V-Bomber options
Discussion
BULLITT Rich said:
dr_gn said:
On the whole, I think Revell probably make the best kits in terms of accuracy/detail/price at the moment.
The "Revell" Victor kit is a straight re-boxing of the old Matchbox kit with raised panel lines and not too much detail. What it lacks in fidelity it more than makes up for in presence though, when built with some love and attention.
Personal choice I guess. I'm just not a fan of kits that need modifying just to fit together properly. Granted not all Tamiya kits do either but better than most in my experience. As said though, it's all personal choice.The "Revell" Victor kit is a straight re-boxing of the old Matchbox kit with raised panel lines and not too much detail. What it lacks in fidelity it more than makes up for in presence though, when built with some love and attention.
I'm currently collecting just about every big bomber/plane kit there is, just after a B-29 and B-52 now, quite hard to find and by all accounts the B-52 will dwarf just about everything!
Personally I find that aspect very rewarding. I build a heap of Classic Airframes limited run multi-media kits. I built loads of Welsh Models' little 1:144 vacform airlines. I built Aircraft in Miniture's 1:72 vacform BAe Nimrod long before Airfix made the injection moulded kit. Similarly there are vacformed DH110s, XF-84H, Westland Welkins and allsorts in my collection. I got a lot of satisfaction from the models that needed more effort and skill. I won a load of competitions with Tamiya kits but it always seemed a hollow victory because all it requires is "not making an arse of it" usually. I still enjoy chucking Tamiya kits together of course, but I wouldn't and don't hessitate for a second to stray from such easy to assemble kits if I want anything different. It's hard to overstate the immense smugness of being able to look at such a model and think "Not many others have one of these".
There's a Sanger Engineering 1:48 scale Short Sunderland Mk.III vacform kit, a Flightpath 1:48 cast resin Fairey Firefly Mk.V and a Fonderie Minitures H.P. Hampden waiting in the queue - and I'm really looking forward to them
I tend to shy away from "all singing, all dancing" kits and have a tendency to have a go at old and less than perfect models. Some if it is the challenge of making something decent out of an unpromising set of parts and the other is nostalgia for kits I built 30 or 40 years ago.
There is no doubt that Tamiya on the whole have a long record of producing excellent models. But their aviation range is limited compared to other kit manufacturers - especially in 1/72 - and they can be expensive.
There is no doubt that Tamiya on the whole have a long record of producing excellent models. But their aviation range is limited compared to other kit manufacturers - especially in 1/72 - and they can be expensive.
jamieduff1981 said:
BULLITT Rich said:
dr_gn said:
On the whole, I think Revell probably make the best kits in terms of accuracy/detail/price at the moment.
The "Revell" Victor kit is a straight re-boxing of the old Matchbox kit with raised panel lines and not too much detail. What it lacks in fidelity it more than makes up for in presence though, when built with some love and attention.
Personal choice I guess. I'm just not a fan of kits that need modifying just to fit together properly. Granted not all Tamiya kits do either but better than most in my experience. As said though, it's all personal choice.The "Revell" Victor kit is a straight re-boxing of the old Matchbox kit with raised panel lines and not too much detail. What it lacks in fidelity it more than makes up for in presence though, when built with some love and attention.
I'm currently collecting just about every big bomber/plane kit there is, just after a B-29 and B-52 now, quite hard to find and by all accounts the B-52 will dwarf just about everything!
Personally I find that aspect very rewarding. I build a heap of Classic Airframes limited run multi-media kits. I built loads of Welsh Models' little 1:144 vacform airlines. I built Aircraft in Miniture's 1:72 vacform BAe Nimrod long before Airfix made the injection moulded kit. Similarly there are vacformed DH110s, XF-84H, Westland Welkins and allsorts in my collection. I got a lot of satisfaction from the models that needed more effort and skill. I won a load of competitions with Tamiya kits but it always seemed a hollow victory because all it requires is "not making an arse of it" usually. I still enjoy chucking Tamiya kits together of course, but I wouldn't and don't hessitate for a second to stray from such easy to assemble kits if I want anything different. It's hard to overstate the immense smugness of being able to look at such a model and think "Not many others have one of these".
There's a Sanger Engineering 1:48 scale Short Sunderland Mk.III vacform kit, a Flightpath 1:48 cast resin Fairey Firefly Mk.V and a Fonderie Minitures H.P. Hampden waiting in the queue - and I'm really looking forward to them
dr_gn said:
jamieduff1981 said:
BULLITT Rich said:
dr_gn said:
On the whole, I think Revell probably make the best kits in terms of accuracy/detail/price at the moment.
The "Revell" Victor kit is a straight re-boxing of the old Matchbox kit with raised panel lines and not too much detail. What it lacks in fidelity it more than makes up for in presence though, when built with some love and attention.
Personal choice I guess. I'm just not a fan of kits that need modifying just to fit together properly. Granted not all Tamiya kits do either but better than most in my experience. As said though, it's all personal choice.The "Revell" Victor kit is a straight re-boxing of the old Matchbox kit with raised panel lines and not too much detail. What it lacks in fidelity it more than makes up for in presence though, when built with some love and attention.
I'm currently collecting just about every big bomber/plane kit there is, just after a B-29 and B-52 now, quite hard to find and by all accounts the B-52 will dwarf just about everything!
Personally I find that aspect very rewarding. I build a heap of Classic Airframes limited run multi-media kits. I built loads of Welsh Models' little 1:144 vacform airlines. I built Aircraft in Miniture's 1:72 vacform BAe Nimrod long before Airfix made the injection moulded kit. Similarly there are vacformed DH110s, XF-84H, Westland Welkins and allsorts in my collection. I got a lot of satisfaction from the models that needed more effort and skill. I won a load of competitions with Tamiya kits but it always seemed a hollow victory because all it requires is "not making an arse of it" usually. I still enjoy chucking Tamiya kits together of course, but I wouldn't and don't hessitate for a second to stray from such easy to assemble kits if I want anything different. It's hard to overstate the immense smugness of being able to look at such a model and think "Not many others have one of these".
There's a Sanger Engineering 1:48 scale Short Sunderland Mk.III vacform kit, a Flightpath 1:48 cast resin Fairey Firefly Mk.V and a Fonderie Minitures H.P. Hampden waiting in the queue - and I'm really looking forward to them
dr_gn said:
For me it depends on the subject. If there is, say, an excellent Spitfire kit, I'll buy that rather than an equivalent poor one that needs modding; I just can't see the point of modding an inferior kit if a better one is available. At the end of the day I want to look at a collection of the best models I can produce, irrespective of how I got there. With a subject such as the Defiant, where the best avaialble kit was a short run item, I was happy to machine my own turret and make other fairly significant modifications. In fact the research required to do all that was really interesting, and the knowledge that it's a unique model is satisfying.
Completely agree there. I have other hobbies so my spare time and money are shared out between them, I don't want to spend time just getting something to fit together properly when a better kit is available. I don't just look at what Tamiya offers, if anything one problem is that their subject matter is very very limited, so there aren't many choices for sort planes I would like to build (Transporters and Bombers). Revell, Airfix and Italeri have a very large range of planes so I'm more than willing to build them, it just takes longer for me personally to complete them.I've only scanned the preceding posts so apologies if I'm repeating something, but the Airfix Valiant is now in their 'Last chance to buy list' and as of today, showing out of stock.
http://www.airfix.com/shop/last-chance-to-buy-coll...
So what's available elsewhere will go soon too.
No idea if they have a retooled model waiting in the wings though...
http://www.airfix.com/shop/last-chance-to-buy-coll...
So what's available elsewhere will go soon too.
No idea if they have a retooled model waiting in the wings though...
They won't. The Valiant is a "new tool" anyway so there is no need to "re-tool". The Valiant only existed in one basic version - although there were some modifications to the airdfames in their fairly short service careers - including a tanker conversion. Airfix already produce an accessory kit to allow the PR fit to be installed.
The only other version of the Valiant was the B2 interdictor but Vickers only ever built one of these and it was not ordered by the RAF. Which is a pity as it was one cool looking beast -
Airfix don't keep all their models in production all the time. They cycle them in and out of production based on how they perceive sales to be going. I would expect that they feel they have sold all of the Valiants they are going to for the next few years.
My hunch is that it will be returned to production in around five years time.
The only other version of the Valiant was the B2 interdictor but Vickers only ever built one of these and it was not ordered by the RAF. Which is a pity as it was one cool looking beast -
Airfix don't keep all their models in production all the time. They cycle them in and out of production based on how they perceive sales to be going. I would expect that they feel they have sold all of the Valiants they are going to for the next few years.
My hunch is that it will be returned to production in around five years time.
The Airfix valiant has been reduced as it the last few pallets from the initial batch, Hornby are moving their warehouse a few miles down the road towards Canterbury and we are having a bit of a clear out of old stock at the same time to reduce the amount of stock being transferred. No plans for a new one, although I expect it will be a good few years before it re-appears in the range.
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