Baffled by Airfix's Marketing/Reissue Policy

[McGreig]

I just bought Airfix's reissued Pe-2 and I'm now completely baffled by New Airfix's schizophrenic marketing policy.

On the one hand, about a month ago, they released the old and inaccurate Airacobra and Il-2 kits (the Il-2 must be a contender for the least accurate kit ever) but the decal sheets were interesting and a bit different - the Soviet Airacobra had stars over green painted-out discs instead of the more popular blue disc background and the Il-2 had Mongolian markings which, even though not right for the version that the Airfix kit is meant to be, showed some imagination.

But then with the Pe-2, one of the best of Airfix's old kits, and potentially one of the most colourful of Soviet wartime aircraft, what do we get? A fairly boring Czech aircraft and a Soviet machine that is overall green and has six red stars and that's all! - no unit markings, no patriotic slogans, no three tone or winter colour schemes and not even an individual aircraft number. It's as if no effort at all has been put into this re-issue (although it has been bumped up into the £7.99 price range!)

And then there's the boxes. The new red boxes are sturdy, stylish and eye-catching - way ahead of the competition. But as far as the actual artwork itself is concerned, while there are some exceptions, it's generally flat, unrealistic, dark, computer generated and looks like a screen grab from a video game. Look at the MiG-15 - a dull grey aircraft flying over a dull grey landscape - or the gift set Yak-9 - a dull green/brown aircraft with little colour contrast, or the smooth, flat, unreal looking Bv-141. Roy Cross would never have produced artwork like this!

Not to mention the old kits resurrected as gift/starter sets with paint. brush and glue, like the Yak-9. While I accept that accuracy is not really an issue for the intended audience, what beginner or young modeller is going to be impressed or encouraged to try again after getting a kit from a mould so old that the parts are now distorted and short moulded - the Yak's radiator is blocked off with flash and the two halves of the under nose intake don't even come close to matching.

Or does none of this matter? Do the kits sell anyway because the Fashion Fairy has decreed that Airfix kits are cool again? Or are the new Canberras and Spitfires and the long unavailable re-issues being bought by modellers who would buy them regardless of how they were presented.

Any thoughts? And does anybody have any actual insight/knowledge of the Airfix strategy and of the sales success (or otherwise) of the kits?

[ChrisF]

Ive been thinking similar to this for a while... There does seem to be a VAST difference in quality between most airfix stuff... New moulds (After hornby put the money in) seem to be clean and detailed and go together perectly... While old moulds (STILL IN A NEW RED BOX !!) are downright awfull.... Im still having nightmares about the fit on the Airfix club swordfish i finished some weeks ago...  grrrr !!

[Gary]

While we as experienced modelers may shudder at such complaints, remember that bright red is a primary colour to attract kiddies. Accuracy isn't that much of an issue to an 8 year old who is more interested in chasing the cat with an Airocobra. They are priced well here in Halifax, I got two for less than 15 bucks, I liked the Hurricane and the Gosling and they are simple builds for a fun weekend. They also provide raw materials for wiffing, like the rocket propelled La-7 or the racing Pe-2.

[puddingwrestler]

When I was a young'un I almost gave up on modeling completely after an experience with old molds (not airfix, Revellogram), I got very frustrated with the way the kit went together and how hard it all was. I didn't work on a model for years after that, although I kept on with the wargames stuff. And I still avoid Airfix because I do not know which of thier kits are the quality newer molds and which are the old and tired molds. I think it's in the best interests of the model companies to try to ensure that younger starting modelers get in on easier to build kits which are still enjoyable to 'ease them in' to the hobby- much like the Hobbyboss easy kits really...
I am also a bit baffled by Airfix...

[van883]

I was at Duxford airshow on sunday and the Airfix tent was full of children of all ages (some very young indeed and there were many girls too) sitting at tables enjoying making and painting kits. It was brilliant! They were having fun and although I did not conduct a survey I didn't notice them expressing concern about accuracy or Airfix's marketing policy.
They are the future of modelling-not a bunch of middle aged men like many of us.

Van 

[Tojo633]

What we seem to have is a lack of consistency amongst the Airfix kits, decals, artwork, quality, moulding and so on. What sells a kit? the artwork!! people be it Adult or kid are usually drawn by the box artwork, one of the biggest mistakes made by Airfix in the past was to remove the classic artwork on the box or blister card, therefore poor box artwork will affect sales -  who can honestly say they are a fan of the picture/plans we had on the boxes in the 80s or early 90's. As for Decals I have bought the Spitfires mk9, 19 and the Me 109G, certainly the newer colour style paintschemes are a bonus, I can think of certain kit releases in the past where the decals were atrocious to say the least. Back to the Spitfires and having seen the clip of what I believe to be the new Spitfire mk 1 on Youtube, why is it the mk9 does not have the same quality or consistency with parts and layout as the other 2? the mk19 and mk1 have detailed cockpits to a similar standard yet has the mk9? no looks more like a revamped mk5 of old. I have pictures of the mk19 taken last year at the BoB airshow at RAF leuchars, Hello ...Airfix NO TRENCHES on the wings or fuselage!!!! and I think the same can be said for the Canberras although i am hoping the trenches will fill with paint when I get around to building them. Attached pics are of the Spitfire 19 as mentionned and the Canberra PR9 from (www.primeportal.net/.../canberra_pr9/) easily found on the web.
Back to the Spitfires why is it that the wings are not interchangable? if there was consistency with the wings, more so than anything else it would have allowed for the use of common wings where possible across what will be hopefully an up to date Spitfire/Seafire range and would have possibly reduced some tooling costs in the long term. Back to the kits in general, older reissued kits should be marketed as such and not "New" releases which they are not, "Classic Airfix" with information on when originally released with the original artwork would help identify the older kits from the brand New moulds. Then again it is the kids we need to attract into this hobby otherwise we will end up becoming extinct ourselves, so anything that can attract kids into building kits, even bright red boxes would be a bonus but I think there still need to be more consistency in what we get in the box thinking of the decals issues.
Not wishing to develop any further controversay with my comments, so anyone who wishes to nitpick - get a life or get some models built instead.
Cheers
Sandy 
 

[ChrisF]

Dont get me started on seafire parts to spitfire parts... Trying to get a decent kit out of the airfix club seafire has resulted in me buying a spitfire kit to use for parts... and hillarity has ensued...