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1/72 Welsh Models Vickers Viscount.


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10 hours ago, rob Lyttle said:

It's this infernal obsession with guns, bombs and missiles!! Military hardware and killing machines. It pervades the hobby. I even picked up a little Citroën Traction Avant saloon car in 1.48 and Tamiya market it as a German military staff car! WHAT...?? 

I've just started tinkering with a little Lockheed L10 Electra and apart from the "Amelia's plane" option, the other 3 Decal options are for military camouflage schemes. 

Depressing and an infuriating waste. 

Yes, as an ex-civvy aero-engineer and airline lover, I totally agree Rob. Maybe most modellers started out as young'uns watching war films post war, and the stories just got 'ground in'. It would be interesting to know the general percentage of military to civil preference though no doubt the bean counters of the model industry have already done all that...or maybe not?!😉🤔

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10 hours ago, Fazzman said:

 It would be interesting to know the general percentage of military to civil preference though no doubt the bean counters of the model industry have already done all that...or maybe not?!😉🤔

 

If it's any indication, there are 14 times as many posts in the military aviation subforum as compared to this civil aviation subforum. 603,000 posts as compared to 42,200 posts.

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1 hour ago, Ptmvarsityfan said:

civil aviation is a bit of a niche interest

That's the sad thing in a nutshell. 

But we have conversions. There's also a rich vein of civil conversions of war surplus aircraft to civil operations. "Swords into Plough shears". Canada and Alaska of course, Australia etc, but South America, Caribbean, African.... 

I did a Bolivian C46 and a few others. Bolivia is something, aviation-wise. 

Somebody had a B17 Sky truck hauling cargo around for years out of La Paz. They just fix them 😎

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9 hours ago, Ptmvarsityfan said:

True Jamie, civil aviation is a bit of a niche interest sadly.

Cheers, Paul

One in which my interest is growing as I get older - don't know why.

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  • 1 month later...
On 17/05/2022 at 22:20, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

 

If it's any indication, there are 14 times as many posts in the military aviation subforum as compared to this civil aviation subforum. 603,000 posts as compared to 42,200 posts.

Yes, that's so very sad.....😔😔😔

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Civil Aircraft have always been a bit of a Cinderella in the injection moulded kit world.

Not really viable for mainstream manufacturers like Airfix to tool up for a less supported market unfortunately.

Best left to the smaller specialist niche manufacturers.

The Vickers Viscount would be a nice subject in 1/72nd as would be a Handley Page Dart Herald, both being relatively small.airliners compared to the jets.       As for viability, questionable.

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Soooo true Noel. Oh for the Airfix of the 50s, 60's & early 70s when you could buy a DH Heron, an HP Jetstream, a Bristol Freighter, a Britten Norman Islander etc etc.... As you say, from now on I'm afraid it will only be the cottage model industry that will produce those vital civvy airliners nowadays...sniff...

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What's so bad about the smaller niche manufacturers? Sure, their products may be more expensive and more difficult to build compared to the likes of Airfix' (not always necessarily true) but they offer a great service to us enthusiasts in making available all those subjects not financially viable for the bigger companies. 

Considering that many modern short run kits are not only way easier to build than the vacforms of the '70s and '80s but are often better than mainstream injection moulded kits from the same era, I'd say that as modellers we are better server today than they were a few years ago.

Of course there will always be those subjects that for some reason are only available as rare/expensive kits but that's always been the case and it's not limited to airliners. Clearly larger airliners are more likely to end up being expensive but the same would be true for any similarly sized military aircraft

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We should be glad that there are quite a number of smaller niche companies to satisfy the more esoteric whims of many of us.

Georgio has made a point about the good the bad and the indifferent kits we have been served up with over the years.

Some of us can remember those old Aurora aircraft kits with the insignia moulded onto the wings and fuselage. Airfix kits where the pilot was just a moulded head in the cockpit area.

Also some of the very old Lindberg kits that were more like artists impressions than accurate scale models.

That was plastic modelling way back in the 50's when I was a schoolboy.

Fond memories of just sticking them together with tube cement that oozed out all all over the surfaces. whacking on the decals (I'm sure they used to be called waterside transfers back then) and posing them in flying mode on the flimsy stands provided!

Happy days!

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