thierry laurent

Well, if you have six months of available time and a lot of documentation... https://www.largescaleplanes.com/articles/article.php?aid=3093 Even if far from simple or cheap, the Dragon/AIMS combination will put your model in another league!

Should go back to them to give you a firm reply. Probably the second and/or the third volumes. The first is mainly about prototypes and pre-production airframes and out of my memory the last is rather about bombers and nightfighters.

The Beau is indeed the best contender but we should not remove the Phantom too quickly out of the equation. The British version had multiple inconspicuous differences and completing what they already have with some scans would be quite logical as well.

What I meant is that when we were children we could find models close to everywhere. We did not have to be 'active' to find and purchase some. Obviously it is easy to order online but no child is going to do that spontaneously. As a child I had pocket money I used to buy models far before my son got a bank card. A child first need to have been in contact with models to be interested in them and now this is not anymore easy. With regard to social media, teenagers do not use Facebook. My son told me this is a thing for old people! They use TikTok or Instagram and such networks are not really very modelling oriented as Facebook can be. As you, I never considered the hobby is dying. I simply indicated it changed drastically.

Good idea. Unless you use it in a BAOR setting, there may be another heresy! As far as I'm remembering correctly the Italeri kit was a left hand drive vehicle. And for whatever strange reason Italeri put six bolts on the wheels whereas Landies only used 5! Nonetheless the kit looks like a good seventies Series III model.

Injected model? This will be a resin one probably sold for around 1000 USD!

Excellent idea reinforced by the fact the Infinity one is now buried...

Indeed, Japan is an exception as Czechia or Ukraine. However, situation is not the same in most western countries. So, there is a quantitative issue. You can add to that the fact European brands like Eduard miss most of the Chinese market as it is already saturated by the brands that are very cheap locally. Hopefully production of models changed and it is possible to be break even with far lower numbers of production. No manufacturer would have considered a release of 2000 kits twenty years ago!

There is a major difference now: the number of brick and mortar hobby shops decreased drastically and you do not find anymore models in supermarkets as this was the case when we were children. So you must be somewhat motivated and know where to go to purchase a model. Most of the young guys I saw entering the hobby for the last twenty years are essentially interested in Macross vehicles, manga robots or Warhammer figures. I only saw groups of young modellers interested in military vehicles or warplanes in Eastern Europe. I think the main reason the hobby is fine is the fact the die hard modellers are not only older but have far more money than when they entered into it! And I guess we still have at least thirty years of modelling in front of us. This is hopefully more than sufficient for most companies.

Neither did I but an attendance to any modelling exhibition or event demonstrates it quickly and I regularly got the same feedback from various resellers from different western European countries.

Sorry but no clue. Few aircraft used long range cameras in pods. The Phantom was one of those exceptions. I think Isracast made a Phantom LOROP pod years ago but it is OOP for ages and had a different shape. I believe you will have to scratch build it while possibly starting with the closest possible plastic pod. The MiG-21 one in the pictures look asymmetrical and does not look like any tank I know. So, without dimensions this will be a total guess work exercise! Hopefully this may already help somewhat: http://www.balkanwarhistory.com/2016/05/reconnaissance-planes-of-yugoslav-air.html

I'm regularly reading that. This is true but limiting the logic to basic economics is an error when there is another elephant in the room: modellers demography! Our hobby is aging and the renewal of the population has a very bad rate except in a very limited number of western countries and European brands do not really sell in China. This is important as a new product will not be bought by many 'new' customers. It is targeted to the same population than the prior one we already have in the stash and that will be possibly difficult to surpass... So, yes, the availability of existing competing products has an obvious impact on profitability. I can give you ten examples of cases of releases I did not get or just purchased one kit of the range because I already have multiple copies of that topic in my stash. I know all my friends are doing the same and typically this applies to "topics that sell"...

We already got THREE correct and different Mk.IX! Even if any Spit sells, I'm not convinced they will sell tons of them. Do not forget when they released their 1/32 Emil (Me 109 sell as well!), there was no good available kit and they did not look thrilled by the sales...

Indeed. If they go that route they will have soon another good reason to be disappointed by 1/32 sales! A MiG would be a far better idea as they would have no serious competitor. They could easily start with a MiG-15 family. Come on...

Hi Quang. Look for Viggens. Several were completed on LSP.

I just got all the Luftwaffe colours ones I was missing as well! I've now the 37 volumes. I'm still looking after some rather recent but OOP hardbound Classic ones.

This depends on what you want to get. HGW recommends spraying a gloss coat on assembled belts, then use washes, then use a final flat coat. Unless you have first glued the belts on the seat parts I consider that process to be very cumbersome! Washes can be directly used on the paper but be cautious as you cannot easily go backwards without the recommended clear coats. Paper will absorb any wash liquid very quickly. Pointed Q-tips can help there if you use them immediately to absorb excessive wash but this is not a panacea. There is also a new AK product than can be used to flat specific areas. It can be used for the buckles. AK pencils are also useful as they can be used dry or wet and their pigments are thin. So my recommendation is use the paper leftover sections and experiment yourself as all belt products do not react exactly in the same way. Hth

With regard to Tamiya it also depends on the thinner you are using. Two can be used for their acrylics. For spraying use I always rely on the lacquer one and this makes a BIG difference. But this is more dangerous for your lungs, so take protection measures!

To add something, keep in mind a full scale airframe is never fully flat or fully gloss because of mechanics and pilots shoes and uniform rubbing, exhaust flows, fluid spilling, chemical impact of sun effect and/or sea salt, etc. Actually you can even see that on airliners! Mixing both finishes on a kit brings life and does not have to rely only on paint! At the very end of the painting/decaling/varnishing process use micromesh to dull some surfaces or a polishing cloth to add glossy spots. This asks for prior study of the airframe in service but can really change the final deal.

No as the part is generally too small for that and this would add thickness to the paint coat. I prefer relying on a paint that does not flake easily like some acrylics do (e.g. Vallejo).

Here's what I do: put such parts in a burnishing solution before painting. That way any scratch would just show an iron color!

Probably for the re-edition.

I did not see you Erwin but I was there very early. Happy to see you could grab goodies. There were a lot of old Revell twins as well. I was also lucky as I found a Revell X-1 with the Cutting edge conversion and the decals set for 60€ as well as OOP Phantom decals from Werner wings.

Number 33 is S-79 Sparviero! https://www.librarything.com/nseries/38219/Luftwaffe-Classic

As far as I know no one ever announced a 1/32 model of the A-37...