Belting Price for the Big Airfix Typhoon
Discussion
All the design work is done in the UK, the toolmaking is done in China, production is done in India. Airfix uses completely different toolmakers and factories to the rest of Hornby so has not been affected by the same issues as Hornby railways. Production of all Airfix kits has been in India since 2010. Decals are printed by Cartograph in Italy though, as the right sort of printing presses don't exist in India (yet) and the huge swings in humidity result in alignment issues between colours.
the canopy tool ran fine in the toolmaker's moulding machines in china, however, different machines in India meant that a tool mod had to be carried out to the feed gate locally to make it fill correctly. This in turn led to the cracking issues- it's down to the shrinkage of the plastic and the size of the feed gate. Hopefully this has now been resolved.
It's a real shame this was not picked up by QC, the project was on time for a June release until we had the issues with the canopy tool, as a result everyone was put under massive pressure to get the kit to retailers. The kit's release also coincided with a factory move (to bigger premises) which hasn't helped.
Anyone with issues please contact customer support and a new canopy will be sent out ASAP. Apologies to everyone affected, it should not have happened.
the canopy tool ran fine in the toolmaker's moulding machines in china, however, different machines in India meant that a tool mod had to be carried out to the feed gate locally to make it fill correctly. This in turn led to the cracking issues- it's down to the shrinkage of the plastic and the size of the feed gate. Hopefully this has now been resolved.
It's a real shame this was not picked up by QC, the project was on time for a June release until we had the issues with the canopy tool, as a result everyone was put under massive pressure to get the kit to retailers. The kit's release also coincided with a factory move (to bigger premises) which hasn't helped.
Anyone with issues please contact customer support and a new canopy will be sent out ASAP. Apologies to everyone affected, it should not have happened.
Edited by lufbramatt on Thursday 31st July 12:08
lufbramatt said:
All the design work is done in the UK, the toolmaking is done in China, production is done in India. Airfix uses completely different toolmakers and factories to the rest of Hornby so has not been affected by the same issues as Hornby railways. Production of all Airfix kits has been in India since 2010. Decals are printed by Cartograph in Italy though, as the right sort of printing presses don't exist in India (yet) and the huge swings in humidity result in alignment issues between colours.
the canopy tool ran fine in the toolmaker's moulding machines in china, however, different machines in India meant that a tool mod had to be carried out to the feed gate locally to make it fill correctly. This in turn led to the cracking issues- it's down to the shrinkage of the plastic and the size of the feed gate. Hopefully this has now been resolved.
It's a real shame this was not picked up by QC, the project was on time for a June release until we had the issues with the canopy tool, as a result everyone was put under massive pressure to get the kit to retailers. The kit's release also coincided with a factory move (to bigger premises) which hasn't helped.
Anyone with issues please contact customer support and a new canopy will be sent out ASAP. Apologies to everyone affected, it should not have happened.
Hi Matt, thanks for the explanation, just thought i'd relay a conversation that i've had this morning at my local model shop whilst collecting some supplies for the big tiffie, mentioned that i'd got the Typhoon as a prezzy and just how impressed I was with it, Canopy issue excepted (Airfix CS sorted that out in 3 working days!) he stated that the kit was designed and built by Trumpeter! and just boxed by Airfix! what a berk!the canopy tool ran fine in the toolmaker's moulding machines in china, however, different machines in India meant that a tool mod had to be carried out to the feed gate locally to make it fill correctly. This in turn led to the cracking issues- it's down to the shrinkage of the plastic and the size of the feed gate. Hopefully this has now been resolved.
It's a real shame this was not picked up by QC, the project was on time for a June release until we had the issues with the canopy tool, as a result everyone was put under massive pressure to get the kit to retailers. The kit's release also coincided with a factory move (to bigger premises) which hasn't helped.
Anyone with issues please contact customer support and a new canopy will be sent out ASAP. Apologies to everyone affected, it should not have happened.
Edited by lufbramatt on Thursday 31st July 12:08
haha I'll tell the designer (he sits on the desk opposite mine) 
You can see him here:
Airfix Typhoon video
Maybe he's been moonlighting...
You can see him here:
Airfix Typhoon video
Maybe he's been moonlighting...
Twobad said:
I've just checked mine and the main canopy piece has a hairline crack about 4mm long where it joins the sprue.
Airfix contacted...
Bu99er I wasn't looking for a hairline crack, now I've looked more carefully there is one that runs in a perfectly straight straight line down the centre of the canopy.Airfix contacted...
How do I contact Aifix?
Elderly said:
Bu99er I wasn't looking for a hairline crack, now I've looked more carefully there is one that runs in a perfectly straight straight line down the centre of the canopy.
How do I contact Aifix?
http://www.airfix.com/contactHow do I contact Aifix?
Select spares enquiry on the dropdown.
Something like that. We are well aware of the issues, trying to get a factory worker that a tiny imperfection in part of a toy plane is not acceptable is hard work!
canopies are very hard to tool+mould correctly, without costing the earth. Ideally you only want one feedgate with an overflow. However this means that the part is only supported in one small area and can break off in transit, or just wont eject from the tool without snapping off (you can't have ejection pins on a clear part).
So you put two feedgates on the part so it reaches the customer in one piece and end up with weld lines down the middle. which everyone moans about!
To be fair if you start looking closely at canopies in other makers kits, most of them have weld lines etc. apparent.
The trouble with injection moulded kits is that ideally injection moulding is best suited to moulding say 20 parts (mobile phone bodies etc) that are all identical and designed specifically to be injection moulded with nice big radiuses and draft angles on everything. On a model part, the shape of the part is dictated by the shape of the real thing, so everything you make is a compromise.
canopies are very hard to tool+mould correctly, without costing the earth. Ideally you only want one feedgate with an overflow. However this means that the part is only supported in one small area and can break off in transit, or just wont eject from the tool without snapping off (you can't have ejection pins on a clear part).
So you put two feedgates on the part so it reaches the customer in one piece and end up with weld lines down the middle. which everyone moans about!
To be fair if you start looking closely at canopies in other makers kits, most of them have weld lines etc. apparent.
The trouble with injection moulded kits is that ideally injection moulding is best suited to moulding say 20 parts (mobile phone bodies etc) that are all identical and designed specifically to be injection moulded with nice big radiuses and draft angles on everything. On a model part, the shape of the part is dictated by the shape of the real thing, so everything you make is a compromise.
Eric Mc said:
Much as I am a true Airfix fan (boy), they do seem to have had an issue with flawed canopies in some of their recent kits. The new 1/72 Lightning seems to have suffered in a similar way.
Is quality control from 4,000 miles away plus proving difficult?
I'm sure they'll get the transparencies right Eric, the alternative I suppose is to bring the manufacturing back to the UK, but that would then increase costs by 30-50%Is quality control from 4,000 miles away plus proving difficult?
It is always good to get info from the source like this. Sam looks about half the age I had expected the designer to be!
I would love to hear him in a podcast or similar, explaining how he got to be where he is, what his background is (art / engineering / production design / etc). I have no idea if anything like that exists for modellers, along the lines of The Amp Hour for electronics.
I would love to hear him in a podcast or similar, explaining how he got to be where he is, what his background is (art / engineering / production design / etc). I have no idea if anything like that exists for modellers, along the lines of The Amp Hour for electronics.
Zad said:
It is always good to get info from the source like this. Sam looks about half the age I had expected the designer to be!
I would love to hear him in a podcast or similar, explaining how he got to be where he is, what his background is (art / engineering / production design / etc). I have no idea if anything like that exists for modellers, along the lines of The Amp Hour for electronics.
We are thinking of doing something like this, we did a hour long presentation at Telford last year which was recorded, that might end up on the web in some form soon.I would love to hear him in a podcast or similar, explaining how he got to be where he is, what his background is (art / engineering / production design / etc). I have no idea if anything like that exists for modellers, along the lines of The Amp Hour for electronics.
Sam is a couple of years younger than me but we both did Industrial Design at Loughborough Uni, same as most of the designers at Hornby!
We use PTC Creo Parametric (used to be called ProEngineer) with the ISDX surfacing module which works really well for the compound curved shaps found in aircraft.
Eric Mc said:
Much as I am a true Airfix fan (boy), they do seem to have had an issue with flawed canopies in some of their recent kits.
But I'm sure they're much better than they were. I was looking through a 1974-vintage He177 (moulds only 10 years old then!) and the glazed nose was almost opaque. Yes - we are very exacting in our demands these days and less inclined to put up with "flaws" or errors as we were years ago.
It's to do with the demographic who buy models these days. When you are ten years old or so, you hardly noticed the errors, the gaps , the technical inaccuracies. When you are 50 you go over the model with a magnifying glass (literally in some cases) and then jump on the internet to moan about all the "issues".
It's to do with the demographic who buy models these days. When you are ten years old or so, you hardly noticed the errors, the gaps , the technical inaccuracies. When you are 50 you go over the model with a magnifying glass (literally in some cases) and then jump on the internet to moan about all the "issues".
I'll post some pics of some of these older kits, it's quite illuminating. As I mentioned the other day, I now have Series 5, 1974 in its entirety. The difference between the early kits, Lancaster being the best example, and the Canberra which was a new kit that year is remarkable. The Invader is an interesting kit – it's quite a small aircraft as you know, probably a Series 3 or 4 size really, but there are so many options – bombs, rockets and optional noses that it only just fits in the box. Excellent value for money if you're a ten year old boy. (Although the Invader is one I missed at the time.)
Having 'completed' Series 5 there's a nagging temptation to just keep going...
Having 'completed' Series 5 there's a nagging temptation to just keep going...
lufbramatt said:
Elderly said:
Bu99er I wasn't looking for a hairline crack, now I've looked more carefully there is one that runs in a perfectly straight straight line down the centre of the canopy.
How do I contact Aifix?
http://www.airfix.com/contactHow do I contact Aifix?
Select spares enquiry on the dropdown.
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