Airfix Mk.XIV in 1/48....ohh boy...

[anj4de]

Good Morning All

 

The last two/three days I have played around with the Mk XIV from Airfix. Cockpit was ok, with the help of Eduard's Löök set it actually looks quite good. Then on to the fuselage. I worked very careful and really took care in alighning all parts and still had big issues with the upper wings fitting. I had to fill the wing root gaps with thin plastic card to get a solid bond. All in all this kit, even though the result will look good, is a let down for me. The CAD, I am sure looked excellent but the execution, so mold design and injection itself is very much 70ties or short-run kit wise. The panel lines are very "sander friendly" meaning they are wide and deep, again not what would be expected from a 2019 kit. Im comparison the panel lines of the old (60ties) Revell 109G in 1/32 I remember as being classes ahead of this kit. I still wonder how Revell once managed to do those molds without CAD/CAM mold making being available. In general the details of the kit are rather soft and also the smaller parts lack sharpness all around. All in all it reminds me of Royal Enfield motorcyles. A friend of mine once had one, got it new, and it had to be completely overhauled before it became road worthy. It again shows that even in a fully digital world with real time HQ communication being available at almost 0 cost it still matters where and by whom things are done... 😞

 

cheers

Uwe

 

PS: It will look fine when done...mine will be a Mk.XVIII

[chillaton]

I agree, this kit is a big disappointment and I will think twice before buying an Airfix new release again. Have you checked whether the wheels fit on the stub axels?

[anj4de]

The wheels look ugly from the start, the hubs especially. I will be using left over ones from a Hasegawa kit...

 

 

[Peter Roberts]

The surface detail on some of those early 1/32 Revell kits (1960's vintage) such as the 109 and Spitfire was exceptional.

 

Sadly, that was about all they offered, but it does make you wonder - if they could achieve that over 50 years ago, why can't it be done more regularly now?

 

 

[NorthBayKid]

4 hours ago, Peter Roberts said:

The surface detail on some of those early 1/32 Revell kits (1960's vintage) such as the 109 and Spitfire was exceptional.

 

Sadly, that was about all they offered, but it does make you wonder - if they could achieve that over 50 years ago, why can't it be done more regularly now?

 

 

 

£££££££££

[Silenoz]

dollars (or Euro's, pounds, whatever), ethics, etc...

[Seahawk]

On 1/15/2020 at 11:40 AM, anj4de said:

The wheels look ugly from the start, the hubs especially. I will be using left over ones from a Hasegawa kit...

Or maybe from the Airfix Seafire F.17, which comes with 2 sets of wheels?  Not that I know anything about this 1/48 malarkey, you understand.

[anj4de]

Found Ultracast wheels and exausts in my stash...problem solved! 🙂

Edited January 16, 2020 by anj4de

[franky boy]

Completely agree with what you  say above Uwe. I’m also currently building one and have just arrived at the wing root problem. I think plenty of super glue and brute force will get it sorted. 
 

As for the sprues. I’m generally ok with them but sprue D with all of the small parts attached is absolutely terrible. Soft detail and huge sprue gates on small parts. 
 

I think as you say a decent end result can be had from this kit. It’s just a shame it takes quite so much effort for a new release. But on the plus side at least we have an accurate Mk14 in 1:48 scale now. I’ll buy another one and build it. 
 

James

Edited January 16, 2020 by franky boy

[SleeperService]

Thank You for the warning, the two I've got for my nephew's birthday will now go into the stash and I'll buy something else.

 

I have had good results attaching the upper wings to the fuselage first then adding the lower surface does anybody think this would help on this kit?

 

As regards soft detail on the parts, wide sprue gates etc. it is certainly not a matter of saving a few quid on the tooling. I have several friends who own a mould manufacturing company and 99% of the time it's down to the injection moulding machine that the mould is designed to. Have a look at your car's moulded bumpers the injection moulding entry is about 1.5mm diameter and the internal edges are sharp enough to cut skin.

 

If you want to see the difference then dig out an older Zvezda kit and compare it to a recent release. 1950s to 2010 in one leap. It is true that greed is a factor but it's charging premium prices for second rate product. Not a model for long term prosperity. This may seen harsh and arrogant but it's happening everywhere; the ex-Girlie brought a skirt for about £18 that a premium high street chain wanted £49 for. Her mother (with a lifetime in the rag trade) pointed out that they were identical even down to the thread and stitching arrangement. Airfix are in danger of becoming known for overpricing too unless they sort themselves out.

 

That won't stop me from being a customer though....

[franky boy]

9 minutes ago, SleeperService said:

Thank You for the warning, the two I've got for my nephew's birthday will now go into the stash and I'll buy something else.

 

I have had good results attaching the upper wings to the fuselage first then adding the lower surface does anybody think this would help on this kit?

 

As regards soft detail on the parts, wide sprue gates etc. it is certainly not a matter of saving a few quid on the tooling. I have several friends who own a mould manufacturing company and 99% of the time it's down to the injection moulding machine that the mould is designed to. Have a look at your car's moulded bumpers the injection moulding entry is about 1.5mm diameter and the internal edges are sharp enough to cut skin.

 

If you want to see the difference then dig out an older Zvezda kit and compare it to a recent release. 1950s to 2010 in one leap. It is true that greed is a factor but it's charging premium prices for second rate product. Not a model for long term prosperity. This may seen harsh and arrogant but it's happening everywhere; the ex-Girlie brought a skirt for about £18 that a premium high street chain wanted £49 for. Her mother (with a lifetime in the rag trade) pointed out that they were identical even down to the thread and stitching arrangement. Airfix are in danger of becoming known for overpricing too unless they sort themselves out.

 

That won't stop me from being a customer though....

I agree with that. I won’t stop buying their products as I find alot of them interesting subjects. As we’re all saying in this day and age and looking at some other companies products the school report might read room for improvement!

Edited January 16, 2020 by franky boy

[Troy Smith]

On 16/01/2020 at 13:42, SleeperService said:

I have had good results attaching the upper wings to the fuselage first then adding the lower surface does anybody think this would help on this kit?

probably not.

I think it's meant to have the lower wing attached, then the upper parts.

  

On 17/06/2019 at 14:03, Jon Kunac-Tabinor said:

The UC legs new attachment system works well. I guess if the modeller neglects to read the instructions, they might attach top wing halves to the bottom first before trying to mate this to the fuselage- which you can't do on this model as the UC attachment boxes moulded ot the fuselage will make this impossible.

 

some people have moaned about the kit, and had construction problems, other have not.  See the link.

 

On 15/01/2020 at 11:40, anj4de said:

The wheels look ugly from the start, the hubs especially. I will be using left over ones from a Hasegawa kit...

 

All Eduard Spitfires come with 3 types or wheel hub, and two typrs of wheel, some come with the post war 3 spoke /different tyre as well, and a good source of spares.

[Tbolt]

On 1/16/2020 at 1:42 PM, SleeperService said:

 

 

If you want to see the difference then dig out an older Zvezda kit and compare it to a recent release. 1950s to 2010 in one leap. It is true that greed is a factor but it's charging premium prices for second rate product. Not a model for long term prosperity. This may seen harsh and arrogant but it's happening everywhere; the ex-Girlie brought a skirt for about £18 that a premium high street chain wanted £49 for. Her mother (with a lifetime in the rag trade) pointed out that they were identical even down to the thread and stitching arrangement. Airfix are in danger of becoming known for overpricing too unless they sort themselves out.

 

That won't stop me from being a customer though....

I wouldn’t say Airfix are overpriced, the problem is the higher overheads in the UK mean they can only go so low and still make a profit, they can’t compete on price/quality with an Eastern European country, they just need to choose the right subjects. 

 

As for clothing, is the high priced one a case of getting ripped off or is the low priced one a case of the workers getting low pay and/or working in poor conditions?

 

The problem is everyone now days wants to get a good wage for the work they do but they also want to buy everything really cheaply.

[chillaton]

But, can anyone explain why Airfix can produce a wonderful new release like the 1/48 Blenheim and then an absolute dog like the Spitfire 14? This really isn't a matter of price I would always be prepared to pay for quality eg Tamiya, and the Spitfire wasn't too expensive, there is just no excuse for such a poor kit to be released nowadays.

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, chillaton said:

and then an absolute dog like the Spitfire 14?

 

Really?  Did you read the post I linked?   Seen a fair few built,  some have had issues,  others report no problems.  This to me implies user induced error in some cases. 

I lament that Airfix seems to use a cheaper moulder in India, as well as the plastic type, which seem to be the limiting factor on finesse, but 'absolute dog'  is into the realm of hyperbole, and lacks perspective. If Tamiya and Eduard are A grade,  yes, Airfix seem to be in the B category in some areas, but then if you want a mk.XIV Spitfire in 1/48th,  there is this, Academy, or Hobbycraft, or conversions. 

On 18/01/2020 at 10:03, Tbolt said:

I wouldn’t say Airfix are overpriced, the problem is the higher overheads in the UK mean they can only go so low and still make a profit, they can’t compete on price/quality with an Eastern European country, they just need to choose the right subjects. 

They are moulded in India.  Mould made in China IIRC.

Central and Eastern Europe I don't think are as cheap as you might think, but  then I doubt either Zvezda or Eduard are saddled with being part of Hornby and all that entails.

Airifx have suffered from the albatross of inherited debt and beancounter limits since they went bust the first time in 1981,  as even then the kit division always made money.

Nowadays they are a small, but profitable part of a larger group in debt,  and I suspect the creative part of Airfix is rather put out to say the least by the financial constraints and lack of quality control.

I think they are doing well on the right subjects,  and to contrast,  they do seek modeller and subject matter expert opinion, @Sabrejet  was consulted on their new Sabre kit for example.

And they are getting more hits than misses on the 1/48th subject recently.  

[Work In Progress]

2 hours ago, chillaton said:

an absolute dog like the Spitfire 14

And yet somehow  all these other people who have actually built it and shown their work get great results and find it entirely workable

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by Work In Progress

[Tbolt]

11 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

 

They are moulded in India.  Mould made in China IIRC.

Central and Eastern Europe I don't think are as cheap as you might think, but  then I doubt either Zvezda or Eduard are saddled with being part of Hornby and all that entails.

Airifx have suffered from the albatross of inherited debt and beancounter limits since they went bust the first time in 1981,  as even then the kit division always made money.

Nowadays they are a small, but profitable part of a larger group in debt,  and I suspect the creative part of Airfix is rather put out to say the least by the financial constraints and lack of quality control.

I think they are doing well on the right subjects,  and to contrast,  they do seek modeller and subject matter expert opinion, @Sabrejet  was consulted on their new Sabre kit for example.

And they are getting more hits than misses on the 1/48th subject recently.  

I'm well aware of that, other than the few Airfix kits that are molded in the UK ( and they are priced that same ). But Airfix are in the UK - employees, offices and warehouses and they have to pay UK tax. I bet all that costs more than in UK than in Poland and Ukraine. Beancounter limits does appear to have been a problem and the Hornby brand has suffered from it.

[alt-92]

27 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

If Tamiya and Eduard are A grade,  yes, Airfix seem to be in the B category in some areas,

As far as Eduard goes, they need to be careful not to overextend (price hikes on detailing sets, on which their kits are increasingly depending).

Nobody's perfect...

[anj4de]

Hello all

 

No need to tear the kit apart, this was never my intension. It is very much buildable and has very ok detail! I now have the basic construction together and it will be one great looking Spitfire, I am sure. I just wanted to point out some of the issues that could have easily prevented by using a bit more brain and QC. The Xtra decals came in Friday...mine will be an FR Mk. XVIII of 208 squadron in Egypt 1949...

 

 

cheers

Uwe

[PLC1966]

If BM'ers can turn out kits like those above using a dog of a kit to start from, imagine what they could do with something half decent !

[John Masters]

25 minutes ago, anj4de said:

I now have the basic construction together

I would love to see a WiP instead of just the commentary.  

 

On 1/16/2020 at 2:01 PM, Seahawk said:

this 1/48 malarkey

Indeed...it's The Gentleman's True Scale for me...😉

[alt-92]

26 minutes ago, PLC1966 said:

If BM'ers can turn out kits like those above using a dog of a kit to start from, imagine what they could do with something half decent !

Certainly looks like the cat's meow

[anj4de]

Some pics of the progress...it always shocks me to see faults in high res pictures that the naked eye can't see and even with glasses, that I need anyway, they are almost not detectable...

 

 

 

 

cheers

Uwe

Edited January 21, 2020 by anj4de

[anj4de]

[Ed Russell]

On 1/19/2020 at 11:20 PM, Work In Progress said:

And yet somehow  all these other people who have actually built it and shown their work get great results and find it entirely workable

Maybe there are two kinds of modellers.................. those who pick out the faults and those who build the kit and show how to overcome the faults.