Dave Williams

In the case of the Do335, I don’t think ZM releasing their kit had much affect on their sales, but if it did, HK have themselves to blame by not following up with their initial B-2 release with the three other kits. In fact, the HK B-2 was released in 2014 and the A-0 was released in 2015, before Z-M did their first A-0 release in 2016. In other words, HK had the 1/32 Do335 market to themselves for a year or two. Z-M released their A-12 first a year or so ago, but by that time HK hadn’t released any other Do335 version for a couple or years, and STILL haven’t released their B-6, which was heralded on the side of the box way back on the first release. Regarding the Mossie, there is nothing preventing HK from releasing their FB version, Tamiya or not. Price wise, the HK kit is cheaper. If people prefer to pay more for the Tamiya kit, it’s because it’s more detailed, plus doesn’t have noticeable issues like the wing root radiator shape. It’s not Tamiya’s fault they made a better kit. Tamiya historically hasn’t cared what others have released and have always done their own thing. I think the WNW Lanc is a boutique project directly related to Peter Jackson’s Dambusters movie project. I don’t think either Tamiya nor WNW have any intention to spike HK’s releases as I don’t think HK is even on their radar. Besides, there is no one competing with their Meteor, B-17, or B-25 kits. I don’t see any anti-HK conspiracy. If they are really worried about it, they need to pop out their F-4K and P-51B/C kits soon and not sit on them.

*SIGH*. Another year of this back and forth until the WNW kit finally gets released.

Cheyenne Mountain was built as it was because at the time it monitored and controlled the entire air defense of the the United States and it was a single very high value strategic target that far outweighed any airbase. The complex was built in a mountain not to protect from natural disaster, but from nuclear attack since it would have been very high on an enemies target list. F-22s are hardly strategic assets.

Even though I managed to snag a Tripe at the “normal” price after it was sold out (from HLJ of all places), I picked up the new one for the Black Maria decals, since the Phenon decal sheet was sold out.

Model companies who have choosen to do so have let everyone (general public, competitors, etc.) know what they are working forever. They can put out catalogs showing future releases (Trumpeter TBD, anyone?), show CAD renders (AFV Club F-104 and many others), or just make announcements (Tan Model kits, Trumpeter Jaguar, AM Beaufighters, etc.). Other companies have a free choice to make make their own kit or not to compete. Not sure about the specifics of any laws, but even it WNWs had called up HK and told them they were working on a Lanc, I doubt it would have been illegal unless they threatened HK in some way to not release their own kit.

I don’t think any company is under any obligation to warn or talk to other companies and let them know what they are working on. In the past other companies claim have been shafted when they announced something years in advance, and got got undercut when someone else beat them to the punch. That’s the free market. Besides, if WNW has been researching for 8 years, it may not have been clear way back then that the company would be successful and that the kit would ever be released.

So much for a “clean” B-24 test shot topic.

I don’t consider the Keys and Homestead remotely in the same “area” as the Panhandle. Might as well throw in Katrina because New Orleans is much closer than either, but in any case hurricane force winds only extend about 50 miles or so from the center, so I stand by my statement about the most powerful storm to hit that area in recorded history. I’m very familiar with Florida hurricanes since I’ve been living on the east coast of Florida for 33 1/2 years. The eyes of both Francis and Jeanne passed directly over me (went out in both of them), and then got affected by Wilma, and more recently Matthew passed just offshore and lost power during Irma last year.

Hardened hangers are much less space efficient than regular hangers, so you would need more real estate to hold the same amount of aircraft as the standard hangers. Also, how much do you spend for a once in maybe centuries event? This was the strongest hurricane ever to hit this area in recorded history (and please spare the climate change argument that this is going to happen every few years now). Finally, this $1 billion figure seems speculative. The damages haven’t been totaled. I’ll bet it’s in the hundreds of millions of dollars range, but it’s unlikely that these aircraft were structurally damaged enough to be written enough. Probably mostly damage to the canopy, skin panels, and the LO coatings, which won’t be cheap, but not massive. The weaknesses here are our government’s shortsightness to limit production and shut down the production lines, making replacement difficult, plus make an aircraft so complex that unserviceability is so high. Maybe what we need to do is find a better place to base F-22s than the coast of a hurricane prone state. Not sure of the need to base our most advanced fighters on the Florida coast anyway. What’s the threat that we need F-22s there that plain old F-15s and 16s can’t deal with? Probably based there more for political reasons than common sense. Grumpy old man out.

Probably ought to merge this with the other, bigger threads on the kits. Regarding HKM redesigning the kit for the stressed fuselage look, I’d say there is zero chance they will do that. First, the molds are pretty near final, and I don’t see them taking the considerable time and money to redo them. Plus, don’t know how the stressed skin effect would work with the clear fuselage parts. Finally, not everyone is convinced on the “oil canning” effect, which may be overdone on the wings.

Now showing as in stock at Sprue Brothers. Time to just say no to those inflated eBay prices.

Haven’t decided whether I’ll buy one at all, but if I do, it will be WNW.

And if WNW had announced a B-24, the HB kit would be getting trounced too. The reason people can “live” with the errors is that it’s the only injection B-24 out there right now, plus at least in the UK, it’s cheap. No one had anything less than praise for the HK Lanc either when it was the only one. That’s how these things go.

No, I wasn’t aware that I had the option. Thanks for sharing! Sorry if expressing my opinion bothers you.

No clue. The whole WNW lovefest is starting to jump the shark. The constant wishlists and guessing, fawning over everything they make, and trying to divine their next releases over a picture, comment, or any minor scrap of information is just getting to be too much. I love their stuff and have a ton of it, but I’m giving up trying to figure out what they might release next. When they announce a new kit, I’ll decide whether it’s something I want, and if it is I’ll look forward to it and not be disappointed it’s not something else.