Jump to content

1/72 De Havilland Mosquito by Airfix - released

Bjorn

By Bjorn
in The Rumourmonger

 Share

Recommended Posts

Piotr Mikolajski Very Obsessed Member

Piotr Mikolajski

Posted
Posted
On 8/20/2021 at 7:55 PM, Denford said:

Once again, the objectives of Airfix, Tamiya or any other kit producer is to make money.

 

Yep. That is why every company tries to "squeeze" the maximum profit out of a project.

  

On 8/20/2021 at 7:55 PM, Denford said:

certainly not to provide modellers the means to build a complete ‘coverage’ of any particular type.

 

Yes and no. If making each additional version means increasing the investment cost by 20-30%, nobody will bother with these additional versions, because the return on investment will be uncertain, and even if the investment pays off, it will be over a very long period.

 

However, if 5-10 additional versions cost 10-20% more, such an investment makes a lot of sense, because additional versions mean additional boxes to produce in the following years. Even if each of these additional versions is sold as a limited edition of 500 units, with 10 versions an additional 5000 models will be sold. In today's market, selling such a number is a significant success.

 

  

On 8/20/2021 at 7:55 PM, Denford said:

To every rule there is an exception, and Eduard seem to be dedicated to producing many varieties of the same type, may I say, for the specialist modeller.

 

I'm sorry, but in today's market it's more likely Airfix is the exception to the rule.

 

Eduard, Hasegawa, IBG Models, ICM, MiniArt, Special Hobby - each of these companies develops complex projects, taking into account different versions and modifications so as to issue them in a separate box. This is done already at the design level, taking into account the necessity of such a technological division, which will make it possible to build many versions based on a maximum of common parts.

Why? Because it is cheaper. Yes, the investment is a little more expensive, but the profits are noticeably higher.

 

Eduard could produce a Bf 109G-6 and the model would sell well. In fact, their oversized G-6 was bestseller. But they made a whole new tool family of different variants of the F and G versions, with many different production variations. And the whole family sells much better than just one Bf 109G-6. It sells well enough that the release of a G-12 version was added to the production plans, because it will sell too. That's over 40 boxes already. Now this whole project is being prepared in 1/72 scale and Eduard will certainly not limit itself to three boxes. You can already be sure that this will be a market success.

 

Hasegawa could make one version of the B-24 and it would be a very good model. But it did make the B-24D, B-24J, F-7 plus the Liberator III and V from Coastal Command, a total of 12 boxes. Did that increase sales? Of course.

 

IBG Models could have made one PZL.37 Łoś kit, but why waste the opportunity? Adding different variants of the fuselage or other details does not significantly increase the cost of the investment, but allows to offer different versions of the aircraft. And it doesn't matter that they were used by a not very popular air force, the most important thing is that the modeller has a choice of versions to choose from, so he buys more than one box.

 

ICM could make just a single Do 17Z, as Airfix did. But instead, at the same time, it made the whole Do 17Z / Do 215 family. As a result, we have the Do 17Z-2, Z-7, Z-10 and the Do 215B-4 and B-5 - bombers, night fighters, reconnaissance aircraft. Straight from the box.

 

MiniArt could make one Cierva C.30 model and that would already be a nice surprise. But they made a whole family, differing in engines, among other things. At the moment it is 7 different boxes, including the British Avro 671 or the German variant from Focke-Wulf.

 

Special Hobby has been doing whole families of models instead of single boxes for a long time. Does anyone complain about the possibility to buy Meteor in versions F.I, F.III, F.4, T.7, F.8, FR.9, PR.10, NF.11, NF.12, NF.13, NF.14 or experimental Trent and F.8 (Prone)? Does anyone think that the choice of seven Vampire versions (F.I, F.3, FB.5, FB.6, FB.9, FB.52 and S.E. 535 Mistral) is too much? I don't think so.

 

And, since we're talking about the two-stage Mosquito, Special Hobby has announced the release of the first model for this year. Also this time they prepared the whole family, the renders show nine versions if I remember correctly.

 

spacer.png

spacer.png

 

  

On 8/20/2021 at 7:55 PM, Denford said:

Airfix however are for the mass market and often the ‘younger’ modeller.

 

These days there is no such thing as a mass market as was known 30-40 years ago. Selling five thousand boxes of one kit worldwide is already a good result, selling fifteen thousand is a real success, selling fifty thousand is every manufacturer's wet dream.

 

Aircraft for beginners are produced by Hobby Boss - cheap, with few parts, simple in construction, resistant to flying around the room and landing hard on the wall.

 

Yes, many modellers do not distinguish between Spitfire V and XVI or Bf 109E-1 and G-10. They are not even going to learn the differences. But they will buy models by looking at the illustrations on the boxes, because that is something they are interested in.

If a company produces a Bf 109G in one box, it has a much worse offer for such a buyer than a company packing a Bf 109G-2, G-4, G-6, G-10 or G-14 in dozens of boxes. This is why Eduard sells tens of thousands of Bf 109 kits.

 

 

  • Like 11
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
alt-92 Very Obsessed Member

alt-92

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, Ed Russell said:

And it's being suggested elsewhere on Britmodeller that it is vastly under scale.

Suggested is the correct term, yes.  All based on a typo. 

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
JamesP Obsessed Member

JamesP

Posted
Posted

To use a generalisation - aunties don’t buy Eduard kits …

 

I have a lot more faith that Airfix know their market more than anyone on here does; a representation of a very small part of the model kit market. If they aren’t planning multiple versions then they have their reasons.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Julien Blabber Mouth

Julien

Posted
Posted
On 21/08/2021 at 15:58, Mike said:

I've hidden a bunch of off-topic mumbling, so please stick to the subject in hand :yes:

Again a whole load of superfluous posts removed from this thread containing wishlists, details of other kits and generally off topic posts. 

 

Please keep to topic

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
klr Very Obsessed Member

klr

Posted
Posted

I took the plunge today and bought not one but two of these, despite all the commentary.

 

The strangest thing: One of the kits has the Beaufort transparency sprue, although the label on the sprue bag (ATML-572) is for the Mosquito. So blame whoever (or whatever) bagged the sprues, not whoever boxed the bags. I've emailed the Airfix spare parts people, and sent on all that they asked for.

 

I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but was there more than one size of underwing tank? The tanks in this kit are much deeper (vertically) than those in the 1973 kit, or in the Tamiya kits. The cover artwork clearly shows this.

  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
lasermonkey Very Obsessed Member

lasermonkey

Posted
Posted
Just now, klr said:

 

I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but was there more than one size of underwing tank? The tanks in this kit are much deeper (vertically) than those in the 1973 kit, or in the Tamiya kits. The cover artwork clearly shows this.

The Mosquito could carry 50, 100 or 200 gallon tanks. I suspect the ones in the new Airfix kit are 100 gal tanks. I'm not aware of anyone having done 200 gal tanks in 1/72.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
klr Very Obsessed Member

klr

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, lasermonkey said:

The Mosquito could carry 50, 100 or 200 gallon tanks. I suspect the ones in the new Airfix kit are 100 gal tanks. I'm not aware of anyone having done 200 gal tanks in 1/72.

Thanks, I think I've only ever seen the 50 gallon (imperial?) tanks before, on the Tamiya, 1973 Airfix and (possibly) Matchbox kits.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dave Swindell Very Obsessed Member

Dave Swindell

Posted
Posted

 

2 hours ago, lasermonkey said:

The Mosquito could carry 50, 100 or 200 gallon tanks. I suspect the ones in the new Airfix kit are 100 gal tanks. I'm not aware of anyone having done 200 gal tanks in 1/72.

Yes, they're 100 gal tanks. as far as I'm aware all other 1/72 kit tanks are 50 gal. Freightdog & Paragon have done resin 100 gal tanks, Paragon have done 200 gal tanks

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Adam Poultney Completely Obsessed Member

Adam Poultney

Posted
Posted
On 31/08/2021 at 17:56, lasermonkey said:

The Mosquito could carry 50, 100 or 200 gallon tanks. I suspect the ones in the new Airfix kit are 100 gal tanks. I'm not aware of anyone having done 200 gal tanks in 1/72.

I suspect we'll see resin ones very soon then for all sizes relevent for this variant, made to fit this kit, if they haven't already been done

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
John B (Sc) Very Obsessed Member

John B (Sc)

Posted
Posted

Having, quite unexpectedly, got one of these kits I drooled quietly over it before deciding to have a look to see what fellow modellers made of it.  Hmm, interesting.

 

Personally, since I go back to the original first issue Airfix Mosquito - the bagged 2/11d in Woolies kit, I think this is magnificent.   I don't think I ever built the second moulding, though I may well have an unbuilt one deep in the older parts of he 'stash', possibly a  Swedish variant?  Certainly made the Matchbox kit, which came up well with some adjustment, in PR colours.  I have built a few larger scale Mosquitos over the years as well.

 

This is a great kit to tempt me back into more 72nd scale modelling.  Sure there are minor 'oopses', mostly easily fixed with a bit of wet and dry and some Milliput or filler, or left as is for the inevitable TT35 variants.  The provision of several canopy variants, the internal bomb bay detail and cockpit detail, the superb and well thought out exhausts, cast in separate parts for better detail,  these are terrific. As also is the thinking behind the undercarriage assembly.  Well done Airfix.  Incidentally unlike some I'm not convinced the undercarriage is too thin or spindly. I think we get accustomed to somewhat overscale u/c gear in 72nd scale, because otherwise it is too delicate. This seems to me quite close to the look of the real thing - and certainly appears to build up to an impressively busy assembly. The mudguards need thinning at their edges, of course and yes the tyre detail is a touch too prominent. You will note some pages back on here that the designer specifically sked for more prominent detail because at first it was too faint.  Easy to sand down, much simpler to remove excess than to build up more. As for the tailwheel, is it really that much too slim?  It seems to me to have moulding in the tyre which hints at the anti-shimmy pattern. In this scale, probably enough to allow us to bring it out with some shading - tyres are seldom uniformly dark grey nor all black, especially with some runway dust around.  

 

Yes, the wing skin panel overlaps are a touch OTT, but again a little careful wet and dry sorts that - almost all recent 72nd scale models seem to have slightly too heavy surface detail, but for an old style modeller that is easier to reduce rather than having to add. 

 

Oh - and someone commented about the rather slim pilot and the lack of a navigator. Ignoring the obvious point that people were generally slimmer then and pilots often smaller - especially those flying a/c which were a tight squeeze - perhaps the  crew here is intended to be one of those slim young ATA ferry lady pilots who flew without navigators in all sorts of complex aeroplanes. 

 

A terrific kit and one which I am going to enjoy taking my time over. My thanks to all of you who have pointed out minor glitches and hiccups. Like many I used to have to use balsa, talc and dope to modify my older kits, so this one looks a breeze. Whee !

 

(And at least one will have to be modified to look like the 633 Sqn Mosquitos I watched contour chasing up in the Highlands years ago)

  • Like 17
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
dalea Obsessed Member

dalea

Posted
Posted

Sorry to add to the length of this post but can anybody tell me what is happening to the distribution of this kit? Out of stock at the usual suspects, has never arrived in Oz or Japan, Yes I know they are made in India, Covid, Brexit etc but they appear to be rarities before they have even started.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...