spoke to Airfix yesterday..

[Gazzas]

As Dr. Dave says...   there is not a single good large scale 109G2 out there.  Please...   don't say Revell...   it's no longer funny.

[Zola25]

45 minutes ago, DrDave said:

As I said, the management insist the sales be as good as the Spitfire. All the esoteric stuff is pie in the sky. Hawk or 109?…. 109G has been done, not well but done. 109E or F would sell. It’s not a Defiant, that’s for sure.

What would stand a chance of selling as good as the Spitfire then...? With Airfix being a somewhat anglophile company (for obvious reasons) they certainly have a tendency to favour RAF planes. My money is still on a P-51 - It can easily be boxed with some RAF markings, The Merlin engine can be re-used from the Spitfire kit and it is (almost) as iconic as the Spitfire = almost guaranteed sales. I don´t see the Hurricane doing as well as a P-51 and the Trumpeter Hurricanes are actually quite good

 

I have a feeling they burned their fingers on the F6F - I cannot substantiate that with any sales statistics so I am only judging by the people I know who didnt buy it - and are known to buy almost anything  I think it will be a while (if ever) before we will see something like a Corsair (unfortunately).

 

It could be a German aircraft but then I would think they would go for something that has not been done before, maybe an Fw190A - but Trumpy is releasing that I seem to remember.

 

Niels

 

 

[ade rowlands]

Well as they’ve already done most of the work hopefully a Spitfire Mk.VIII is in the pipeline somewhere before this new release. 

[Bradleygolding]

I'm with Tony, Lightning F6.

 

Steve.

[Shoggz]

Firstly - it's great to hear there is another 1/24 subject of any type in the pipeline. The Spitfire Mk.IX really is a lovely kit, so if the quality is the same or better (and they have been on an upward curve) I'm already looking forward to it.

 

Logically, there is a strong argument for a 109G. The only aircraft they have released a 'later version' of is now the Spitfire, with a jump from the Battle of Britain era Mk.I to a mid to late war era Mk.IX. So, they could use the same arguments and rationale to produce a mid to late war Bf109 to complement their BofB era 109E!

 

(Of course the same logic applies to the Hurricane, but I just think the sales potential of a 109 would be more enticing!)

 

Personally, I'd like an updated P-51, but I think that's less likely.

[Confusionreigns178]

16 hours ago, Archimedes said:

In larger scales Airfix, like Tamiya, are hugely conservative or, to put it another way, go for sure fire winners.

I've read that one, large, brand-new injection-mould can cost £100,000 to create. The Hornby Group of companies was £29 Million in debt around 10 years ago. In the face of stuff like this, can you blame Airfix for producing 1/24th kits they have a good chance of selling? Particularly in the current economic climate.

 

I also read that for every one UK sale of the big Hellcat, there were seven of the same kits sold in the US. Airfix will have their eyes firmly set on global sales and the UK is simply a (relatively small) part of the equation.    

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

[Confusionreigns178]

46 minutes ago, Shoggz said:

Logically, there is a strong argument for a 109G

Are the Trumpeter kits really that bad? I've read, generally not - although the reviews are very mixed, to say the least. 

 

Chris. 

[Confusionreigns178]

I'll tell you what would REALLY sell well.... A few sets of Luftwaffe and RAF pilots / ground-crew in 1/24th. I would ask one thing, though... please produce figures looking like they're doing something (not just standing "to attention" and waiting for the Air Vice-Marshal to perform an inspection). Have they pilots chatting to each other (using "dog-fighting hands" in a very animated way) and have the ground-personnel removing engine-cowlings, re-loading ammo, using a spanner, etc. 

 

Price a set of 5 figures from each air-force at say, £30.00 each, and I reckon they'd sell very well. 

 

The figures would also give folks more reasons to buy the big kits. 

 

Cheers. 

 

Chris. 

[Rick Griewski]

17 hours ago, DeanKB said:

I remain entirely immune to the charms of 1/24 modelling, 1/32 is more than enough for me, 1/24 just demands skills I don't have!!

I appreciate that and once the crack in the wall forms with one kit then many others will follow it into the stash closet.  It is a beautiful kit so I expect the little buy-me-elf will be whispering in my ear. 

[ade rowlands]

27 minutes ago, Confusionreigns178 said:

Are the Trumpeter kits really that bad? I've read, generally not - although the reviews are very mixed, to say the least. 

 

Chris. 

 

I recall a lot of Ejector Pin marks in the cockpit area, the Galland type Head Armour panel is solid with no cut out for the Armoured Glass and no armoured Glass insert if you clear the solid part out, no earlier type Head Armour either. No details in the Gear Well where the canvas liner should be. Nothing insurmountable but lots of tedious work and I’m at the point where that is stuff I cant just be bothered with. The Hurricanes are great though.

[ade rowlands]

Part of me would love them to just shelve the old Mould 1/24 kits and re visit them in the same standard as the Mk.IX but if people are still buying the ancient kits then I don’t see that happening. Sadly.

[Shoggz]

33 minutes ago, Confusionreigns178 said:

Are the Trumpeter kits really that bad? I've read, generally not - although the reviews are very mixed, to say the least. 

 

Chris. 

 

I must admit I was thinking about internal Airfix logic and what they had previously done themselves, as opposed to looking at competitors.

[Shoggz]

3 minutes ago, ade rowlands said:

Part of me would love them to just shelve the old Mould 1/24 kits and re visit them in the same standard as the Mk.IX but if people are still buying the ancient kits then I don’t see that happening. Sadly.

 

Wouldn't that be great. I have the old Mk.I sitting next to me in this office - which I made back in the early 90s. It looks OK, but without a built in solid spar, the wings have now drooped below the horizontal!

[Artful69]

2 hours ago, Gazzas said:

As Dr. Dave says...   there is not a single good large scale 109G2 out there.  Please...   don't say Revell...   it's no longer funny.

 

Interesting comment ...

I know that the Trumpeter kit has shape issues (but goes together well for the "looks like a XXXX" club) ...

I would have thought the Hasegawa kits would have been ok? ...

... and what's actually wrong with the newer Revell kit?? ...

I was told that the original designing was based on the G-2/4 rather than the G-6 or G-10 Erla which preceded it - so by all accounts it should have been much better.

Flick me a PM

 

Rog

[geedubelyer]

Worth keeping sight of the fact that many of these kits will be sold to modellers that aren't too bothered by minute details but just want something that looks like the subject.