Infinity Models 1/32 Aircraft

[George]

What's the general consensus regarding Infinity's 1/32 aircraft models?  While detailed, I was expecting to see setting pins to align the fuselage and wing pieces.

[Dave Williams]

Personally, I was very disappointed in the SB2C kit.  The quality of the base kit for the price wasn’t what I was expecting in 2022.  More like a Special Hobby kit from over a decade ago.  Plus, you had to spend extra if you wanted things like an open bomb bay, separate dive brakes, and underwing weapons.  I see the appeal of their kits being mostly that they exist, not that they’re particularly good.

[ChuckD]

I couldn't agree more with Dave's assessment.  I feel very let down with the Helldiver and will be very cautious about further offerings from Infinity Models.

[thierry laurent]

They are short run kits asking for work. If you like LEGO-like kits, forget them. Nonetheless, they offer quite detailed and rather accurate kits of topics neglected by the major actors. So this is a matter of taste. Personally, I like them as a kit without challenges is annoying me. However, I fully understand other people prefer more relaxing models.

[quang]

I myself don’t mind a little challenge from time to time but would I pay a ZM price for a pre-2015 SH quality kit?

Edited August 30, 2022 by quang

[monthebiff]

Not sure about their latest release but I went all in on the Helldiver and it really is a very difficult build. Also the resin "upgrades" don't actually fit so for one I won't be purchasing any more Infinity releases until I see a few favourable builds online. I'm quite happy doing short run stuff but the Helldiver is very disappointing indeed I'm afraid to say. Hre is a link to my currently stalled build 

 

Regards. Andy 

[ChuckD]

I have nothing against short run kits and their challenges.  I get the business model there.  My major frustration with the Helldiver is that to have a halfway passable end result, you need to first buy the base kit, then buy piles of PE/resin addons.  All in, you're at or above what the original resin kit would have cost.  

[John Stambaugh]

On 8/30/2022 at 3:25 PM, quang said:

I myself don’t mind a little challenge from time to time but would I pay a ZM price for a pre-2015 SH quality kit?

Ditto and well said.

[thierry laurent]

On 8/30/2022 at 9:25 PM, quang said:

I myself don’t mind a little challenge from time to time but would I pay a ZM price for a pre-2015 SH quality kit?

Of course you would if you really wanted a kit of a specific topic! To me that question is as weird as questioning : would I purchase a resin kit, a vac kit, a 3d-printed kit? Actually this depends on the individual modellers kit building philosophy. Some people only build LEGO-like kits whatever is the scale whereas others, at the other end of a Spectrum, don't mind scratchbuilding kits to stick to a scale and thema. Most modellers are in between. Hoping that every producer will quickly align on Tamiya-GWH quality is a wishful thinking. Except ICM most Eastern European models stay more difficult to build but keep in mind 3/4th of the new LSP are coming from them! Personally, this is a compromise I'm ready to accept but to each its own!

[quang]

1 hour ago, thierry laurent said:

Of course you would if you really wanted a kit of a specific topic!

It all depends on how hard you want the kit.
When I was younger, brave (and foolish), I wouldn’t have hesitated to contemplate scratch-building if a kit I wanted didn’t exist. I still have a 1/32 A5M Claude which predates the Special Hobby kit by 30 years.

Things are different nowadays. Gone are the balsa and plasticard days but on the other hand, new technologies are giving us much better models than we’ve even imagined.
So when a company released an expensive, new-tooled kit which necessitates individual tweaks AND multiple additional accessories (incidentally marketed by the very same company) in order to build a reasonably accurate model, I stand by what I said early on: it’s over-hyped and over-priced.

[Darren Howie]

On 8/31/2022 at 5:25 AM, quang said:

I myself don’t mind a little challenge from time to time but would I pay a ZM price for a pre-2015 SH quality kit?

 

Quite simple really.

A Helldiver is a big complex aircraft with a wide open cockpit area that sales in 48th have proven it to not be popular. The original Promodeller Helldiver sat on shelves for years before finally selling out.

Development cost divided by expected sales equals higher unit price.

Development cost is driven directly by detail not everyone is happy to pay for so addon detail sets provide an easy option to unload the base price and minimise cost and give buyers options. You end up with a higher total but lower base.

Either support the manufacturer who put the money up to release what will most likely be the only Helldiver in 32nd for a long time or dont is your choice. However these manufacturers prepared to gamble big are not going to release secondary and tertiary kits that can be turned into lovely finished kits with a bit of work without support.

The thought that a small run kit is going to have either the quality or low cost of a mass produced high quality kit that costs FAR more to develop using far more expensive equipment is a false economy based on false expectations.

You want less popular large subjects in high quality for low cost with small kit sales sorry that aint ever happening.

 

[thierry laurent]

14 minutes ago, Darren Howie said:

 

Quite simple really.

A Helldiver is a big complex aircraft with a wide open cockpit area that sales in 48th have proven it to not be popular. The original Promodeller Helldiver sat on shelves for years before finally selling out.

Development cost divided by expected sales equals higher unit price.

Development cost is driven directly by detail not everyone is happy to pay for so addon detail sets provide an easy option to unload the base price and minimise cost and give buyers options. You end up with a higher total but lower base.

Either support the manufacturer who put the money up to release what will most likely be the only Helldiver in 32nd for a long time or dont is your choice. However these manufacturers prepared to gamble big are not going to release secondary and tertiary kits that can be turned into lovely finished kits with a bit of work without support.

The thought that a small run kit is going to have either the quality or low cost of a mass produced high quality kit that costs FAR more to develop using far more expensive equipment is a false economy based on false expectations.

You want less popular large subjects in high quality for low cost with small kit sales sorry that aint ever happening.

 

It could not have been explained better!

[Royboy]

50 minutes ago, Darren Howie said:

 

Quite simple really.

A Helldiver is a big complex aircraft with a wide open cockpit area that sales in 48th have proven it to not be popular. The original Promodeller Helldiver sat on shelves for years before finally selling out.

Development cost divided by expected sales equals higher unit price.

Development cost is driven directly by detail not everyone is happy to pay for so addon detail sets provide an easy option to unload the base price and minimise cost and give buyers options. You end up with a higher total but lower base.

Either support the manufacturer who put the money up to release what will most likely be the only Helldiver in 32nd for a long time or dont is your choice. However these manufacturers prepared to gamble big are not going to release secondary and tertiary kits that can be turned into lovely finished kits with a bit of work without support.

The thought that a small run kit is going to have either the quality or low cost of a mass produced high quality kit that costs FAR more to develop using far more expensive equipment is a false economy based on false expectations.

You want less popular large subjects in high quality for low cost with small kit sales sorry that aint ever happening.

 

I totally agree with this statement.

Personally I love banging about with a model kit that is classed as 'unbuildable' by some. Then again I admit to being old school and find Tamiya kits relaxing but too easy at times. So when a range of limited run kits come on the market that are classed as 'challenging' but gives me a subject I really like I will buy it.

Each to tneir own but of course it does limit the potential sales to other normal kit builders out there.

These will probably sell to buyers of resin and vac kits who would like an slightly easier model build for a change! Funny old hobby isn't it.

[quang]

@Darren Howie I understood your economist’s view point quite we’ll especially when you said ‘…these manufacturers prepared to gamble big are not going to release secondary and tertiary kits that can be turned into lovely finished kits with a bit of work without support.’ 

Now here’s the consumer’s side.

I don’t need to insist on the wealth of details, intricate textures and other ooh-aah as it’s been done elsewhere, but it’s primarily the overall design and lay-out of the kit parts (and also the technical ability to reproduce them for mass consumption) that makes the quality of a model kit.

And for a self-appointed manufacturer of ‘primary’ kits, one can be reminded that the very first reason for a kit to exist is that it’s meant to be built.

No doubt it’s probably why we’re seeing so few finished 1/32 Curtiss Helldivers on the internet. 
 

1 hour ago, Royboy said:

Personally I love banging about with a model kit that is classed as 'unbuildable' by some. Then again I admit to being old school and find Tamiya kits relaxing but too easy at times. So when a range of limited run kits come on the market that are classed as 'challenging' but gives me a subject I really like I will buy it.

Rest assured, you’re not the only one. 
 

 

[thierry laurent]

1 hour ago, quang said:

And for a self-appointed manufacturer of ‘primary’ kits, one can be reminded that the very first reason for a kit to exist is that it’s meant to be built.

 

Actually if we wanted to be somewhat cynical, we can sometimes wonder if it is not only meant to be sold!