peebeep

Certain subjects sell, over and over and over again. They are guaranteed turnover. Is that too difficult to understand or comprehend?

I'm afraid I can't take that figure of 500 at all seriously. For the sake of argument let's assume the R & D/tooling cost is 100,000 Euro (I've no doubt it would be much bigger than that). They would have to sell every kit at 200 Euro just to break even. Er, right. Even large lkits usually have a run of a few thousand, your Revell man might have said 500, but he probably meant 5000. The first run on the Airfix 1/24 Mosquito was 3000 I believe, can't remember the RRP, I think it was about 120 GBP.

If you're thinking a LIDAR scan is a means to producing a tool quickly and cheaply, I'd have to demur. It provides you with data that needs to be interpreted and turned into workable data for use with CAD/CAM CNC. A LIDAR scan can virtually guarantee you accuracy of outline, but scanning a 1:1 artifact results in a hell of a lot of 'noise' that has to be edited out by a skilled techie with knowledge of and/or good references on the subject. I'd bet most techs would prefer to work up a computer model from first principles rather than edit scanned data and it's probably quicker. I think this was touched on in one of The Workshop blog articles.

Neither kit was particularly 'limited', if my memory is correct the TSR2 ran to some 15,000 units on first release and the Nimrod was about 20,000. I couldn't quote you a figure for the Stratos 4 TSR2 re-issue. They were not done with cheaper moulds, that is just another alternative fact pedalled by the rumour factory. The TSR2 was 'sold' - mistakenly in my view - as a limited edition. The Nimrod production run was based on orders received from wholesalers/retailers. It has to be said that both kits created something of a debacle instigated by the previous Airfix management. In answer to the OP's question, I would think the Valiant will be released at some time in the future, when it's ascertained that there is sufficient demand. The tooling represents a considerable investment and not doing any further production runs doesn't make economic sense. I'd never measure demand by inflated ebay prices, that is usually a sign of blatant profiteering when something is perceived to be in short supply. I saw Valiants for sale on traders stalls at model shows last year, although I can't recall if there were any at Bovington last weekend. There's still some out there.

But would 25,500 members buy if Airfix said they would release kits that they request? I'll remain sceptical. Even aircraft subjects can go down like a lead balloon and the Nimrod debacle is a stand out in this respect. Everybody said sure I'll buy one, but when push came to shove they didn't. I know one fairly well known trader who still spits feathers at the merest mention of Nimrod, he couldn't even give them away. Airfix need a huge incentive to tool up new ship kits and I don't see it happening in the near future. You'd be better off lobbying the manufacturers that are actually active within the genre and have enough clout to take some risks for the stuff you want.

I don't believe anybody is being belittled here, what some of us are suggesting is that manufacturing companies are sales driven and what doesn't sell doesn't get made. Here's a breakdown of one trader's sales at Scale Model World this year: All Aircraft 42%, Civil Vehicles 25%, Military Vehicles 11%, Ships 10%, Figures 9% (of which military 7%), Space & Sci-fi 2%, Misc 1%. If Airfix have become aircraft-centric whilst armour and ships get short shrift, the above may hold a clue.

This has become a circular argument. We might all wish that Airfix issued the sort of kits that you describe - personally I'd love an SS Great Britain or an HMS Warrior - but unless Airfix feel that there's any profit it in it it's not going to happen. You need a production run that's measured in thousands, possibly tens of thousands to keep the price within the bounds of an average Airfix buyer, not a few hundred. Even if you manufacture the kits, you will still need to persuade your distributors and retailers that they will sell and that it's worthwhile their stocking them.

It's my understanding that the Japanese manufacturers (especially) are almost entirely focused on their home market, the Chinese to a lesser extent, because the market is so huge and they've no real interest in exporting. I know one trader who would love to bring in Japanese products to sell here, but even if he can get a deal they will mostly expect to ship a complete container, which is out of his ball park.

The Far Eastern market is totally different to the rest of the world, for starters it's humongous. In Japan they have hobby shops as big as medium sized supermarkets stacked with plastic kits and there is demand for a whole range of genres. I know people will say why don't Airfix issue in multiple genres and compete in the far east? There's a whole bunch of reasons why they don't, but in a nutshell, it's very difficult. Also to issue kits in multiple genres you have to have a lot of R & D resources that I suspect Airfix simply don't have. They sell primarily in the areas that they know will guarantee profitability within the limits of the organisation that they are running, they play it safe and it's a strategy that works (check the best seller lists at Hannants each time Airfix issue new kits). I'd bet that Revell and Zvezda have much larger organisations with more resources available to develop all the different genres that they manufacture in.

A 1/144 HMS Shannon would be spiffing, as would an HMS Warrior and an SS Great Britain. I would buy them, but Airfix have to be certain they can shift several thousand of each to make it worth while.

I would say its down to sales. Companies like Airfix go by feedback from retailers/point of sale. If traders stop ordering stuff there's no commercial incentive to produce sprues, boxes, instructions and decals. to then have it sit in a warehouse. If the only kits available are Bismark, HMS Hood, HMS Victory etc, that's probably because they're the kits that traders are selling and want to re-stock.

If you Google a product code you will get hits that will reference the provenance of any particular Airfix product - or Revell, or Italeri, or Hasegawa etc etc. As it happens you could always use the search engine on Airfix Tribute forum to access the excellent database of Airfix stuff that is retained there. Another alternative is Scalemates. The key is in using the product code, search engines will latch onto it and cut out the dross. I wouldn't mind a quid for every time somebody posts up complaining about a 'new' kit, when a few seconds using a search engine before they handed over the hard earned would have saved them the trouble.

Personally I think that 1/76, if it's not actually dead, it's certainly moribund. Quoting cottage industry support is also a dead end, Airfix need to sell in tens of thousands to make it a worthwhile exercise. Time to let 1/76 die and launch a new series in 1/72, assuming they still wish to offer modellers AFV and softskin kits. The only thing preventing this is the extensive tooling that could still be used to manufacture kits - the execs face the same quandry with the ship kits.

The old Airfix Hawk would just about balance without being weighted, although without something sticky under the nose gear it would up end very readily.

I think it caught a few of us by surprise. I hope they sell well and encourage Airfix to explore other Japanese subjects.

The Fujimi kits aren't at all bad, but a bit long in the tooth now. Airfix have had a Val in the catlogue seemingly forever, surely ripe for a new kit?

Where soes the figure come from?