Plasto

You know where you are in a threads usefulness cycle when the tightness of the lid of the box and the box art is being discussed..

RAF and the German captured one is about it AFAIK especially for the car door. The Typhoon was quickly SOC once the war had ended. The Hellcat Schemes look good.. Nothing too adventurous the USS Randolph scheme looks good..

So that’s the majority of Airfix’s market.. I have the Academy Kursk boxing I’m slowly chipping away on It sure seems fine to me. Not a RFM Tiger for sure but not horrid either...

Interestingly that we’re happy to contemplate the purchase of a kit without any possible intent to build is quite interesting in itself...

If there ever was a time to release one it’s now or in the next couple of years. Lots of hobbyists with interest in the subject and a reasonable disposable income. I agree it would seem impractical due to size. But as some one has sagely pointed out buying and building are two different things...

I don’t know but I suspect the distributor didn’t understand at the time what the market was willing to accept. Or the market conditions have fundamentally altered since that decision. If the market doesnt buy kits with accuracy issues then any kit with problems simply would not sell. That the distributor is not now refusing to sell or distribute kits with issues tells you that either they don’t care or sales happen regardless of the issues so it’s not a driver for them.

Yep. The issue is of course is if more people are happy buying ‘crappy kits’ than there are people demanding better kits then the market will deliver the product that is the minimum standard and is still consumed.. Not all manufacturers but a noteable number. Why folk don’t care about accuracy as much as other people might yield some useful insights if you want to effect change.

Because ‘bad kits’ sell...

Wouldn’t people just use what is now a global market to purchase the inaccurate products from another source bypassing any distributor who took a ‘stance’ over accuracy issue. If the market consumes the product regardless of its accuracy issues then isn’t the market actually saying that the accuracy being delivered is acceptable? Or at the very least the accuracy is acceptable for the price. Those that care about accuracy don’t purchase. Those that don’t care do. If enough purchase to sustain the market then the market delivers. Isn’t that a basic tenet of market forces?? of course none of that helps in the cause to force a given manufacturer to reconsider their stance around r+d.

Does anyone in forum land really understand the working structures development capability and business drivers at Yatai Electric appliance co Ltd??

How big is the domestic Chinese market for scale model kits? I don’t personally know. But I suspect it’s a reasonable market size. When I lived there, there were a few Chinese language model magazines in the book store. So it’s concieveable that that market could suck up quite a few kits. I suppose naturally we think in a western centric way but the market is probably far larger more so for a product in its domestic market..

I wonder if the airfoil profile chosen has something to do with the construction method for the kit? looking at the sprue photos. The wings seemingly fit onto a spar (that I think also acts as the top of the wheel well and provides the location point for the landing gear legs) this Spar is seemingly almost full wing width as evidenced by the slot. being the shape it currently is gives a full width spar which gives the model wings a good location and probably reasonable rigidity. If the correct wing profile was used then the spar would have to be thinner to get the full wing width and therefore be potentially less ridged. Or not as wide but taller to fit into the taller aerofoil shape. Which probably means some sort of location arrangement on the inner wing surfaces. To correct the wing I think means new upper wings at least and then you also have to deal with the wing location spar as currently its sized and located for the current aerofoil profile. its an interesting problem..

Yes Jennings you are 100% correct in everything you say. I am completely wrong.

Pricing surely is down to the local distributor and the margins they and the retailer set. But we know that as it’s well discussed all across model forum land for a variety of manufacturers. Tamiya is expensive here Trumpeter expensive there. Airfix costly north Eduard costly south ad infinitum... So do a possible tactic would be to complain to the distributor for a given market that the kits ‘accuracy’ is not worth the price being set. If it was cheap would the accuracy level be more acceptable??

I have no doubt the ire of modellers worldwide is earned. We’re a demanding bunch and expect perfection in everything released. Multi page posts on multiple forums have no impact on Trumpeter. As a consumer group we need to find a different way to influence them. How about we crowd fund a trip for some respected modellers to pay Yatai electric appliances a visit..... Then we can look em in the eye..