The Money Programme

[Howard of Effingham]

hmm, i thought that this TV programme on tonight ought to get a mention.

there's a link  Airfix - Britain's Next Top Model?

it's on BBC2 at 1900hrs. unfortunately i won't be able to see it as its the model club christmas dinner tonight!  

so if anyone watches it, do tell us all what you thought of it.   ^_^

trevor

[Mossie]

Well spotted Trev!  I'll probably watch it but I'll record it anyway just incase I'm out, I can send you the tape if you want?

[Howard of Effingham]

no need simon!

i have a feeling that at the club at least this programme WILL be the subject of much discussion.

hmm, apparently a couple of members have already set the VCR.....    

[B777LR]

Somehow, i dont really think airfix will ever become as big as they once were. Theres no market for model kits today. (almost none )

[Mossie]

Just watched it.  Being a Money Programme report, it was largely about the business concerns.  It mainly focused on the Doctor Who Tardis kit & it barely making it out for Christmas, but not in enough quantity.    It alluded that TV & film tie-ins are like to be the way forward for attracting the younger market.  Basically ended saying that the future looks good as far as stock exchange goes, which in the end is were it matters.

Mentioned the Canberra kits & we saw Trev measuring up a Sea King at Cosford, which I guess was for the HAR.5 re-tool that's been touted in the catalogue.  Nothing about the Nimrod.

There were a few comments from Arthur Ward & Pete Waterman, who's a lifelong Airfix fan.  Like a lot of us Brit modelers, it started for him with a Spitfire kit & grew from there & he's of the opinion that kids will still love building kits.  One interesting snippet in the programme showed them giving a class of kids a Playstation & some kits to build.  After about an hour, plenty of the kids went off to the Playstation, but when asked what they'd prefer to do on a wet rainy day, all but three rushed to the kits.  I guess it's a case of the subject matter suiting todays generation.    

One gem was at a meeting in China with the manufacturers.  Wires had got crossed & they were going to make the Tardis's light red (this kit has light & sound).  Trev said it's got to be blue, otherwise it'll look like a brothel!

[Hobbes]

The programme was a bit meh in my opinion. They basically followed Airfix/Hornby over the last year, doing the usual overblown "are they going to make it in time" suspense generating (in this case, the Dr. Who kit).

Most surprising to me was the turnaround at the end of the program. After going on about 'making kits that appeal to a new generation' (Dr Who et al) for the whole half hour, the Hornby CEO in the final interview said they'd invest in new airplane etc. kits as well, doing them more accurately and in more detail than before, 'we've got the money to invest in this'. Of course we've seen some evidence of this (Nimrod, Canberra), but to hear the rest of the show, the classic kits were about to be relegated to the history books.

They had a few interesting shots of the design process, with Trevor measuring stuff, making CAD models, but also some sculptors at work on the Dr. Who figures (so it's not all CAD yet).
Disappointingly little was shown of the rest of the process, though.  

[Martin H]

seeing the state of the tooling as they off loaded it after its trip back from France was an eye opener. And seeing Trev id what every one was just from its serial number was impresive. They have one hell of a back catologe to play with now.

[Hobbes]

Well, we only saw the outside of the tools, and I'd expect that to be a bit grotty. You don't want to know what the inside of a plastics manufacturing plant looks like.  

[Thorvic]

Dont forget Dr Who is a BBC product and trade mark so not surprising the BBC money program focused on the BBC related kit from signing in Jan to shelves by Christmas. (Perhaps if the actualy Dr Who production team had been a bit more responsive then they could have flooded the shelves for Chrimbo - especilly if they went with Kylie rather than Freyma   )

Considering they were at Hamleys on the 9th of November they could have done Scale Model World at the weekend to see the mature side of the market.

G

[nev]

I thought it was interesting, even if the 30min time slot limited what they could show.

As usual they went for the "kids want to play computer games these days" angle, and it took them 15 mins to mention the "serious" modeller  

Still, it was interesting the experiment with the Playstation and the models - even if it confirms what we already know, which is that kids love sticking models together.

I thought it was in interesting insight with lots of tantalising tid-bits, but it still left me wanting to know more!  :dum:  

[NARSES2]

Don't know how many of you saw the Money Programme on BBC2 last night ? Quite interesting programme about Airfix under Hornby. Concentrated on the Dr who kits understandably from the Beeb's point of view, but had some good shots of Trevor crawling under various aircraft and measuring them up, and his comment about the Tardis "Brothel" to the Chinese was a good 'un.

Interestingly while talking about the forthcoming Canberra mention was made of a of a new tool Classic aircraft range  

If repeated it's worth a watch

Chris

[Radish]

Somewhere it was confirmed that the 1/24th Mosquito originally to be made in the '70s (their 1/48th kit was downscaled from it) was "back on".
I'd prefer some stuff in 1/72nd:

Canberra, de havilland Hornet, F-80/T-33, F-86D, Meteor 4, ....

all classics.

[Radish]

I didn't watch it.
I might if I get the chance watch a repeat, but only to see Trevor, et al.
I wouldn't expect anything focussed on us mature modellers though.
TV programmes are almost always disappointing in terms of depth and quality, it's a poor medium from that point of view.
TV is OK for a shallow introduction, but lousy at much else, unless it's a proper documentary series, and that ain't ever going to happen anyway.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Neil brought one of the test shots for the Canberra B(I)8/B(I)12 to the club on Thursday. Want Want Want

No chance of seeing any images of the test shot?  I would really like to know what to expect from this kit.  Since I have only the Classic Airframes Canberra to use a  comparison.  My interest is of course with the Martin version but at this point, any Canberra in 1/48th scale is welcome.  

[Martin H]

Neil brought one of the test shots for the Canberra B(I)8/B(I)12 to the club on Thursday. Want Want Want

quite handy haveing a mag editor on the clubs book isnt it?  LOL

As for new "classic" aircraft kits, i took that to mean additions/updates to the old core range of Airfix kits.  It will be interesting to see what the follow the Nimrod with in 72nd scale thou