AIRFIX 2022 rumours/thoughts/chat thread...

[Denford]

7 hours ago, trickydicky210 said:

How about a P39 Airacobra as a starter kit?

 

something slightly different, plenty of schemes and I don’t believe there is a good modern tool of one in the mainstream market 

A possible subject I agree, but not one as a starter kit per above.  Not well known here in UK and the only 'action' scenario would being shot down by a Zero.

[PhantomBigStu]

4 hours ago, Gordon J said:

When Airfix designer Paramjit was on the Flory Models Live show a few months back and I suggested in the YouTube chat that Airfix would probably do a Tornado I thought that just for a second he blinked faster than normal and seemed unusually flustered.

 

Just saying...

 

😏

A new tool ids/gr/ecr would go down a storm, particularly if done in a wayto allow the f3 later on……..got me dreaming for the January announcements

[Adam Poultney]

A Tornado GR1 in camo sounds tempting... And I like the look of the F3. Maybe I could do the example recently delivered to the NELSAM in Sunderland...

 

But I'd honestly rather have something from earlier in the Cold War like a Javelin, Sea Vixen or even a nice new 1/72 Meteor

[Rabbit Leader]

Airfix clearly have an eye for Post War 1/48 British jets and RAF Trainers in both the popular scales, so we may see extensions along these themes? 

 

The obvious gap with the fighters is the DH Venom so it would be nice to see this announced in 1/48 scale to tie it in with all the others in that scale. With luck, alternative parts would also be designed to be able to produce the NF and Sea Venom versions, which I have no doubt would prove to be 10 x more popular in sales than their recent hard winged 1/48 Sabre. 

 

For Trainers, the venerable Anson surely has to have another production run. Next year will be sixty years from when the last one was produced and in my opinion this old mould is not good enough for re-release as a Vintage Classic…. We want / plead a brand new 1/72 Anson…. please! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[alt-92]

3 hours ago, Denford said:

the only 'action' scenario would being shot down by a Zero.

The Motherland disagrees. Please step away from the window

[trickydicky210]

4 hours ago, Denford said:

Definitely NOT Airfix.  

First the likelyhood their tooling it has been comprehensively discussed and rejected here in BM.

Secondly the photo at the source of the speculation, shows an operative wearing a jacket with the logo of the organisation undertaking the work.

a) Airfix do their own scanning

b) If they did, they would not be so indiscreet as to allow such a photo to be taken and\or published.

I was just basing the scimitar on another post within this topic, have not seen a picture or any other posts on a scimitar being scanned. Did make me smile when I read that it’s been rejected here on Britmodeller, so Airfix won’t being doing one. If only we could choose.

 

Going back to the Starter kit, I forgot that Airfix have produced some simple kits, was thinking of a series 1 kit with paint and glue being added. 
Anyway still think a new 1/72 P39 would be welcome.

 

[Denford]

They did indeed, but I think mainly in Ground Attack, where I think they were known as 'Little Shaver'.

I'm doubtful of air-to-air victories.  The RAF rejected it, so it is hard to see how the Russians could have had success against the same enemy.  For example, there was never any question of using them to escort the 8 Air Force.  Excepting possibly the desert, I don't think the US used them anywhere this side of the Atlantic.

Reverting to the\my original post, I don't see it as a starter kit, and with the limited numbers of new kits likely, a second single engined single seater is unlikely.

The most likely source of a new mainsteam kit would surely be Zvezda, though this would require admission that the State had been under equipped....  Good prospects from short run though.

[ckw]

30 minutes ago, Denford said:

I'm doubtful of air-to-air victories.

Actually they had good success e.g. Alexandr Pokryshkin, scored 48 of his 59 victories while flying the P-39. The big difference was that combat on the Eastern front tended to be at much lower altitudes than in the West.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[brewerjerry]

Hi

     I suppose as it is 40yrs from the falklands in 2022,  it will be a vulcan 

   

   it would be nice tho' if they could find the 1:600  SS canberra  molds and re release it

      cheers

          jerry 

[Giorgio N]

1 hour ago, Denford said:

They did indeed, but I think mainly in Ground Attack, where I think they were known as 'Little Shaver'.

I'm doubtful of air-to-air victories.  The RAF rejected it, so it is hard to see how the Russians could have had success against the same enemy.  For example, there was never any question of using them to escort the 8 Air Force.  Excepting possibly the desert, I don't think the US used them anywhere this side of the Atlantic.

Reverting to the\my original post, I don't see it as a starter kit, and with the limited numbers of new kits likely, a second single engined single seater is unlikely.

The most likely source of a new mainsteam kit would surely be Zvezda, though this would require admission that the State had been under equipped....  Good prospects from short run though.

 

Two USAAF fighter groups operated the P-39 in the Mediterranean theatre. 81st FG later transferred to Burma while 350th FG received P-47s.

After being retired from the USAAF, the Airacobras continued to operate in the MTO with French and Italian units til the end of the war, so while the type was sure not a particularly good fighter, it did its job til the very end.

Said that, I can't see Airfix making one now, it may have been a type that positively contributed to the war effort but it's not really one that seem among the best known, particularly in the UK.
 

Zvezda already have a P-39 in their catalogue so I don't expect any from them soon while in short run form the RS kit is easily available. Hopefully one day someone like Special Hobby will issue a new kit. There are of course other options, from the ancient Revell to the old Heller to the more recent Academy... building a 1/72 P-39 is not a problem, building a good 1/72 P-39 is a bit more difficult

[Ratch]

I'm surprised no-one has touted the Hawk for the Starter Kit/

 

Regarding the Tornado scanning, at Telford the Airfix guys told me they'd been to Cosford Lidaring and said "Watch the rumours go round about a Tornado now." If they are working on one, I wouldn't expect the release date to be before 2023.

[Foxbat]

Thinking aloud here, but for new tools a P-47D Razorback would fill a gap and replace Airfix's own kit which dates back to 1966. Looking at the ist of RAF single engines trainers, the Harvard is the only significant one not introduced or retooled this century so that would be a good call (the Tiger Moth, Jet Provost, Vampire, Gnat and Hawk are all in the current range). A replacement for the D3A1 would be lovely as the Zero and Kate are both 21st century kits but the current 1960s mold is due any day now as a Vintage Classic I'm not holding my breath. An Anson would be very Airfix, but I don't know enough about them to suggest a particular mark. 

 

As to new versions of recent kits, another 1/48 Vampire is a given since Airfix stated when it was first announced the chose the F.3 because it was easy to make other marks from (and the bits are already on the sprues ) A retirement Hawk T.1 is a possibility, Airfix do like to churn them out. I'm sure there's a couple of gaps in the numbering for other two stage Mosquitos to fit into. 

 

In 1/35, there's a few WW2 kits Academy have done that Airifx haven't reboxed yet so they're a strong possibility. I can't think of anything obvious that isn't available that Airfix could have Academy tool for them like they did the Cromwells, but don't let that stop anyone. In 1/72, a modern or WW2 Luftwaffe supply set seems an obvious addition at some point.

 

That should keep them going for awhile.  

 

Andy

[Richard Humm]

10 hours ago, Ratch said:

I'm surprised no-one has touted the Hawk for the Starter Kit/

There was a Hawk starter kit released earlier this year, so I doubt there's be another this soon afterwards. If they are following up the Spitfire and Hawk as aircraft in the starter series, then I think a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and a Mustang would be likely candidates, though I can't really think of another modern tyoe that is small enough and well-known enough to fit into the series. There are several other WWII types that could be possiblities though, based on fame and size (Hurricane, Zero, FW 190, Wildcat and Corsair spring to mind). By size, I mean that the kit has to fit on three 8.5" by 4" sprues, so there wouldn't be many twin-engined or larger types possible.

[Richard Humm]

We're talking about two different things here. The new starter kit series are not just kits from the standard range with paints and cement, but simplified kits for beginners like this one:

. Airfix do really need to have something on the packaging to distinguish between them.

[Ratch]

1 hour ago, Richard Humm said:

There was a Hawk starter kit released earlier this year

Oh yes, A55002, forgot about that ☺️

[jenko]

It's official...... the advent calendar will be as bad as this years.  

[Adam Poultney]

11 hours ago, Foxbat said:

An Anson would be very Airfix, but I don't know enough about them to suggest a particular mark. 

This year or next.... I'm calling it now in 1/48

[Julien]

1 hour ago, Richard Humm said:

We're talking about two different things here. The new starter kit series are not just kits from the standard range with paints and cement, but simplified kits for beginners like this one:

. Airfix do really need to have something on the packaging to distinguish between them.

I did say that on both the review for this kit, and the double boxing with the hawk. Only the parts count gives it away

 

Quote

This is a great set to bridge the gap between click together kits and models for the younger modeller. It a shame Airfix dont champion it as this, and make that clear on the box.

 

[Greg B]

Maybe a 1:24 scale Hawk would not be far fetched:

 

• British
• Iconic (especially with the red arrows)
• Exported so lots of variety for markings and potential sales

 

Who knows indeed?

 

Though my money would be on a 1:48 Bucc or Jag

[bootneck]

Has anyone mentioned a nice AW159 Wildcat, in any scale?

[Troy Smith]

On 03/12/2021 at 08:14, Denford said:

I'm doubtful of air-to-air victories.  The RAF rejected it, so it is hard to see how the Russians could have had success against the same enemy. 

Simply height.  The P-39 didn't have a supercharger, (as the USAAF didn't want one) , The war on the Eastern front was tactical,  the P-39 performance fell over over 10,000 ft/3,000m,  and this is where it took place.  Under that height.  Apparently Chuck Yeager thought it was great in it's performance envelope.

 

two of the 3 high scoring VVS aces flew the P-39,  Pokryshkin and Rechkalov.  I thought I'd better check, 

the current VVS list here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_aces_from_the_Soviet_Union

This puts Pokryshkin lower,  but has Dmitry Glinka at 5, and he flew the P-39

see also

http://acepilots.com/planes/soviet_p39_airacobra.html

 

But there were plenty of P-39 aces and it was very successful in VVS service, they had about 4000, and also the took most of the P-63 production as well.

Less well know, the P-39/P-63 served until the early 1950's,  it was very important as a trainer due to the tricycle undercarriage in the transition to jets.

 

On 03/12/2021 at 08:14, Denford said:

but I think mainly in Ground Attack

This is based on a poor translation from Russian,  where it's tactical role,  as in 'support of ground forces'  is taken to mean ground attack.  That's

what the IL-2 Shturmovik was for.  

from the link above

"Tank-Busting Myth

Numerous sources in aviation history describe the Soviet use of the P-39 as a tank-buster. Since this did not happen (except perhaps on occasion, as when one of the Tuskegee Airmen shot up a destroyer with his P-47), how did the myth get started? Certainly that big cannon firing through the propeller suggested the possibility of such use, although typical anti-tank guns were of much larger caliber. In the prologue, James Gebhardt persuasively suggests that poor translations may have contributed to the confusion. A common Russian air operation of the war was "prikrytiye sukhoputnykh voysk," literally translated "coverage of ground forces." To Western readers, such words implied close air support, i.e. trooop-strafing, tank-busting, and other direct support of the infantry. But on reading the extensive, and readily available, Russian sources, it is clear that "prikrytiye sukhoputnykh voysk" meant establishing air superiority in an area, protecting the ground pounders from bombing and strafing by German airplanes."

 

the VVS did have air superiority units,  PVO,  and for high altitude work they used specific types, one of the main PVO types in 1945 was the Spitfire IX,  27 out of 81 PVO types flew them.

 

HTH

[sniperUK]

Airfix are hosting a Spitfire day at Duxford on the 8th of January. 

[JohnT]

14 minutes ago, sniperUK said:

Airfix are hosting a Spitfire day at Duxford on the 8th of January. 

Auspicious time to announce a new tool 1/24 Spitfire 1

 

Wont happen though 

[mps02]

When is the big announcement? Is it going to be into January? If it then the Spitfire day may be the day for a big reveal. Just hoping for some gem in 1/72 that is not a Spitfire. 

[treker_ed]

I think last year it was around the 7th or 8th Jan they made their announcements of the years releases. So may just coincide with Spitfire day!