WnW lead designer goes 1/144 with new company - Beacon Models

[noelh]

Not normally my scale but several of the bombers would be big enough. I'd definitely be interested.

 

Also the small size of the fighters would lend themselves to a diorama of say a scramble or sitting at dispersal. 

 

I think I'd definitely buy a couple. 

[SAT69]

This looks  very interesting. Looking forward to seeing what develops in the future.

[Tom R]

Crowdfunding - what could go wrong? At least nobody lost money in this venture.

 

I wish them well but please don't spend all the money at once!

 

 

 

[593jones]

I would certainly be interested in a Bomber Collection collection, certainly a Lancaster, Stirling, Halifax and Manchester would be very welcome.  Oh what the heck, include a Wellington, Hampden, Whitley and Blenheim.  I don't imagine I will see them in my lifetime, but a chap can hope, can't he?

[John Thompson]

5 hours ago, Tom R said:

Crowdfunding - what could go wrong? At least nobody lost money in this venture.

 

In all fairness, the anticipated source of the Yak-9T (Out of the Box Models) was the only one who lost money - he very scrupulously refunded everything he got from all of the subscribers. Just because it didn't work out on that attempt doesn't mean it's a bad idea, especially if the support is there and the originator has the capability to follow through.

 

John

[WLJayne]

On 11/21/2020 at 8:58 AM, Tom R said:

Crowdfunding - what could go wrong? At least nobody lost money in this venture.

 

I wish them well but please don't spend all the money at once!

 

Crowdfunding does indeed carry risk, and that's why I'm spending a lot of time behind the scenes making sure that we have reliable suppliers lined up, everything is budgeted properly and planned thoroughly. Crowdfunding removes the middle men of banks and investors, but it's just like any other business startup venture where proper preparation is key to success. I have lost money backing other peoples' failed kickstarters myself in the past (I lost nearly £700 on the Morpheus Delta 3D printer which I never got back) and I am going to make absolutely sure to the best of my abilities that nothing like that happens to our backers. The vast majority of the campaigns I have backed have been delivered, though some with delays. I have been directly involved with several kickstarters before for other companies in the miniatures industry, and have a wonderful group of advisors checking my plans and lending their expertise. Cumulatively they have raised millions of dollars of kickstarter funding, and delivered all of it. So I think our backers will be in good hands. But if you would prefer to wait until the models hit the shelves, that's fine too, and we really hope you'll give them a try when they're available for general sale!

Edited December 22, 2020 by WLJayne

[Graham Boak]

I find it a bit surprising that you begin suggesting that there are significant types missing from a BoB theme in 1/144, but then your first subject is a classic "yet another one of them!"  Now I agree that the quality of some 1/144 WW2 kits could and should be improved.  Platz and Sweet are examples of the best, but there are other companies I haven't tried: I doubt that they are all as basic/poor as the old Crown or the very old Revell.

 

My personal want is a Halton and other civilised Halifaxes, to go with other airliners of the period available in kit or diecast.   It seems to me that 1/144 has its place in those types too large for mainstream kits and too small in numbers to attract large companies.  Civil aircraft adding too small a market size...  However, companies don't go bust making Spitfires and Bf 109s.  Even those dealing with a more niche set of buyers.

[Max Headroom]

That’s my wallet taking a mugging. I don’t normally do Braille scale but for subjects that interest me and moulded to modern standards.....

 

Good luck.

 

 

Trevor

 

 

[Tim R-T-C]

53 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

I find it a bit surprising that you begin suggesting that there are significant types missing from a BoB theme in 1/144, but then your first subject is a classic "yet another one of them!" 

 

The only Mk1 available in 144th is the antique Microwings Revell kit with very basic details and decals (see https://erix7.home.xs4all.nl/models/spitmk1.html for mods required to make it accurate-ish) and only available from secondary sellers at present for prices generally far in excess of its actual value. The only good quality Spitfires readily available in the UK market are the Eduard IXc/e or Mark 1 XIV and XVIII which are obviously only suitable for late and post-war markings.

 

The only Bf109E in scale is the poorly molded Armory release which is not widely available in the UK or US. The early types are available from AMG direct from the Ukraine and the F from Sweet models (excellent but only eBay or import), only the G is readily available in the UK in the Mark 1 release, but again not suitable for BoB.

 

The only planes on the homepage list that would be duplicates of accessible and good quality kits are the Ju87, of which Eduard have superb D and G models (although they do require the use of etch which would deter some modellers, especially wargamers and don't have any specific BoB schemes, plus they are not currently in production so only available while stocks last) and the He111 of which Roden recently released an H-6, although again in a later war scheme.

 

Personally I think making a whole collection is the best approach, even if there is some light duplication, particularly if these kits are long out of production or only available by import. No point trying to appeal to collectors or wargamers if the most popular topics are missing from the set.

Edited December 22, 2020 by Tim R-T-C

[Graham Boak]

I can't argue as to availability or to quality, but I had a 1/144 Revell Bf109E which I believe to be the Crown kit originally.  Kits from this range keep appearing at irregular intervals under different names.  Is this the Armory release too?

[Tim R-T-C]

32 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

I can't argue as to availability or to quality, but I had a 1/144 Revell Bf109E which I believe to be the Crown kit originally.  Kits from this range keep appearing at irregular intervals under different names.  Is this the Armory release too?

 

I don't believe so, Armory is pretty much a one-man band from the Ukraine, does some interesting models complete with etch and decal sheets, but seems to be a recurring issue with poor quality injection parts - possibly limitations of whoever he uses to generate these - there is a thread on the Emil here: http://www.kampfgruppe144.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=6949

 

I think Minicraft do sometimes re-release old Crown product too and occasionally their own moldings from the long distant part when a seat in a cockpit in 144th was considered super-detailed! Definitely a case of checking Scalemates whenever one of their products pops up.

[WLJayne]

Tim hit the nail squarely on the head. The Spit Mk1 and 109E are an ideal place to start because as well as being absent from what is available in the UK and probably most of the EU and North American market - people just keep buying spits and 109s so they're very low risk and we know we can pay off the tools in good time with them. However they're a springboard to other things like much needed heavy bombers, we'd love to launch with those but again, it's about risk and investment. A Lancaster tool will likely cost between four and six times as much as a spitfire tool, we've investigated it already and it's exciting. So we're starting with less ambitious but still very popular and much needed subjects.

 

Just to remind everyone, thus far it's looking like our BoB range will be spread over three campaigns (though this might change:)

 

1st:

 

Spitfire 

Bf109

 

2nd:

 

Hurricane

Defiant 

Ju87

Bf110

 

3rd:

 

Blenheim IV/IVF

Ju88

Do17

He111

 

So as you can see, much to interest folks as we build our system and supply lines and move into larger tools. From there, definitely heavy bombers.

Edited December 22, 2020 by WLJayne

[keefr22]

6 minutes ago, WLJayne said:

A Lancaster tool will likely cost between four and six times as much as a spitfire tool, we've investigated it already and it's exciting.

 

I'm no expert on its accuracy, but I've built the Amodel Lancaster, it went together easily and it certainly looked the part to me. It's also still currently available. So maybe it might be better to invest the tooling cost in a Halifax or Stirling as a first heavy? 

 

Keith

[WLJayne]

11 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

I'm no expert on its accuracy, but I've built the Amodel Lancaster, it went together easily and it certainly looked the part to me. It's also still currently available. So maybe it might be better to invest the tooling cost in a Halifax or Stirling as a first heavy? 

 

Keith

We'll be doing these as collections like the BoB stuff, and if people don't want the Lanc and don't pledge for it in a crowdfunding campaign, then we'll know not to make it :). However, as with spits and 109s, what's been done or hasn't been done before isn't our main guiding principle in what to make. There's always our own interpretation of a subject, its place in a wider range of products and people who are new to the 144 market and can get a Lanc from the company that they got their Hurricanes and Spitfires from. Having said that, we're certainly not gung ho about it - anything we make will be very carefully considered as a market offering. Our ultimate goal is and will remain a comprehensive and premium quality range with all the favourites and unsung heroes on offer.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

4 hours ago, keefr22 said:

 

I'm no expert on its accuracy, but I've built the Amodel Lancaster, it went together easily and it certainly looked the part to me. It's also still currently available. So maybe it might be better to invest the tooling cost in a Halifax or Stirling as a first heavy? 

 

Keith

Not readily available in the States, Id kill for a Lancaster among many others in that class, but cant buy from that far  or often from overseas. My extremely limited budget forbids overseas purchase to Hannants about every two years. 

Edited December 23, 2020 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[keefr22]

5 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

My extremely limited budget forbids overseas purchase to Hannants about every two years. 

 

I know the feeling, lots of model car bits I'd like from the States, but can't afford the shipping!

 

And I guess you can never have too many Lancasters!

 

Keith

[WLJayne]

5 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Not readily available in the States, Id kill for a Lancaster among many others in that class, but cant buy from that far  or often from overseas. My extremely limited budget forbids overseas purchase to Hannants about every two years. 

Distribution is one of the things we're going to work hard to get right. We'll have our own online store that will ship internationally of course, but we're hoping we can work with global distributors too. Bryan's Wingnut contacts are proving very useful there. Availability seems to be a major problem for man modellers!

[Head in the clouds.]

I do not have a defined scale, if I did then my collection may be rather small. This sounds like a well thought out venture with grounded ambition and realistic targets. I can't see you producing my subject matter but I wish you the very best and look forward to seeing some of your work. Then again, never say never.

 

Gary

[Killingholme]

If Beacon can break in to the Japanese 1/144 modelling scene, the proprietors will be rolling in it. Hope when they get established they can explore it. Howabout a battle of Singapore set? Betty, Nell, Blenheim, Hurricane, Buffalo... and of course not forgetting a Vilderbeest...

 

Will

[WLJayne]

11 hours ago, Killingholme said:

If Beacon can break in to the Japanese 1/144 modelling scene, the proprietors will be rolling in it. Hope when they get established they can explore it. Howabout a battle of Singapore set? Betty, Nell, Blenheim, Hurricane, Buffalo... and of course not forgetting a Vilderbeest...

 

Will

That's exactly the sort of thing we'd like to do! Our whole approach to building the range will be to release in blocks of kits that are all related to a specific action or time period so that people can build collections. So a Battle of Singapore set works perfectly for that kind of thing, and we'd already have a Blenheim and Hurricane from the BoB set, so it would just be a case of new marking schemes. Eventually it would be wonderful to sell several kits together in a collection box, which is something we're intending to do when we've completed the core BoB range. But everything will be available separately too of course.

[Putty Animal]

Honestly cant wait for the campaign to kick off.  Hoping for thin canopies and even thinner panel lines. 🙂

The Sweet Hurri is probably the best for panel lines at the moment.  However even this needs a prime and a sand to reduce them down to a more realistic level.  Arguably they could do to be sanded down even finer than what is shown here.

 

[WLJayne]

That's an absolutely exquisite Hurricane! Really well done! Our canopies will be the same thickness as the Sweet kits (we bought some Hurris to measure from.) We're really hoping that extremely high precision EDM spark eroder that our toolmaker has will be able to render such fine details and panel lines but they seem very confident.  The complete absence of any tooling marks from milling machine cutters indicates that the Hurri was tooled the same way. The Sweet panel lines are around 0.15mm deep and wide as far as we can make out, and we think that's probably going to be the limit of what can be reproduced in steel. So if you want finer lines, you may have to give them a little extra attention as you did here. Sweet really is at the top of the game in 1/144 and if we could match them in quality we'd be happy, we're just hoping to exceed in terms of the range and availability in the market. Here's a better photo of our spitfire parts, though it's 3D printed so not quite as crisp as the plastic will be, and I gave it a Tamiya wash to bring out the panels so we could see them more clearly for evaluation.

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by WLJayne

[WLJayne]

In fact I just tried to get a decent photo side by side - it's not the best, but as you can see, the panel lines are pretty much bang on with the Sweet Hurricane.

 

[mike romeo]

1 minute ago, WLJayne said:

In fact I just tried to get a decent photo side by side - it's not the best, but as you can see, the panel lines are pretty much bang on with the Sweet Hurricane.

 

Looks very nice.  I hope to help support this effort in due course.

 

Rgds

 

Martin

[Tim R-T-C]

On 12/30/2020 at 11:05 PM, Putty Animal said:

 

I'd love to know how you got the open canopy to look so good.

 

Perhaps preoulded parts to make open canopies could be an extra for these kits - would be great for anyone making a scramble scene.