Airfix new 1/35 Cromwell Tanks

[colin]

On 3/5/2021 at 5:57 PM, Scimitar F1 said:

Thank you for posting. I will definitely get one. Wheels can be cooed with.

 

if I was them I would et Academy to redo  them.

 

Will

But if it was Airfix's CAD and reserach which Academey was following why should they

[Test Valley Models]

7 hours ago, Mike Starmer said:

Correct me if I am wrong but do the kit instructions tell you to paint your Cromwell with Humbrol 159 khaki drab.?  If so this is incorrect, these tanks were paintedwith SCC.15 Olive Drab (British colour) which is much darker green.  The nearest OOT is Humbrol 253 which is actually a little light.  A touch of yellow will correct this.

Do people still use Humbrol paint ?

I stopped stocking their acrylics because they were going off in the pots, sales compared to Tamiya and Vallejo were dismal

[junglierating]

On 3/4/2021 at 12:09 PM, magman2 said:

Yes but this was heralded, as  the Airfix big new entry into 1/35.

It should have been checked over!!!! And to say xyz models got this and that wrong, is not up for discussion here  the subject is New Airfix  1/35 Cromwell Kit.

Ah you what they didnt do is ask you clearly😄 I might get one see what the fuss is about ....mind you how much is a tamiya one🤔

Edited March 6, 2021 by junglierating

[Test Valley Models]

Airfix seem to be good at making mistakes on their flagship kits.

It also begs the question, which tank did they scan to get the number of wheel blots wrong, or was it a simple miscount ?

 

I still have several of the reboxed Academy kits gathering dust on the shelf, they stopped selling when my customers realised they were old Academy kits.

I've not ordered any of these in because of lockdown, I'm even more reluctant to now, my lot are a right bunch of rivet counters !  (joke lads !)

[Bonhoff]

Is it my imagination or do the painting  instructions show 8 bolts per wheel?

 

And come to think of it, the 1/76th Cromwell has the right number of bolts too....

 

IanJ

[Scimitar F1]

9 hours ago, colin said:

On 3/5/2021 at 5:57 PM, Scimitar F1 said:

Thank you for posting. I will definitely get one. Wheels can be cooed with.

 

if I was them I would et Academy to redo  them.

 

Will

But if it was Airfix's CAD and reserach which Academey was following why should they

Depends if they contracted out the research. They should retool and fix as other companies have done. 

[Bullbasket]

9 hours ago, Test Valley Models said:

wheel blots wrong,

THEY GOT THE WHEEL BLOTS WRONG AS WELL???  OMG!! another disaster!!

[Cerberus]

10 hours ago, Bonhoff said:

Is it my imagination or do the painting  instructions show 8 bolts per wheel?

 From watching an unboxing video where they zoom in on the painting instructions, they do appear to show 8 bolts/nuts per wheel yes.

 

 Matt

[IanC]

18 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

To me, Airfix don't appear to have done anything to make me choose their product over the Tamiya one. When it was initially announced, and they said that they would be doing a Mk.Vl as well, I, along with many, thought that their's would have the edge over the Tamiya product, but it doesn't appear to be the case.

 

John.

 

I agree, but at least the box art knocks Tamiya out of the park, and will surely encourage casual buyers. Hopefully, strong sales will  encourage them to expand the range - how about an Airfix Covenanter? 😄

[Bullbasket]

1 hour ago, IanC said:

 how about an Airfix Covenanter

Listen. Can you hear that? It's the sound of ice crystals forming in Hell.

[magman2]

Academy did retool parts on the Lee/Grant, when they made an error on the size of the bogies.

[nheather]

17 hours ago, junglierating said:

....mind you how much is a tamiya one🤔s

Cheaper than the Airfix one, £25.95 including shipping from Jadlam.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

 

 

[Seahawk]

18 hours ago, Bonhoff said:

And come to think of it, the 1/76th Cromwell has the right number of bolts too....

 

I've read that the Airfix 1/32 polythene Cromwell issued in the 1970s as a wargaming toy did as well.  And had the rivets around the shell ejection port.

[Kingsman]

8 hours ago, nheather said:

Cheaper than the Airfix one, £25.95 including shipping from Jadlam.

But add on a tenner or more (inc shipping) for the Hobbyboss indy link tracks if those are your preference for a fair comparison as Airfix give you both.  Otherwise they seem broadly comparable, which is perhaps disappointing bearing in mind the age difference.  Especially the wrong engine deck again.  This is correctable with filling and scribing but the triangular locking catches are a pain to replace.  Although there is the Accurate Armour D deck: £££.

 

I imagine that Panzer Art might be working on the wheels as they already do spare ones, so they're half way there.  But kiss goodbye to £15-20 for those.  Someone like DEF might do some too.  I take the point that the kit parts could be corrected but I know that my skills are not up to shaving off 10 sets of bolt heads cleanly and replacing them with uniform precision.

 

There might be replacement turret panels with corrected pistol ports from someone, maybe PA again.  Accurate Armour already do several Cromwell update sets, although whether any of these will fit directly remains to be seen.

 

The optional turret fronts might be useful but the split barrel is a bit old-fashioned now.  Slide moulds are not exactly new.

 

But overall the impression seems to be one of a big let-down: a defeat snatched from the jaws of a possible victory.  A poor choice of configuration poorly done.  I won't be binning my WIP Centaur IV and starting again with the Airfix kit.  Although I wouldn't mind a set of the link/length tracks as the Hobbyboss ones are very fiddly.

 

[nheather]

6 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

But add on a tenner or more (inc shipping) for the Hobbyboss indy link tracks if those are your preference for a fair comparison as Airfix give you both.  Otherwise they seem broadly comparable, which is perhaps disappointing bearing in mind the age difference.  Especially the wrong engine deck again.  This is correctable with filling and scribing but the triangular locking catches are a pain to replace.  Although there is the Accurate Armour D deck: £££.

 

I imagine that Panzer Art might be working on the wheels as they already do spare ones, so they're half way there.  But kiss goodbye to £15-20 for those.  Someone like DEF might do some too.  I take the point that the kit parts could be corrected but I know that my skills are not up to shaving off 10 sets of bolt heads cleanly and replacing them with uniform precision.

 

There might be replacement turret panels with corrected pistol ports from someone, maybe PA again.  Accurate Armour already do several Cromwell update sets, although whether any of these will fit directly remains to be seen.

 

The optional turret fronts might be useful but the split barrel is a bit old-fashioned now.  Slide moulds are not exactly new.

 

But overall the impression seems to be one of a big let-down: a defeat snatched from the jaws of a possible victory.  A poor choice of configuration poorly done.  I won't be binning my WIP Centaur IV and starting again with the Airfix kit.  Although I wouldn't mind a set of the link/length tracks as the Hobbyboss ones are very fiddly.

 

I wasn’t commenting on which is best just reacting to the presumption that the Tamiya kit would be more expensive than the Airfix one.

 

I have a Tamiya Cromwell (and Centaur) in my stash, I had been considering getting an Airfix Cromwell but won’t be now - I do like the link and length tracks in the Airfix kit but overall it is a little disappointing - it’s hard to imagine how they messed up the wheels, what reference material were they using.

 

Interestingly, look at the Airfix website here

 

https://uk.airfix.com/products/cruiser-mkviii-a27m-cromwell-mkvi-a1374

 

Even the boxart is confused.  The big artwork shows six bolts but the inset plates show eight bolts.

 

What would be interesting to know - over a year ago when Airfix released the 3D render art that also showed the incorrect number of bolts.  Did anyone feedback to Airfix at the time and if so was it too late or did they choose to ignore it.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[AWFK10]

15 hours ago, Seahawk said:

 

I've read that the Airfix 1/32 polythene Cromwell issued in the 1970s as a wargaming toy did as well.  And had the rivets around the shell ejection port.

I remember that now 50 year-old toy Cromwell fondly. I've just checked photos of an example on eBay and yes, you're right. It did.

[nheather]

22 hours ago, IanC said:

 

I agree, but at least the box art knocks Tamiya out of the park, and will surely encourage casual buyers. Hopefully, strong sales will  encourage them to expand the range - how about an Airfix Covenanter? 😄

The artwork in itself is interesting though.  The painting shows the incorrect six bolts but the inset side elevation plates show the correct eight bolts.

 

The puzzle is the painting - was it done by the same person that designed the moulds, that would explain the mistake being repeated - or was the painting done by a different person, if so how did they make the mistake, did they use the mould design as their only reference material or were they instructed to paint it incorrectly so that it matches the kit.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[nheather]

21 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Listen. Can you hear that? It's the sound of ice crystals forming in Hell.

I guess my hopes for a Matilda I are dashed then

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[Mike]

2 hours ago, nheather said:

was it done by the same person that designed the moulds, that would explain the mistake being repeated

It's possible that a 3D mesh was provided to the artist on which to base his or her work.  I wouldn't lose any sleep over it though, I've seen horrible boxart on good kits and vice versa.  Almost 2 whole pages on two missing bolts per wheel.  At least we know now, and can correct it if we feel like it.  If anyone gets responses on their WIP or RFI threads that involve multiple exclamation points or question marks after comments about the bolts, prepare yourself for mickey extraction.

[Julien]

On 06/03/2021 at 22:19, Test Valley Models said:

Do people still use Humbrol paint ?

I stopped stocking their acrylics because they were going off in the pots, sales compared to Tamiya and Vallejo were dismal

Yes quite a few people still do, many of them who we would not call serious modellers. Airfix must still sell quite a lot of it to keep making it. Drying in the pots seemed to be an early problem with these. As to why Airfix still call out Humbrol, well its there own brand the same reason Revell only give call outs in Revell paints.

[AntPhillips]

11 hours ago, Das Abteilung said:

The optional turret fronts might be useful but the split barrel is a bit old-fashioned now.  Slide moulds are not exactly new.

 

 

Hi Das,

 

You might be misinterpreting the photo, it doesn't have a split barrel, well not split along its length anyway, it has 2 slide moulded barrels with different muzzle brake shapes and a separate muzzle brake end:

 

[nheather]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

It's possible that a 3D mesh was provided to the artist on which to base his or her work.  I wouldn't lose any sleep over it though, I've seen horrible boxart on good kits and vice versa.  Almost 2 whole pages on two missing bolts per wheel.  At least we know now, and can correct it if we feel like it.  If anyone gets responses on their WIP or RFI threads that involve multiple exclamation points or question marks after comments about the bolts, prepare yourself for mickey extraction.

 

It's just an unfortunate missed opportunity - they could have easily superseded the Tamiya Kits.

 

I have both the Cromwell and the Centaur in my stash but if the Airfix kit had come along, addressed the errors in the Tamiya kit I would have gone out and bought it.

 

But it seems that they have retained the Tamiya faults, introduced some new ones but it does have better tracks and is a similar price.  I'd say it is open to debate which is the better kit Tamiya or Airfix - it's just a shame that Airfix missed the opportunity to be the best available.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[geoffypres]

I have just purchased both the new Airfix Cromwells and was very disappointed. I would suggest that anyone wishing to buy a 1/35 Cromwell purchase the Tamiya Cromwell/Centaur. 

I have also followed the Airfix Cromwell build on 'Modelkit Stuff' channel on YouTube and there appears to be some fit problems. I think Tamiya kits have sharper detail that the Airfix/Academy 

kits. The link and length tracks are an improvement over Tamiya that's about it as far as I'm concerned. 

If anybody has an old Tamiya Cromwell their wheels do fit the new Airfix Cromwell, I've tried them, 

Things not looking good for the proposed Airfix 1/35 K2 Ambulance, 

 

[nheather]

6 minutes ago, geoffypres said:

 

Things not looking good for the proposed Airfix 1/35 K2 Ambulance, 

 

 

I wouldn't go that far, no reason to think it will be bad.  My only concern is that if the Cromwell doesn't do as well as expected that may discourage Airfix from doing more 1:35 armour.

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[PaulH]

Hi All I'm building this kit at the moment - wheels aside I cannot believe the fit - its fantastic absolute pleasure to build almost tamiya like

 

https://imgbox.com/kUwf0hjA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2021 by PaulH