Airfix

[DogfighterZen]

Could it be possible that some of the moulds are with other companies like Heller? The SA-330 Puma and SA-341/342 Gazelle were originally Airfix moulds that were reboxed several times by Heller so, maybe they still have those and might explain why those haven't been released again?
Those would probably be good sellers despite being 50+ year old moulds... i find it surprising that there are no modern 1/72 kits of those helicopters...

[kitbasher]

We should ask Weaver-san to get back to them on X formerly known as Twitter to offer our services!

[PR19_Kit]

Some of us are OLDER than their moulds anyway....................

[Beermonster58]

Some that do exist possibly should have been "lost" years ago as well, but that's a different story.

I think I've built all of those!     

  

They can keep the wheely things but, certainly agree on the 54mm figures - recently managed to get the English Civil War Collection!    

Fond memories of those, built all of them as it was before I could afford "lead" 54mm figures. They almost certainly still hold their own now, the horses in particular were very good.

Compared very favourably to the Historex range of 54mm figures and, considerably cheaper! I've also got the Airfix Polish Lancer and, Scots Grey kicking around somewhere.

[Mossie]

I would like to see the Bengal lancer particularly.

[zenrat]

I would like to see the Bengal lancer particularly.

I've got one of them.  Woohoo!

[The Wooksta!]

I'd like the Blohm und Voss Bv 141 back. Just because.

Not classic, but the Mosquito 16 could be released as a B.35.

[NARSES2]

Some of us are OLDER than their moulds anyway....................

Very true   

Compared very favourably to the Historex range of 54mm figures and, considerably cheaper! I've also got the Airfix Polish Lancer and, Scots Grey kicking around somewhere.

Another name from the past. Your right they did compare very well, but Historex to some extent had cornered the market and aquired a name as being the brand for the "serious" figure modeller/painter who didn't want to go down the lead figure route. As far as I know Historex didn't go beyond the Napoleonic era ? Not sure at all as by then I'd mainly gone down the wargame scale path.

[NARSES2]

Could it be possible that some of the moulds are with other companies like Heller? The SA-330 Puma and SA-341/342 Gazelle were originally Airfix moulds that were reboxed several times by Heller so, maybe they still have those and might explain why those haven't been released again?
Those would probably be good sellers despite being 50+ year old moulds... i find it surprising that there are no modern 1/72 kits of those helicopters...

Again I'm not sure but I think at one stage Airfix/Heller were a joint company ? No idea who the owners were. The moulds might have been part of the "divorce" settlement ?   

[The Wooksta!]

More likely Heller have bought them bagged from Airfix and reboxed them.

[DogfighterZen]

Could it be possible that some of the moulds are with other companies like Heller? The SA-330 Puma and SA-341/342 Gazelle were originally Airfix moulds that were reboxed several times by Heller so, maybe they still have those and might explain why those haven't been released again?
Those would probably be good sellers despite being 50+ year old moulds... i find it surprising that there are no modern 1/72 kits of those helicopters...

Again I'm not sure but I think at one stage Airfix/Heller were a joint company ? No idea who the owners were. The moulds might have been part of the "divorce" settlement ?   

More likely Heller have bought them bagged from Airfix and reboxed them.

Maybe, Chris...

Lee, i don't think that's the case with these, Heller even introduced new parts in both kits when they released them for the first time in 1989...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humbrol

Says here that both Airfix and Heller were under same ownership, as was Humbrol and Airfix kit production moved from Calais to the Heller factory when they were bought.

[The Wooksta!]

I was talking post 2006 split with Hornby owning the Airfix tools and the Heller ones remaining in France.

I knew that Humbrol owned both the Heller and Airfix brands (and ESCI at one point in the 80s) and Heller did the tooling for the 1989 Buccaneer S2, the 1990 Tucson and Eurofighter.

[Mossie]

IIRC, when Heller went into administration, laws were passed in France to ensure some of Airfix's moulds stayed with Heller. I think since then, there have been negotiations to restore some of them to Airfix.

[The Rat]

I'd like the Blohm und Voss Bv 141 back. Just because.

Back in the 70s when I was still building Luftstuffe I got almost all the way on one, the only hold-up being a cracked canopy. Sent a note to Airfix for a spare, and you can guess what happened in transit.    Wouldn't happen now with the way they package things.

[DogfighterZen]

I was talking post 2006 split with Hornby owning the Airfix tools and the Heller ones remaining in France.

I knew that Humbrol owned both the Heller and Airfix brands (and ESCI at one point in the 80s) and Heller did the tooling for the 1989 Buccaneer S2, the 1990 Tucson and Eurofighter.

Ok, thought you meant earlier, Lee. Still, according to Scalemates, the last time Airfix released the Puma was in 2004 and Heller's was in 2008.
The Gazelle may have a different story cause Heller's last was between 2005 and 2008 and Airfix's was in 2012 so, these two may be a perfect example of what Mossie was saying regarding some of Airfix's moulds staying in France. Maybe the Puma stayed with Heller and the Gazelle went back to Airfix after 2006.
Anyway, i think it's about time someone came out with new moulds of these two helos... Airfix would be fine but i believe Italeri or even Revell could produce good kits of these birds. Special Hobby also comes to mind.