Has Airfix lost it?

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Quality Control? Out of control I'd say! How to win new custom and make a good impression on the market - introduce an innovative new 'diorama' type kit of a popular subject, possibly prempting a re-make of a classic movie, then totally f*** it up!!
So, let's sum up. The eagerly awaited and much hyped McClaren F1 car with the figure of what his name arrives late, is overpriced, and turns out to be a load of cheap imported rubbish; the fabled 1/24th scale Mosquito, announced , more or less, as the most accurate and detailed kit yet priduced, is then notified as delayed for a couple of months, then has a price increase of virtuallyanother 60% and, a year after it was supposed to appear after the delay, it still hasn't arrived, then we find kits with broken parts, missing parts, loose parts or no bl**dy parts. And now, the wrong darned kit in the box.
So I wonder. Now that Eduard apparently have the moulds, or at least access to the moulds, for the 1/48th Lightning F1.F1A, and Academy are introducing a Lightning F6 in 1/48th, with Hobby Boss announcing a 1/48th Tornado F3, is it possible that the sale/lease/rental of these tools has allowed somone to go on a jolly to the 'Far East' to find potential manufacturers who are willing to supply products with an Airfix sticker on them and, as the margins are cut to the bone, don't have a QC system, not that they'd know what one was??!!
Oh dear, have I spoken out of turn? If so - GOOD! Someone get the finger out and run the bl**dy company properly, efficiently and effectively, instead of f***ing about with mad-hat 'get rich quick' f***** ideas!!!!
 
They'll get dangerously close to where they were not that long ago, if they don't shape up, the difference this time is that nobody will bother their *rs if they went t*ts up!
 
I reckon you're right Jan. It's all pointing towards Hornby being a holding company or similar, with Airfix as such not actually existing as a physical company, only a 'on paper' divisional asset. I'm begining to think that the delay in releasing the 1/24th scale Mossie, and other kits announced as 'To Be Advised', such as the 1/48th Vulcan, is possibly due to Hornby awaiting a return from other sales, before going ahead with the costly production, advertising and marketing required for a proper stocking level.
The latest from me on the Humbrol paints fiasco, apart from very short shelf life, and the proabability of cellulose in the mixes, is now a colour shade issue! I've been using Humbrol No.29 'Dark Earth' since the early 1960's, and never had a problem. I've just bought a new tin (the last one went 'off' in the tin after being opened twice!), and it's a totally different shade, looking more like 'Light Earth'!
I placed both tins in front of friend, who knows nothing about modelling or Humbrol paints, but is a painter/decorator by trade, and asked him what he thought. He just said "They're different colours"!
He's right too! I had to use this for some touch-up work on the Beaufighter,(bare, un-varnished areas) including canopy framing, and had to add a touch of black to match the shades!!
Still haven't had any reply to my follow-up letter after an e-mail to them!
 
Terry , I think you said a while back that their metallic colour isn't what it use to be aswell( forget which No. it was) I can vouch for that . Its now more just a greyish un-metallic colour , proberly cheaper to make eh? either way its crap

What other colours are they getting wrong aswell as this and dark earth?

....bastards
 
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Does Revell not make a Mossie other then the 1/48?
 
Revell used to have a 1/32nd scale Mosquito BIV in their range, and re-release it now and again. With quite a bit of work it can turn out rather nice, although the major problem is it really needs a replacement canopy. However, apart from the fact that it's no longer available at present, the Airfix kit in question is much larger, at 1/24th scale, and is a FBVI. It has been shown on the Airfix web-site, and hyped as probably the most accurate and detailed kit of a Mossie to date. Then, having put back the date of release, the price was increased by 60%, and it's still not on the shelves, about 18 months after it's intended, initial launch date.
If this was a new car, or mobile 'phone or other major 'luxury consumable' being launched, the company concerned would be a laughing stock, lose all credibility in the market place, and take a long time to recover from the effects - if they ever did.
 
Terry ! Being a Bomber Comand builder i get through alot of H29 and i've got four tins of the stuff and there all different shades and there all new stuff, the old stuff says Humbrol Ltd, Marfleet, Hull and the new stuff says Hornby Hobbies Ltd, Margate, guess which is the crap stuff

If anyone wants to buy Humbrol paint make sure its very old stock and says on the tin Humbrol Ltd, Marfleet, Hull.

Very good paint have the words....

''HUMBROL COLOR'' on the tin or ''HUMBROL SUPER ENAMEL'' both paints are the same the ''super'' bit was a selling thing !
any other types of Humbrol paint with Barcodes on are new stock and are sometimes a bit dodgy not all the time though.
Shake a tin before you buy it !! It should NOT sound like water being shaken, Infact you shouldn't really hear anything, unless its matt.
Really new stuff have very thin tinlets and can be pressed in on the bottom quite easily, Stay well clear of them and ask the shop owner if they have any old stock

ian.
 
It is a shame! I've been using Humbrol paints for nearly fifty years, and remember all the different tin designs, and their superb range of 'Authentic Colours' - the first company to produce matched , RAF, USAAF, RLM etc colours.
As Ian states, the paints now are totally different, and very inconsistent in quality and shade, and the tins themselves are very poor - virtually impossible to close after first opening, as the lids keep 'popping' back up. But, most of all, even when, on the now rare occassion you get a good tin, the da*ned stuff 'goes off' in the tin very quickly, especially matt white and matt black, which have heavier pigment content. Nowadays, I go through about three to four tins of each, where one tin would have covered the same amount, all due to the stuff going solid in the tin!
Unfortunately, the older stock of original Humbrol, produced by them at the now closed and derelict Marfleet factory, is becoming very hard to find - I'm trying to stock-up on the larger tins of Number11 Silver, great for the basis of NMF, and keep looking in obscure outlets, such as hardware stores, in the hope I might find some!
 
I sort of liked the Humbrol Enamel paint for the truck I did. But I just got word that the hobby shop holds model masters paint so I will slowly but surely be switching. I am buying atleast 14 paints on Friday... at 3 dollars a bottle thats 42 dollars out of my 70
 
Right then talking of Humbrol paints and my new Lanc' build ! I've opened up a new tin of
H85 satin coal black which i use for the underside of all my lanc's, thoroughly mixed it and
applied a thin layer to the fuselage and after 2 days in the window it's still wet

My last tin i used was touch dry in 6 hours ! The new is utter rubbish


ian.
 
Airframes said:
Yep, I've had the same with some tins, mainly the greens, but also a matt black.
Click to expand...

I've had loads of greens too which seem to stay tacky for days, this only seems to be in matt colours
the gloss colours dry ok. I wonder what they are putting in their [ours] paints ??

The matt colours which i've had problems with in drying are H116, H30, H149, H34 and H78.

ian.
 
I've only had the problem with one gloss paint, a 'new' tin, which again was black. But having said that, the few gloss Humbrol paints I have are the larger tins, and are the original, genuine Humbrol from a few years ago - still going strong - not the nasty, horrible, cheapo crappy, no use to man nor beast, imported, wrongly formulated, badly matched, incorrect hue current paints!
I watched the James May programme on Tuesday, about a 1:1 'Airfix' type model Spitfire, (which was very good), and he visited Hornby at Margate. There was an original Airfix employee still there, and they showed the 'spares' room, with loads of kits going back years, held for spare parts. They also showed some of the original drawings and moulds etc, and I wondered how the old chap feels now, with kits and other products coming from who knows where!
The really sad thing is, that the last 'major' change to Humbrol paints was as a result of the global reduction, or banning, of lead in paints and products associated with children, aboput 35 or 40 years ago now. This must have been a bit of a hurdle to overcome, being a major 'ingredient', but the company overcame the problem, and there was a virtually 'seamless' change over to the 'nerw' formulations, with high quality products still reaching the market. So why can't the new producer, whoever they are, get it right, according to the original Humbrol formulas?!!
 
Not to ask a stupid question but are all Airfix products now being outsourced completely? The offering of kits and paint in Australia that I come across still bare the Made in UK or EU marks.
 
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