Just saw the new Matchbox diecast MiG-15 today at Talbott's.
It is covered with the worst case of evenly spaced metal pox ever seen. Drilled almost half way through the parts, these can spread quickly through touch to other, far more acceptable diecast models.
In this time of mad cow disease, etc. this travesty must be destroyed, or at least shunned and avoided.
Their P-47, on the other hand, is pretty nice.
Consider yourself warned.
Tom
afaic, [and many on r.m.s would agree] anything matchbox comes with a health warning. particularly the old kits.
trevor
[who is finishing off a matchbox BAe Hawk 200 and wishing he could give it a full nose job]
How is the Hawk 200? not easy to find and wanted to do one for ages.
I'm sure it's only a matter of time before someone does a resin nosejob for the new Airfix kit. (Problematic as it is.)
Matt
I've built the Matchbox Canberra, Privateer, and the odd plane with the long wings. They fit well, are reasonably detailed, and enjoyable builds. Why does everyone make fun of Matchbox kits? Jerry 47
Jerry47 asked:
Primarily because Matchbox stayed in the business by issuing re-releases and for a while Matchbos mold makers persisted in doing their masters without keeping up with "the state of the art" (whatever that is) . Matchbox was accused of doing their recessed panel detail with a backhoe or similar trenching equipment.
Matchbox has done some stuff thaqt nobody else will probably ever issue as new molds.
oxmoron1 MFE
Not all kits had deep trenches, i have 15 boxed T55 2 seater Lightnings, other single seaters, and maybe 50 other kits by them, some good and some poer' With the intention to build them all, i guess the same can be said for all other makes too.
Beats me. When I was cutting my modelling teeth back in the early 1970s, Matchbox kits had just arrived and, compared to Airfix, Frog and Revell at the time, they were interesting subjects, easy to build, always had alternative decal schemes and the packaging was excellent (30 years ahead of its time) with colour art on the back and superb box art on the front with a small descriptive caption to fire the imagination.
Matchbox kits were aimed at the younger end of the market, with the odd "enthusiast" subject thrown in for good measure. I guess the club-critics weren't the kind of audience Matchbox were aiming to please anyway.
Some of my earliest - and fondest - modelling memories are of Matchbox kits.
Sadly missed!
I'm not among the mockers of Matchbox. I liked their kits. When I first saw the boxes out on the market I figured they were probably little better than toys. I was pleasantly surprised to find decent kits inside. I still have a shelf devoted to just the unbuilt Matchbox kits.
Bill Banaszak, MFE
oh bill......
Some of their kits are just fine--Stranraer, Norseman and Walrus II, for example, and who the heck else does a Fairey Seafox? The He 115 and Do
18 suffer the usual trenchiness of the engravings and have some sink marks but are otherwise workable. If you want a lot of interior detail, yuo're facing a fair amount of extra work, but how many folks plunk down $$$ for aftermarket even when they're building Hasegawa or Tamiya?Mark Schynert
Don't understand this at all. What do you have in mind?
John
John asked in response to:
The following:
My thought is that Matchbox went for quite a while reissuing their old stuff and the rest of the, make that a lot of the industry passed them by. The reissues did keep the name in business, but did not keep the quality of their product "up to date" in comparison with the competition.
I didn't intend to knock Matchbox, afterall who else is going to provide a Tiger Moth or Venom in 32nd scale or the equivalent of theie Victor? If you like to fiddle and detail Matchbox provides a really decent starting point in a lot of their products. If you want a "boxshaker" to add adhesive to, well it just doesn't happen very often in their line.
Now my question. I know that some of Matchbox's molds are being produced under the labels of other manufacturers. Who owns the company nd the balance of their stuff now?
Oxmoron1
re-releases
Been working on the 32nd Venom for a long time, nice, its given me lots of satisfaction and its not yet complete. Seats were poor and added a lot, had no images of the real cockpit but a bit of work on the kit i like. Used a fair bit of filler but hey, its fun!
Julian noted:
My point exactly. The kit is not state of the art but buildable, definitely not a box shaker. BUT, who else gives you the good start for a nice Venom, Sea Venom or with a lot of work an earlier MK. Or you can get creative and do a French, Swedish or other nationality.
Happy New Year Guys and Gals Rick Clark MFE aka Oxmoron1
Did you see in work progress images i posted many months ago to the binary site?
That's what we need! A Privateer in 1/48 scale for 2004. Jerry 47
Julian asked:
I think so, but I look at so much stuff on the 'net that it tends to blend.
Phil Brandt, aka Bondo, also did one, I think I saw it in FSM a couple of years back.
One od the ID conversions that I still want to do is the FB4 version
Koster already makes one. It is a very well done vac kit
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.