Hi and welcome Hotrod! Glad (though sad) that you feel the same about Airfix. Those old kits, such as the Gladiator and Defiant, were more than acceptable in their day (the '60's), and let's face it, we knew no different then. Now, of course, the moulds must be more worn than my wallet, and it's no surprise the fit of parts isn't good. I must admit though, not having seen one recently, I can't comment fairly, and wonder if some of the complaints, although justified, are due to the EXPECTED standards set by present-day manufacturers and techniques. Whatever the reasons, it is no excuse to price them so high. As Daniel and others have said, if they were about half the price, or,say £3 for the old, small kits like the Gladiator, that would be fine. Buyers wouldn't feel cheated, and it would be possible to make a reasonable model with a little work. I always look at a kit for what can be done with it, not what it has in the way of parts and detail; if it hapens to have super duper bits and lots of fine, and accurate detail, then I consider that a bonus, IF the price is realistic of course. One only has to look at the 21st Century 'Gustav' I posted recently. Those (kits) do not pretend to be top of the range, high tech, state of the art marvels, yet they can be turned into really good replicas, for the price of a 1/72nd scale, medium sized kit!
I agree with Jan (Lucky), it would be wonderful if the suits from Hornby read some of the comments and views on these forum pages - perhaps they'd get an idea of what is really happening, and how their plans (if there are any of course) are really going down in the eyes of the buying public, and how, unless they are VERY careful, they won't have a customer base to release any new products to!
I make no apologies for returning to the issue that sparked off this thread - the episode regarding the price increase on the Mosquito. Whichever bright spark thought of that one is in the wrong job - it was either a massive miscalculation to start with, or a total f**k up somewhere along the line, or a combination of these, and smacks of incompetence, and arrogance. It's been a sure-fire way to alienate long-term, staunch supporters of a wonderful company that, having seen difficult times, fought back well, only to be ruined by the present 'guvners'.
It might be my upbringing, and subsequent training, together with experience in the 'business world' but, I always hold by 'if you say you are going to do something, then do it.' So far, Airfix, under the new 'regime', have announced at least 3 to 4 kits that have either been way behind schedule, or are still to make an appearance. Why, and how can this happen? If the 'P's' have been done correctly in the first place, it shouldn't happen, and any excuse shows poor management. BTW, the 'P's' are the 7 P's - Perfect Planning and Preparation, Prevents P!ss Poor Performance!