The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

Hi all,

I know some of you have connections/contacts with the guys that work at Airfix and you might be able to answer my question in the title.

My modelling passion is old Classic British Kits, particularly Airfix, mainly driven by nostalgia from my younger years and the sentimentality and simplicity associated with these older kits.

Buying older kits is easy, at shows or on the internet etc. But the downside is that you have to deal with basic (and often wildly inaccurate) painting guides and, of course, old and dodgy decaying decal sheets.

Consequently, one of the things I have really enjoyed over the last few years is Airfix's Red Box Re-releases that package the same old classic plastic that I love with vastly improved painting and colour guides and also lovely spanking new decal sheets. It gave me my CBK joy but without the pain, I loved them.

Over the past few years they've re-released dozens of them and I have built loads, Liberator, Aichi Val, DH 88 Comet, Hampden, Dinah, Ju 52, Arado 196, P-39, P-47, F2B etc. etc. and I have enjoyed them all. And I still have a few in the stash awaiting my attention.

But I was on the Airfix web site the other day and I think I only saw about three re-releases, Vulcan, Tucano and Fouga Magister. Everything else was new (or very recent) toolings, which, although very good I'm sure, don't really float my boat at all.

Have Airfix dropped the re-release program? Is this the beginning of the end of Red Box Re-release? And will I be having to buy the old boxings, second hand (with aging decals) instead?

Does anyone know the plans for the future? I am wondering if the re-releases were just a short term measure to keep them afloat whilst they developed all the new tool stuff. It's a business after all.......

Zee28

Zee28 wrote:My modelling passion is old Classic British Kits, particularly Airfix, mainly driven by nostalgia from my younger years and the sentimentality and simplicity associated with these older kits.

Buying older kits is easy, at shows or on the internet etc. But the downside is that you have to deal with basic (and often wildly inaccurate) painting guides and, of course, old and dodgy decaying decal sheets.

I understand the nostalgia part, but for me, that needs more than just old tooling; I want the old boxes/bags, shoddy (or sometimes, better) instructions, even shaky decals as well (I actually bought a Novo baggie rather than the Frog original sitting next to it a few weeks back, and Nove decals used to disintegrate even when factory fresh ). More often that not, when I'm looking for a bit of punishment, I'll hunt down a specific boxing I tangled with years ago.

To be honest, the Red-box repops annoyed me. It got very confusing trying to determine which were new tooling, and were old. Airfix is hardly alone in this, of course, but I like to be able to tell what I'm getting without having to open the box. Maybe they could keep doing the occasional repop and brand them 'classic' or some such..

Airfix probably got more stick than most over reboxing old toolings. I always though that was a bit unfair as most of the long established manufacturers do this. However, one point of criticism was that, to the uninitiated (i.e. modellers who aren't as ancient as some of us), they could not differentiate between a brand spanking news modern engineered kit and an ancient, rivet infested rebox. Airfix would win some favours if they did describe old tool re-releases as "Classic" or used original Roy Cross artwork on re-releases of old mouldings.

Having said all that, I actually like some of the older kits and am happy to build them. Indeed, I'd like to see some of the better older kits back on the market.

I think the red box repop was always a bad idea and almost a con, how many new builders have been put off after seeing the nice new box only to find an old clunky kit that has no detail and fit issues. Don’t get me wrong I love the old kits and buy lots of the originals I just have an issue with the re-boxing they should have marked them “Classic original “ not “New”

..

I was talking to the owner of my local toy shop / LMS who said he had received an encouraging letter saying they were changing the way they deal with small shops, he thinks it back to the old days when they could order smaller quantities of what the shops want and not buying in bulk.

Only time will tell.

Anyone who looked at the 2017 range announcement last year would have noticed the decimation of ships, AFVs, figures and practically everything except aircraft, which was reduced to almost just the Hornby toolings. It was like they were trying to disassociate themselves with the Airfix legacy.

Ratch wrote:Anyone who looked at the 2017 range announcement last year would have noticed the decimation of ships, AFVs, figures and practically everything except aircraft, which was reduced to almost just the Hornby toolings. It was like they were trying to disassociate themselves with the Airfix legacy.

Again, evidence that Hornby are (as I am afraid we must expect) putting commercial viability ahead of modellers interests and desires in respect of older kits/toolings. Modern, well designed and tooled kits sell in (relatively) huge numbers, and as far as Hornby are concerned, anything older can be readily bought from specialist dealers and auction sites so why do they need to bother?

Ok, 1/600 scale ships fetch good money on eBay, but I bet the number changing hands is minimal compared to sales of new tool B-17s, Spitfires etc. etc.. It simply is not worth the cost of manufacture and infrastructure to stock these kits any longer for companies like Hornby. Only when you see HMS Belfast 1/600 kits at £100 plus will you see Hornby re-release it, and only then in limited numbers. More likely I think is that they may lease the toolings to somebody like Zvezda or Special Hobby, who are geared up for short runs and lower distribution numbers; but I'm not holding my breath

I have to agree about marking the red-box kits as old-tool or new-tool.

I just hooked up with a guy coming back into the hobby after 30+ years. He was very involved/knowledgeable then but he's missed all that went on so trying to explain how to sort old vs new is difficult. I intuitively know the new-tools, but I'm not tagging along with him as he wanders the store, brick or digital, to guide him. It could be even more frustrating for him than for the newbie who has nothing to go on.

.

The 2018 catalogue is already on e-bay

One advantage modern modellers have is the ability to use a mobile phone or tablet. If they possess such a device, if out shopping it takes very little in the way of research to check on the internet whether a kit is from the modern era or the re-release of a classic.

Because I've been building models for over 50 years, I generally know without having to check but sometimes its useful to look up the timeline of a kit to find out its original date of release or the vintage of the actual release you are buying or have bought.

It's the casual buyer who is most likely to be caught out as they aren't aware of model industry history.

A few years back, Revell did a "classics" re-release in distinctive boxes, that made it clear that what was in the box was old- perhaps Airfix could do the same- in my case, the approach worked really well and I bought several of these, including the Snark, USS long Beach and the box scale B-47.

Manufacturers, not just Airfix, failing to advise purchasers that the kit in the nice shiny box is an oldie is one of my longstanding beefs as well. I'm also pleased that Airfix did do the re-boxing of some of their classic kits though, as I actually want to buy some of the oldies and particularly since the decal sheets were actually useable as it saved me the trouble of seeking out aftermarket replacements.

this is where the scalemate site is such a godsend.