INCOMING - CORGI 'FLIGHT' AIRCRAFT RANGE

SMN report:

Here’s a new set of familiar faces from Corgi, in the form of the new-tool Flight range. The first wave consists of seven aircraft, five from World War II, plus a pair of modern jets.

Flight range aims

Prime aims with this diecast range are collectibility and affordability, with prices starting at £14.99 GBP ($ 23.50 USD), though it’s fair to say that ultrafine detail doesn’t appear to be included in the deal. Perhaps no matter though, as display stands are included, making the models of prime appeal as general display items for general enthusiasts and non-specialist military historians of all ages, from 9 to 90.

Corgi’s PR spin

Corgi’s Marketing Manager, Martyn Weaver, says of the Flight range: “We are delighted to bring this new collection to aviation supporters. To capture models with such iconic presence accurately is always our main aim. By creating this range, we hope to provide fans with their own piece of history for devotees to enjoy for years to come.” The latter statement is absolutely true, as the big advantage that metal models have over plastic is longevity - they are far tougher and can take knocks and dust for many years. 

Choice of models

As it stands the range is clearly aimed at lovers of British aircraft - the lone P-51D flies the flag for the US - so let's hope the range has a more international look in a few months' time. 

Summation

These models look less impressive in pictures than in the metal - used as display pieces they work well. Inspect them closely and you can see that they are comparatively simple models.

Lone exception

All the Flight range aircraft are to 1:72 scale, except for the Avro Lancaster, which is to half this - 1:144 scale. We hope the production model has a more convincing main canopy though, as the one shown above looks somewhat oversized.

Summation

These models look less impressive in pictures than in the metal - used as display pieces they work well. Inspect them closely and you can see that they are comparatively simple models.

Corgi models available here.

INCOMING - MORE NEW-TOOL DIECAST AIRCRAFT FROM CORGI

SMN report:

We noted the big new 1:72 scale Short Stirling heavy bomber earlier this week, and now here’s a pair of smaller aircraft to the same scale, a Hawker Hart inter-war period biplane, and a Hawker Hurricane from World War II. Both releases look interesting enough, the Hart looking especially attractive, with fine interplane rigging a highly appealing feature.

What’s the Corgi Hart like?

The Hawker Hart light day bomber was designed by Sir Sydney Camm, who later designed the Hurricane and Hunter jet. Camm’s design is captured nicely in this Corgi Hawker Hart, from the pointed propeller spinner to the tail skid. Details extend to the strut-mounted pitot tube for indicating airspeed. The long fuselage groove you can see under the engine exhausts is not a cooling intake, but the exit slot for bullets from the single Vickers machine gun, fired by the pilot. The observer had a Lewis gun, mounted on a Scarf ring. You won’t see it on this model, reasonably enough, but for bombing purposes, the observer had to burrow under the pilot’s seat to lie flat in bombardier mode, to aim the 240 kg (520 lb) of bombs the Hart could tote under its lower wings.

Goggles and markings

As usual with diecast models, the crew are perhaps its weakest feature, although the Corgi team has been trying hard - paintwork to these two even includes the metal frames to their flying goggles. The cockpit surround looks rather clunky in the pictures here - in the real model, it manages to look much neater. Markings on this Hawker Hart are for a 1935 machine, K2986 of No 600 Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force. They look good to our eyes, the red-and-white triangles lending a splash of jaunty brightness to this classic silver machine. To 1:72 scale, the Corgi Hawker Hart has a wingspan of 155 mm (6.1 in).

Night Reaper

The other Corgi Sydney Camm design is a Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc, painted in an all-black night fighter finish. This particular aircraft was flown by a Czech pilot, Karel 'Kut' Kuttelwascher who flew with RAF No 1 Squadron. Kuttelwascher was the highest-scoring pilot in 1942 night-ops, at one point scoring 15 kills in 15 missions, while flying his Hurricane named Night Reaper.

Hurricane features captured

The Corgi Hurricane has features common to all of these fighters, such as the slightly hump-backed upper fuselage contours, and fabric covered rear fuselage. This latter is well captured by Corgi, particularly for a diecast model. The wing leading edges feature landing lights needed for night operations, while the characteristic underbelly intake is also included. Wing tanks were carried under the wings, allowing pilots extra time in the air while hunting German bombers on attack missions. All in all, a decent readybuilt model from Corgi, albeit not exactly colourful! To 1:72 scale, the Corgi Hawker Hurricane IIc has a wingspan of 167 mm (6.6 in).

Sydney Camm in his early 20s, when he was a member of the Windsor Model Aeroplane Club. Note his twin pusher-prop aircraft, almost a ringer for today's Piaggio Avanti! 

Summation

A nice pair of models here, which gave us a thought - what about Corgi (or Airfix) producing a grand megabox, full to the brim with every major Sydney Camm design flown? Camm's designs already feature in model form,  such as the Hart and Hurricane, with others that include the Hawker Fury, Typhoon, Hunter, and Harrier. But more remain untouched by a mainstream model manufacturer, including his first design, the Hawker Cygnet. Such a boxful would make a tremendous salute to one of aviation’s great designers.    

Visit Corgi here.

Plenty of Corgi aircraft here.

Hurricane kits here.

INCOMING - SHORT STIRLING BOMBER TO 1:72 SCALE FROM CORGI

SMN report:

The team at Corgi has worked really hard with this new diecast 1:72 scale model of the Short Stirling World War II British heavy bomber. In fact, one of the UK’s two leading hardcopy diecast mags gives it a top-score 10/10 rating.


Injection vs diecast
From a construction-kit point of view, the Stirling doesn’t rate that high - even today’s metal diecast technology cannot match injection-moulded plastic for fine detail. But move back a bit to arm's length. Then this model could sit next to a kit-built equivalent, and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between plastic and metal, all of which earns the Corgi Short Stirling a solid 8.0 rating from SMN. 

What’s in the box?

Out of the box, the Corgi model comes ready for display, with moveable gun turrets, bombs loaded into the multiple bays, and Royal Air Force (RAF) markings in place. It’s a big and heavy bird, this Corgi Stirling. To 1:72 , the wingspan is some 415 mm (16.3 in), and the tall undercarriage accurately gives the high-set flight deck ‘I’m flying but I haven’t left the ground yet’ skyscraper-view look. The pictures here of Corgi’s model are of the development prototype, cast in resin, and production-ready machines are just that bit better finished. 

  

Top Airfix artist

As for kits, the only 1:72 scale release we can think of is the old Airfix offering, which was OK in its time, but could really do with a high-tech revamp. Note the painting of the Short Stirling we show below. It was  created by that maestro of Airfix box-tops, the legendary Roy Cross, who has managed over a lifetime of artistic excellence to inject interest and excitement into every single one of his works.

Thousands built

Corgi’s particular aircraft choice is MacRobert's Reply of Royal Air Force 15 Squadron, a machine paid for by a £25,000 donation from Lady Rachel Workman MacRobert. She named it to commemorate the loss of her three sons, all of whom were killed in action with the RAF. The Stirling itself counts as something of a forgotten bomber - 2383 were built during World War II, but not a single aircraft survives today. The Stirling was the first British four-engine heavy bomber of World War II, being designed from a specification drawn up in 1936, and entering service just five years later, in 1941. Its front-line career lasted only until 1943, after which the Handley Page Halifax and Avro Lancaster began to replace it. 

The Stirling Project

Not everyone is pleased with that ‘forgotten’ status though, and in 1997 a group of enthusiasts launched The Stirling Project (TSP), to preserve components and documentary evidence of the aircraft. Among TSP’s aims are to construct a forward fuselage section, recreating working drawings as they do so. The team has restored a nose-gun turret, now on display in the UK Pathfinder Museum, and six years ago, an RAF Chinook helicopter helped recover Stirling parts from a remote crash site.

It’s pleasing to find that the Corgi Short Stirling team worked closely with The Stirling Project to get this model as accurate as possible

Short Stirling models and books here.

Visit The Stirling Project here.

Visit the Pathfinder Museum here.

SPRING FAIR 2012 - TREASURE CHEST FOR COLLECTIBLES

Spring Fair report from David Jefferis:

Another trade show that’s running this week is the UK’s Spring Fair, held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham. While not quite as massive as the Nuremberg Toy Fair, Spring Fair is still a major footslogger that attracts more than 70,000 visitors. It’s a mega-roundup of 300,000 offered products, ranging from goodies like coffeemakers and cooking gadgets, to art prints and jewellery. And neatly stirred into the mix are halls dedicated to toys and games, aka collectibles, hobbies, and models.

Ready-builts to the front

Companies I had expected to see were there - Hornby, Maisto, Revell, among them - plus distributors like Amerang and A.B. Gee. But the real eye-opener was the quality of the ready-made collectibles on offer. Seriously, if you don’t have time, skill, or interest to build a model from scratch, then you still have the chance - and usually at highly competitive prices - to build a display collection that need be second to none. And if you want to make a collectible ‘yours’ by some judicious weathering, or minor tweaking with the finish or paint scheme, then that’s the route to having a completely unique item for your display shelf.

Neat collectibles

And it’s a winning combination - for there were dozens of collectible ranges on display at Spring Fair, featuring all the favourite suspects. Alien, Batman, Star Wars - you name the movie series, there seemed to be a collectible range for it. And of course, Harry Potter was there, with some beautifully made sculptures of Hogwarts, Harry, and more. Retro was big too, with Beatles stuff newly minted for the collector market - I just luurved the life-sized Blue Meanie (below), its grin just as mad and bad as when it first appeared in the Yellow Submarine movie, back in 1968. 

London Olympics 2012

For sports lovers, the London Olympics 2012 had its own large trade zone, with some surprisingly interesting stuff on display. Corgi had items like Olympic-themed London taxis and Underground trains. But there also were unusual items like steel-sheet stencil kits, featuring mini-models of the Olympic stadium, and a very nifty (if somewhat mysterious) three-wheeled cycle figure. And naturally enough, super-size figures of the one-eyed Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville (below) lurked here and there to trap the unwary.

Summation

Spring Fair made a fascinating trip, with a huge variety of products on offer, as you’ll be able to see from the slide show. A bonus was that after the model side of things, it was possible to check out such intriguing items as a coffee machine disguised as a Friesian cow!

London Olympics 2012 here.

Spring Fair here.

Some fairly weird Beatles stuff here.

There's more

Here's a bunch of shots I took with the trusty iPhone 3GS. They certainly show that there's plenty of variety at Spring Fair 2012.

HORNBY GETS GROWN-UP - 2012 AD CAMPAIGNS TARGET ADULTS

SMN market report:

Hornby Hobbies are expanding the company image away from pocket-money-price ‘small boys’ toys’ to moneyed-and-mature ‘big boys’ toys.’ Well, that’s our take on the plan. In advertising marketeer-speak, Hornby has launched: “a long-term brand campaign as part of a big push to introduce adult consumers to its products.” Having said that, Hornby traditional strengths remain, with updates to the rail range that include the 4-4-0 locomotive above, and the ready-weathered 4-6-0 Black 5 shown after the jump.

Movie ads

Cinema and TV ads have already started to show people playing with Hornby train sets through the decades, while featuring the teaser line: “A passion for every generation and the next”. Which sounds a bit “ugh” to SMN, but we get what the ads are trying to do, and heartily approve - anything that takes at least an element of the scale model world up and out of the kidstuff swamp is OK by us. Unsurprisingly, brand logos for Airfix, Corgi, Hornby, Humbrol, and Scalextric, appear at the end of each advert. 

Rising sales
Hornby has previously run its ads during children’s TV shows, so adult ads are a big departure, and campaigns will run throughout 2012. Hornby is doing pretty well at the moment, especially considering the financial upheavals in the Eurozone, and it’s good to see confidence in the future. Hornby saw first-half 2011 UK sales rise by some 4 percent, while Euro-sales ballooned by around 50 percent, though from a much lower base. With this as a track record in difficult economic times, it’s great to see Hornby pushing to be on a rising wave as we (hopefully) come out of recession through 2012 and beyond.

 
Powerful punch for Hornby

Nat Southworth, marketing director at Hornby Hobbies, says showcasing the brands aims to: “emphasise the power” and adds that Hornby is more than one brand these days: “It is a family of brands and each one invokes a passion in the consumer.” SMN says: “Go for it, Nat!”

New Bus for London expected soon
Hornby has also signed a deal to produce models in various scales of the swoopily-designed New Bus for London. There'll be key-ring collectibles as well as 1:76 scale miniatures, sales being aimed at a wide range of buyers, from serious collectors to casual tourists.

More on the New Bus for London bus here.

View Airfix kits here.

View Hornby stuff here.

View Corgi here.

Humbrol here.

Scalextric here

And here's one of the 'generation' ads :

NEW BUS FOR LONDON - CORGI ANNOUNCES RELEASE DATE FOR DIECAST ‘BORIS BUS’

SMN update:

Corgi has announced a target release date of March 2012 for the 1:76 scale New Bus for London (NB4L) now under development, and currently running on a similar schedule to the real thing. The Corgi diecast model will scale out to 146 mm (5.75 in) long and be marketed under the successful London Original Omnibus Company (OOC) name. As planned, the first OOC New Bus will wear the livery, destination, and numbers of the first route that the new bus will serve. Corgi planners are expecting to see details of this route very soon.

New Bus for London background

It’s been a pet project for London mayor Boris Johnson, who drove the first one produced earlier this month, where they are being made in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Fitting in with London’s eco-friendly clean-and-green ethos, the bus is powered by a diesel-electric hybrid system, which cuts fuel consumption and noxious emissions by more than half. 

On the highways

The target in-service date is in time for the London Olympics to be held in July and August 2012, and this should be met, with at least eight vehicles running on the streets of London during the first half of the year.

Riding on the New Bus

For passengers, bus travel should be improved by having much better access. The New Bus has three doors - at the front, in the middle, and at the rear, which has a traditional open platform for peak-hour use, but can also be closed off at other times. Two staircases will speed movement to and from the upper deck, and the designers at Thomas Heatherwick Studio have incorporated sweeping glass up each staircase - great views guaranteed. Interiors are pretty good too, with better lighting and stylish fittings.

Several scale and types of New Bus for London

Back to Corgi, which has plans for a range of these buses, including a 'fit-the-box’ toy, and a diecast key ring memento. This will partner the Routemaster bus keyring, already on release (below). In Corgi’s words, these assorted items are planned: “so everyone from school children to tourists can carry a London souvenir in their pocket”. 

More please

So far so good, but we have requests to make. Please Sun Star, can we have a nice big 1:24 scale diecast, and Revell, howzabout producing a detailed injection kit as soon as you can!

NB4L details at Corgi here.

See more NB4L here.

London Olympics 2012 here.

NEW FROM CORGI - TRAINS, PLANES, CARS

SMN report:

Corgi’s next Aviation Archive diecast release will be a variation on the highly successful 1:72 scale TSR-2 British strike bomber. This one is modelled on the XR220 machine, now on display at the RAF Museum, Cosford. It’s a Limited Edition, with just 1500 in the run, and has extra parts to reflect the stronger landing gear fitted to the aircraft, and the two cameras fitted to monitor gear behavior.

Project cancelled

As many aviation fans agree, the TSR-2 (XR220 at Cosford above) represents one of the great tragedies of the British air industry. Produced back in the 1960s, the advanced TSR-2 would have been ahead of many types flying even today. Yet, as with so many other designs of that period, no sooner had the aircraft reached flight status, when the government of the day brandished the ‘cuts’ sword, and cancelled it. Grrr.

Is it a winner?

If this TSR-2 is as good as the other variations, then Corgi has a definite winner on its hands. The photo of the model does it no justice - in the metal it looks much more impressive. We’re not so sure about the strong but clunky display stand, but it’s the aircraft that counts.

Mini Cooper

In January 2012 Corgi will release a 1-36 scale Rover Mini Cooper, and it’s one we’re less happy about. Even a cursory glance at the pic shows the inaccuracies there - for starters, just look at the chrome treatment on the radiator grille. It’s like no Mini that’s ever seen a highway. The Volcano Orange car has a limited quota of 1000 pieces, which is probably just as well. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again - come on Corgi, let’s see a Mini that shows off this seminal automobile the way it deserves.

Mallard approaching Spring 2012

Now here’s something different - a non-working locomotive in a smaller than usual size. An exotic little notion perhaps, but interesting if you have a thing for replicas of locos to 1:120 scale. To much of the world this is TT-scale, though British enthusiasts choose to have TT somewhat larger at 1:100 scale. Hey ho, it’s the 00-H0 debate all over again, but let’s not worry about that - is the model a good one?

Prototype casting before application of paint finish.

Well, the answer is a definite yes, and it’s a case where modern production methods lead the way. Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Stereolithography (SLA) design technology have been used to develop this model, and these techniques result in faster and more accurate production, which means a win all round, and especially so for the buyer of the end-product.

Earlier model in the series, in neat boxed presentation format.

Record breaker

The actual locomotive chosen by Corgi is the world-famous Mallard holder of the world speed record, taken on July 3, 1938, when the locomotive powered its way to take the record for steam at 202.58 km/h (125.88 mph). Mallard can now be seen on display at the British National Railway Museum. It’s a deserved rest - during its quarter-century lifetime the 165-tonne streamliner covered some 2.4 million km (1.5 million miles).

Corgi stuff here.

Visit Mallard at the NRM here.

TSR2 pic courtesy Taras Young.