Jan JanssenHi Eric, we have the same from items out of the US,.. plus if it gets true customs and you are lucky being picked-out extra VAT makes it useless to buy anything from the US
16 January, 18:55
Tony MayI admit that the Muscherfire has become something of a meme in the industry. That said there are so many paint schemes for those three families of aircraft that regardless of whether it's a new modeler or a seasoned one; They will always have something interesting they can do with it! Furthermore these are arguably the most iconic military aircraft in air combat history. All three aircraft families are a safe bet for a model industry.
I admit that pretty much every kit you've mentioned here are those which I'd love to try on for size, especially from Eduard, but I already miss out on about half of the Eduard kits I'd like to obtain & build. Never mind all the goodies that come out under the Valom, Azur, Special Hobby, AZ Models, etc.!
Aside from a few starter Snap-Tite kits, my first real model was a Monogram 1/72 P-51B Mustang in it's "Mini-Masterpieces" release & that was all it took to get me hooked. Now there are exceptions to the Muscherfire rule of drawing constant interest. I know that seeing models of aircraft, that were very obviously WW2 types I'd never heard of, were some of the greatest eureka moments in my late childhood. The three that come to mind most strongly were the Testors 1/72 Junkers Ju-86E (K) in Hungarian markings, the Matchbox 1/72 Heinkel He-70/170 (70K) in Hungarian markings & the Heller 1/72 Caudron C.714. These remain three of my most favorite types of airplanes, an echo of that elation I felt, upon discovering them without a movie or book but rather by the shelves of my local hobby shop.
Having said all that I have the Muscherfire equation MIGHT be outdated. Let's be honest with ourselves here. Most young people that are coming into our hobby are being drawn in via the video games that they play. Things like World of Warplanes, World of Tanks, World of Warships, War Thunder & Roblox: Steel Titans draw them like moths to a flame. Finding out what these game players are looking to represent in scale may be a real boon for manufacturers. Especially if decal options for popular "skins" are offered. Even my own son initially got hooked on military aircraft & AFVs through games like this. My hobby interested him but it wasn't until he associated what I was doing with the things he saw when playing on his mother's laptop years ago that he became interested in building models.
11 March, 08:07