Do you think we should see the old 1/32 cars again?

[DavidJC]

@DavidJC

 

What do you mean the Marina is a poor kit? I don't know much about plastic kits, but it looks alright to me?

 

I think when I said reissuing it, I meant this as new tool.

 

GNR-Gordon-4

Then there's even less chance of a new tool than a re-issue of the old. It would now cost millions to develop a new tool, and in all honesty can you see it being a big seller? Be honest with yourself. In today's market, would a new tool Marina/Maxi/Victor etc really sell?? As to the kit looking good, perhaps it does. But does it build easily and have good fit? By and large, kits of that era - Airfix included - the answer would be 'no'. I ought to point out I never specifically mentioned the Marina, however, it is included. For one example, the Aston Martin has come in for heavy criticism on this very website for inaccurate profiles and clumsy fit - a kit of its time, though, that's how kits were and we accepted them as such. Not now though.

 

Which neatly leads me on to responding to the suggestion of scanning a mint example of a kit to save on costs. Is that viable or workable? Given that the kits at the time were hardly dream builds, scanning would merely add new errors whilst compounding others and give a result that would in all honesty, probably be worse than the kit of the time.

 

As much as any of us want any one kit, we really do have to accept market forces and acknowledge the fact that Airfix is a business which has to make money to survive, and in that, such kits - which are niche in the extreme - will be unlikely in the extreme to be retooled or reissued.

[NWR-Gordon-4]

I am being honest now. I have though long hard about it and I don't think a new about the Marina would be a good seller. Perhaps of a new tool of a modern car of some sort would be much better?

 

GNR-Gordon-4

[Captain Triggers]

What about a marina with a piano on the roof?

[Ratch]

What about a Marina on bricks with the wheels missing.

[MG Writer]

What about a Marina on bricks with the wheels missing.

Indeed!

[MG Writer]

I bought nearly all these car kits when they were first issued - many bought with Christmas or Birthday ten bob notes from Woolworths or W H Smiths - and built them with the limited skill that I had at the time. The likes of the Marina, Vauxhall Viva, Victor Estate (bizarre subject), VW Beetle, Maxi, Capri, Escort, MG 1100, Maserati, Porsche 917, Triumph Herald and others I recall as very good little kits and ironically far better than the mediocre Ferrari, Jaguar E Type and Aston Martin DB5 which survived (I know some of those others do survive). Some like the MGB had disappointing features (the grille is rubbish) and others being older were a bit crude. Most of my own kits as built have long since departed but I have a degree of nostalgia and I would welcome a chance to build some of them anew using better skills. Is this a realistic commercial proposition? Maybe not... but if someone could find a viable way to use modern 3D scanning and direct printing (I am not suggesting reverse engineering tooling) and doing this under license to Hornby, then limited sales perhaps if necessary as 'print on demand' via a website with a few offered at enthusiast events and specialist outlets might just about be feasible. It would never set the market alight but might supplement more mainstream activity.  I cannot personally countenance spending silly money on a rare kit on fleabay only to make the dwindling stocks of such unmade kits even rarer by building it with my reasonable, but never championship winning ability.

[Rogerbass]

There must be some market for old car kits, the Triumph Herald and Tr4a and MBG plus the beetle and E Type and Escort must have sold.

[Ratch]

I expect they do, which is why they periodically re-emerge in the range.

[NWR-Gordon-4]

What about a Marina in the scrap yard? Rusty and missing most of it's parts? Or about a scrapped Marina, crushed into a cube?!  😆 😉 😀

 

GNR-Gordon-4

 

[peebeep]

There must be some market for old car kits, the Triumph Herald and Tr4a and MBG plus the beetle and E Type and Escort must have sold.

 

These are car subjects that are reasonably iconic and the sort of thing you might see for real if you were to visit a classic show. Airfix will also use their own sales figures, plus feedback from retailers generated by what they actually order in determining whether or not to reissue anything.

[Sailorman]

What about a Marina in the scrap yard? Rusty and missing most of it's parts? Or about a scrapped Marina, crushed into a cube?!  😆  😉  😀

You'd be surprised how many scrapyard dioramas there are out there.  Look up images of car scrapyard dioramas.  There are some really fantastic ones.  The weathering skills are impressive.

 

 

 

[NWR-Gordon-4]

I like the sound of those. I will have to look them up at some point. Thank you for letting me know about this.  😀

 

GNR-Gordon-4