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New tool 1/72 Sea King HC4 coming from Airfix in 2015


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One of the benefits of having the type around forever... the kits just get better!

I love that Canadian Sea King patch with "yesterday's technology tomorrow" on it.

On a more serious note, any Canadian Sea King experts know which kit (including this upcoming one) is the best basis for one of ours?

ALF

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Certainly not this one. The new Airfix one is a Westland built Sea King, and the HC.4 doesn't have the sponsons but just wheels. For a Canadian one you need a Sikorsky model. I'm not much into models of those, but I believe Fujimi does one, and Cyberhobby, and neither are that good?

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"The Sea King has always been a popular part of the Airfix range, however the existing model and tooling was beginning to age."

Wow. I nominate that for Understatement of the Millenium....

Great news if it truly is a full-blown new tooling. I'm afraid this is too good to be true.

For a Canadian bird, or any Fuji or Sikorsky-built airframe, you want the Fujimi kit, which is very good.

Cyberhobby's kit has issues with the fuselage length and nose shape, and it's missing the fairing for the oil cooler aft of the 'doghouse'.

Make sure you get a copy of the later Fujimi releases. There are two different versions of the canopy moulding, the early one has very poor cockpit side-window framing.

FujimiSeaKingCanopiesOLDvsNEW_zpsb217eb40.jpg

Edited by RotorheadTX
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Great news if it truly is a full-blown new tooling. I'm afraid this is too good to be true.

Pretty sure it's a completely new tool. They have a prototype or testshot model on display there.

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suprised yes but not sure whether I should be happy or not...

I do not really see a point why there is a need for a fifth, actually sixth or seventh (if you consider ancient Revell and Lindberg moulds) different Sea King kit on the modeling market. The newer Revell and Dragon ones are a good basis for almost every type of Sea King one wants to build. Although being also 35 years old, even the Fujimi Sea King will make a nice representation. Of course, all of them have their flaws and errors which are well documented but how can we be certain about Airfix doing it far better? May be more up to date, but ...

I appreciate that they saw the point and don't try to rebox there old kit anymore obviously, but I would have been more happy about a new tool for the Gazelle, Scout/Wasp or a Whirlwind.

And with a glimpse towards their quarterscale Merlin, I have a certain feeling that they omit the variation potential of the Sea King and that they only will do the HC.4 Junglie.

Compared the pricing of Dragon/Cyber Hobby, I don't expect Airfix to be any cheaper (at least in main land Europe). Even though, with some luck some of the Dragon kits are available for 22,- EUR (27.3 US$, 17.2 GBP) here in Germany (not in Asia!)

Overall, this seems to be an answer for a demand the British mass market. I can't imagine that the rather specific HC.4 will be an international top-seller.

Edited by troschi
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The original Airfix Sea King is one of their best seller kits and has been boxed in a multitude of gift sets, starter sets and double boxing (e.g with the Lifeboat). It was acknowledged over 5 years ago that it was long overdue for replacement. I can see it being around in a variety of guises for many years to come. Airfix will likely have a number of variants planned for this kit, but as per some of the other releases (Lancaster) they will start with the more unusual or limited subject first.

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[...] Airfix will likely have a number of variants planned for this kit, but as per some of the other releases (Lancaster) they will start with the more unusual or limited subject first.

That's observeable with other manufacturers like Revell and Amodel as well. We'll see.

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One of the members over on the Britmodeller Forum reported that he spoke to the guys on the Airfix stand at last weekend's IPMS Modelworld show at Telford where they unveiled the new Seaking kit. He states that Airfix plan to release other versions of the Seaking but they wouldn't say exactly what versions. I'd bet a lot of money they will release the yellow HAR Mk3 and probably the HAR Mk5 too. It does seem odd at first that Airfix should release a new Seaking kit, especially when the Revell kit is still pretty good, but apparently the Airfix Seaking Starter Kit is one of their best sellers! It is time the old Airfix mould was replaced with something new.

LD.

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The revel kit is OK, it has undersize sponsons though, quite a lot undersized in my eyes/opinion.

THe Fujimi kit was very nice, and still is, but is a Sikorsky, and requires detailing to fix the differences, and it does build into a nice model, the Airfix and Lindberg kits are junk. There I said it... JUNK. If we get a new tool Westland Sea King from Airfix (which it looks like we are) we should all be happy!!! If you have enough Sea Kings (Troschi), don't buy one...

With the advancements Airfix have done, I'll more than happy to pick up one each of their different variants, as their kits have become quite superb!!

Cheers

H.

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Great news if it truly is a full-blown new tooling. I'm afraid this is too good to be true.

Considering they're saying it's brand new, considering their old one was a Sikorsky SH-3A (regardless of what the box says), and considering they're showing a 3D printed master, I'd say it's a pretty safe bet it's a new tool from stem to stern.

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I do not really see a point why there is a need for a fifth, actually sixth or seventh (if you consider ancient Revell and Lindberg moulds) different Sea King kit on the modeling market.

Other manufacturers models make no money for Airfix. The Sea King is one of their best selling kits of all time, in the top five I do believe.

The newer Revell and Dragon ones are a good basis for almost every type of Sea King one wants to build. Although being also 35 years old, even the Fujimi Sea King will make a nice representation. Of course, all of them have their flaws and errors which are well documented but how can we be certain about Airfix doing it far better? May be more up to date, but ...

The Dragon kit? It's all over the place, the nose is awful and, depending on territory, it's also vastly overpriced.

And with a glimpse towards their quarterscale Merlin, I have a certain feeling that they omit the variation potential of the Sea King and that they only will do the HC.4 Junglie.

They did look into it but the differences between the Navy and RAF Merlins are substantial, it's not just a case of adding a few bits, it would require whole tooling for substantial parts of the kit.

Sea King though is different, most of the variations are bolt-ons which can be factored around a core kit. I would wager, IMO, with it being a core-product subject that other variants may well be produced.

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The revel kit is OK, it has undersize sponsons though, quite a lot undersized in my eyes/opinion.

Whirlybird will help here :-)

THe Fujimi kit was very nice, and still is, but is a Sikorsky, and requires detailing to fix the differences, and it does build into a nice model, the Airfix and Lindberg kits are junk. There I said it... JUNK. If we get a new tool Westland Sea King from Airfix (which it looks like we are) we should all be happy!!! If you have enough Sea Kings (Troschi), don't buy one...

Of course they're junk. I have enough Revell and Fujimi kits on my own. That's why I say that there would be more interesting options for new toolings.

With the advancements Airfix have done, I'll more than happy to pick up one each of their different variants, as their kits have become quite superb!!

I will certainly pick up at least one as well, maybe I will resell my Revell stash then - we will see which one will make it in the end.

Other manufacturers models make no money for Airfix. The Sea King is one of their best selling kits of all time, in the top five I do believe.

That's true. See other double developments as the Trumpeter and Revell Gannet, Hasegawa and Revell Lancaster and... . I see that every manufacturer has its own costumer and distribution range. I can imagine that the Sea King was, is and will still be a top seller on the UK market. But even though, IHMO if the UK market considered specificially, there are also other gaps to fill with a new tooling. A new Sea King tooling would appear further down on my personal priority list.

The Dragon kit? It's all over the place, the nose is awful and, depending on territory, it's also vastly overpriced.

I agree with you, way too expensive for what you get. Even if you only pay 22,-€ in a German special offer. But I don't expect the Airfix one to be any cheaper. For comparison: Revell's Sea King is priced with 13,99 € here.

They did look into it but the differences between the Navy and RAF Merlins are substantial, it's not just a case of adding a few bits, it would require whole tooling for substantial parts of the kit.

I know, because I spoke to Airfix officials already when they announced it. It's a question of kit design - if they wanted to, they could have realized it. Nevertheless, they may have ended up with a fuselage split up like Italeri's 72nd kit then. Despite all this efforts in realizing a HMA Mark, they could have sticked to versions with a cargo ramp - Canada, Denmark, Portugal, Algeria, Japan ... Glad to have the aftermarket for that.

Sea King though is different, most of the variations are bolt-ons which can be factored around a core kit. I would wager, IMO, with it being a core-product subject that other variants may well be produced.

They would be quite stupid if they stay with the Junglie only.

Again, I generally appreciate it if a kit producer replaces an already existing in house mould with a new one. Except for Revell's EC 135, I don't know any other case of that in the helicopter section. I also understand that the UK customer range is the primary market for Airfix but even keeping this in mind, there would have been other helicopter subjects with a British touch, which are more overdue for a replacement.

Now I should stop complaining from such a high level and keep on building some stuff :D/>

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