1/48 - Mitsubishi A6M2b Type 21 "Zero" by Academy - released

[Homebee]

In 2022, Academy is to release a new tool 1/48 Mitsubishi A6M2b Type 21 Zeke/"Zero" - Battle of Midway - kit - ref. 12352

Despite rumours It won't be a rebox from the recent Eduard kit (thread) dixit words from M. Vladimir Šulc, boss from Eduard–Model Accesorries ltd., as from M. Gustav Jung, boss from Wolfpack Design, who's closed ties with Academy Hobby Model Kits - see here: link

Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=4666693050091873&set=pcb.4666695563424955

 

 

V.P.

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Homebee

[franky boy]

That will be an interesting one to compare to the new eduard kit. 

[Adam Maas]

Going to be a hard sell against the Eduard kit, especially once the Weekend Editions start showing up. That seems to already be a real winner and the pricing is quite reasonable as well.

I understand why Academy scheduled it this way (Midway 70th Anniversary is in June), but It's going to be a hard choice to buy the Academy plastic when a brand new Eduard kit is available, has a ton of aftermarket, and a reasonably priced Weekend edition, which pretty much kills all the usual Academy advantages.

The only good thing for Academy is that with that Anniversary showing up, the market for A6M2's (and F4F's) is going to be broader than normal this year.

[Robert]

Or will it be an Eduard kit reboxed ?

 

Regards

Robert

[Adam Maas]

1 minute ago, Robert said:

Or will it be an Eduard kit reboxed ?

 

Regards

Robert

Has Eduard ever provided plastic to anybody other than Special Hobby? 

It's possible of course, and the two types line up to Eduard's big announcements. But it would be a real change in business model for Eduard to sell sprues to somebody else, the only case where we've seen something like that was a couple recent Special Hobby kits, and that's more a case of Eduard providing tooling & molding to them and in return boxing the kit themselves as well.

[Tbolt]

34 minutes ago, Adam Maas said:

Going to be a hard sell against the Eduard kit, especially once the Weekend Editions start showing up. That seems to already be a real winner and the pricing is quite reasonable as well.

I understand why Academy scheduled it this way (Midway 70th Anniversary is in June), but It's going to be a hard choice to buy the Academy plastic when a brand new Eduard kit is available, has a ton of aftermarket, and a reasonably priced Weekend edition, which pretty much kills all the usual Academy advantages.

The only good thing for Academy is that with that Anniversary showing up, the market for A6M2's (and F4F's) is going to be broader than normal this year.

 

It will probably sell well in Asia where the price will be much more reasonable, in the west probably not so much, though Academy might surprise us.

[Adam Maas]

17 minutes ago, Tbolt said:

 

It will probably sell well in Asia where the price will be much more reasonable, in the west probably not so much, though Academy might surprise us.

I'm not expecting a high price in the west either for this Academy kit, but more a case of Weekend Editions are quite aggressively priced by Eduard, so it will struggle on any price advantage unless Eduard pricing is really bad in that locale.

[Adam Maas]

55 minutes ago, Robert said:

Or will it be an Eduard kit reboxed ?

 

Regards

Robert

The main academy announcement has some notes that the Zero and F4F are Academy new tools, not Eduard, from somebody with close ties to Academy.

[Tbolt]

24 minutes ago, Adam Maas said:

I'm not expecting a high price in the west either for this Academy kit, but more a case of Weekend Editions are quite aggressively priced by Eduard, so it will struggle on any price advantage unless Eduard pricing is really bad in that locale.

 

The old Academy WWII fighters sell for around £20 retail and a recent one they boxed was the Mauve P-40N which was £24, so I would expect a new tooled kit to be more expensive than that, so I don't think they would have a price advantage anyway. If it is a new Academy tooling it will be interesting to see what it's like as it's been a long time since they tooled a WWII fighter.

[VMA131Marine]

1 hour ago, Adam Maas said:

Has Eduard ever provided plastic to anybody other than Special Hobby? 

Yes, Revell!

[Boffin79]

8 minutes ago, VMA131Marine said:

Yes, Revell!

And Academy, it appears: 

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/academy-12333-usaaf-p-39n-k--1237689 

[Sturmovik]

I wouldn't mind getting this kit, since the Eduard one will show up in Argentina (if it ever does) overpriced. Hopefully this kit will have Cartograf decals too!

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Devils advocate here  … Could this and the wildcat be Tamiya in disguise ? Didn't Academy start out by cloning Japanese kits ? 

[janneman36]

Maybe it will be having less rivets then the Eduard and in that way it will be appealing to a lot of modellers that won’t like rivets at all!

I am one of those modellers though I am fond on my Eduard Zero boxing as it gives you a lot of bang for buck..

Still interested to see what Academy will make of it.

 

cheers, Jan

[Adam Maas]

2 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Devils advocate here  … Could this and the wildcat be Tamiya in disguise ? Didn't Academy start out by cloning Japanese kits ? 

Pretty sure they got started cloning French kits 😉 

Lots of their early stuff is basically Heller with recessed panel lines.

It's ICM that cloned Tamiya stuff early on, or at least their P-51B/C

Edited January 7, 2022 by Adam Maas

[politicni komisar]

This will be a collaboration with EDUARD.

Supposedly to be SBD and TBF in the Eduard edition.

In 2022/23

 

P.k

[Tbolt]

9 hours ago, politicni komisar said:

This will be a collaboration with EDUARD.

Supposedly to be SBD and TBF in the Eduard edition.

In 2022/23

 

P.k

 

The F4F, is that the Eduard kit also?

[Masinissa]

Eduard had mentioned that they kept the A6M kit secret because of the competition . . . so it looks like that was Academy. 

Will Academy get all the shapes and details right? 

 

Stay tuned!

[politicni komisar]

 

On 1/7/2022 at 10:00 AM, politicni komisar said:

This will be a collaboration with EDUARD.

Supposedly to be SBD and TBF in the Eduard edition.

In 2022/23

 

P.k

According to the latest information, this is supposed to be their adventure. Eduard has nothing to do with it (Eduard boss said).

 

Samo/P.k

[Homebee]

Sprues

Sources: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.5556550171045259&type=3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

V.P.

Edited June 20, 2022 by Homebee

[jaydecker]

 

 

[Homebee]

Source: https://twitter.com/ModelArtInc/status/1575731357908553728/photo/1

 

 

V.P.

[Homebee]

- ref. 12352 - Mitsubishi A6M2b Zero type 21 - Battle of Midway

Source: https://twitter.com/00interallied/status/1576723530921967616

 

 

 

 

V.P.

 

 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Homebee

[VMA131Marine]

Looks nice! There’s definitely a market for another good zero if it’s priced competitively to the Eduard and Tamiya kits.

[ttyng0904]

If the price pictured above is right, 3520JPY(incl. tax)=24.3USD=21.5GBP=24.72EUR.