Airfix in trouble…

Will be there & look forward to it Les.

Just talked with Malc, next Thurs then, WX permitting. Usual ETA.

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He didnt get passed the mag until Sat Les. Unfort I live in the real world and have to work during the week. Although saying that I have a week of next week and will be up doing some graft with Rob. Be good to meet you if your around.

Matchbox of course did the PR9 in 1/72nd scale but thats the only PR Canberra priduced by a mainstream manufacturer thats im aware of and they command a pretty high price these days.

Funnily enough for years I had one of these Matchbox PR.9s half-built up until a few weeks ago. Gave it to an IPMS modeller in consideration for him building and painting two of my Revell B(I)8s for me. Still got one Revell B(I)8 and one Frog B(I)8 left, boxed, unbuilt – future projects I guess.

Malcs got one sitting and waiting for you Les. Dont let him tell you otherwise. ha ha Enjoy your bed time read

Was down there last Friday but he didn’t mention it. Mind you, I wasn’t on top of things that visit as my puffer had run out – not a good thing that. Still, will see it sometime I guess.

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PR 9 was one planned by Airfix I believe:

http://airfix.com/cs/blogs/articles/archive/2006/02/21/27429.aspx

Matchbox of course did the PR9 in 1/72nd scale but thats the only PR Canberra priduced by a mainstream manufacturer thats im aware of and they command a pretty high price these days.

Malcs got one sitting and waiting for you Les. Dont let him tell you otherwise. ha ha
Enjoy your bed time read

Aeroclub did do a Vacform fuselage which you could mate to the Italeri and Airfix canberra/B58 kits. Think its out of production though now Les.

I understand about after-market goodies, add-on’s, mods, etc but I was writing about ‘original equipment manufacturers’. Seems to me there’s a crying need for a PR.3/7 Canberra kit – would cover a multitude of RAF (and others) usage. (And be slightly longer than a B.2/6 kit).

Did you like the Sea Hawk article in the mag Malc passed onto you?

Malc says doesn’t have a copy and I couldn’t find one in WH Smiths (even allowing for the confusion of mag titles). So, haven’t seen it yet.

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Unsure about that Videbeest. When they came out it was my long break from modelling. Its quite possible though as im aware that Aeroclub did as with many of their subjects bring out a variety of diff variants.

If they did a 1/72nd conversion though its highly likely they did a 1/48th kit of it.

I may be wrong, but didn’t the Aeroclub mixed injection/vacform 1/48 B6 have the extended fuselage for the PR3?

Paul

Aeroclub did do a Vacform fuselage which you could mate to the Italeri and Airfix canberra/B58 kits. Think its out of production though now Les.

I have one under my bed though. Will at one point get around to modelling Malcs Cranberry. Get the museum another article and some more free publicity. Did you like the Sea Hawk article in the mag Malc passed onto you?

I would love to produce a model in that scale of our Canberra at the MAM.

Might be a tad difficult unless you’re an expert at cutting the kit and adding in a section of plasticard to extend the fuselage so the fwd camera ports can by modelled. You’d need to fill in the bomb bay as well as cut down and shorten the bomb doors to make it into the PR’s flare bay. As far as I know, the announced kits didn’t include a (much needed) PR version of the Canberra. Don’t follow plastics all that much but I don’t think anybody makes a PR version Canberra plastic kit.

Must say though I am looking forward to their B(I)8. :rolleyes:

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I think a big bonus for them to continue doing well will be to continue the production and release of the four 1/48th Canberra kits.

With the recent disbanding of the type from RAF service, I think they will be popular kits to buy. With all the different varients that can be produced, it opens up a whole can of worms for the scale modeller, me included. I would love to produce a model in that scale of our Canberra at the MAM.

I think the problem with the Cranberries was that Airfix announced them at pretty much the same time as Classic Airframe released theirs. Faced with a TSR2 length wait or a more expensive kit there and then, a lot of people went for the latter, so I think orders for the Airfix kits were disappointing. I hope Hornby do continue with these though, not least because the CA kit will be unobtainable by the time they do come out.

The one I’m hoping for is the Nimrod. With very healthy pre-orders Hornby should have nothing to lose by continuing with these, though it is expensive.

I think a big bonus for them to continue doing well will be to continue the production and release of the four 1/48th Canberra kits.

With the recent disbanding of the type from RAF service, I think they will be popular kits to buy. With all the different varients that can be produced, it opens up a whole can of worms for the scale modeller, me included. I would love to produce a model in that scale of our Canberra at the MAM.

I think at that tender age as long as it goes together not not badly its happy days. Either as a play thing or hang from the ceiling item a kid is gonna be happy.

The earliest kits I rememebr my dad helping me with are a Heller Hurricane & Tempest, Matchbox Lysander.Marauder, Gladiator and Jet Provost. Im sure there was more but they were the ones that spring to mind.

Funny you mention the Hunter trainer XN923. Ive got one on the modelling table at the minute alongside a Revell 1/72nd Hunter I am converting to represent G-HUNT for a possible forthcoming magazine article. G-HUNT looks lovely at the minute in her all red colour scheme.

Glad to see that Airfix will survive! In my opinion, here are a few future releases that would keep them in the game:

1) 1/32 Spitfire, starting with the Mk IX, then going on to the Mk VIII, XI, down to the V etc.

2) 1/32 Spitfire, Mk XII through XIX

may sound like overkill, but trust me, Trumpter will be doing it soon enough; Airfix could really corner the market on 1/32 scale Spits and keep that hold for a decade or two.

After that there are still many interesting releases to be done in 1/48 & 1/72, and I don’t think a 1/32 EE Lightning or a 1/32 P-82 would be sneered at either.

If they do well enough, then perhaps that 1/24 Mosquito that they were thinking about might be due?

A “classic” range featuring the original boxings with Cross artwork (but uncensored, thank-you very much) might still be a cheap draw for those feeling nostalgic.

cheers

gv

Pics were big help, thanks PhantomPhixer. That kit is nearly finished now and I’m rather pleased with it, though the U/C seems a bit off (only just attached it) and I may have to recourse to the plans again.

The comments about the Buccaneer are interesting. I’m halfway through one (a slow build with lots of mods) and the fit of the main part seems OK with encouragement. They are a little warped but with light pressure and tape to bring it all back together it’s fine. I’ve heard the fit of the TSR2 is iffy in places but this was such a well anticipated kit any criticism is going to be amplified. I haven’t started any of mine yet either.

Actually, I’ll give you that about the updated Spit Vc. I much prefer the earlier wings. I’ve never had a big problem with raised panel lines as long as they are delicate but mixing both kinds on the same kit seems a little wrong. My point was that the thinking was sound if the money wasn’t there for tooling a whole new kit in one go.

The point about Revell and Italeri is a good one, and I hope Hornby takes a good look at the brand and where it should go rather than simply trying to wring yet more money out of the same moulds.

Funnily enough PP, I’m also 30 and I remember the fantastic, then new, Lancaster, their Hurricane MkI (shorn of all the rivets and rather a nice kit even now) and decent Mustang as well as some of the WW1 kits. I must have been lucky enough to miss the really terrible ones but back then I tended to put any failings in the result down to my talents or lack of them rather than blame the kit. I also enjoyed some of the Matchbox kits (Fairey Seafox, Hunter trainer etc.) and couldn’t care less what kind of panel lines they had!

Anyway, in summary I think that Airfix had many faults and definitely needed work to catch up with their competitors. However, I think the potential was there and they were heading in the right direction before Heller ran into trouble. I hope Hornby take what was best of that and keep moving Airfix forward.

Your quite right Eric the Rapide is ex heller. But they ad the foresite to re-release the kit and look what happened. A good seller. Well from what I saw anyway. So backing up my point I may not have made to clear previous that good kits can be sellers even reboxed old ones. Old Dogs will not be and just deter further sales.

Maybe I was unlucky then Damien. All of my Buccaneers were warped in a big way. But saying that rightly or wrongly it has got a reputation for being like a bannnana. Saying that though looks stunning once completed.

Ive not started my TSR2 eeither. waiting for some nice resin and etched sets to arrive before I commence production.

How Airfix could continually reissue kits like their Beaufighter, MiG-15, Tiger Moth and a few other ‘horrors’ and have the nerve to announce them as ‘new’ every time they were reissued, is beyond me. I put several suggestions to them for new kits, which all fell on stoney ground as they refused to invest in any new moulds. I still don’t know how the TSR-2 got produced and I nearly fell through the floor at Telford when that was announced! 😮

The Dragon Rapide is, of course ex-Heller.

Airfix continued to churn out kits from moulds that were almost 50 years old, in some cases. However, by and large, anything they produced after 1970 was a very workable kit and a good basis for a decent model. If you look back at what their rivals were doing in those days, they were of a similar standard, with the possible exception of Tamiya who always seemed to make crisp and easily assembled models.

In the last ten years the other model companies’ standards just shot up and Airfix stayed fairly static. In particular newer releases from Revell and Italeri were really nicely done and at very reasonable prices. If Hornby want Airfix to survive, Revell and Italeri are the two compeitors they need to emulate.

Hi XN923, hope the Hurri drawings were of use.

I think at the time I was referring to it was proably a fair comment. Most of the kits back then did suffer from poor fit and a only slightly smaller number didnt feature the obligitory rivets. And as a begginer to modelling my Dad wanting me to finish models prob did point me in the right direction. Bear in mind though that was 20-25 years and in that period the quality which you could achieve from your molds wasnt as good as we expect from todays Tamiyagawa offerings. Acceptable then but the bench mark has been raised now by so many companies that have appeared in recent years.

Yes I also think your quite right in what you say about their recent efforts. Especially in the last twelve months. The TSR2 the planned Canberra and Nimrodalso the other tie ins they have done. Inspired subjects. Looking further back like wise the Lightning and the late mark Spit/Seafire all fantastic kits. The Buccanner also inspired in subject matter but from a point of view of a well engineered kit its simply to much of a pig. Yes ive built two and will probably do another as its the only one in town at that scale. But I have to build up the motivation to do it.

I dont agree (Sorry mate) about the reworked MkV 1/72nd Spit. Raised panel lines on the fuselage with recessed lines on the wings. Also a new wing that was far to thick in section to be scale. Nope a clanger dropped there.

I think that some of the older kits do need to be dropped from the range. The Defiant the MKIX Spitfire to name but a few. Holding onto those in the range will harm the brand name .However reissuing some of the other classics can achieve good sales if a good kit. The Dragon Rapide is an example. They flew out of the museum shop where I volunteer. OK bad pun I know.

Im not anti Airfix I just think and I hope that Hornby will look long and hard at what to keep and what to lose from the range. The company cant live forever on its name and nostalgia. People who grew up building Airfix as kids get older and cant indefinately continue supporting the company.

I also hope that as a British company has taken over the company we may see some more British subjects appear.

1/48th injection Vulcan, 1/72nd scale VC10 anybody? Now if only…………..

OK im gonna come down of my high horse now as getting a little dizzy.