Question Will Airfix do the Venom and maybe Sea Venom FAmily in 1/48????

[Corvi]

I am completing the Classic Airframes kit -not bad some obstacles to overcome since the kit was not complete and had to retro fit an Aeroclub canopy but otherwise decent build with all the trials & tribulations of a short run kit.

 

My Question is I have the excellent 1/48 Airfix Vampire...Wondering if they will do the Venom family too?  If they do a T.11 Vampire it seems not a far jump to a Sea Venom??   Just curious if Airfix will delve into other Vampire variants and the Venom family?? 

 

 

Steve,

[Selwyn]

We all know what we would like , however The only people to ask on that is Airfix!

Anything else would be pure speculation.

 

Selwyn

[Adam Maas]

It's a safe bet they'll eventually get there. How long? Who knows.

They've now done both the predecessor (Vampire) and successor (Sea Vixen). But I'd suspect we'll see a late Vampire/Sea Vampire first.

[Corvi]

Yes Perhaps go through the Vampire family then a T/11...then onto the Venoms>  We can hope

 

Steve

[Bozothenutter]

Airfix is not really known for doing 'all' the versions exhaustively. 

So wouldn't get my hopes up.

Then again, not making all the Vampires would shorten the time to get to the Venom...😉

[Adam Maas]

1 minute ago, Bozothenutter said:

Airfix is not really known for doing 'all' the versions exhaustively. 

So wouldn't get my hopes up.

Then again, not making all the Vampires would shorten the time to get to the Venom...😉

Airfix is mostly a 'hit the high notes' maker for everything except Spitfires (where they do have the most exhaustive lineup of the big manufacturers)

That said, they've done the T.11 in 1/72, and I expect similar in 1/48 at some points

[wellsprop]

I really enjoyed the Classic Airframes Sea Venom, but it does take some work! 

 

The Sea Venom and Vampire T11 are right up Airfix's Street, that said, I don't see it happening as Pilot Replicas have a T11 and Sea Venom on the way...

 

Im looking at a doing a T11 conversion for Airfixs Vampire too 😉

[Rabbit Leader]

Although I would dearly love both single seat and twin seat Venom / Sea Venom kits, something tells me that Airfix’s marketing department will think it looks too much like their recently released Vampire so wont. I’m not basing this theory on any particular science, however the Venom has far less export and reboxing possibilities, which would probably limit potential sales. Happy to eat my hat if I’m wrong and a BBQ sauce dipped Slouch Hat kinda sounds tasty at the moment! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[wellsprop]

@Rabbit Leader agreed on that, I don't think it's likely to happen soon.

 

That said, aside from the Venom and Swift, Airfix have covered all of the main front line classic jets in 1/48 (albeit some are long out of production). 

 

The only front line jets not done in 1/48 by Airfix are the Phantom, Jaguar, Harrier, Tornado, Typhoon and F35 - all of which already have good mainstream kits easily available.

 

Sorry for the slight drift, but it's got me wondering.

 

Id love to see some 2 seater DH stuff! 

[RichG]

25 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Although I would dearly love both single seat and twin seat Venom / Sea Venom kits, something tells me that Airfix’s marketing department will think it looks too much like their recently released Vampire so wont.

Yeah, I would agree Dave; too soon. I would certainly expect to see a 1/48 Venom (probably a 2 seat) at some point but with  a few other types in between. Pure speculation of course but thinking about 4/5 years away.

 

Rich

 

   

Edited December 19, 2021 by RichG

[Giorgio N]

17 minutes ago, wellsprop said:

@Rabbit Leader agreed on that, I don't think it's likely to happen soon.

 

That said, aside from the Venom and Swift, Airfix have covered all of the main front line classic jets in 1/48 (albeit some are long out of production). 

 

The only front line jets not done in 1/48 by Airfix are the Phantom, Jaguar, Harrier, Tornado, Typhoon and F35 - all of which already have good mainstream kits easily available.

 

Sorry for the slight drift, but it's got me wondering.

 

Id love to see some 2 seater DH stuff! 

 

Actually Airfix have issued the Harrier, Tornado ( both GR and F.3) and Jaguar in the past. None would today be considered a modern kit but the Jaguar is still a decent enough starting point for a good model.

Edited December 19, 2021 by Giorgio N

[RichG]

44 minutes ago, wellsprop said:

That said, aside from the Venom and Swift, Airfix have covered all of the main front line classic jets in 1/48 (albeit some are long out of production). 

 

I guess it depends on definition and if you include classic British (rather than RAF) jets, but for completeness there is also the Sea Hawk, Attacker and Scimitar to be done in 1/48.  Other post war types of that era that might distract Airfix from doing a Venom could include a DH Hornet, Fairey Firefly, Westland Wyvern and possibly a Bristol Brigand.  I do see a pattern in Airfix seemingly doing the post war types up to the 60's in 1/48 and the more recent cold war types in 1/72. So I think the Venom is a definite, just not an immediate, choice.

 

Rich

 

PS my momey's on a new Airfix Jag next (and not a E-Type either...)

Edited December 19, 2021 by RichG

[Duncan B]

Airfix don't seem to be too interested in covering multiple variants of most types (Spifire accepted). It does look like the new Vampire has optional parts that will cover the FB.5 etc but those are minor changes so cheap to account for in the r & d costing. They did do a couple of variants of the Hunters too (again, fairly limited retooling required) but in general they don't appear to be too interested in anything less than mainstream types that will be readily recognisable to most casual modellers (not us hard core Forum inhabiting types that are actually a minority within a minority hobby). I doubt they will ever go for Venoms and Sea Venoms because most casual modellers wouldn't buy into it and that is where Airfix's core market is. One glance at the Airfix catalogue tells you that they are not aiming principally at the enthusiast end of the model making scale so I wouldn't get my hopes up.

 

Duncan B

[Lord Riot]

Off the original question but is anyone else surprised that Airfix hasn’t done a 1/48 F-35? 
 

It’s topical as the RAF’s latest fighter, plus plenty of versions; RAF/RN, USAF including decals for the new ones at Lakenheath plus all the foreign operators of the type. 

[Giorgio N]

33 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

Off the original question but is anyone else surprised that Airfix hasn’t done a 1/48 F-35? 
 

It’s topical as the RAF’s latest fighter, plus plenty of versions; RAF/RN, USAF including decals for the new ones at Lakenheath plus all the foreign operators of the type. 

 

Issuing a kit very early in the operational career of a new aircraft is often a bet. From one side being the first means enjoying the whole potential market, on the other hand there is the risk of having a product that could age very quickly, so leaving sales to the competition in the longer term. Maybe at Airfix they are just waiting for the right time to propose a kit with all the right details and markings.

[Agent K]

50 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

Off the original question but is anyone else surprised that Airfix hasn’t done a 1/48 F-35? 
 

It’s topical as the RAF’s latest fighter, plus plenty of versions; RAF/RN, USAF including decals for the new ones at Lakenheath plus all the foreign operators of the type. 

 

That said, the A, B and C variants are different enough that it would, I suspect, require 3 different kits (the B fuselage is different with the lift fan and rotating main nozzle etc., the C has bigger wings and different undercarriage together with arrestor hook/gear). It would be nice to see in 1:48 however, although I'd like to see more squadron markings and colour on the jet!

[Nigel Bunker]

"Will Airfix do the Venom and maybe Sea Venom Family in 1/48?"

 

Probably not.

[71chally]

I can see Airfix doing a 1:48th Venom NF and Sea Venom FAW series (similar to Matchbox 1:32nd example), but eventually.  The single seaters would be seen to be too similar to the current Vampire F.3 release I would think.

I agree with Duncan, unless the changes are fairly minor, Airfix rarely seem interested in producing multiple variants from one mold.  For example with planning ahead and provision on the molds, twin seater versions of their Lightning, Hunter and Vampire kits could have been achieved, there could have been a Sea Vixen FAW.1 with not too many changes.  Probably a lot more involved and with little financial return for the work, B.1 versions of their Vulcan and Victor B.2 kits.

 

I do like the way that the likes of Kinetic and Finemolds seemingly regularly reissue their kits with new versions.

 

[Wez]

8 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

Off the original question but is anyone else surprised that Airfix hasn’t done a 1/48 F-35? 
 

It’s topical as the RAF’s latest fighter, plus plenty of versions; RAF/RN, USAF including decals for the new ones at Lakenheath plus all the foreign operators of the type. 

 

Nope, not in the slightest, I don't think anyone in the MoD would want to infringe ITAR by letting Airfix (or anyone else for that matter), near their latest wonderjet with LIDAR or anything else for that matter.  The US authorities take that sort of thing very seriously and the MoD could find its access to technical data and thus the ability to operate the aircraft dry up.

 

Yes, other manufacturers have made kits of the F-35 but what's the betting they've used publicly released data?

 

Going back to the original question, I hope they will but in 1/72nd scale, I'd buy a bucket load in 1/72nd but only likely one of each in the bigger scale.

 

Whilst a Vampire T.11 may seem a small jump to a Sea Venom to some and it does bear a superficial similarity, they're about as close to each other as the F-84F is to the F-84G (OK, slight exaggeration to emphasise my point but the Vampire and the Venom are fish of a different colour).

[Adam Maas]

There's a lack of decent 1/48 F-35 models in general. IIRC the only one you can buy new right now is the Meng F-35A, although Italeri has a B in the pipeline(might be out, was scheduled for this year). No C models at all unless you find the OOP Kitty Hawk kit.

[BushBrit66]

The don't seem to do families of machines. However I reckon they would consider two seat Venom/Sea Venom as different enough from the Vampire and, the two seaters have relatively minimal differences. Similar to the way they did Spit 22/24 and Seafire 46/47 variants. Minimal effort. 

[k5054nz]

Quote

Question Will Airfix do the Venom and maybe Sea Venom FAmily in 1/48????

They will, as I asked them to do the single-seater in their advent calendar's wishlist promo! 😇

[Ratch]

Why do you want Airfix to do it/them? What would be wrong with any other manufacturer doing them?

[Rabbit Leader]

On 12/28/2021 at 10:06 AM, Ratch said:

Why do you want Airfix to do it/them? What would be wrong with any other manufacturer doing them?

 

Nothing wrong per say @Ratch, however having a major manufacturer like Airfix producing these subjects will probably mean - 

1. They are relatively accurate and easy to build. 

2. Readily available at most local hobby shops without having to resort to paying additional postage. 

 

The latter is only fully appreciated when you live outside UK/Europe and we keep hearing postage costs are always on the rise! 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

[Ratch]

I just wonder why so many folks always ask Airfix for new toolings. To hear some critics, Airfix kits lack accuracy, are not easy to build and would have been better if anyone else had done the subject. Yet we never hear Tamiya/Academy/Eduard/Revell/Wingnutwings/Italeri/Hasegawa/anyoneforthatmatter being requested for those personal favourites.