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anyone have any info on this?


GregWise

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In my opinion, Airfix is just applying the old business adage: it's better to have 10% of the Mustang/Messerschmidt/Fockewulf/Zero/Corsair market than 100% of the Fairey Fruitbat market.

 

Keep in mind that a 1/48 Airfix P-51D will probably be cheaper than any other "imported" Mustang in Great Britain, their main market. If it's as nice a kit as the rest of their new releases then they'll also pick up sales across Europe and here in the states, especially among the long time die-hard Airfix fans.

 

Is it needed? No.......but I can't fault Airfix for doing it.

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Historically, Airfix has not had much of a presence in the 1/48 scale market. They had a Spit and Hurry but that was about it. They've re-tooled both old kits and are adding more to move into this scale I would guess.

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Let's hope their new 1/48 P-40B doesn't have any obvious flaws.....or there will be great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the modeling world! :smiley15:

 

GIL :smiley16:

that's why I quit visiting Dyperscale and ARCrap years ago.

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I just LOVE watching all of the "millennial modelers", that is, those who didn't start building anything til the 90s and later, wring their hands every time a new kit is released and it's not perfect. They have no idea how good the kits are today by comparison to the 50s/60s/70s; and even worse they feel entitled to "perfect" kits!

 

I tricked out my old 1/48 Monogram P-40B many years ago, so if I have to wait til next summer to get the Airfix kit so I can build a British desert Hawk; no worries!

P-40B.jpg

 

GIL :smiley16:

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I dn't have any info on this since 1/48 "aint my thing" but the place to keep watch is SAMI (Scale Aviation Modeler International) magazine. They have a large section of coming soons and other items to be on the look out for.

 

 

 

I just LOVE watching all of the "millennial modelers", that is, those who didn't start building anything til the 90s and later, wring their hands every time a new kit is released and it's not perfect. They have no idea how good the kits are today by comparison to the 50s/60s/70s; and even worse they feel entitled to "perfect" kits!

 

I tricked out my old 1/48 Monogram P-40B many years ago, so if I have to wait til next summer to get the Airfix kit so I can build a British desert Hawk; no worries!

P-40B.jpg

 

GIL :smiley16:

 

 

Oh I hear you on that. Hanging with the resin crowd, when you got a resin kit in the 90s you could barely make out what the kit was supposed to represent. You couldn't tell the kit part from the pour plug - on and on.

Now if there's a bubble or if the mould halves slightly slipped, Holy Mackerel it's like you insulted the guys mom. :huh: I have a hard time being part of the forums with these "younguns." :smiley2:

Edited by Roktman
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I did this one a few year back, I used the Hobbycraft kit, corrected the cowling errors and other upgrades.

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s83.photobucket.com/user/TF51GREGWISE/embed/slideshow/P-40C"></iframe>

Edited by GregWise
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The key thing in the above discussion is that Greg and Gil are both happy with their P-40 birds. That should be the prime outcome of our hobby.

Very true Clare, and while we are both happy with our work our happiness came at the expense of extra time, money and effort improving those old mediocre kits. Sometimes the end results of these projects can be not so happy, or they never make it to the display shelf. That being said, I have reviewed a couple of the new Airfix kits and IMHO they are on par or better than any other new releases and more importantly, they were enjoyable builds. I believe having the starting advantage of a superior kit is much more desirable and will most likely yield better end results thereby making me much happier. I guess to sum it all up I would say the Monogram P-40 was great when I was 10, the Hobbycraft P-40 was fun at 30, but now at 56 I'm ready for something better and more enjoyable than an old box of chores. That's what makes the new Airfix kits so attractive to me.

Edited by GregWise
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I built the Monogram P-40B simply because it was still the best starting point in spite of newer kits being out there. Guys like Greg and myself, with decades of experience in building up details in cockpits and gear wells don't look for perfection. We look for the best starting point that allows us to take the easiest path to our desired goal. Like Greg and myself, different modelers will choose different kits depending on the exact work they want to do and the work they want to avoid.

 

I totally agree with Greg in that starting with the best kit is the most desirable thing. It will give almost all builders the best result with the least effort, and maximize the fun! I'm hoping the new Airfix kit is everything modelers hope it will be. In my mind, it simply has to avoid the errors present in the Trumpeter and Hobbycraft kits, match or better the Monogram kit in outline accuracy, and have more detailing than the old Monogram kit. It doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to be better than it's competition (like the Kittyhawk Banshee being better than the old Hawk Banshee!).

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Releasing yet another Mustang, gah! A decent 1/48 Hawker Hunter would sell like hotcakes, especially in the UK. Or a new tool 1/72 Vulcan, a decent 1/72 B-1B, I could go on about truly deserving releases that are mainstream.

Edited by Gromit801
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Not positive, but thought I heard a new Airfix Vulcan was in the pipeline.....

 

There are always subjects passed over by manufacturers that make you slap your head and go "DUH"!

 

My personal pet peeves in 148 are:

1) F9F-8 Cougar- Monogram missed the boat here by not doing the Cougar after releasing their Panther, the CA resin kit is rare and expensive (got one! :D ), and the FM kit is a tough build IF you can find it! The Kittyhawk kit is sort of "state of the art", but its engineering demands an experienced hand, and unfortunately seems to have used a plastic that doesn't like modeling cements, so it comes apart at the seams! In short, there's still a market for a good 1/48 Cougar kit that's easy to build (ala Monogram) with the fit and detailing of a Tamiya/Hasagawa kit..

 

2) FJ-2/3 Fury- this is the other plane that filled carrier decks in the 50s, second only to the Cougar in use, and yet the old, badly shaped ESCI kit is the only injection kit available. This model gives the possibility of NMF, gloss blue, and gray/white schemes.

 

3) Slatted winged, F-86A and or E Saberjet- these two were actually the Saberjets that bore the brunt of the flying and fighting in Korea. The only true difference between the two are in the fuselages and windscreens, so a manufacturer could release two kits by (essentially) tooling 1 and 1/4 kits!

 

4) C-46 Commando- How could one of the two most important transports of WWII and Korea be forgotten in 1/48? Why did Trumpeter choose to do a C-47 (and compete with the very good Monogram kit) when they could have scored huge with a 1/48 C-46 that had NO competition? Like I said....DUH! :smiley7:

 

5) M-3/5/ Halftrack- despite Tamiya and Hobbyboss's many 1/48 armor releases, the venerable American Halftrack has been ignored so far, despite all of its conversions and variations! Heck, these were even present on airfields with quad .50s for air defense, as well as being used for utility purposes.

 

And you could go on and on, depending on your viewpoint.

 

On the bright side, those of us who built 1/48 in the late 70's and 80's, during the dearth of releases and a time when we wondered if we'd ever get "what we want" in injection (and learned to build vacs while we waited), have been BLESSED with most of what we want! Demons, Cutlasses, Vigilantes, Skyrays, Skynights, Buckeyes, and the "state of the art" updating of many favorites have made this THE golden age of modeling! :smiley20:

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
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Gil, I agree about the C-46. Despite the commission from a client for the Williams Bros 1/72 kit...and the build series I've started in this forum...I would dearly love a 1/48 C-46. On the other hand, the F-105 kits from Hobby Box and Trumpeter in 1/48 and 1/32 both require significant corrections and/or accurization, while the 35 year old 1/48 Monogram kit offers a more accurate starting point, plenty of aftermarket sets and semi-state-of-the-art surface detail and prize winning potential. The milennials will go for the new releases while the rest of us will probably opt for the Monogram kit, put in more work and end up with a better model.

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