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What model has nobody kitted that you REALLY want to see?


Alan P

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19 minutes ago, Sabrejet said:

 Or, from my point of view, resin every time. But why are modellers shy of resin? 

There's an element of 'stick with what you know', plus the general assumption that an expensive injection-moulded kit will probably be far more forgiving of modeller's skills (or lack thereof!) than a comparably-priced resin one. But horses for courses, I guess.

 

In aviation training these days we talk about 'children of the magenta' when we discuss highly automated flight management and the generation of pilots who have come through their entire training in the era of glass cockpit, fully managed flight automation. It's part disdain and part acceptance of the way things are. I guess our hobby now is about 'children of the Tamiya' :lol:

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1 hour ago, Alan P said:

There's an element of 'stick with what you know', plus the general assumption that an expensive injection-moulded kit will probably be far more forgiving of modeller's skills (or lack thereof!) than a comparably-priced resin one. But horses for courses, I guess.

 

In aviation training these days we talk about 'children of the magenta' when we discuss highly automated flight management and the generation of pilots who have come through their entire training in the era of glass cockpit, fully managed flight automation. It's part disdain and part acceptance of the way things are. I guess our hobby now is about 'children of the Tamiya' :lol:

Very true.  

 

In the same way as there are excellent to good (Tamiya) and bad to appalling (Beechnut, PM) injection-moulded kits, so there are excellent to good and bad to appalling resin kits.  Ten or 15 years ago I bought some superb Czech CMR resin kits which achieved things that wouldn't have been even attempted in injection.  What I see from firms like Flyhawk suggest that that the state of the resin art has moved on considerably since then.  The resin Martinet kits were by Magna, one of the early small-volume ("cottage") resin producers.  Though buildable, all kits were crude, hence the cruel moniker Magma has stuck.  I can understand the less than totally committed being deterred but I give the man credit for giving us Albacores. Martinets and Firebrands 10-15 years before the injection companies got round to them.

 

Still on the theme of Martinets, there was also a Pavla injection-moulded kit.

 

And, coming right back to the title of the thread, has anyone anywhere produced in any scale a kit of the Short Sturgeon, apart from aforesaid Magna, who did all 4 variants (PR.I, TT,2, the inelegant TT.3 and the utterly groteque Short S.B.3)?  Has anyone attempted a Henley in injection?  I'd buy both - in 1/72.

Edited by Seahawk
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3 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

But why are modellers shy of resin? It's been around for decades (my first resin build was circa 1986) and vac forms too (Rareplanes FJ-1, circa 1981 for me)

For me its not a matter of shyness, its a budgetary reason. I cant even buy some new tooled Inj. molds (New Tamiya) due to the cost. 

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Not resin, (and definitely no vac form!) I don’t really have the skill to make those. Got to be proper injection moulded with engraved panel lines, and flaps/ailerons you can hang down:
 

1/72: HS748, Andover E.3, HP Hastings, Vulcan B.1, Victor B.1. 
 

1/48: Swift FR.5, Dominie T.1, Jetstream T.1, Beagle Basset, Devon, Hunter T.7, Tornado F.2.  

 

 

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Should I mention kits for which no injected plastic kit existed, then there's a trio of postwar jets that I'd like to add to my collection in 1/72 scale: the IAR 93/ Soko Orao, the AMX and the Indian Marut.

All have been made in resin (and I have a resin AMX in this scale) but none in plastic (not in this scale anyway, there are AMX kits in 1/48).

Of course being subjects used by lesser known air forces they are not as popular as others but all 3 have had longer careers and seen much more action than types like the Swift, Javelin, Sea Vixen, Scimitar and so on...

Another type that I'd love to buy is a late Chinese J-7 variant, again these have appeared in resin or in other scales but there's no 1/72 plastic kit of these, surprising considering that they are widely exported aircraft

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51 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

1/48: Swift FR.5, Dominie T.1, Jetstream T.1, Beagle Basset, Devon, Hunter T.7, Tornado F.2.  

Can we add the Hunter T.66B to the list? Hunter trainers with two cannons look awesome to me.

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One that has never been done at all in 1/48 AFAIK, Bristol Brigand.   Would be an impressive model. Surprised never done as a vacform though.

 

One that should be done, 1/48 Dassult Ouragan, and has been in resin, by JGMT, crudely,. And what looks to be very well by Isradecal,. But is $90.

 

Why, early jet, looks good,  but more significant than say the Swift or Scimitar, echoing what 

@Giorgio N

has  quite a few neat schemes, French including Patrouille De France, Israeli, where it saw combat, Suez and Six day war in.3 schemes,  Indian, also saw combat and the ex Israeli were sold to El Salvador.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Ouragan

 

My wild card would be the Hawker Henley...... Again, never done in 1/48 in any form

 

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1 hour ago, Paul J said:

How about a 1/72 and_or 1/48 Miles Gemini ! And other1950s _70s vintage types.

Both Croco and Dujin have done the Gemini in 1/72, but in resin. And I'd like to see more 50s-70s light civil aircraft in 1/72: Piper Tri-Pacer, Comanche, and Apache; Cessna 170, 172, and 210; etc.

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1/72  Vickers Varsity

1/72  Slingsby T-21 Sedburgh glider

1/72 Slingsby  T-31  Cadet Mk.3 glider

1/72  Percival Prentice

1/72  Auster Autocrat/Alpha/Aiglet

 

yes most of these have appeared in vac-form,but would like to see plastic injection.

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7 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

I'd like to see more 50s-70s light civil aircraft in 1/72: Piper Tri-Pacer, Comanche, and Apache; Cessna 170, 172, and 210; etc.

I'm amazed there aren't more kits of the kind of aircraft commonly used in training and general aviation. Surely there's a market there? The same applies to private or corporate aviation. 

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7 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

Both Croco and Dujin have done the Gemini in 1/72, but in resin. And I'd like to see more 50s-70s light civil aircraft in 1/72: Piper Tri-Pacer, Comanche, and Apache; Cessna 170, 172, and 210; etc.

Never heard of Croco

and never knew Dujin did one???? But injection kits are my preferences. I know Pavla did the Miles Messenger and one due from AZ I believe.

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13 minutes ago, Paul J said:

Never heard of Croco

and never knew Dujin did one???? But injection kits are my preferences. I know Pavla did the Miles Messenger and one due from AZ I believe.

Croco Model Company is a Latvian enterprise. They seem to sell primarily through the Aviation Megastore and on eBay. The Dujin kit is new, just announced a few days ago.

 

VFRModels is a relatively new UK enterprise offering 3D printed light civil aircraft. He’s done a Mooney M20, Bellanca Viking, Piper Aerostar, and Cessna 206, all quite good.

Edited by Space Ranger
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9 minutes ago, Space Ranger said:

The Dujin kit is new, just announced a few days ago.

But it's resin. I have built many of Dujin s gliders all to varying quality. So I would prefer an injectionction kit of it. Also as mentioned w/o e I would love to see the Sedburgh done ad injection though. I do have a built vac form of one.  

As for other genres of kits I would like to see lots of kits of some of the well known British cars like the Morris Minor,Wolseley 680', Ford range all to 1/32!

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10 hours ago, Dave Fleming said:

1/72 Avro Athena - the only post-war RAF aircraft that's never been kitted in any form

 

That reminds me of one factor in all these discussions: the number of aircraft subjects that never had a kit of some kind made is actually quite limited, at least in the most common scales (a 1/24 Pulqui may be a different story...). Of course many would not consider vacufom or resin kit or other forms of "cottage industry" products, but I wonder, given the choice of no kit or something different from injected plastic,  Even some plastic kits may be old or hard to find or inaccurate or from an era where a pilot head as part of the fuselage was acceptable, all things that may put off modellers, hence lists like these where a number of types that are actually available in kit form become the subject of modellers wishes.

 

That then reminds me of one other thing I wonder any time I see a wish list: how many modellers would actually BUY the kit they wish for once this is released ???

Now personally I'd have no problem, I'd like to see kits of small/medium sized jet combat aircraft, something that would cost in the £20-25 range at worst, but whenever I see things like 1/32 bombers or 1/48 large aircraft I always think of the cost that such kits would have. Many may wish a 1/32 Vulcan, but such a kit would easily cost £2-300 or more, how many would like one but would also pay for one ??? This is the question that sometimes I'd like to ask... 🤣

 

Sorry for the OT, not back to the list.....

Edited by Giorgio N
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9 minutes ago, Giorgio N said:

That then reminds me of one other thing I wonder any time I see a wish list: how many modellers would actually BUY the kit they wish for once this is released ???

This is a very good point. Even if the much anticipated kit is released, it becomes subject to the usual gripes and moans about scale, variant, accuracy, cost and so on.

 

When I started up the hobby again about 15 years ago, the buzz was all about the 1/48 Vigilante. Then it was released, and nobody bought it for the reasons above.

 

So it's not just 'we want the kit' but also 'we want the kit to be accurate, precision engineered, falls together, and cheap' and that's where it all falls down 😢

 

Consumer attitudes are generally the main reason they never get what they want!

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I suggest that the reason "nobody bought" the 1/48 Vigilante as because the interest was generated by those who wrote to enthusiast-centred surveys, and interest outside this limited number didn't exist.  Even then, not everyone answering the question "what is most missing?" is necessarily going to buy the thing.  I don't recall comments that the model was inaccurate, badly engineered, or difficult to make.  High price had to be taken for granted!  However, in my experience, those who actually want such subjects object less to higher prices for them.  Certainly true for me, anyway.

 

Example: the Manchester is probably the most important RAF WW2 type missing from model ranges.  Do I want one - no.  Did I pay low-run injection moulding costs for the likes of NA.57s, FK.58 ... oh yes.

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8 minutes ago, Graham Boak said:

However, in my experience, those who actually want such subjects object less to higher prices for them. 

I wonder if the solution if for companies (esp. short run makers) to take a 'kick starter' approach? Basically if you wanted the model produced, you had to put your money where your mouth is. If enough interest is shown, it gets made. If not, you get your money back. Of course I can see potential issues around expected quality.

 

Cheers

 

Colin

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