Airfix Top Gun 1/72 Jester's Skyhawk

[Uncle Dick]

Just curious as to which tooling Airfix will be using for this Skyhawk - says it will be 116 parts, so which manufacturer has issued an A-4 (presume it will be an A-4E/F?) with 116 parts in 1/72 scale??? 

 

Edited May 18, 2020 by Uncle Dick

[Julien]

Scalemates are showing this as Airfix's old tool A-4 not the new one.

 

Julien

[Uncle Dick]

Thanks for that info - (I do hope scalemates are mistaken on this occasion) at a guess the old tool Airfix Scooter would have less than 30 parts (their new tool A-4B by comparison has 75 parts)! 

 

Unfortunately most likely NOT a Fujimi repop as their A-4E/F is about 98 parts total.

 

Hobby Boss A-4E and F are stated to be over 160+ parts (perhaps if they cut out the A-7 🤪🙂 weapons sprues?) it will approach 116 parts? or maybe the Airfix part count of 116 parts is completely wrong?  

 

So Intriguing...I just sent Airfix an email asking which kit it will based on/ or whether it will be a new tool, they will probably tell me to SOD off and wait for the release but I had nothing to lose... 

 

EDIT - Just did a parts count on the Hobby Boss A-4E kit, it has 164 parts (The 2 A-7 Corsair weapons sprues are 45 parts each = 90 parts) while the aircraft sprues are 74 parts only. So i doubt it will be Hobbyboss, so the intrigue continues...!!!

Edited May 18, 2020 by Uncle Dick

[Hook]

The nose and intakes on that box top look more A-4B than A-4E. My bet will be the newish tool Airfix B.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Fredag]

They did an original TOP GUN set the first time round, that had the elderly A-4. Surely that mould has been put in the boneyard.

[Julien]

4 hours ago, Fredag said:

They did an original TOP GUN set the first time round, that had the elderly A-4. Surely that mould has been put in the boneyard.

You would hope............

[Nigel Bunker]

Well here's my guess ( and it's only a guess).

 

F-14A Tomcat - ancient Airfix F-14A

A-4 Skyhawk - newish Airfix A-4B

Mig 28 - elderly Airfix F-5E

F/A-18E - old Airfix F/A-18A (and I bet if somebody at Hornby Railways had suggested badging a GWR Castle as a GWR King you'd have heard the screams all over this island. But it's only an Airfix kit).

P-51 Mustang - newish Airfix P-51 Mustang

 

And who at Airfix cares if they match the ones seen on the big screen?

[Uncle Dick]

Just received reply from Hornby to my email enquiring about pedigree (tooling) of the said subject and they confirm it will be based on an  existing Airfix A-4 mould (most likely as most of you have guessed already the A-4B) see reply below [and thanks to Airfix (Hornby) for replying}:

 

Quote

The model that are coming out will not be new tool, it will be based off of the moulds from one of earlier models based off of the same aircraft. 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Christopher Doran

Customer Care Assistant

T:+44 (0)1843 233512

www.hornby.com

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Uncle Dick

[k5054nz]

The box art immediately made me think it would be the newer A-4B/Q kit. I just can't fathom why they'd use the A4D kit, nor why anyone would suggest it when the new kit exists!

 

Still struggling to come to terms with the Classic/Legacy Hornet masquerading as the upcoming film's E model, but ah well. I was hoping the co-operation with Academy for armour kits would mean we'd get Academy's Super Hornet and Tomcat for this series.

Edited May 22, 2020 by k5054nz

[Parabat]

Just had a scan through Scalemates and I can't belive the bungling incompetence of Airfix yet again. To reissue such awful and dated kits with new decals really smacks of pigs and lipstick. And issuing the legacy Hornet as a Superhornet is just complete slap in the face for modellers. They clearly think little kids won't know or notice the difference. 

My Airfix boycott continues...

[Fredag]

'The box art immediately made me think it would be the newer A-4B/Q kit. I just can't fathom why they'd use the A4D kit, nor why anyone would suggest it when the new kit exists!'.  Its not that far fetched as it was used for the original Top Gun box set, for the original Top Gun movie. Either way it's only 'about' rightish.

 

And the Airfix reply, apart from the contextual variety, whats with the 'off of'?, surely not a very English use of english.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Fredag

[71chally]

5 hours ago, Parabat said:

Just had a scan through Scalemates and I can't belive the bungling incompetence of Airfix yet again. To reissue such awful and dated kits with new decals really smacks of pigs and lipstick. And issuing the legacy Hornet as a Superhornet is just complete slap in the face for modellers. They clearly think little kids won't know or notice the difference. 

My Airfix boycott continues...

Doesn't it actually show great competency from Airfix?

At least from the marketing and financial aspects of the business, using the cheapest option of churning out plastic from old molds within the company.

This Airfix fodder will still sell by the bucketload to kids and their parents in Aldis and Amazon etc, most won't even care if a Hornet isn't a Super Hornet.

 

Any modeller who wants to build decent kits of the Top Gun subjects will research what was portrayed in the film, source decent and appropriate kits, and source aftermarket decal

[Harry Lime]

22 minutes ago, 71chally said:

This Airfix fodder will still sell by the bucketload to kids and their parents in Aldis and Amazon etc, most won't even care if a Hornet isn't a Super Hornet.

And that is very likely true. But what if they put decent, up-to-date and reasonably accurate kits in those boxes? What if by doing that, some of those bucketloads enjoyed building a model and came back and bought a few more kits from Airfix? What if by spending just a little bit more in the short term, they encouraged some folk to take-up the hobby and therefore improve Airfix's long-term prospects? I can't help but think that putting crap kits in those boxes is a mightily short-sighted decision.

 

Mark.

[71chally]

I agree with your sentiment Mark, but I think many marketing descions are short sighted, and to satisfy shareholder demands which aren't necessarily long term.

Churn em out every 5 years or so captures a fresh audience every time, especially when associated with a popular film release.

[Giorgio N]

At the moment we don't know if Airfix plan will be succesful.. maybe they'll be able to make an interesting profit by reissuing old stuff in a brand new cool box linked to a movie that will likely be a major hit. Or maybe not... with the continuously evolving situation we don't even know if the movie will hit the cinemas as scheduled or if this will be distrupted by the infection related events. While it's likely that Hornby have already paid all the relevant license fees to the movie producers.

Personally as a modeller I find Airfix's decision very questionable: selling one aircraft type for another is not something that I'd expect from a company that respect their customers. I can understand an inaccurate kit, but I can't justify the use of the wrong type of aircraft. What would people think if they bought a Dambuster set and found inside a Halifax instead of a Lancaster ?

(Of course a more correct comparison would be a Lincoln instead of a Lancaster, as the relation between these two is closer to the Hornet/Super Hornet one, however in such case the answer would have been "oh yes, finally a Lincoln...")

[Parabat]

1 hour ago, 71chally said:

Doesn't it actually show great competency from Airfix?

At least from the marketing and financial aspects of the business, using the cheapest option of churning out plastic from old molds within the company.

This Airfix fodder will still sell by the bucketload to kids and their parents in Aldis and Amazon etc, most won't even care if a Hornet isn't a Super Hornet.

 

Any modeller who wants to build decent kits of the Top Gun subjects will research what was portrayed in the film, source decent and appropriate kits, and source aftermarket decal

Short term gain. I agree with others that it is a questionable tactic and doesn't demonstrate any evolution. What's the saying 'the deifinition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome'.

It's throwing away an opportunity to put some decent (albeit other manufacturers moulds) kits in a box at a reasonable price. This could end up putting a lot of younger modellers off as the RRP isn't even cheap, and then be sat with some abominable kit that's decades old. 

The mind boggles. Other manufacterers have learned that evolution means improvement, not stay the same.

[Nigel Bunker]

3 hours ago, 71chally said:

Any modeller who wants to build decent kits of the Top Gun subjects will research what was portrayed in the film, source decent and appropriate kits, and source aftermarket decal

If it's like when the first movie was released, licencing agreements meant that no aftermarket decals were released. I expect the 'Paramount' (or whoever) lawyers will have their beady eyes on the aftermarket producers, along with those at Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

[IanHx]

On 5/22/2020 at 12:14 PM, 71chally said:

Doesn't it actually show great competency from Airfix?

At least from the marketing and financial aspects of the business, using the cheapest option of churning out plastic from old molds within the company.

This Airfix fodder will still sell by the bucketload to kids and their parents in Aldis and Amazon etc, most won't even care if a Hornet isn't a Super Hornet.

 

Any modeller who wants to build decent kits of the Top Gun subjects will research what was portrayed in the film, source decent and appropriate kits, and source aftermarket decal

Hit the nail on the head, I think.

Each mould has a limited life-span,  so squeezing another run out of the oldest one - aimed mainly at a less discerning audience who will be buying based on the box picture - means more options available in the future for the newer moulds.

[alt-92]

On 5/22/2020 at 4:19 PM, Nigel Bunker said:

I expect the 'Paramount' (or whoever) lawyers will have their beady eyes on the aftermarket producers, along with those at Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

I wish them the best in trying to sue my inkjet printer

 

[Jackman]

Dang!  Not only did they get the type of Skyhawk wrong (A-4B), they got the decals wrong too. 

 

https://blog.jadlamracingmodels.com/2020/10/12/review-airfix-1-72-jesters-a-4-skyhawk/

 

The national insignia (stars & bars) is inverted + angled/slanted bars.   And the brown part of the decals ( eg Jet Intake decals) looks too dark to me.  I think they got the A/C serial number wrong too. Supposed to be '151095' and not '151005'.

 

Testors decals are all tan & no brown, , Italeri got the wrong shade of tan and Airfix got the wrong shade of Brown + wrong stars & bars.  😩

 

Can't anyone get the decals right?  I may have to mix & match all 3 kit decals with Fujimi's 'Top Gun' Skyhawk which, not only is the correct version of Skyhawk, it also includes Jester's & Viper's names as decals (but, unfortunately, no tan/brown decals).

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10025073

 

And it wasn't even released as a movie tie-in!

Edited November 29, 2020 by Jackman

[alt-92]

9 hours ago, Jackman said:

The national insignia (stars & bars) is inverted + angled/slanted bars.

I believe that is actually intentional.

[Jackman]

33 minutes ago, alt-92 said:

I believe that is actually intentional.

 

Not for Jester's A-4. The star is supposed be brown. Not tan as in the Airfix kit.

https://www.scalemodellingnow.com/aircraft-hasegawa-a4ef-skyhawk-build-review

https://www.scalespot.com/gallery/aircraft/a4jester/a4jester.htm

vs Airfix:

https://blog.jadlamracingmodels.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-59-scaled.jpg

 

[A.C.Acikgoz]

4 hours ago, Jackman said:

 

Not for Jester's A-4. The star is supposed be brown. Not tan as in the Airfix kit.

https://www.scalemodellingnow.com/aircraft-hasegawa-a4ef-skyhawk-build-review

https://www.scalespot.com/gallery/aircraft/a4jester/a4jester.htm

vs Airfix:

https://blog.jadlamracingmodels.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/image-59-scaled.jpg

 

those inverted + angled/slanted bars  are common with new revell 1/48 mavericks f-18e .. hmmmm 🤔

[Linus]

Hello gentlemen, italeri also released a box dedicated to TOP GUN with F-14 and A-4, and I hope it is more decent !!!

Linus

[Paramedic]

I remember the old, original ones from an old Airfix catalogue. iirc a few years after the movie, maybe 1988 or so? Looks similar iirc?

 

it is sad those are mostly old and the wrong models but... being Airfix and being sold at many places (still?) - maybe it is cheap-ish and draws new, fresh, young blood into the hobby? We, older-ish modellers rarely go for those kits anyways, do we?

Maybe they serve a good purpose after all? I sure did not care that much as a kid, nor did i understand all the differences of marks.. i just built, played and was happy with my creation.. I mean, all might not be bad, eh?