench/a-new-decade-of-airfix-modelling-excellence

 

 

 

 

From the article:

 

Quote

It is significant that these new kits have been developed in 1/72nd scale and serve as an illustrator for future development in the Military Vehicle kit sector

Translation: "Any new small-scale military vehicles we do from now on will be 1/72" (yay!). What we are still unsure of is if the Scammells will be the IBG toolings.

 

Re the starter/full kits (Tiger, Firefly, etc.): The "full" versions still have the same parts count as the "starter" versions, so we can only guess how complex they will actually be. The projected paint schemes are up for all of these kits though. Interestingly, neither of the "full" Tiger schemes are for the Bovington "Tiger 131". Neither is the scheme for Tiger "starter" kit.

Edited by klr
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On 1/10/2020 at 1:08 PM, sniperUK said:

Not exactly Airfix but it's linked, Corgi have announced a 1/1250 HMS Queen Elizabeth on their Diecast Diaries blog, a sign for a future Airfix kit? 

I see it is based very closely on my scratch-build and incorporates some of my deliberate errors! 😉

 

Dave

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4 hours ago, Work In Progress said:

The PBY, B-29 / Washington, and B-24 in particular look like attractive updates from the old Airfix tools.

Academy doesn’t own any moulds for B-24 kits. The Liberator series all went to Minicraft when they split from Academy.

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Quote

Taking a modelling step up from Quickbuild ... the all new Beginner Sets have been designed from the outset to retain the modelling quality associated with Airfix, but are kits which have slightly less part than standard models and are slightly less challenging to build. 

...

making these models perfect for the modelling beginner, or perhaps the wargamer. Each of these models have been produced in 1/72nd scale and interestingly, the talented product designers at Airfix have also produced new standard versions of these kits for introduction in the main range at the same time. 

Wow! Looks like actual easy starter sets are coming. Huge step in the right direction, rather than putting regular kits (sometimes not the easiest to build) in a box saying starter set seemed somewhat misleading and would likely put off some newer modellers. Airfix say they are targeted at new modellers or perhaps wargamers. As a wargamer myself (on a break from it thanks to college timetabling), although I did start out with scale models, I would love to see more people coming over from that pretty similar and very much linked hobby to ours. I think both communities have things that the other can benefit from- and in many ways already do given the huge overlap. I found that scale modelling is where I really got all the modeling techniques and skills from whereas wargaming just needed small models to look good on the tabletop. 

 

I was just thinking about this a couple of weeks ago, while building an easy assembly Do335 from Hobbyboss for the Christmas Blitzenbuild. I wonder if these will be comparable in quality to the Zvezda snap kits or Hobbyboss easy assembly kits. 

It seems that these were based on the same data (parts probably taken from the same CAD filles and simplified I would guess) as the full kits coming soon as well. I have a feeling we may see other kits produced as simplified starter sets soon. I'd like to see perhaps a German type, such as an Me262, but a scheme without splinter camouflage might be a good idea, a P51 to target the American audience across the huge puddle in between us, perhaps if Airfix is particularly adventurous a 1/48 model; I see no reason one of those can't be simplified down if it's aimed at beginners, a larger kit may be easier to build and paint, and all the fiddly details would be either moulded on or gone.

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29 minutes ago, Dave Fleming said:

Workbench update confirms the Tractor and Scammels from the catalogue, and that the 'beginner' kits are simplified, but with full versions as well

https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/news/workbench/a-new-decade-of-airfix-modelling-excellence

I like these beginner kit concepts and the stands. Very much feels like the same kind of thinking that gave us the first few years of Matchbox kits.

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5 hours ago, Dave Fleming said:

 

The K/C-97 was a game changer for Academy - for years and years it had topped the 'most wanted' polls, there was apparently 'huge' demand for one. In the end the kit was a poor seller. 'Too expensive' was one claim, but you could argue you either want a 1/72 KC97 or you don't! (Added to which it was a lot cheaper in Korea than in the US and elsewhere). Academy didn't do any large 1/72 aircraft after that.

 

Although Airfix have in the past said they weren't going to re-box other people's kits anymore, one of the things I've learnt is not to take everything they say at face value and also things change - the Academy kits gave them an instant 1/35th range, which was a precursor to be able to launch their own kits (Cromwell). And funnily enough, their previous reason for not doing 1/35 had been that they needed a range of subjects to open up new market sectors.

That's a pretty fair comment Dave. I'd heard also that these kits were apparently ones that modellers were "crying out for" only for them to turn into dust gathering shelf blockers when the modellers that were "crying out" for them suddenly became quiet.

It's a shame. I didn't think they were that expensive to begin with either. Mind you, I was in full time employment then!  😂

 

Allan

 

 

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13 minutes ago, Work In Progress said:

Well, if you'd rather have people start with the 1964 Airfix one, fine...

Well, I have a couple of the Airfix kits.....! I also have an Academy PBY as well. Certainly looks OK to me. I can live with it. 😊.

 

Allan

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2 minutes ago, Albeback52 said:

Well, I have a couple of the Airfix kits.....! I also have an Academy PBY as well. Certainly looks OK to me. I can live with it. 😊.

 

Allan

I've had both too, built the Airfix one in the mid 1970s and don't want to again. I find the old Revell one much nicer though and I still find that worth having in stock. I will build that again one day.

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2 hours ago, klr said:

Re the starter/full kits (Tiger, Firefly, etc.): The "full" versions still have the same parts count as the "starter" versions

Not according to the part of the article I've just read.  "... are kits which have a slightly less part(s?) than standard models and are slightly less challenging to build"

 

Simpler tracks at least for the tanks

 

Going for wargamer market by the look of it

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1 hour ago, Albeback52 said:

I didn't think they were that expensive to begin with either. Mind you, I was in full time employment then! 

The KC97's were even cheaper when Modelzone flogged them off - that was the only way I could afford one on a pension!

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10 minutes ago, Folkbox1 said:

Not according to the part of the article I've just read.  "... are kits which have a slightly less part(s?) than standard models and are slightly less challenging to build"

 

Simpler tracks at least for the tanks

 

Going for wargamer market by the look of it

Looks like the website needs updating again - they have the same info panel on both versions which lists them both as skill level 1 with 31 parts. Nice markings on both, I could be tempted to a couple to go with the Beaufort I've already ordered.

 

Andy

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16 hours ago, Dave Fleming said:

 

Where? I’m still after another

I 'think' it was Jadlam I go mine from last year, but there were a few sellers knocking them out around the same price for a while.

They've gone up since, but still seem consistently cheaper than Airfix,

 

Cheers,

Bill.

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