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Future of Kitty Hawk molds?


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14 minutes ago, A.C.Acikgoz said:

I think it is a kind of marketing strategy.. I will not be surprised if we se a "back to work" announcement next year... 

You might be onto something. A similar strategy has worked for McDonalds for years with their McRibs. “McRibs are going away forever! Get ‘em while you can!” (A year later) “McRibs are back! Get ‘em while you can!” 😄
 

Ben

Edited by Ben Brown
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For an objective review of a savagely criticized KH kit, the Su-17, one should watch Spencer Pollard's several videos on his build of the kit and his comments re the build and the kit in general. For those KH bashers out there I love his post build comments there of. 

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  • 3 months later...

I have a few Putty Hawk kits in my stash, am I happy to have them...yes, do I look forward to building them...no, will I ever part with them...probably not. I was very excited to get their first Voodoo release, even ordered a couple out the gate, I should've waited, because they had short shot sprues, had to use a lot of plastic card and putty to button up the fuselage on the first one I started building, sold the second kit shortly after. I do applaud Kitty Hawk for bringing long sought after types to market, I know it was a huge undertaking. I hope they will resurface in the future.

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Yeah, would be expensive anyway because it'd probably not include armament.

 

It seem to me that KittyHawk's problem was low quality of their last kits, lower revenue of which they have tried to compensate with higher price. I can still see European shops which seem to have first batch of their Su-27 family. I am a Flanker fan so how KH massacred my boys was really painful to me. Rised prices followed by same low quality of canopy which they didn't even attempted to change since Su-35 release, and finally lack of armament in Su-30SM priced similarly to Su-27UB of GWH... well, this must've happened at some point.

 

Anyway, their molds would be useful only if other company who buy it decide to release kits for lower-than-KH prices. Or if they decide to re-mold some elements, for me their Su-27/UB would be a good deal in current pricing if it had canopy re-molded, added pilot and had better choice of armament.

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Nothing better, they've released "new" kits recently - MiG-31 and F-14D. MiG-31 is almost double the price (€99 vs €52 I bought old one) and it is because of some 3d printed details included. My fav shop still has 16 out of 20 kits originally added in August, and in comparison they've been restocking old MiG-31 regularly just to sell all kits in like 2-3 weeks, however old kits have been removed from website, which indicate they'll no longer be supplied by AMK.

New F-14 is old F-14 with 3 changes - box art is better, there are only 2 markings instead of original 5 and amount of weaponry has been strongly reduced, price remains the same. Sales are not as bad as MiG-31 but I see first batch stocked still hanging in the shop.

 

Looks like AMK will follow the KHs path some time soon.

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4 hours ago, Tapchan said:

Nothing better, they've released "new" kits recently - MiG-31 and F-14D. MiG-31 is almost double the price (€99 vs €52 I bought old one) and it is because of some 3d printed details included. My fav shop still has 16 out of 20 kits originally added in August, and in comparison they've been restocking old MiG-31 regularly just to sell all kits in like 2-3 weeks, however old kits have been removed from website, which indicate they'll no longer be supplied by AMK.

New F-14 is old F-14 with 3 changes - box art is better, there are only 2 markings instead of original 5 and amount of weaponry has been strongly reduced, price remains the same. Sales are not as bad as MiG-31 but I see first batch stocked still hanging in the shop.

 

Looks like AMK will follow the KHs path some time soon.

It's tough to compete with the Tamiya F-14D, especially when you have some obvious inaccuracies in your offering. The Mig-31 is a cool plane, but I don't see a lot of people wanting to build it, I think the Mig-25 is probably the preferred choice for that aircraft type. I do have the Delphin kit, looks like a real nice kit. The past year and a half has put a huge strain on a lot of small businesses around the world, I'm sure these model kit manufacturers are feeling the same pain.

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7 hours ago, bashace said:

It's tough to compete with the Tamiya F-14D, especially when you have some obvious inaccuracies in your offering. The Mig-31 is a cool plane, but I don't see a lot of people wanting to build it, I think the Mig-25 is probably the preferred choice for that aircraft type. I do have the Delphin kit, looks like a real nice kit. The past year and a half has put a huge strain on a lot of small businesses around the world, I'm sure these model kit manufacturers are feeling the same pain.

Its actually not.

Maybe it is for somebody like you but with a price difference of £20 then the AMK kit starts off being more attractive, and then when the Tamiya kit is over the £100 mark, which is another mental barrier for buyers then the AMK kit starts 2 steps ahead of the Tamiya kit before it even starts.

 

A local shop to me has had a Tamiya F-14D on the shelf for over a year now...

 

The Tamiya kit is probably the better of the two but the AMK has advantages over it that cant be ignored.

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5 hours ago, Jon Krol said:

Was the aft fuselage ever corrected? If I recall that was the major issue with the kit. 


Nope. I have the most recent boxing and it's the exact same plastic as at release, just without any A2G sprues beyond the bomb adapters for the Phoenix rails.

Around here it's not enough cheaper than the Tamiya to matter. Not much difference between $130CAD for the AMK and $150CAD for the Tamiya, especially when the latter has FAR better reviews. I bought the AMK solely to see what the fuss is about (The AMK is good enough for my standards and looks like the more interesting build)

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20 hours ago, Tapchan said:

Nothing better, they've released "new" kits recently - MiG-31 and F-14D. MiG-31 is almost double the price (€99 vs €52 I bought old one) and it is because of some 3d printed details included. My fav shop still has 16 out of 20 kits originally added in August, and in comparison they've been restocking old MiG-31 regularly just to sell all kits in like 2-3 weeks, however old kits have been removed from website, which indicate they'll no longer be supplied by AMK.

New F-14 is old F-14 with 3 changes - box art is better, there are only 2 markings instead of original 5 and amount of weaponry has been strongly reduced, price remains the same. Sales are not as bad as MiG-31 but I see first batch stocked still hanging in the shop.

 

Looks like AMK will follow the KHs path some time soon.

I see them for $67 everywhere that is selling them (Mig31). I'll probably pick up another Mig this winter (right after I buy another fly rod). The F14 airframe has never did anything for me, but if I were to jump on that bandwagon it would be the AMK kit. They should have done an F111 or F100d.

gary

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7 minutes ago, ChesshireCat said:

call Kittyhawk whatever you want, but I want two more P39's and two Kingfishers. I don't see anybody else jumping on that bandwagon

gary


Special Hobby offers P-39's as well, and the main issue with them (too short aft of the canopy) is also present in the KH kit. 

Kingfisher's are another story. unlikely we'll see them again in larger-run form unless somebody grabs the KH molds and repops.

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16 hours ago, Jon Krol said:

Was the aft fuselage ever corrected? If I recall that was the major issue with the kit. 

 

Never was corrected. The problem makes it look like a cross between an F-4 Phantom and an F-15 Eagle.

It looks nothing like an F-14 Tomcat at all...

 

11 hours ago, mawz said:


Nope. I have the most recent boxing and it's the exact same plastic as at release, just without any A2G sprues beyond the bomb adapters for the Phoenix rails.

Around here it's not enough cheaper than the Tamiya to matter. Not much difference between $130CAD for the AMK and $150CAD for the Tamiya, especially when the latter has FAR better reviews. I bought the AMK solely to see what the fuss is about (The AMK is good enough for my standards and looks like the more interesting build)

 

Im with you, I dont think the Tamiya kit is 20-25% better.

 

9 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

I see them for $67 everywhere that is selling them (Mig31). I'll probably pick up another Mig this winter (right after I buy another fly rod). The F14 airframe has never did anything for me, but if I were to jump on that bandwagon it would be the AMK kit. They should have done an F111 or F100d.

gary

 

F-111F I would have love to have seen by either KH or AMK.

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13 hours ago, ChesshireCat said:

call Kittyhawk whatever you want, but I want two more P39's and two Kingfishers. I don't see anybody else jumping on that bandwagon

gary

 

Mike Swinburne has a P-39Q/N with extras for $65 listed on LSP - mikeswinburne@gmail.com

 

I have a Kingfisher that I'm on the fence about. 

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