Airfix

[Beermonster58]

I'm not getting excited about tomorrow's Airfix announcement. I'll only be surprised if  it's (a) not yet another wretched Spitfire and, (b) in 1/72.

I suspect it might be something in 1/72nd beginning with "L" but I don't want to jinx it...

Lanchester perhaps?  That would probably rule out an  Avro Mincoln then!  

[kitbasher]

I'm not getting excited about tomorrow's Airfix announcement. I'll only be surprised if  it's (a) not yet another wretched Spitfire and, (b) in 1/72.

I suspect it might be something in 1/72nd beginning with "L" but I don't want to jinx it...

You did jinx it, Harold!

1/24 Spit IXc repop with resin parts to make the beer barrel-carrying ML208 (plus 2 other decal options)

https://uk.airfix.com/products/supermarine-spitfire-mkixc-beers-away-bundle-bundlea76?

[Weaver]

Oh.

Well that explains the beer mat in their teaser: a 1/24th beer bomber. Not my scale, not my budget and it's been available for years in 1/72nd if I did want one.

Yawn.

[Gondor]

Pathetic

[scautomoton]

Yawntastic. What will Airfix do when the generation of little boys who ran outside to watch squadrons of Spitfires fly overhead are all no longer with us?

[Beermonster58]

Pathetic, unimaginative and, totally predictable. Yet another Airfix "big" announcement where the sound of the fanfare is drowned out by the sound of fizzling damp squibs.

[The Rat]

Well, there goes my hopes for a 1/57th scale Farley Fruitbat FBGA.4 with Chartley & Figgins 2-stage Bandicoot engines.

[zenrat]

Well, there goes my hopes for a 1/57th scale Farley Fruitbat FBGA.4 with Chartley & Figgins 2-stage Bandicoot engines.

I have it on good authority that Airfix technicians visited the PDRV last week and LIDAR scanned the restored example at Dadswell Bridge.  So you shouldn't have too long a wait (although it'll be in 1/48)

[Weaver]

Well, there goes my hopes for a 1/57th scale Farley Fruitbat FBGA.4 with Chartley & Figgins 2-stage Bandicoot engines.

I have it on good authority that Airfix technicians visited the PDRV last week and LIDAR scanned the restored example at Dadswell Bridge.  So you shouldn't have too long a wait (although it'll be in 1/48)

Well that's stupid: it won't go with the rest of peoples' 1/57th scale collections now, will it?

[Rheged]

Well, there goes my hopes for a 1/57th scale Farley Fruitbat FBGA.4 with Chartley & Figgins 2-stage Bandicoot engines.

I never knew that mark of Fruitbat  had the two stage Bandicoot engines.  I'd assumed that all of  the antipodean Fruitbats  had C&F single stage Quolls installed.

You learn all sorts of things whilst browsing this site!

[kitbasher]

You silly buggers 😂😂😂

[Beermonster58]

Would it perhaps be safe to assume that Friday's "big announcement" has perhaps not been given the reception Airfix expected or wanted? I think a lead balloon might've gone down better......!   . While I admittedly have no business expertise or connections, I'd bet that somebody in marketing is perhaps going to have a serious chat with the boss. Joking apart though,I think it's likely that every announcement from Airfix now is going to be treated with cynicism ,disbelief and distrust. Some might argue that is already the case but, whatever, it cannot be good for business.

I've not bought a new Airfix kit for some time now. Speaking as a customer, they simply aren't producing what I want to buy. No matter how many Spitfires they sell, will it matter a damn if they are losing custom from people who are sick of the same old, same old and, are turning to other manufacturers who are a bit more adventurous and imaginative?

[McColm]

I think the change of plastic is causing a lot of issues, quality control is another big problem. The beer barrel Spitfire could have been better presented along with a few other models that are being released or from their classic series.

[NARSES2]

I've not bought a new Airfix kit for some time now. Speaking as a customer, they simply aren't producing what I want to buy. No matter how many Spitfires they sell, will it matter a damn if they are losing custom from people who are sick of the same old, same old and, are turning to other manufacturers who are a bit more adventurous and imaginative?

Well I've bought a fair few of their new tools, in both 1/72 & 1/48, and have been impressed with them. I honestly don't understand this peculiarly British trait of of having to criticise everything of our own that is even remotely succesfull.    Don't people realise that without Airfix we wouldn't have a domestic "major" producer.

As for this "special announcement". Sure it has no interest for me whatsovever, but has it cost much ? Probably absolutely "B" all. It's purely an existing kit, issued with a few "extras" that might otherwise have been done by an aftermarket company. Their cost is probably minimal given the proliferation of 3D items available on the market nowadays. The "fanfare" was aimed at an existing subscription base and was timed for a specific event.

I really do think some people will only be happy when Hornby/Airfix (and remember Airfix are the junior partner in this) go bust yet again and we are left wiith no domestic injection moulded production company.

I'll put my Moderators hat back on now.

[Weaver]

Would it perhaps be safe to assume that Friday's "big announcement" has perhaps not been given the reception Airfix expected or wanted? I think a lead balloon might've gone down better......!   . While I admittedly have no business expertise or connections, I'd bet that somebody in marketing is perhaps going to have a serious chat with the boss. Joking apart though,I think it's likely that every announcement from Airfix now is going to be treated with cynicism ,disbelief and distrust. Some might argue that is already the case but, whatever, it cannot be good for business.

I've not bought a new Airfix kit for some time now. Speaking as a customer, they simply aren't producing what I want to buy. No matter how many Spitfires they sell, will it matter a damn if they are losing custom from people who are sick of the same old, same old and, are turning to other manufacturers who are a bit more adventurous and imaginative?

The last time I looked, the comments on the video were at least 50% negative.

What they're doing is looking at the bottom line and seeing that profit margins are greater on the big, expensive stuff, because people aren't so sensititve to paying over the odds for it. Most of the people who'll pay £100 for a kit will probably still pay £130 for it because they can afford it and they're used to the price of high-end goods being disconnected from their actual value content. Add that same 30% increase to a £20 kit and it'll cross not only a lot of poorer peoples' "can't afford it" threshold but also kick off their highly sensitive "not worth it" sensors.

The first problem with this is that it's a short term strategy. Those rich boomer who are paying £130 for kits are literally a dying breed and they are not being replaced in anything like enough numbers by poor youngsters entering the hobby. I'm not saying Airfix shouldn't milk the top end of the market while it's there to be milked, but they should also pay attention to the gap between the snap-togther EasyBuild kits for literal children and the mid-tier stuff. If you want to keep those newbies who started on near-Lego when they're low-paid 20-somethings then you need stuff they can afford.

The second problem is that it seems like even "senior" modellers who will pay a fair bit of money for models are getting increasingly sick of same-old, same-old. A good proportion of those negative comments are along the lines of "I love Spitfires but even I'm getting sick of seeing them". This mirrors a general shift in aviation/military interests in the last 30 years, which we What If Modellers have contributed to. The end of the Cold War meant that the pace of new military hardware development slowed down to a crawl, which in turn left publishers and media casting around for something to fill their magazines and book schedules. What-ifs and Alt-History addressed that nicely, with the Secret Weapons Of The Luftwaffe and the British Secret Projects books being the pioneers. We've all noticed approvingly how what-ifs have now become "respectable" and we don't get anything like the flak for them that we used to. The side effect of this is that more and more aircraft/military enthusiasts, including modellers, have become interested in a greatly expanded sphere of subjects that includes the obscure and the never-built, and are thus increasingly bored by a diet of Spitfires and F-16s.