Jump to content

What makes a good kit ?


RICHARD WILLS

Recommended Posts

On 15/03/2021 at 16:12, Nigel Dell said:

To be honest Felicity’s was the only one I remember that won it, however not the year, showing my age again????

I once had the pleasure of escorting Ms Kendal out of the BBC TVC multi storey car park, poor girl was lost. She was even better in real life than she was on TV. My newsroom colleagues were very jealous!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like ladies. Very much. I accept I’ve been known to dribble at the thought and anticipation, or even after, at the memory.

But a good kit, follow the instructions goes together, with the supplied wood, into something, if the supplier provided realistic CG and attack angles, gives the victim a chance to get it back, in one piece.

Ancient fuel soaked derrières don’t get a kit built. Stick to important things.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quite right Don . The big difference , as far as I see it , between a female model and a balsa wood model is this :

If the hearts desire is a "Felicity or a Kylie" type , you are always going to be worried about where it is, when it's out of sight . 

Whereas, if the subject of your desire is a Westland Wapiti or a Fairey Albacore , you can be pretty sure that while you have popped round to Asda for some more chocolate biscuits , nobody is going to be "bothering " your sweetheart .

 

The other point worth mentioning , is that she will never ask you why you are wearing a Paddington Bear coat , complete with toggles or why your car smells of methanol . 

 

Now , how did we get from the merits of great kits , to here ? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, RICHARD WILLS said:

Quite right Don . The big difference , as far as I see it , between a female model and a balsa wood model is this :

If the hearts desire is a "Felicity or a Kylie" type , you are always going to be worried about where it is, when it's out of sight . 

Whereas, if the subject of your desire is a Westland Wapiti or a Fairey Albacore , you can be pretty sure that while you have popped round to Asda for some more chocolate biscuits , nobody is going to be "bothering " your sweetheart .

 

The other point worth mentioning , is that she will never ask you why you are wearing a Paddington Bear coat , complete with toggles or why your car smells of methanol . 

 

Now , how did we get from the merits of great kits , to here ? 

 

Richard, I do get a bit worried when the love of my life gets out of sight, maybe only if I am flying though. 

It usually ends in an expensive repair bill!  ??

 

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe not that popular in the UK, but when I was a teenager (eighties of the last century) Graupner was the gold standard over here. Good wood selection, very well die cut not crushed and printed part numbers, good plans, detailed build instructions including exploded view, even some hardware. Not all the required things, mind you, they still sold you half the accessory catalog. And somewhat overbuilt, never used one piece where three intricately shaped ones would do. But in the end, correctly built they all flew very well.

Lorenz

Edited by Lorenz Mueller
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that the instruction/assembly manual, good quality plan, comprehensive separately bagged accessories, well designed and implemented parts sheets, with part numbers, wrapped and protected plastic or fibreglass parts,  well packed box, excellent decals and even the glossy box art all go to make an impression of a high quality kit. When I embark on a build, or even an ARTF assembly, I like to sit down with the manual and tick off all of the parts in the parts list, to make sure that they are all there and in good nick. That's part of the pleasure for me. Some of that is definitely missing if it's just a few pieces chucked in a plain carboard box.

 

It doesn't even matter if it's a huge amount of balsa or just a few bits of foam - the Multiplex foamies exude quality in their presentation and in the attention to detail, even though the parts count is low. All the pieces fit together beautifully, without needing any modification, the manuals are well illustrated and they build into very good flying models.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have built two kits recently, a SLEC Chipmunk (the old Apache Aviation kit updated by SLEC) and a Flair Stearman. Both excellent kits, with clear parts identification, accurately cut parts, quality accessories and clear and comprehensive instructions. Both were let down by the plan printing. Both plans differed from the cut parts and stated dimensions by over an inch over the length of the fuselage and a similar percentage on the wings. This was only over the length of the plan, not the width, and as a percentage would probably not have been a problem on smaller models but on models of this size it made quite a difference. I chose to recalculate former and rib positions etc to restore the correct sizes but it was a bit of a faff.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its an interesting thread . I am not surprised by any of the comments . The difference between the German Market and British Market is that the accepted profit margins are way higher in Germany . Which simply allows for more extensive development . Overall the major problem as we have said before is that the building population is old , and" disappearing ". So we have seen most kit manufacturers go kaput and we are left with "plan packs " , which are good ....and bad . 

Good in that you can offer a lot of different designs . Bad in that few of the plan packs ever get a real shake down or snagging session , because only one man per year asks for a  Boulton Paul Defiant .  My guess is that it will continue down that route until we will all be grateful for a canopy , cowl and plan .

Unless somebody "resets  the thermostat " to allow a more modern approach that could still turn a profit . 

Our high street shops like John Lewis and Debenhams have been slaughtered by Amazon and similar , and in some ways small British Manufacturers have suffered a similar fate . Advertising in a magazine with a wow factor advert will cost around £500  which is the profit for a lot of kits if you are not making much in the first place. Every time I have been tempted or persuaded , it has fallen flat . Perhaps , as with our high street shops , more could have been done by the media to keep the British building providers alive ?

I know that is controversial , and my experiences with our own David Ashby were great back in the early 2000s . He went out of his way , and we were proudly front cover a few times (bless him ) . But generally , too much space has gone to the ARTF chinese market . Its a chicken and egg and I'm not looking to start or win and argument , but as one of the last small manufacturers still standing , I am going to say it on behalf of those that have already thrown in the towel . 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The complaints of people buying the RCME are that the content has gone down since lockdown as there has been no shows. I think it would be a good thing for Paul's excellent builds of your Warbird Replica kits to feature in the magazine. That way it would provide content and also let the general population of modellers that do not subscribe to the forum find out about the Warbird  kits.

Eric r. 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that's a great idea Eric.

 

I said to Richard the other day that I can't believe that I was unaware of the Warbirds Replicas kits until reading about them in this forum. I should have known, as they are right in the sweet spot of my interests, but it's many years since I last went to a model show. I really appreciate the quality of the kits and they clearly generate a lot of interest in this forum, that should translate into the magazine. Some of the techniques in use have been a real eye opener for me - the use of laminating film as a base for painting for one and that's content that would be excellent in the magazine.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An observation, the majority of the interest in warbirds on this forum (uk based) is for British warbirds.

Most ARTF either foam or balsa bolt together kits. All made in China.

I was just looking at a 1600 Spitfire, bolt together EPO, motor, retracts etc. No doubt will require 'modifications' etc to have a reliable model. €400, plus modifications.

My experience of a company, that shall not be named, of a short kit has been a horror story and money pit, plus lack of after sales support.

So taking this all in, why does a British magazine support Chinese  manufacturing so much ?

 

Even after they pinched all our balsa too!

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...