I want something else, how about you?

There is a 1/32 F-16XL on the market. The VSTOL Mig-21 would be very interesting. I have conversion plans from a very old FSM for a compound delta Mig-21 research plane. It was used to test the viablity of the wing they adopted for their SST airliner. Cool looking bird. I also want to build the NF-104 Starfighter. With experimentals the list goes on and on!

I think you're probably very right about the gun kits, I'm certain they would get their following.

I've read some books and spoken to veterans of the Second World war, and yes, I suppose when your enemy comes out with something new during battle, it scares you because you need to come up with a whole new strtegy to fight a machine you know little about, prudent to assume its better than anything you've got.

By a somewhat more modern paralel, I remember when the Soviets would fly a Bear surveilance aircraft over the Pole and into Canadian airspace, the nightly news would always show it with Voodoos and later Hornets forming up on it wondering what it was up to (probably just making sure our pilots were awake). There was always a bit of wondering what it was in our airspace for, a twinge of uncertainty while you're watching the world's events over a plate of Kraft Dinner.

Hi Upnorth
after reading your 1st comment in this subject about the fasination with wwII german armor ,you probably would have to read some of the many books on the war or even better talk to some of your relatives or friends that may have been there . i have, they had this wild feeling every time they found some new weapon in the field a fear if you will
in our time i have noticed somewhat the same thing about their cars bmw merced etc people think as soon as they make a new car it is the GOD of all cars .
as far as something new how about 1/6 or 1/9 scale guns i bet that would have a good following small enough to take little space yet large enough to do some good detailing on

The CF-105 Arrow, now there's a plane worthy of hypothetical "what if" discussion. Unfortunately, like the BAC TSR.2, it was the victim of politics.

The Hobbycraft Canada Arrow kits come and go but both the 1/72 and 1/48 kits of it are getting a bit long in the tooth and we could use a new tooling of it.

I'd love to see either in 1/72 or 1/48, the V/STOL MiG-21 experimental.

Experimentals and one offs are great as they do tend to show a bit more freedom of design and imagination on the designers part than do the mass production type aircraft.

In the way of other airborne rarities, I'd love a 1/48 Edgely/Brooklands Optica observation aircraft. I'm not sure what the total production run on them was but it was much lower than the manufacturer had hoped for.

I'd also love a 1/48 of the F-16 XL. I always thought the F-16 looked better with the delta wing layout

Your Bristol would be neat, I'm looking for a 1/72 Saunders-Roe SR.53 myself. I'm interested in the German hypothetical WWII stuff, but I doubt I'll ever build one as it is outside of my building interests. I like experimental/prototype fighters but only models that have flown or at the very least were about to enter flight testing. Models in my line up to build are CF-105 Arrow, Bell XP-77, Ta-154v-1, He-162, F-82 and the list goes on. I even have a bomber in the mix, the B-45! I'm pretty lucky as I build 1/72 and I can find the subject I'm looking for most of the time.

Thanks for dropping in Woody, Glad you like the thread!

This thread seemed to be slowing down considerably over the past month or so, it was consistently on the first page of this section of the forum for the first couple of months after I started it, then other threads started up and this one appeared to have run its course.

Experimental aircraft are another of those subjects that can be a trick to find outside of the high priced multi media stuff and its usually only the ones that get significant press coverage that get made into models at all.

I'm not much up on the WWII German "Paper Projects" as far as experimentals go (I don't have much taste for the hypothetical "what if" discussions that accompany them)

I'd love to see some Russian X-Planes or British X-Planes in kits

A 1/48 Bristol 188 would be most welcome in my collection. Who could beat stainless steel on the wing?! :-)

Great thread! I guess my interest in experimental aircraft is because I've built one too many P-51's and Bf-109's. Don't get me wrong I like all A/C but to find a new subject that hasn't been built to death is exciting.

Anything different indeed is welcome.

I've been pushing construction, agricultural, larger scale civilian aircraft and civilian vehicles of nearly every description for a while now. It seems to find anything remotely unusual we have to go outside the mainstream manufacturers to get it. That shouldn't be the case.

I love my aircraft, but military subjects can wear a bit thin at times, especially when you take a look at a civilian aviation magazine and see all those eye popping schemes on those birds. When you have a shelf of flat dull paint schemes meant to conceal the aircraft, its a great break for the eye to have a few birds on the shelf that want to be seen.

For the wingnut in me, I'd love to see larger scale short haul airliners. I used to have Esci's 1/72 Fokker F-27 Friendship in my collection and I thouroughly enjoyed building it in something bigger than 1/144 as is the usual for airliners. I know most of us can't accomodate a 1/72 Boeing 747 or Airbus A340, but I'd like to see some larger commercial turboprops and smaller jets (Boeing 737, Fokker 100, Bae 146) done up in injection plastic at 1/72. They wouldn't be that big to handle really.

Pavla make a great number of unusual aircraft subjects that can be built as civilain or military-nice crossover there. Built a bunch of them myself. Several pages back someone mentioned "kit burnout" r/t the ever-increasing numbers of "the usual suspects"...the same old kits. I wholeheartedly agree. When I hit that state, I go out of my way to build something completely different, and it would be great to see other manufacturers sell something like heavy contruction equipment, airline support equipment (tankers, ramp kits,etc), UPS trucks, US postal service jeeps, etc. Anything different would be welcome. - Ed

Thanks for the list Louis.

Have you ever built a kit by the Czech firm, Pavla? Its all 1/72 stuff but some pretty unusual aviation subject matter. I'd recomend a visit to their web site : www.pavlamodels.cz

Theres photos of finished models from their kits and a bit of a write up on each.

For folks like Louis that like to see aircraft on the water, there is a Vought OS2U 1/2/3, a Grumman G44 Widgeon and an Arado Ar 231 V1 currently on their site that may be of intrest. If I recall, they at one time also had a Beriev BE-4 as well.

If you like 1/72 and don't mind photo etch, resin and a bit of scartchbuilding in with your kit, I could recoment giving at least one of their kits a try.

I built their Siebel fh-104 Hallore transport, and while it certainly isn't for beginers, its a rare bird both in life and kit forms, so is worth extra work to have in the collection.

No, I'm not at all affiliated with Pavla, but I'll recomend any company's kits when they're good stuff.

OK, it has been a while so here is my contribution tothe tread's life, I am a flying boat nut BTW.

Blackburn Iris
Saro Princess
Short SA.6 Sealand
Supermarine Channel type
Supermarine Seagull ASR. 1
Vickers Viking II/III
White and Thompson No.3 Boat (1914)
Bleriot 5190
Breguet 730/731
CAMS 55
LeO H.242 (Liore et Olivier)
Loire L-70
Loire 102
Nord 1402 Noroit
SNCASE SE 200
Beriev A-40 Albatross
Beriev Be-200
Dornier Do-N
Heinkel He-55
Dornier Seastar
Cant 10ter
Macchi MC.99
Consolidated Model 16 Commodore
Curtiss NC-4
Hall XP2H-1
Vought-Sykorsky VS-44 Excalibur
Fokker BIII
Harbin SH-5

They reissued the SRN4? Glad I sold mine just in time, otherwise the bidding might not have gotten outta hand!

Fade to Black...

Awesome!!!

I assume you snapped it up on sight? Right?

If you did, what did you pay for it and what are your impressions of what you get in the box?

I'd buy one anyway, but its good to know what to expect beforehand.

Just an aside here... earlier in this thread (maybe page 5 or 6) we talked about Airfix reissueing the 1/144 SRN4 hovercraft. I was in a hobby shop today and they've reissued it!!!

Everybody needs a break from the routine sometimes and thats what I created this thread for.

Congradulations on your new kit purchases. I've never built a Williams Brothers kit myself but I've heard they can be very nice, you just have to test fit the parts a bit more than on other manufacturers kits before commiting cement to them. I saw someone make a beautiful civilian version out of their 1/72 C-46 Commando kit.

Good luck, enjoy your break from armour.

I should have looked in here first because I am usually a 1/35 scale armor modeler. But lately, I have been having a serious turnaround on the subjects that I do. So what did I do? I bought 6 classic planes from Williams Brothers and look forward to starting them. It will be a good break for me and who knows...I might even become a pilot!

There's plenty of them on the roads out there, all different kinds from different countries and eras.

If RVs are your thing, I don't see why room couldn't be made for them in the hobby.

I seem to recall that Revell or Monogram had a couple of kits out about a dozen or so years ago that were both truck and boat trailer combos. Ones was a jet racing boat and I believe the other was a recreational fishing boat. I've never seen kits of that sort of thing before or after, but it was interesting to see.

I'm still pushing big for Agricultural, construction and emergency response vehicles as well as general aviation.

Thanks for the feedback Jim

While reading my own reply to Upnorth's post about aftermarket vs. scratchbuilding, it just dawned on me: How about RV's, like motor homes and travel trailers?

QUOTE: Originally posted by upnorth Can't argue with any of that. on the matter of SAAB aircraft, I think Marivox of Sweden produced models of both the SAAB 17 and 18 in 1/48 or 1/72 but I don't know who you'd have to go through to get your hands on them. There was also the SAAB 19 which was a post war twin boom fighter that was made in both prop and jet variants, years ago Heller made the prop version in 1/72. Heller also made a 1/72 SAAB 29 Tunnan that I'd love to see come back in a reissue, it was great and a real easy build, not much fuss for a decent representation, you got both gun and camera nose options in that one. On the matter of smaller, less covered airforces, I totally agree, the superpowers shouldn't be the only ones to see coverage in kit decals. I was overjoyed when I opened up Hobbycraft's 1/48 DeHavilland Vampire FB.9 and found decal options for Mid 50's Iraqi and Early 80's Zimbabwe airforce markings. I'm the happy owner of a 1/48 Zimbabwe airforce Vampire :-) With ships, my comment from the last page stands, there needs to be more variety all around, and I 'll say, as I do with all things, more civilian content is also needed. You can't sell an aircraft carrier to someone who's after a cruise ship just as you cant sell a fishing boat to someone who's after a destroyer. There has to be a happy medium somewhere in all this. If we don't have a lot of people joining the hobby, that simply means there's something missing. When fun takes a back seat to detail, It's a problem. When a beginner unwittingly pick up a kit aimed at the advanced modeler (which more and more kits seem to be these days) and gets so overwhelmed by hundreds of parts, hundreds of decals (every little stenciling) and instruction leaflets that could nearly qualify as novels in length and complexity, what's going on? is the fun slipping away? Has nut and bolt accuracy taken such a priority that manufacturers have forgotten that every modeler has to start somewhere and they won't get far if they can't find a kit that they can handle. I started this hobby when I was 7, I'm 30 now. I didn't have near the attention span then as I do now, I'm thankful for things like the old Monogram Snap Tite 1/72 F-4 Phantom that was my first kit.. Yeah, its basic, maybe even laughable by todays standards, but a shudder to think if I was tht 7 year old today, staring down things like Promodeler, most of Tamiya's line, my God talk about intimidation. and thats not counting the prices. what's missing? Whatever it is, lets figure it out and do something about it, modelers and manufacturers together.

I remember some time back the senior editor of FSM had written a column about the "kid on a bicycle" and how many of us got our start in the hobby when we were just kids on bicycles. I think the kit manufacturers sometimes do get too carried away at catering to the advanced builders and that they've forgotten their roots, which was primarily the kid on the bicycle. A ready supply of simpler kits in between the "snap togethers" and the ultra-detailed kits would be good for the hobby. If we don't attract today's kids on bicycles (or should that be scooters?), especially in this day and age of video games and the Internet, then ultimately, the hobby will fade away.

Aftermarket parts do have their place, but when half or more of your finished kit is aftermarket parts and it was more for corrections than conversions, you should really have put more research into what kit of your subject you were buying, in most cases, there is more than one kit of certain subjects out there.

Good luck on having the best of both worlds, and thanks for dropping in.

QUOTE: Originally posted by upnorth Thats very true, JChurch. Increasingly, there is a trend toward instant gratification and ready made things in the hobby. I personally dont buy into such things as pre painted kits, thats for lazy people. In North american society it seems that if its not handed to us finished, and complete without any effort from us , then we don't want it. What's with us?! How did we get this way? More importantly, how do we get ourselves out of it? As far as I'm concerned, to call yourself a hobbyist, you've got to do it yourself. Buy the peices and get them together at your own workbench or it just doesn't count. People want things, but they don't want to put in the effort. Lets get back to what the hobby is all about, lets get back to basics. Lets get back to what comes out of the box and what we can make with it without relying so heavily on aftermarket "correction" parts that we could easily acheive the needed correction at a fraction of the cost with a bit of filed sprue or aftermarket styrene shapes. To make the example, a few years back, I saw a small bit of resin in a bag on my local hobby shop shelf. Apparently it was some sort of "corrected" radar warning antenna for a 1/48 Panavia Tornado. Not long after, I saw the kit it was supposed to "correct". All that was really needed to fix the antenna in the kit was to fill the part with Milliput then file it a bit to proper shape. A fraction of the cost of the resin "correction" part. Aftermarket is not always the way to go, especially when a bit of ingenuity and basic modeling tools get the job done just as well. We should not let ourselves be so dependent as we've become on these nice little extras, all it means is that we are really getting spoiled. Sometimes thats not as good a thing as it seems, especially when the most basic modeling skills degrade because of too much resin "corrections" floating around out there. Give me the kit. My tools and my brain will do the rest

Personally, I think there's room for both aftermarket parts and scratchbuilding. For example: I'm an extremely slow worker and it once took me 2 1/2 years to convert a MiG-21PF into a PFM; the cockpit alone took more than a year! I scratchbuilt the new ejection seat and other cockpit items and when I was about 3/4 of the way through, I saw a resin ejection seat for the PFM in a hobby shop during a trip to Arizona. I didn't buy it, but if I wanted to do the MiG-21 conversion again, I would simply buy the aftermarket seat off the shelf and save me a few months! After all, I'd like to finish a model SOMETIME! For me, aftermarket parts are a time saver! On the other hand, scratchbuilding is fun! So I'm doing both on the conversion of Tamiya's Jeep Cherokee to a tornado chase vehicle. I recently got a 1/24 scale computer, two video cameras and a 35mm camera that I ordered from Scale Equipment Ltd. so I don't have to build them from scratch. This will save me a good six months of fiddling about! On the other hand, I do plan to scratchbuild a custom computer table and a 1/24 scale version of a clever storage box I read about in a book of RV'ing tips (I'm going to try to put working drawers in it!) as well as simpler items like a VCR and a small TV. I don't know if I'll scratchbuild the roll cage or try to convert aftermarket parts to fit in the Cherokee. But hopefully, I'll have the best of both worlds!

Thanks for that enlightning insight into how the "ghost" type models are made. They are an interesting sort of kit, but do take rather a different mindset to tackle.

For those who still follow this thread, from the very beginning of it possibly, there is a comment I'd like to make in the vein of "something else" matters in consideration of the fact that we are standing at the edge of another war.

I'll try not to come off as preachy here, forgive me if offend anybody's views or sensibilities in the process.

I remember in the early 90s during the first gulf war, manufacturers hurriedly rifled through their old molds and re- released anything that could be labled plane, ship or vehicle of the "Gulf War". I also remember how much of a media circus that war was. I couldn't turn on the T.V., radio or open a newspaper without seeing the bulk of broadcast time or ink and paper given to that conflict.

I got to the point I had to turn everything off and didn't read newspapers for the better part of half a year just to get away from the sheer overload of "information" about it all.

I looked to my hobby as relief, the shelves were briming with whatever "... of the Gulf War" kits you could imagine. I was almost going nuts to hear or see something different. I can safely say I didn't give a penny for any Gulf War kits, not because I was for or against war, I was simply against media overkill. Theres information and then theres just sick fascination.

I suspect we'll see another surge in Gulf War 2 models and I'll probably evade them for similar reasons, I see another media circus on the horizon.

Personally, If I model a machine that saw real combat, I prefer to model something of a conflict that has come and gone and is more a debate for historians, veterans and philosophers than what is currently on my T.V. screen.

I use my hobby to escape reality for a while, what do use your hobby for?

Ghost models require that the cavities that will produce the clear parts be either highly polished orr chrome plated.
In the case of the Ghost funny cars we elected to have the cavities polished that process is good for only about 5000 shots. This was accepatable as we intended those kits to be limited edition items.
The only Bat kit that might work as a Ghost car might be the Plastic Batmobile. Unlike the funny cars which have complete chassis detail similar to the 1:1 cars The Batmobile does not ,there are areas inside the completed car that have no prototypical detail. Short of re - engineering the kit to add those details It really won't work very well as a ghost kit.
As for the Enterprise kits even the 1:350 scale NX-01 is of such a small scale that adding complete interiors to them would be impractical.
For the moment we have no plans to do any more ghost kits.
If we were to do more Ghost kits I would expect them to be Funny cars or Nascar cars where the interior details of the existing kits match the real cars more closely.

Dave

QUOTE: Originally posted by dmetzner Mad Max would be more likely for us than anatomical kits. There is no current plan to do Road Warrior related model kits but the subject would fit into our product line. This year we are doing the following kits: An improved version of our Scooby Doo Mystery Machine Snap kit, The Bat cycle, The Bat Boat, A Spider-Man figure kit, An Incredible Hulk kit, A 1:1000 scale Snap version of Enterprises NCC-1701 from Star Trek TOS, A 1:350 scale NX-01from the TV series Enterprise And a snap kit of The Homer, a car designed by Homer Simpson We do lots of variety, but no P-51 Mustangs Dave

Dave, what about more of the 'Ghost' type of models. Would love to see the Enterprises or the Bat models as a 'ghost' with full interiors.

Yeah, the railroaders get a lot of extra civilian stuff, but their scales are all wrong for our side of the hobby }:-(

Any one who's been following this thread for a while knows that I'm a big proponent of greater representation of all avenues of civilian subject matter, a little less on cars than other things but thats just because they've always been easy to find.

I'd like to see more light general aviation aircraft in 1/48 and some of the smaller, short haul airliners scaled up to 1/72.

I'd love to see civilian earth movers in 1/35 and hydrofoils and hovercraft in whatever scale works best for them.

I was looking through a catalog just the other day and discovered that model railroaders have all sorts of civilian type stuff to accessorize their layouts. Firetrucks, tractors, et cetera...I don't know if they are kits or not (if a railfan is reading this thread can share the answer, that'd be great!), otherwise, I'll have to ask my dad- he's one of many who have a large train layout in the house.

Of course, they're in some sort of odd (to a non-rail oriented person) scale (1/87, for example). My dad gripes all the time about the lack of military accessories available in that scale, oddly enough!

I'd have to agree with that.

The lighter than air stuff is sort of like my lament about a lack of hydrofoil and hovercraft kits.

It seems to me that any vehicle or piece of equiptment that can't be firmly pigeon holed ito a certain set category of subject matter gets short changed.

The zeppelins and blimps are so unorthodox compared to conventional aircraft that it seems no one really knows how to properly categorize them, its the same matter with hydrofoils and hovercraft compared to other more conventional watercraft.

The zeppelins must have been really something to see coming overhead in their day, and I've only seen a blimp once in my life.

There you have it folks, one more subject getting the short end of things, screaming for attention in injection molded plastic.

Hey, there's got to be a few LTA fans out there!!
Other than a couple teeny tiny Revell of Germany (which don't supply accurate decals due to the fact they can't reproduce the Swastika emblem) Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin kits, there really is no representation in this sector.
To my knowledge there hasn't been a model of the Goodyear blimp produced since the "Make your own signs!" toy back in the 70s..
How about a Navy blimp or two?
Maybe there just aren't enough "lighterthanairheads" out there to warrant such consideration..

The Simpson's isn't my thing, but I am practically drooling for the NX-01 Enterprise to hit the shelves.

Its always interesting to see who will get the licence to produce models of sci-fi stuff and what they will make of it. I remember some of the old MPC Star wars stuff, most of it was a bit of a struggle to get right.

It was interesting to see Revell Monogram get the licence for the Star Trek Voyager ships after AMT held the Star Trek licence for so long, now we have a new holder of that licence. I can't wait to see what you folks at Polar Lights have in the box for the new Enterprise.

Thanks for keeping it different!

QUOTE: Originally posted by dmetzner This year we are doing the following kits: And a snap kit of The Homer, a car designed by Homer Simpson

You're serious?? When is this coming out? I may be able to SUCCESSFULLY introduce my wife to the hobby with her very first kit (she's a Simpson's nut!). Yay!