Airfix Wishlist

RogerP · Airfix Wishlist

Greetings to everyone from OZ,

I've just sent the form (questionnaire) which Hornby were handing out at Telford during the recent model show. Following is my wish list I have posted to them. By the way, the address to send the form to is:

Hornby PLC.
Westwood Industrial Estate.
MARGATE,
Kent.
CT9 4JX.
England.

AIRFIX wish list.

The following are ALL 1:72ND scale Coastal Forces boats/ships.

1st Choice: FAIRMILE B class ML (Motor Launch) with optional parts and weapons to give the modeller a number of options as to which version or particular ship he/she wishes to build. This could encourage the purchaser to buy more than one kit.

2nd Choice: FAIRMILE D class MTB/MGB (Motor Torpedo/Gunboat), again with loads of options, weapons wise. As above the purchaser might buy more than one. I for one would have to give it VERY SERIOUS consideration.

3rd Choices: I could list a number of kits:

A 70’ Vosper MTB – not the same as the Revell kit, but the true ‘home waters, English channel’ Vosper and you could also include options to build the 72’ 6” version.

A 72’ HDML (Harbour Defence ML).

A WW1 ML. Three skippers were awarded VCs during the 1918 raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend.

MGB 314, the HQ gunboat at St Nazaire and the ship on which ‘Bill’ Savage was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross on behalf of other sailors who took part as well as his own heroic actions.

A really interesting one would be a 55’ CMB from WW1 and the RCW.

A BPBCo. (British Power Boat Co.) MGB or MTB. This one could be difficult as there were a number of different types. I particularly like the 70’ version commanded by Robert Hichens, the first RNVR gunboat skipper and the first RNVR officer to command a flotilla.

For USN fans I could suggest a Sub Chaser, which I would convert into one of the “Shetland Bus” ships, the ‘Hitra’ still afloat today.

If you need photo’s of any of the above, please let me know. I believe you may have already had an offer of assistance from John Lambert.

Hugh Williams · Airfix Wishlist

Change of Scale...1-600 models rescaled to 1-350, HMS Nelson would work well with the Trumpeter Hood, as would Warspite and the others that have been produced......There is also a lot of RN ships missing from the 1-350/1400 scale, and a lot of warship modellers who would wish to model these subjects in this scale; rescaling would introduce more detail and greater chance of introducing subclasses, particularly where destroyers and escorts are concerned.

Spudgun

Personally, I'd like to see Airfix stick with the 1/600 scale. Nobody else does it, so it's a selling point. Anyway, why tread on someone elses toes and maybe lose sales if you don't do it better than they do. Anyhoo, here's what I'd likr to see.

A tweaked HMS Hood.
I like the early 30's fit, but the tool really needs updating to make it more accurate. Adding the hull armour would be a good start.

A 'Jutland' HMS Warspite.
It would be nice to have a companion piece for HMS Iron Duke.

1/600 HMS Exeter.
We've got the Graf Spee and the Ajax, but where is the Exeter? Thinking about it, where is the Achillies? OK, it can be made from the Ajax kit, so how about tool tweak? No, wait. If Airfix did that, we'd lose the Ajax! DOH!!

Richard Humm

The simple answer to that would be to have an additional sprue with the different parts for Achilles included.

DavidH

Would adopting the nowdays common scales of 1/350th & 1/700th improve Airfix's sales in other markets?

If the answer is yes, then for business reasons, it makes some sense for them to adopt it.

I too would love to see some more WW1 ships. They seem so much more purposeful that the AA armament littered ships of WW2.

If they did a WW1 Warspite, I would like to see it in 1/350th to compliment the ICM Konigs. If they did it in 1/600th, they wouldn't be able to use much of the current kit as a base for it as even the hull is wrong due to the moulded on torpedo bulges that were added post WW1.

If they do dip their toe into WW1, whatever scale they choose, subjects like the SMS Seydlitz, HMS Invincible & Queen Mary would have been good sellers I would have thought.

Fingers crossed.

Steven Pietrobon

Actually, there are a number of companies that make 1/600 scale plastic ship kits, but only in small numbers.

Academy Titanic
Arii USS Iowa/New Jersey/Missouri/Wisconson
Arii IJN Yamato/Musashi
Kangnam USS Enterprise
Kangnam USS Iowa/New Jersey/Missouri/Wisconson (same as Arii?)
Nichomo IJN Yamato/Musashi (same as Arii?)
Kitech/Zhengdefu Charles de Gaulle
Aeroplast HMS Cossack/Tartar

In terms of scale, I think Airfix should stick with 1/600, especially for British ships. Here is my reason, which I wrote previously.

"In terms of plastic british warships, there don't seem to be many kits in 1/700. Dragon make a 1/700 HMS Illustrious, HMS Revenge, and HMS Ark Royal. Tamiya have 1/700 kits of HMS King George V/Prince of Wales, HMS Hood, E Class Destroyer, and HMS Rodney/Nelson. If British ships in 1/700 were popular, why aren't there more plastic kits?

However, Airfix's 1/600 British ships do seem to be popular, with 17 British 1/600 warship kits in the catalogue. So does Airfix make a new 1/700 British warship which does not seem to be popular, or a new 1/600 kit which is easier to build and which seems to be more popular?

I think that since the largest market for British warships are the British themselves (plus a few here in Australia and other commonwealth countries :-), they should stick with the scale that would be most popular with them, i.e., 1/600. Sort of like the UK using OO (1/76) for their trains and everyone else using HO (1/87). This is not say that 1/600 is totally shunned in the US as there are many modellers there who build Airfix ship kits. I'm sure they would be just as pleased to have other 1/600 kits.

The only thing that I would like changed from the traditional Airfix ship kits is that an option for both full hull and waterline be available."

frogman

Maybe Airfix should accept that 1/600 is not the right scale these days, just as Frog did with its large range of 1/96 aircraft kits and Heller did with its 1/125 airliners. It's a cliché, but sometimes you need to break with the past in order to move forward.

Sean

Docgreen27

I'm with the old 1/600 scale on this front. I would love to see more ships in this scale which for me would include the following:-

World War 1 - Battleships , Cruisers and destroyers.
World War 2 - American & Japanese and perhaps Italian forces as well as additional carriers and cruisers from British/Allied backgrounds.
Post War ships. Perhaps Hms Ocean , Hms Albion etc as well as a more modern Destroyer/Frigate range.

Whilst I'm thinking about it the list is endless really...

I'm also with Steve on the Full hull / waterline option. I have built a few models (mostly Revell) with this and it's a good idea , esp when like me you don't glue them so you can literally change pose in a flash.

(And breathes)

davecov

I am also a 1/600 fan and would hate to see the scale disappear. IMHO, 1/700 is just a little too small and 1/350 is far too large, both on size and cost. My bet on the next new Airfix warships is that it will be a Type 42 Destroyer first followed by HMS Dreadnought!

Dave

Docgreen27

I don't mind 1/700 to work with. Agreed some of the parts can be fiddly or annoying to cut off the sprue without breaking them but I have had the same problems in 1/600 and 1/72 at times. I have around 40 built models in 1/700 or 1/720 scale some were easy some were a pain to build. Having said that I still prefer 1/600. They just seem to be that much better overall. If Dave is right then I'll defo be one of the first in the queue for those models.

davecov

Warspite · Hornby/Airfix questionaire

I filled in my form at Telford with the following 1.600 suggestions
1. Dreadnought 1906
2. Ark Royal 2006
3. Type 22 Cornwall 2006

Warspite

Commodore Rob

well i think the Dreadnought is the top of everyones list

my second choice is HMS Agamemnon (Lord Nelson Class) 1906 pre dread built completed after the Dreadnought go figure that one out

Third choice is HMS Engdine (sp?)

davecov

DavidH

Regarding going waterline, I seem to remember the 1/600th KGV hull had a thin area marked out along its length so that you could waterline it easily. Were any others done like this?

A 1/600th Type 42 would be a great release, especially seeing as new year is the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict. I dropped White Ensign Models an email a while back asking if they were planning to re-release their 1/600th Resin HMS Exeter. They answered no, due to not enough demand.

davecov

Regarding the scribed lines, HMS Belfast did and I think HMS Repulse and Prinz Eugen also had them. USS Forrestal had a separate keel, of course.

Dave

Spudgun

I can confirm that there is a scribed line on the inside of the 1/600 Airfix KGV hull halves at the water line mark.

davecov

The Narvik Class Destroyer was also scribed inside.

Dave

Docgreen27

I think a great addition to the list would be a Flower Class corvette model and perhaps a "R" class battleship. I'll be attempting a conversion of a Hotspur kit into a flower class soonish if it looks good i'd prob buy a proper kit.
A collection of WW2 subs wouldn't go amiss either

Commodore Rob

Richard M

H.MC.S Snowberry, 1/72 Flower Class Corvette. For those who know size matters!
Best
Rich

Docgreen27

Richard M

Really, is it a good build? I've been tempted, as I think I can handle 1/72 easier than the smaller scales. I have a 1/350 PoW which I'm in a sort of mexican standoff with.

Completely off topic, but who named these ships? Snowberry and Bluebell, not exactly names to strike fear and trepidation into the enemy! Presumably there's also a Buttercup and Daisy.
Faux accent "Look out Captain, but Bluebell has just hove over the horizon and Snowberry is not far behind!"
Best
Rich

DavidM

Docgreen27

davecov

Docgreen27

Steven Pietrobon

Here's a list I posted on the olf Airfix forum, all kits in 1/600 of course.

* HMS Dreadnought 1906 (world's first all big-gun battleship)
* HMS Vanguard 1944 (world's last battleship to be built)
* SS Great Eastern 1858 (first of the big liners)
* HMS Sheffield 1971 (Type 42 destroyer, sunk during Falklands War)
* HMS Hermes 1953 (aircraft carrier in Falklands War, last of post WWII conventional aircraft carrier)
* HMS Invincible 1977 (almost sold to Australia, fought in Falklands War)

I think the HMS Agamemnon 1906 would also be an excellent choice, showing the typical pre-Dreadnought configuration of four bug guns (two 12" guns four and aft), and smaller guns along the sides (five 9.2" guns on each side in this case). The last British pre-Dreadnought built was HMS Lord Nelson, but HMS Agamemnon sounds much better! Here's the Wikipedia article on the Lord Nelson class, with excellert drawings by Andrew Arthur. The Wikipedia article on HMS Dreadnought also has the excellert drawings by Andrew Arthur. Here are other ships done by Andrew Arthur.

HMS Revenge 1916 (Love the Sopwiths carried on the guns!)
HMS Nelson 1925
HMS Repulse 1919 and HMS Renown 1939

Commodore Rob

mick

1. The real Ark Royal (rather than the present pretend one)
2. HMS Eagle (carrier)
3. modern S or T boat

mick

Commodore Rob

Docgreen27

Ratch

Docgreen27

melvinsrule

In no particular order of preference .....

HMS Warrior (Britains first iron hulled warship).

Any British or German battleship, battlecruiser, cruiser or destroyer from WWI (this topic has been sadly neglected by the mainsteam model manufacturers).

Any British submarine from WWII (maybe a Unity class in 1/72nd).

WWII British escort carrier (e.g. Avenger, Biter or Charger).

A CAM ship from WWII.

Absolutey no more modern American aircraft carriers, assault ships or missile cruisers (these have been done to death by other manufacturers).

I think 1/600th is a reasonable scale for most ships. Battleships in this scale don't take up too much room, and my eye-sight can just about cope with the detail on smaller ships such as destroyers.

I have the Heller/Airfix Hood plus a couple of other kits in 1/400th, but I have no idea where I'm going to put them, if I ever complete them. It would be nice to see a WWII corvette, frigate or sloop in this scale.

mick

mick

Commodore Rob

Airfix Wishlist

Airfix Wishlist

Hornby/Airfix questionaire