OOP Kits

There have been a few listed on eBay recently if you don't mind doing business there.

A lot of kits tend to go in and out of production. Problem is you don't know how long it could be. But from what I could just find out, the kit you are after was only released in Oct, so I can't imagine its OOP. I know Hannants have some in stock, but that means ordering across the pond. The one on E-Bay will cost you about 10bucks more, but at least they are available.

Plastic kits do not have a continuous production like, say automobiles or toasters.  That is, they make a run of so many kits, then move in the next set of molds and run so many copies of that kit.  Sort of like printing a book.  Now, if the kit is successful, they will reschedule and do another run in the future.  And they will likely make a number of runs if kit is selling well.  Eventually the molds will go into storage.

I have heard one of the reasons for the lower cost of kits from Revell, Airfix, and a few others is that their runs are a much larger number than typical Asian mfgs.

Anyway, the point is that it is hard to say at any time whether the kit is in or out of production. I guess one could say it is OOP if the molds have been sent to long term storage, but I sure don't know of any way to find this out. I have also heard that some firms have lost track of certain molds in storage.

Thanks Don for your answer

As I was going to ask the same thing in the armor sub-forum, about old Tamiya vehicle kits of the 1970's.

For example, at my LHS the other day there was a Matilda tank (kit #35024) for about 30$. No way to know if this is a good deal, as besides the Tamiya one, there are not that many other Matilda Mk II kits out there.

The old Tamiya 35024 Matilda is an easy to build kit, but not accurate at all.  It is a mix of variants, and all the dimensions are off.  For a few $$ more buy the newer Tamiya 35300 kit, and forget about 35024.

A lot of places will jack the price up of an old kit if they see a new version being released. $30 for the new Matilda would be a bargain, but a waste of money for the old one. They're hoping to fool someone into clearing out their old stock before putting the new one on the shelf.

The Hobbyboss YF23 is definitely still in production, there was one on the shelf of my local model shop and the owner said it was a new release, you should definitely be able to get it, and you have to see the size of it, I had a look in the box and it's absolutely HUGE! easily as big as a 1/32 F-16 in length, and the plastic is pretty thick too, plus the moulded on detail is first class, I can't imagine there will be any after market for that model but the detail is so good it wouldn't need it. If you get it you should do an online build.

Kits go in and out of production as long as they sell, AND as long as the molds still exist. Revell and Monogram kits from the 1950s have been recently reproduced as are some of the old Airfix kits. The old Hawk kits show up in Testors boxes and some of the old Aurora kits are being produced by Monogram and Mobious. Some of the old Aurora molds were lost a long time ago due to a train wreck, IIR the story correctly. Does anyone know what happened to the old Frog molds? Does anyone know if the Revell Bristol F.2B Fighter is the old Aurora kit? Also note that some of the Williams Brothers kits are being produced as are some of the old Johan kits. The YF-23 is a prototype and not a production aircraft so that the interest may not be as great and the expected sales may not warrant mass production numbers. Given that the molds are new, and if the sales numbers are good, you will not have any redouble getting one of these kits.

DWood:

I recently bought the HB YF-23, and I can vouch for the quality and echo Dean30's comments.  I saw the Caracal decals for both prototypes were coming out and I ordered them immediately, knowing that I'd buy the kit when I found it.  I too started to freak out a couple of months ago when my favorite mail order outfits had it Out of Stock, as many times that means "Tough luck, we can't get em any more."

I stumbled across a kit at my LHS  last month, a couple months after getting the decals in the mail.  I knew there was no decision. The kit was one of their 'Trophys', displayed on the end cap of the aircraft aisle.  I grabbed it, tucked it under my arm and shopped for the next 45 minutes, without setting it down in case somebody wanted it. I probably paid $10-12 more than I would have on the web (~$70), but I had one and I wasn't letting go.

The kit isn't perfect, and if you google "review HB YF-23", you will gain some insights into the concerns.  In a weak moment, I pulled mine out a couple of weekends ago and started comparing the plastic to the comments and realized that some of the concerns are legit, and others are whacked.  Honestly, I don't care if you can buy an F-111 with 4 times as many parts for the same dollar, it isn't a YF-23.  I let the 1/72 Italiari/ Testors get away 10 years ago, and I want one in my collection.  It is a beautiful aircraft.

Dean, I will probably do a WIP here, but I've got a couple of other projects in flight, (pun intended) and I really need to get back to them, as I committed to all as part of GB's.  

Here are my measured criticisms and comments. Note, I'm not a rivet counter, so if you are, you will probably discount my comments as something less than serious modeling.

The lines are definitely funky on the dorsal areas around the air intake trunks. There are depressions that appear to my eyes and others as too deep, and the trunks stay too flat too far forward.  As part of my "lemme check this out on my own," I decided then and there it was time to break out the filler and sand paper.  I've now got a couple of coats of filler in there and have reshaped the trunks a bit, and all is looking a bit better.

There were distinct differences btw Prototype Air Vehicle 1 and PAV 2, and those who know more than I think HB molded something with traits of each.  If you want to do PAV1, the engine troughs need to be modified.  

A common gripe is that the weapons bay is molded closed. There were never any weapons tests, so if you are going to model a PAV, I don't know that a weapons bay is a must have.

Somebody somewhere that has already built one has concerns that the main gear aren't strong enough. The design is similar in nature to the gear on an F-18, with that 'elbow'. I'm noodling how I can up my scratch skills to scratch up some replacements out of brass rod for strength.

As to AM goodies, I just ordered up an F-15 C resin cockpit, as I'm going to use the coaming up front for a more detailed look,, along with the ACES seat, and a set of F-22 engines to get more details in the power plant.  I haven't quite figured out what resin wheels to use, makes sense that those would be F-15 based as well, but I just saw some nice Eduard Viper wheels that looked sorta right, but I need to compare with shots of the PAVs.  The IP was the same layout as the front panel in a Strike Eagle, so I'm going to purchase the Eduard set to get a nice PE panel.  

Finally, my opinion is if you want one, get on a list somewhere. Nothing worse than not getting something and then never being able to find it again. You might be able to back order it through your LHS, or if Hanants has one, maybe have it shipped in. 

Best, Marty