Airfix

[Weaver]

Some, yes, like the Bond Bug and Islander had new clear parts. Most of them, no.

Do you mean Beaver, rather than Islander?

That was what really annoyed me about the Belvedere - if anything needed new clear parts to transform it, that was the one.

The design, engineering and mould creation for new Belvedere clear parts, and ensuring
that they fit the old kit fuselage, would probably cost more than the old moulds are worth.
Not worth it for a limited re-pop.

Could have said that about the Bond Bug and the Auster though...

Neither of those required a total redesign and reengineering of the clear parts, which is what would be needed to eliminate the join that causes all of the grief. Plus it would have to be at least three parts due to the bulged sides of the canopy and the limitations of injection moulding.
Not worth it due to it being reissued to a limited nostalgia driven market.

ALL Vintage Classics are for a "limited nostalgia-driven market".

Assemble the cockpit from an original issue kit and spray it white.
Laser scan it to get the shape into CAD.
Break it up into three sections, left, right and chin window, in software. The CAD software can apply the neccessary thickness calcs.
Put them on sprues for injection moulding along with scanned side windows.
Get a test shot moulded and build it.
Replace the old clear mould (which MUST be a separate part) with the new one.

Yes, it's time and effort, but IMHO it's worth it. This is the ONLY kit of the Belvedere ever made, and it's impossible to build an accurate one from it as it stands. If it was £5 dearer, I think a LOT of customers would still pay it to finally have one.

[jcf]

Specially for the Bond Bug, the 'glass' for all four windows is flat and they could have just provided some clear sheet to cut out!

Which would have dropped on the market with a thud and much wailing and gnashing of teeth. The average punter who buys a Bug on a whim ain't going to be pleased with having to mess with cutting out windows from clear sheet.
Plus I'm sure that a lot of those casual purchases will be made by people who only know about the Bug because of The Grand Tour and the amphibious version built for the show.
🤣

[jcf]

Some, yes, like the Bond Bug and Islander had new clear parts. Most of them, no.

Do you mean Beaver, rather than Islander?

That was what really annoyed me about the Belvedere - if anything needed new clear parts to transform it, that was the one.

The design, engineering and mould creation for new Belvedere clear parts, and ensuring
that they fit the old kit fuselage, would probably cost more than the old moulds are worth.
Not worth it for a limited re-pop.

Could have said that about the Bond Bug and the Auster though...

Neither of those required a total redesign and reengineering of the clear parts, which is what would be needed to eliminate the join that causes all of the grief. Plus it would have to be at least three parts due to the bulged sides of the canopy and the limitations of injection moulding.
Not worth it due to it being reissued to a limited nostalgia driven market.

ALL Vintage Classics are for a "limited nostalgia-driven market".

Assemble the cockpit from an original issue kit and spray it white.
Laser scan it to get the shape into CAD.
Break it up into three sections, left, right and chin window, in software. The CAD software can apply the neccessary thickness calcs.
Put them on sprues for injection moulding along with scanned side windows.
Get a test shot moulded and build it.
Replace the old clear mould (which MUST be a separate part) with the new one.

Yes, it's time and effort, but IMHO it's worth it. This is the ONLY kit of the Belvedere ever made, and it's impossible to build an accurate one from it as it stands. If it was £5 dearer, I think a LOT of customers would still pay it to finally have one.

🤣🤣🤣
No, the ROI would not be worth it, £5 extra wouldn't cut it for the costs of the creation of the new parts, which would not be as easy as you seem to believe, especially seeing how the clear parts have always been crap. Using a 1959 release wouldn't make any difference.

It's primarily a UK nostalgia market, most of the rest of the world doesn't even know of nor care about the machine or the model kit. The sales numbers simply aren't there to support the business case for creating new parts.

[Weaver]

Just got an e-mail from Airfix re the Jaguar: they're giving me (and presumably everyone else who bought one) a FULL REFUND, without having to send the kit back, AND a 15% voucher code valid untill the end of October!

Seems more than fair, and they've acted pretty quickly too. Fair play to them.     

[Beermonster58]

...I've got three Skyvan kits but, I'm not paying the stupid second hand prices being asked for the Islander. These two items must be the most requested for the Vintage Classics  and, every time Airfix asks for suggestions, they both feature in many requests but, Airfix seems oblivious

Maybe they've lost the moulds.

That's possible of course. However if that's the case and, considering how many times they are requested, Airfix should at least have the honesty and courtesy to tell their
customers?
At least then we'd know.

[Thorvic]

Both the Skyvan and Islander were reissued in the past, i think they replaced the missing mould from the Islander, si its just a matter of waiting their turn

[Thorvic]

Just got an e-mail from Airfix re the Jaguar: they're giving me (and presumably everyone else who bought one) a FULL REFUND, without having to send the kit back, AND a 15% voucher code valid untill the end of October!

Seems more than fair, and they've acted pretty quickly too. Fair play to them.     

Nice of them to to do that but when selling the kit as a GR1 and not providing the fuselage fr a GR1, meant they were braking trading standards so had to act before someone triggered legal action.

Howver it beggars belief that it got to open sale before taking action, the moulds should have been checked before sending to India, they should have demanded a test batch to verify good to go and should have somebody that knows the product to QC the kits ad they were delivered to Margate. They sis an open box review video and ingnored it. Imeediatley spotted by those purchasing the kit or had seen the video, they did the same fubar with their Black Buck Vulcan release, an obvious mistake to those with knowledge, but its just a widget to an employee.

[Weaver]

Just got an e-mail from Airfix re the Jaguar: they're giving me (and presumably everyone else who bought one) a FULL REFUND, without having to send the kit back, AND a 15% voucher code valid untill the end of October!

Seems more than fair, and they've acted pretty quickly too. Fair play to them.     

Nice of them to to do that but when selling the kit as a GR1 and not providing the fuselage fr a GR1, meant they were braking trading standards so had to act before someone triggered legal action.

Howver it beggars belief that it got to open sale before taking action, the moulds should have been checked before sending to India, they should have demanded a test batch to verify good to go and should have somebody that knows the product to QC the kits ad they were delivered to Margate. They sis an open box review video and ingnored it. Imeediatley spotted by those purchasing the kit or had seen the video, they did the same fubar with their Black Buck Vulcan release, an obvious mistake to those with knowledge, but its just a widget to an employee.

Precisely my point in a comment I left on one of their other videos. It beggers belief that nobody, at a bare minimum, does a quick'n'dirty unpainted build from one of the test shots before sending them out. The fault would have been revealed in under 30 minutes. Colin (Freightdog) tells me that the A version was done by using a mould insert, which meant GR.1s could still be produced after Heller modified it. It's possible that the Indian factory took the insert out by mistake after the moulds had been initially checked and and then sent to them. Still no excuse for not checking the first batch in though.

[PR19_Kit]

Airfix do seem to lack people in the firm who actually KNOW anything about aeroplanes!

I can't imagine that happening under previous administrations there.

[scautomoton]

Airfix do seem to lack people in the firm who actually KNOW anything about aeroplanes!

I can't imagine that happening under previous administrations there.

Its seemingly endemic, the Automotive Engineering industry is populated by many people who are not even that interested in cars....

[Weaver]

New-Tool Shuttle stack to be here by the end of the month, but the latest Workbench blog doesn't actually tell you anything about the kit.

Also, ANOTHER sale, this time double discount (20%) for Club members, for this weekend only.

[PR19_Kit]

Is it REALLY a new tool? That would be a LOT of investment for something that size, when they don't seem to be expanding all that much.

[Mossie]

The Shuttle is a re-release. It'd be nice if someone did bite the bullet and kit a new one, all, the kits have their issues and are of their time. I have the Revell kit and its okay, but the Airfix is supposed to be the most accurate overall.

[kitbasher]

Just over a month to Scale Model World.  Time to start the annual Airfix new release speculation frenzy?

1/72 Avro Lincoln or Westland Lysander
1/48 Spitfire PR.XI
Vintage Classic 1/72 Short Skyvan

(Chris, I'll put myself in the book for this, save you the trouble 😂)

[PR19_Kit]

1/24 P-75 Fisher Eagle?

Too obvious though really.