"New" Airfix Wagons

[Trainshed Terry]

The mould for the "Kitmaster" 08 kit was destroyed when "Rosebud Kitmaster" ceased trading. There a few kits available from the "Kitmaster Club" who will be at Warley.

 

A unmade kit sells for around £15.00, but made up kits are £10.00.

 

Please PM me if anyone requires a kit.

 

As for "Airfix" reissuing the wagon kits, the information is that I have is that "Dapol" has the moulds which where purchased from Airfix.

 

Hope this is of help.

 

Spelling mistake corrected.

 

Terry.

[frobisher]

Perhaps what we're seeing is some of the existing and/or inherited Hornby range, whose component sprues lend to being presented in a kit-like manner a la Dapol's Stanier coaches?

[papagolfjuliet]

That does look like the ex-Airfix Railway System RTR 21T Hopper, the tooling for which resides with Hornby via Mainline and Dapol. Hornby have quite separately acquired the Airfix brand, maybe this is a cue to reunite the tool and the brand for a 'simple' kit on CKD principles?

 

According to Ramsay's catalogue, when Dapol sold the Airfix RTR wagon toolings to Hornby, it had replica tools made. So the Airfix wagon tools reside with Hornby, whereas the ones used by Dapol are copies.

[Ian_B]

m0rris? What scale is the Military vehicle in this picture?

Is it a production item?

Ian_B

Unfortunately there's next to no information out there at the moment but I'm sure we'll find out more in due course!

 

With the talk a twin axle tank wagon and a diesel that have been spotted, have Airfix brought some of the models back "in house"? Through purchasing the moulds or, more likely, getting Dapol to do a run for them (something that has been done before many times in their other ranges) or... are they producing a new range? The revival of their 1/32 Cars series has extensively used Scalextric parts to help produce new models, perhaps something similar involving the Hornby range is now afoot.

 

Edit to add: Just found this from a set of pictures of the Airfix stand at IMPS;

 

Source https://plus.google.com/photos/115549746726410540917/albums/5944341504488050945/5944347308078343026?banner=pwa&pid=5944347308078343026&oid=115549746726410540917

 

That looks to me like a hand painted BR hopper wagon just on the edge of the photo... Older models from the Hornby range being handed down to airfix?

[Fat Controller]

m0rris? What scale is the Military vehicle in this picture?

Is it a production item?

Ian_B

http://www.airfix.com/shop/military-vehicles/148-scale-military-vehicles/a06302-supacat-coyote-148/

[RJS1977]

I've often wondered how easy it would be for an enterprising manufacturer to create new tooling from an unmade Kitmaster kit. Obviously creation of a new tool would be expensive, but probably less than designing an entirely new kit.

[Dunsignalling]

Unfortunately there's next to no information out there at the moment but I'm sure we'll find out more in due course!

 

With the talk a twin axle tank wagon and a diesel that have been spotted, have Airfix brought some of the models back "in house"? Through purchasing the moulds or, more likely, getting Dapol to do a run for them (something that has been done before many times in their other ranges) or... are they producing a new range? The revival of their 1/32 Cars series has extensively used Scalextric parts to help produce new models, perhaps something similar involving the Hornby range is now afoot.

 

Edit to add: Just found this from a set of pictures of the Airfix stand at IMPS;

 

Source https://plus.google.com/photos/115549746726410540917/albums/5944341504488050945/5944347308078343026?banner=pwa&pid=5944347308078343026&oid=115549746726410540917

 

That looks to me like a hand painted BR hopper wagon just on the edge of the photo... Older models from the Hornby range being handed down to airfix?

That would be handed back to Airfix who originally made the 21t hopper (and several other wagons) currently produced by Hornby back in the late 1970s. Most of them hold up pretty well considering their age and the body mouldings are as good as most of the current stuff. 

 

John

[Fat Controller]

Airfix is part of the Hornby conglomerate, so the issue of which part of the group owns/ has inherited the original GMR tooling is academic. Talk of a CKD version of the 21t hopper is a non-starter, a 'kit based on the moulding sprues' even more so, as the main structure consists of a one-piece body moulding, and a one-piece underframe, to which are added a set of wheels and couplings. There's not much saving in assembly there to be passed on.. This is in contrast to a multi-part kit for a coach, as Dapol have released, and even there the savings are not huge.

Given the absence of any reference to a 'new release' or 'new tooling' of a 21t hopper, or to the Amoco tank which has appeared in photos elsewhere, on the Airfix web-site, I am convinced that the presence of these wagons was to demonstrate the possibilities of Humbrol's range of weathering products.

[papagolfjuliet]

I've often wondered how easy it would be for an enterprising manufacturer to create new tooling from an unmade Kitmaster kit. Obviously creation of a new tool would be expensive, but probably less than designing an entirely new kit.

 

Probably fairly easy. Remember the fake Big Big Hymek? There is also a Chinese pirate copy of the old Lima clockwork loco, ferry van, and continental lwb open and tank wagons, not to mention an almost exact copy of the Hornby GWR Holden tank, scaled up to American O gauge.

[Purley Oaks]

That's a Hornby hopper, it's featured in this vid showing their weathering powders in use.

 

Thanks for the link to this video, Nelson. Hadn't seen it before, some useful tips

Mal

[lapford34102]

According to Ramsay's catalogue, when Dapol sold the Airfix RTR wagon toolings to Hornby, it had replica tools made. So the Airfix wagon tools reside with Hornby, whereas the ones used by Dapol are copies.

 

Cheers for that, you learn something every day. Might explain why the Dapol product looks half reasonable for what would be 50 yr old moulds.

 

Had they have brought a kit out I was quite prepared for something new. Airfix are undoubtedly upping their game, and whilst this isn't the place could be interesting to compare Airfix's approach to Hornbys,  but a dabble in Railways wouldn't have surprised me. A static model of Tornado or an A4 might well be popular.

 

Anyhow absolutely confirmed now as a couple of RTR's grunged up.

 

Stu

[RJS1977]

Probably fairly easy. Remember the fake Big Big Hymek? There is also a Chinese pirate copy of the old Lima clockwork loco, ferry van, and continental lwb open and tank wagons, not to mention an almost exact copy of the Hornby GWR Holden tank, scaled up to American O gauge.

 

I wasn't aware of the fake Hymek, but now I come to think about it, I have seen friction-drive toy locos for sale that bear more than a passing resemblence to the old Matchbox push-along ones...

 

And of course there are the locos often seen for sale in gift shops made out of "coal" that coincidentally seem to be about 4mm scale and represent the L&Y Pug, City of Truro, Evening Star, Bulleid Pacific etc... 

 

I wonder who actually owns the "rights" to the "lost" Kitmaster kits?

[Fat Controller]

Cheers for that, you learn something every day. Might explain why the Dapol product looks half reasonable for what would be 50 yr old moulds.

 

Had they have brought a kit out I was quite prepared for something new. Airfix are undoubtedly upping their game, and whilst this isn't the place could be interesting to compare Airfix's approach to Hornbys,  but a dabble in Railways wouldn't have surprised me. A static model of Tornado or an A4 might well be popular.

 

Anyhow absolutely confirmed now as a couple of RTR's grunged up.

 

Stu

Stu;

The Dapol 21-tonner came out first sometime in the mid-1970s.

Bri

[papagolfjuliet]

I wasn't aware of the fake Hymek

 

Here it is: http://www.bigbigtrain.org.uk/Red%20Rocket.htm