Landships II

Peter Kempf wrote:

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Followup to a previous post:

Airfix being in trouble and all: I urge all modellers out there to get their 1/76 Mk I while it is still available.

It has its (small) problems, but is still a great kit. And it's probably going to become rare...

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All the more reason for some manufacturer to perhaps not produce every known variant of the Sherman or Tiger and give us an accurate Braille scale rhomboid. I'm amazed that Roden don't produce any; they have all but cornered the market in WWI aircraft and WWI tanks would be, to me at least, a logical extension of that.

We also could ask to RPM. They already have a WW1 line

I'm afraid that Heller is in the same situation than Airfix ... and Humbrol

Michael Taylor wrote:

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The full story has not been told, I am sure. It seems that Heller is in possession of many of the moulds, and will not release them, so that there will be a dispute over ownership of these assets. Surely Humbrol paint products must still be viable if it can be separated from the whole division. This is local news to me, as I live almost in sight of Humbrol, (Marfleet), and if any information becomes available, I will post it. As I understand it, the Mk1. was already out of production, and no stocks retained, so any you can find are already with distributors.

 

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Michael,

can you clarify a point raised on the Airfix Collector´s Forum (http://airfixcollecting.forumup.be/index.php?mforum=airfixcollecting) about the Marfleet factrory at Hedon Road (http://airfixcollecting.forumup.be/viewtopic.php?t=451&mforum=airfixcollecting) Is the factory there still standing, or was the site redeveloped as one of our regular contributors claims?

There is a lot of rumour and hearsay about the current Airfix-Humbrol-Heller situation. Roughly the situation seems to be thus:

Humbrol was full owner of both Heller (since 1980?) and Airfix (since 1986), until the Heller management arranged a management buy-out in may 2005. At that point part of the deal allegedly was that Humbrol retained ownership of the Heller ‘Back Catalogue’ (i.e. all models currently not in production) and that Heller would also continue to produce all Airfix models. Since 1981 Airfix didn´t have a production facility of its own, so all production from 1986 onwards was in Trun at the Heller plant.

Then on July 31st this year Heller announced it was going into administration due to high debts. At the time a lot of people shrugged their shoulders, but it never is good news when your principal production site goes into administration. This proved to be the case last week, when a conflict between Humbrol and the curators at Heller over additional financial claims on Humbrol resulted in a ban on models bound for Airfix leaving the Heller plant. Deprived of income for the foreseeable future Airfix became a liability and the Banks pulled the plug, calling in administrators themselves. It seems that Humbrol was already in financial trouble, but that the Airfix kits were still making money (1981 revisited!). With that source of income gone for the moment the situation is bleak.

Legally Humbrol owns the Airfix moulds (and possibly part of the Heller moulds too), but since possession in nine tenths of the law, it might take a while before the legal battle is resolved. That might be too long for either side.

Mario Wens

Moderator Airfix Collector´s Forum

Centurion wrote:

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Moral: Outsourcing one's production aint always such a bright idea.

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Ah, you're going for the 'understatement-of-the-week'-reward!

can you imagine what would happen to WWI modeling if emhar goes bankrupt? It would be nice if there were other companies making wwi tanks, that way the quality and quantity would increase

Ah, a polite and not dismissive reply! Maybe we should try and lobby them further still.

One thing that I think really gave Roden/Toko additional impetus into WW1 Aero was a cooperation of sorts with Windsock Magazine/Albatros Publications, that supplied them with excellent plans.

I think that an intelligent thing to do, is to suggest them to do a number of kits, and AT THE SAME TIME, showing them were to find plans, or even volunteering to send them some.

Smart, ain't I?

 

When last seen by me earlier this year the buildings and guardian aircraft were intact, and there is no plan for demolition or redevelopment.