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What demand for 1/48 Black Box sets?


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Found in my stash from YEARS ago a brand new 1/48 Black Box cockpit set for the F-16D.  I don't forsee that I'll use it. 

I remember when people fell over themselves trying to get these, but when I checked Ebay to see what they were going for, I was surprised.  Did the demand really fall so much on these?

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Like other products over the years, the BB cockpits have been superseded by Aires. They're no longer the best (or only) pits available and not worth a whole lot.

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Black Box isn’t the best fitting either. I’ve done an F-105D, A-7D, and F-86D. They look good, but they are no drop fit. 

 

They do have ave subjects not done by other companies though, so that keeps them in my inventory. 

 

Rick L. 

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2 hours ago, Andrew D. the Jolly Rogers guy said:

Ah, well, I guess I hung on to this 'way too long....gotta find this thing a new home somehow then....

Agreed, I have a 1/48 BB F-4D set for Hasegawa I will never use.

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Probably best value is to dress up some of the very nice oob cockpits we have now.

Use the seats and detail parts on the base plastic.

No fit issues, some great looking detail and far faster build.

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I remember using the Black Box set for the 1/32 Tamiya F-4J. It actually fit halfway decently. Plus, it was the only set with the correct version of the ejector seats. The Aires seat had the Air Force version in their Navy cockpit sets. Of course, this was all long ago and my memory ain't what it used to be.

Edited by Mstor
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I think I have almost all of the Black Box sets. Multiple copies too, yeah I know silly. I have used a couple and the last one was the F-15E set. It fit the Revell kit very nicely. 

Also from what I have read, the masters for the Black Box sets were bought by Squadron and added to their True Details line. Or maybe i am wrong.

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9 hours ago, skyhawk174 said:

Also from what I have read, the masters for the Black Box sets were bought by Squadron and added to their True Details line. Or maybe i am wrong.

 

I thought Black Box became Avionix?

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16 hours ago, dehowie said:

Probably best value is to dress up some of the very nice oob cockpits we have now.

Use the seats and detail parts on the base plastic.

No fit issues, some great looking detail and far faster build.

That's exactly what I started doing! Ruined too many kits trying to get those things shoved in there. 

Particularly the F-16D. Used the pieces to upgrade the kit parts and it looks very nice, and fits.

 

Black Box rebranded under Avionix for a while. Squadron ultimately bought the black box range. they've released a few under their name. I bought a couple of their F-4E sets, and they are indeed old black box pits for about $12. Again, I used the parts to dress up the kit. 

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Ive been working on a quarter scale Monogram Pro Modeler F-15E, got some seamless intakes and a BB pit.

Fitting the intakes was nothing, but the cockpit tub isnt a good fit at all considering it was designed to be used with that kit.
The casting itself is clean enough on the detail of the parts but the keys on the large side, which i guess aids in handling them, but the amount of excess is high, its a lot of work to bring it down to the right size to get it to fit.

 

Now Im not saying its really really bad, its quite nice and only really needs a bit of modelling nouse to get it in, but it was designed for the kit, designed to replace the kits own parts so why it is not the same dimensions as the kit parts...

 

They were thee cockpits to have 10 years ago but things have moved on and in some cases the kits own cockpits have made BB pits redundant because they are just as detailed 

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On 5/8/2020 at 2:35 PM, ElectroSoldier said:

Ive been working on a quarter scale Monogram Pro Modeler F-15E, got some seamless intakes and a BB pit.

Fitting the intakes was nothing, but the cockpit tub isnt a good fit at all considering it was designed to be used with that kit.
The casting itself is clean enough on the detail of the parts but the keys on the large side, which i guess aids in handling them, but the amount of excess is high, its a lot of work to bring it down to the right size to get it to fit.

 

Now Im not saying its really really bad, its quite nice and only really needs a bit of modelling nouse to get it in, but it was designed for the kit, designed to replace the kits own parts so why it is not the same dimensions as the kit parts...

 

They were thee cockpits to have 10 years ago but things have moved on and in some cases the kits own cockpits have made BB pits redundant because they are just as detailed 

 

Interesting. I don't seem to remember having any sort of trouble fitting my BB cockpit into the kit. It has been a long time. I should check my pictures and jog my memory. If the fit was bad like Aires, I would remember 😀

 

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On 5/8/2020 at 10:59 PM, habu2 said:

I must have about a dozen 1/48 BB sets and a couple of 1/32 too.

 

My BB/Avionics stash from 2009, and I have had some of them years before that.  I know I had the F-4G pit before the 2000 Nats in Dallas.    

 

AxCe27.jpg
2HfTxV.jpg

 

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On 5/8/2020 at 10:57 AM, habu2 said:

 

I thought Black Box became Avionix?

 

On 5/8/2020 at 2:42 PM, skyhawk174 said:

 

Oops yeah you are right. I think I am thinking about KMC sets. My bad.

 

 

When KMC folded, one member (Jef) moved and created Black Box. Black Box became Avionix. Jef sold everything to Squadron and then went to work for them. He recently left Squadron, but I believe everything he created is still owned by them. KMC, Black Box/Avionix, Aeromaster/Eagle Strike.......all of it once the cornerstone of the hobby in the late 90's, early 2000's is now owned by Squadron where it has slowly withered away into obscurity. 

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2 hours ago, Dave Roof said:

Jef sold everything to Squadron and then went to work for them. He recently left Squadron, but I believe everything he created is still owned by them. 

 

Did you see Jef's announcement in Sprue Brother's latest email flyer?

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