Dragon (DML)

[Maverick]

Touche Moritz, but there's the same to be said when manufacturers keep to the same glut of Shermans, Bf-109s and Bismarks.  I did qualify my statement with the remark "Obviously the financial impact is such that they won't take the risk.".

Regards,

Mav

[rickshaw]

1/72 Buccs isn't exactly something we have oodles of. Certainly not up to industry standards ones.

Depends on how define "industry standards"...

Looking at some older kits, they were/are IMO quite adequate.  The problem is some people seem to think they need to be JMN on them.

If an S.1 can be made by including a small extra sprue with the conversion bits, I'd say they'll go for it (sooner or later).

One hopes.  I suppose this will allow room for the aftermarket people to make a conversion kit.

<...> It all boils down to saleability and the lack of cohones on the part of most mainstream manufacturers to release something exotic.  Obviously the financial impact is such that they won't take the risk.
<...>

So it's not the lack of cohones of the manufacturers, but rather the lack of cohones of the buyers. As a manufacturer, why sink tens of thousands of bucks in a kit that you know will not be bought?
Revell had the cohones to release a state of the art Hunter in 1/72 . And what happened? It bit them in the donkey! Sales were much lower than anticipated. Eduard gave us a very nice Mirage IIIC in 1/48. What happened? Sales were so poor they skipped the IIIE.
[/quote]

I wasn't aware that the Hunter had sold badly.   Seems to have quickly become a fairly scarce kit, since they stopped production.  Perhaps we should just build F-4s, teen series, F-22s and A-10s?

[ChernayaAkula]

Depends on how define "industry standards"...

Looking at some older kits, they were/are IMO quite adequate.  The problem is some people seem to think they need to be JMN on them.
<...>
I wasn't aware that the Hunter had sold badly.   Seems to have quickly become a fairly scarce kit, since they stopped production.  Perhaps we should just build F-4s, teen series, F-22s and A-10s?

Sorry, somehow the "current" in "current industry standards" got lost/was forgotten.

Some, yes, but not the Bucc. Those that are available suffer from bad fit, poor detail, raised panel lines or trenches. Nothing to with JMNs, just seeing things how they are. Even if you go all anti-JMN on them and paint them pink with green dots and Hello Kitty decals, they'll still be fit nightmares and unless you do something about it, there won't be much detail to write home about.
There are some old kits that are absolute gems (Rev-Mon 1/72 Thuds and F-4C/D/J come to mind) and will blow their recent counterparts clean out of the water, but the Bucc just isn't one of them.

The Hunters have become scarce kits because I have a dozen of them.   That it sold badly comes directly from a Revell representative I talked to at a model show. A friend and I asked him about a Mirage III family done to the standard of their Hunter and he said they were quite disappointed with how the Hunter sold. So much for the manufacturer having the cojones to offer something exotic (and I, personally, would have considered the Hunter to be anything but) and the consumer not buying it.
It's not so much the manufacturers telling you what to build, but rather the manufacturers producing what's being asked of them in sufficient numbers. That the teen series sells well is not the manufacturers fault. If you want something exotic, order enough of them to make production worthwhile and I'm sure some manufacturer will gladly produce them for you. If it is an economic risk, well, too bad. Wish it were different as I'd love to see new tools of 1/72 Mirage III/5/50/Kfirs/F.1/2000s, MiG-23/27 and SAAB 37 Viggens.

[NARSES2]

I'd also heard that the Hunter had been a disapointment to Revell, in terms of sales - shame as it's a very nice kit

[Weaver]

I'd also heard that the Hunter had been a disapointment to Revell, in terms of sales - shame as it's a very nice kit

Has anyone attempted to figure out why? I don't even like Hunters that much and I've got three......

[Mossie]

No idea.  All I know is Model Zone had them discounted to a fiver & they still didn't fly off the shelves.

[The Wooksta!]

I don't know about that.  Various posters on Britmodeller were snapping them up. I myself bought 5 and I'm kicking myself for not buying more.

[thedarkmaster]

we at Derby only had 24 Hunters in our allocation, i personally got 16 the other 8 took 6 months to shift.......our Revell rep says that the Hunter was quite popular in the UK but sold very little in Germany, Revells no1 market, think this may be the reason !!

[Gondor]

I have eight of them, five being the Mk 6 and the other three obviously being the Mk 9. I could easily buy more in the future once I have built a couple of the ones I have.

Gondor

[Maverick]

One wonders if this 'popularity/sales' thing isn't slanted towards the US & Asian markets?  I'd assume that the Hunter would be well received in the UK at least, if not other European countries but be a lukewarm deal for the US & Asia?

Regards,

Mav

[Weaver]

I wonder why it's so nationalistic though? It's not like us Brits are disinterested in German or American aircraft......

[Maverick]

It's odd this whole playing to a specific field thing.  Hasegawa has no issue releasing limited run versions of their mainstream stuff that directly plays towards the Japanese market, even to the extent where they are only available in Japan.  One would assume this would be economically non profitable, but they seem to release 'new' kits every year with this specific theme in mind.  Ditto Hobby Boss and other Chinese companies releasing Chinese specific kits such as armour & their 32nd FT-6 trainer.  Hardly the thing that the 'general' modelling public would gobble up, but still released anyway.  The funny thing is, however, that Hasegawa's mainstream releases tend towards the 'traditional' types of F-16s, P-51s and Bf-109s, albeit sometimes with other nationalities released as separate 'new' boxings, whilst someone like Tamiya continues to glut the market with modern US & German WW2 vehicles but precious little anything else.

Regards,

Mav

[NARSES2]

.......our Revell rep says that the Hunter was quite popular in the UK but sold very little in Germany, Revells no1 market, think this may be the reason !!

That's what I'd heard as well. One reason they modelled the Gannet was because it did have a German option

[Mossie]

I don't know about that.  Various posters on Britmodeller were snapping them up. I myself bought 5 and I'm kicking myself for not buying more.

Maybe some individuals, but in my local branch they hung around for ages at that price.  Saying that, I think they had a huge amount of stock to get rid of.

[PR19_Kit]

The daft side of the 'Hunter sales in Germany' thing is that at one time they were probably THE most numerous aircraft in German skies!