Box Inflation

[Martin H]

the reasons Revell will stick with the end opening boxes could also include EU packaging directives (ei to reduce the amount of waste caused by packaging). Same directive killed off those boxes I used to salvage from work for model storage/transport. The newer ones I see now are made from thinner card and to all intents and purposes "open ended", rather than box and lid

[Mossie]

I'm guessing it's not EU directives as that'd stump Airfix too.  The Germans are quite heavy on recycling, so the less cardboard used in end opening boxes are likely something to do their own regulations maybe?

I've never had a problem with Revell boxes from a strength point of view & always wondered by people were so against them.  Then twice in a short space of time, I had parts ruined because they slipped out the end of the box when I tipped the boxes to lift them.  First was a Ta-154 canopy, the end came open, out came that part & right under my foot.  Second was the Faun Elefant, there's a flat piece of plastic for the windscreen that just slid through the tiny gap made by the flap & was scuffed when it hit the concrete floor.

[pyro-manic]

I tend to almost invariably work out of one of the "lid & tray" boxes now - I have the box from a 1:35 Trumpeter KV-1, that is big enough to hold all the sprues and bits from most kits. That stays on the desk, and bits move in and out of that as they get worked on.

[NARSES2]

I'm guessing it's not EU directives as that'd stump Airfix too.  The Germans are quite heavy on recycling, so the less cardboard used in end opening boxes are likely something to do their own regulations maybe?

Martin may well be right Mossie. The EU Directives set time limits by which we all have to reach various levels of recycling. The German's are just further down the path then us (they may well have harsher domestic legislation as well) However cardboard is eminently recyclable so price probably comes into as well.

[Weaver]

Box inflation seems to have struck at Revell too. I just bought four Revell kits:

Skyservant in a 240 x 157 x 35mm box

Beaufighter, Panther and Norseman, all in 310 x 180 x 45mm boxes.

The Panther and Norseman absolutely do NOT justify this: the entire contents of either box, still bagged, will fit comfortably in the smaller Skyservant box. In fact, they're at MORE risk of damage in their own boxes because they rattle around so freely!

The Beaufighter fits the Skyservant box length and widthways, but the sprues are just a bit too fat to be comfortable in the 35mm depth. A 240 x 157 x 45mm box would hold it comfortably and still stack with the others. Hard to say how many other kits could use such a box in order to justify tooling up for it.

Apart from the disappointment factor and the stash volume factor, box inflation must also be a pain to the retailers, who are filling up valuable shelf space with boxed fresh air rather than a greater range....

[PR19_Kit]

It's all down to the dreaded 'marketing', an invention of the devil to my mind.

Someone within the kit manufacturers seems to think that bigger boxes are more attractive and will sell better than smaller ones. I always remember the first issue of the Airfix Banshee which would have fitted in a box 1/3 the size of the one that they sold it in!

In Revell's case they're selling ex-Matchbox kits that were designed for smaller boxes anyway, but that's not an excuse.

[upnorth]

In Revell's case they're selling ex-Matchbox kits that were designed for smaller boxes anyway, but that's not an excuse.

It's funny you should make an example of that.

Revell's reissue of the 1/72 T-2 Buckeye comes in a box a bit smaller than the old Matchbox packaging for the same kit.

I recall when Special Hobby's 1/48 Skua kit hit the shelves. Myself and the clerk at the shop had a good laugh when we opened it to find that you could have easily fit two more full kits of it in the box.

On the other end of the spectrum, I recall when Revell first got ownership of Matchbox and still packaged the kits in boxes bearing the Matchbox name. Some of those, Saab Viggen and Lightning F.6 to name two, fit in their boxes so tightly that they almost had to be removed with a pry bar.

[Weaver]

On the other end of the spectrum, I recall when Revell first got ownership of Matchbox and still packaged the kits in boxes bearing the Matchbox name. Some of those, Saab Viggen and Lightning F.6 to name two, fit in their boxes so tightly that they almost had to be removed with a pry bar.

The Revell Victor flatly does NOT fit the box. Some genius obviously measured the width of the sprues and figured out that they'd fit across the diagonal of the box, but they didn't factor in the depth of the mouldings, some of which are almost an inch deep. Every Victor box I've ever seen is distorted, the ends don't close properly and if you dropped it, the impact would go straight into the plastic.


I suspect that the Revell box inflation that I noted today might be down to price bands. All the ones in over-sized boxes had an RRP a couple of quid dearer than the one in a small box, so maybe if the think a Grumman Panther is worth £7.99 it "deserves" the next size up of box, and/or "needs" it to justify the price. Having said that, if there's so little actual plastic in it that it will fit in the smaller box, then why is it a couple of quid dearer in the first place? Is a Norseman really 30% more desirable than a Skyservant? 

[Weaver]

Okay, money-where-mouth-is time: I've just sent e-mails to Revell and Airfix asking them about this.

[Green Dragon]

Reckon the Airfix 737-200 jumped price levels coz they bunged it in a giant box that could take another kit or two.

Paul Harrison

[kitbasher]

New to this rather 'mature' thread and it's odd that it should be revived as only yesterday I was thinking about the size of the box for the new Revell Halifax.  Rather larger than their box for the ex-Matchbox kit.  I have a 1960s boxing of the Airfix Halifax B.III and I reckon yo'd five of those in the new Revell box!

[Hobbes]

I get the impression that Revell et al are standardizing their box sizes. This can have 2 reasons:
1. fewer box sizes means less tooling to make for the box cutting/folding machine, so it saves cost
2. fewer box sizes means that stacking them inside a shipping carton gets easier.

[NARSES2]

Probably right Harro. Standard sizes for container shipping is probably the main reason.

In the old days Hasegawa would come into the UK unpacked and were boxed here - even in the post "Hales" days

[Weaver]

Re-organised part of the stash last night, and it's official: you CAN get four Airfix Scorpions in one modern Scorpion box (unbagged). You can also get four M-113 FSVs bagged in one Airfix box (you can get two in the old JB boxes by virtue of the fact that they'll fit sideways).

In all fairness, it requires far too much precise fiddling about with the way the sprues are stacked to do it on a production line, but you could certainly get two in each box just throwing them in.

Just think of all that boxed air on the shelves of your overcrowded local model shop.......

[rickshaw]

If warmed up, it becomes a valuable resource, Weaver!