Civilian aircraft

You might want to check out the civilian aircraft forum on the this site. Go here /forums/48.aspx

I just got Revell's latest J-4 Cub. Many of the civilian light and heavy twins never seemed to have gotten the attention they desire. There were some produced way back in the day, but they too are long out of production. Typically if an aircraft doesn't have a military mission it doesn't get produced. Something about a subject that shoots bullets, drops bombs and fires missiles seem to be more in demand. Getting a trainer or trash hauler is rare.

There are C172, C150, Bonazas and Pipers which can be found...look for old Airfix and Minicraft releases.

Look at J-Bar hobbies.  They carry one line- forget which one, that carries several business twins.  I know they have several of the Cessna twins, and maybe a Piper.  The Testors Learjet is still available, and a handful of racing and aerobatic planes.

I also deplore the absence of civil aircraft, but most of my peers have no interest in them. I particularly wish there were good kits in 1:72 of the DC-3 and Ford Tri-motor.  These are icons of the birth of commercial air travel.  I like to build golden age civil aircraft because this stuff advanced the state of the art.  Civil aircraft in the late twenties and early thirties were ahead, as far as tchnology, of the military stuff.

I have been to contests where all the aircraft categories were by allied or axis, and which war.  Civil aircraft was shoved in the "misc." category.  So it isn't just the mfgs.

Supply and demand is what it boils down to.  The cost of the mold equipment, etc.  Most manufacturers aren't going to do new molds unless they know the end product is in demand and will sell, as evidenced by the 40 odd Tiger/Panzer variants put out by Dragon/DML.

To your point, and I don't know if you have access to any hobby shops in your area, look at Minicraft.  They do quite a few civilian aircraft.  Might even have the King Air, I'd have to look at my LHS as they have a decent selection of civilian kits.