Airfix

[Weaver]

The prices seem reasonable, but it's interesting to note that most of the subjects are armour and ships which don't have big decal sheets: a major part of the cost of a modern kit.

Interesting, I didn't realise decals were expensive to produce; I assumed after-market were pricey just because they could be.

When I'm CEO of Revfixgawa I'll commission an 'Enthusiasts Series' of the standard kits but without decals or instructions ( just get the PDF from our website ).  The boxes will be standardised and unmarked other than a sticker with the kit number.

Actually if you like that idea I'll take cash for pre-orders today..

Just look at how much cheaper AZ and Special Hobby kits are when they leave out the decals...

[Thorvic]

These are still a limited run on lines that are not current and have been mothballed, the WW1 infantry and Tank tie in with the Centenary of the End of WW1 and are actually pretty current and freshly used moulds that don't need to a lot of TLC to use. The same could be said for the armour and the ships as the ranges were mothballed to keep the aircraft going a couple of years ago. It's a nice idea and if they do sell then other older tools may get the same treatment.

[The Wooksta!]

I think it's a retrograde step.  They've moved away from using many of the moulds that time forgot, are building a reputation for quality and now announce reusing their old moulds? 

People have been decrying Airfix for years for constantly using old moulds but now that they've stopped, they want the old stuff again and applauding when it happens.  Hypocrites.

[zenrat]

At least this time the moulds that time forgot will be identified as such by the Vintage Classics labelling.  Something Hasegawa could do - or at least put the year the mould was produced on the box.

There is money in Nostalgia.  As Round Two have proved with their current range of "classic" AMT & MPC car kits packaged up in retro boxes with the moulds restored with all the gates reopened to bring back all the old custom parts.  Kits for which they charge the same as Revell charge for a freshly moulded car.
They love it so much they don't release new kits anymore.

[Thorvic]

At least this time the moulds that time forgot will be identified as such by the Vintage Classics labelling.  Something Hasegawa could do - or at least put the year the mould was produced on the box.

There is money in Nostalgia.  As Round Two have proved with their current range of "classic" AMT & MPC car kits packaged up in retro boxes with the moulds restored with all the gates reopened to bring back all the old custom parts.  Kits for which they charge the same as Revell charge for a freshly moulded car.
They love it so much they don't release new kits anymore.

Ah but Round2 are different, they have limited design and development capability so focus on the sci-fi ranges they have licences for. Cleaning up and re-issuing existing tools is a lot cheaper and easier than developing a new kit.

[TheChronicOne]

When I'm CEO of Revfixgawa I'll commission an 'Enthusiasts Series' of the standard kits but without decals or instructions ( just get the PDF from our website ).  The boxes will be standardised and unmarked other than a sticker with the kit number.

While back one of the 1/144 airliner model companies did exactly that, it may have been Minicraft as they've just resurrected the idea.

The point being that there's a plethora of airline decals available, more than 10 times as many as there are different kits I reckon. It must have worked as they've just started to do it again with their MD80 kit, and Brad and I both have them.

Aye!  I think it's brilliant. The kit was much cheaper price wise and then the ability to choose my own livery was great. Apparently it's a good idea for all involved because I had NO intention of buying a kit that day. The savings from no transfers and generic packaging is what drew me in. I plan to buy more.

I can't tell you how many times I've passed on buying something because I knew I'd have to shell out MORE, later, to actually get the transfers I desire. Now, had the thing been $10 cheaper and sans the transfers and fancy box art work I would have purchased it and got transfers elsewhere. The cost would have been relatively the same at that point. Having to buy a full priced kit AND aftermarket stuff is just too much sometimes.

[TheChronicOne]

At least this time the moulds that time forgot will be identified as such by the Vintage Classics labelling.  Something Hasegawa could do - or at least put the year the mould was produced on the box.

There is money in Nostalgia.  As Round Two have proved with their current range of "classic" AMT & MPC car kits packaged up in retro boxes with the moulds restored with all the gates reopened to bring back all the old custom parts.  Kits for which they charge the same as Revell charge for a freshly moulded car.
They love it so much they don't release new kits anymore.

I can attest to the popularity of Round-Two!!! I keep a close(ish) watch on Star Trek modelling and people looooooove some Round-Two! I help staff the big Star Trek Modellers page on Facebook and I do a weekly "question of the week" segment.  A few weeks back the question was what manufacturer people were loving right now; be it originals or people that do re-issues and a LOT of folks like Round-Two.  Doesn't matter who made "it" originally, it's Round-Two that is putting them out now so that's who they buy and who they talk about.


Personally speaking, I don't mind rescuing old kits and building them. What I DO mind is buying something that gives off all the indications that it is something brand spanking new only to find out that it's a re-hash.  Being able to sit down and do research into the whole matter isn't always an option so......   yay for labeling original things as such for stupid people like myself! 

[Old Wombat]

If they make it obvious they're old moulds & sell them cheaper, I have no problem with it - especially if marketed towards "beginners" (although the inclusion of paints & brushes does tend to ramp up the price a fair bit).

There's an increased chance that a few more youngsters may be enticed into the hobby with cheap, relatively simple & easy to build kits to start with - just as most of us were.

As they develop their skill sets & get their own purchasing power, then they can move on to the technically more demanding & expensive kits.

[Madoc]

I'm a bit perplexed by this move and why so many are so enthusiastic about it.

For the rare few kits in Airfix's old lineup which have not been subsequently done by better by other companies and with more modern moulding technology, what's the point?

Especially in the 1/76th scale.  That's an exceptionally limited thing right there.  I think 1/48 leads the pack and then 1/72 for aircraft and 1/35 for armor.  But 1/76?

And as far as the kits being "good for beginners?"  Really?  Those old Airfix kits had lots of fit problems, as I recall and it took much to get a decent result out of them.  The various "Snap-Tite" kits out today are a much better choice for beginners.  Hell, look at the Star Wars lineup from Bandai.  You can make those things without any glue at all and they are vastly better than the old Airfix kits.

So perhaps its to try and tap into the "nostalgia" market - but most folks who built those kits back when they were that young would already have all of these kits in their stash.  Plus their modeling tastes will have evolved as their skills increased over the years.

I dunno.  I'd prefer new kits of new subjects done in standard scale.  Over the years I've purged any old Airfix kit I had if I encountered a newly tooled one that was better.  I wish Airfix the best here and they'll not have much overhead in grinding a profit out of the sales of these old kits from their old molds.  And if that keeps them in business such that they can keep issuing excellent new kits then that's great.

[Old Wombat]

And as far as the kits being "good for beginners?"  Really?  Those old Airfix kits had lots of fit problems, as I recall and it took much to get a decent result out of them.  The various "Snap-Tite" kits out today are a much better choice for beginners.  Hell, look at the Star Wars lineup from Bandai.  You can make those things without any glue at all and they are vastly better than the old Airfix kits.

If sold without trying to make money on the "development" side of the moulds (which was recouped decades ago), the kits should be very cheap, much cheaper than the Snap-Tite kits (especially Bandai!).

They're very good kits for beginners who want to build a model, not just clip it together, &, as the child's desire to improve their skills & produce better results increases, they are good, cheap fodder for trial & error PSR & scratch building.

Once they've developed those skills on the old kits the new, expensive kits can give them a much better result but they'll have the skills to fix the flaws that even they have.


It may be my ancient attitude speaking but I believe it's better to start at the beginning & work your way forward/up, rather than start at the top & try to figure out how things work further back down the line.

[The Wooksta!]

Anyone who thinks that this new "classics" range is going to be any cheaper than standard kits is deluding themselves.  Hornby are in a hole, with debt coming out of their ears.  If they can screw any more pennies out of the modeller, they will.

Done properly, using tools that haven't seen the light of day for a while and have little by way of competition in the market, yes, it could turn a few bob, but given that quite a few are abysmal (I'm largely thinking of the Panther here) and really should have been scrapped decades ago, it can only tarnish the brand, thus undoing the hard work of the last ten years.

[Weaver]

The prices are on the website: https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/shop/airfix-vintage-classics.html?

Not terrible but not bargains either. I think the point is to extract the nostalgia-market value from the old moulds without tarnishing the new stuff, hence the different packaging.

[AS.12]

I hadn't scrolled down far enough to see those prices.  Not too bad in terms of minimum-wage-hours-equivalent but no, not 'bargains'
 
The ship kits are more expensive than the previous boxings on eBay, I suppose I should grab some in the auctions before sellers adjust their prices upwards accordingly.

[Mossie]

The series 1 and 2 armour kits are a pound less than standard kits on the website.

[NARSES2]

After the recent happenings at both Revell and Heller a bit of movement on the Airfix front.

Hornby have agreed a new financing package with its lenders (up to £18m) to help it in the rebuilding of its brands.

So hopefully that's all of the 3 brands safeguarded