New Airfix releases

Aircraft Modern
1

so, the new releases for 2026 of Airfix are known .

A Phantom on 1/48 scale is one of the novelties. Accordign to ScaleMates there are already a ton of such kits available; A pity that so many interestign subjects are not, or hardly covered in 1/48 scale and manufacturers keep releasing the same thing over and over again.

For inspiration:

F‑111B, F‑102A, F‑94B Starfire, FJ‑3 Fury, A‑5A Vigilante, C‑2 Greyhound, E‑2 Hawkeye early/modern variants, OV‑10D+ Bronco, Fairey Barracuda, Fairey Albacore, Blackburn Skua, Brewster Bermuda/SB2A, Douglas TBD Devastator, Boulton Paul Defiant (modern), FE.2b, FE.2d, Airco DH.5, F‑111A/E/F, F‑101A/C Voodoo, F‑100F, A‑37 Dragonfly, C‑123 Provider, C‑119 Flying Boxcar, S‑3 Viking, EA‑6A Electric Intruder, P‑51B/C (modern tooling), P‑38F/G, B‑26 Marauder, A‑20 Havoc, Heinkel He 177, Fairey Swordfish (modern), Sopwith Dolphin, Bristol M.1C, P‑3 Orion, B‑47 Stratojet, early B‑52 variants, Avro Shackleton, Short Sunderland, Short Stirling.

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er, yeah but not British Phantoms - that’s the difference. I agree there is almost every possible variation of U.S. Phantom out there. I think you’ll see many Brits reaching for an extra cuppa and biscuit in celebration over this one.

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Other companies phantoms don’t make airfix any money.

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100% of the market of a kit no-one else builds is probably larger than 1% of the market of a kit all other manufacturers have in their catalog?

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Probably, and the UK market is quite large I guess

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The Phantom FG.1 is certainly high on my want list. The only other RR Spey engined Phantom kits in 1/48 are by Hasegawa and can be hard to find, so this one is in no way adding to Phantom clutter. I suspect that Phantom Phans worldwide will appreciate this release.

The twin seat Jaguar is not a bad subject either, although I already have a few single seaters in my stash.

And I know that this is the aircraft forum, but I do love how Airfix is slowly tackling 1/35 Cold War British AFVs and Soft Skins! The new Saracen is on my want list, along with thier Ferrets.

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Airfix’s releases haven’t been in my wheelhouse much these last few years either: I was a big consumer of their 1/72 aircraft releases after Hornby’s takeover; and it has been good to see them tackling their signature 1/24 range and breathing new life into it.

I’m certainly not unhappy with their releases in recent years- what they have released has filled their order books and things like the Spey Phantom certainly are an indication that they are listening to the marketplace demands.

Further evidence of them listening to the marketplace is the fact they’ve gone back to their 1/72 Mosquito and corrected previous errors…

I’ll certainly be adding that to stash rather than the Special Hobby kit…

Their efforts to expand their armour ranges show a desire to accommodate the biggest segment of modellers as well.

Meanwhile there’s plenty of other recent great kits in 1/72 from the likes of Arma, Eduard, IBG etc to keep me busy for a long time.

What I would like to see from Airfix going forward is to get back into 1/350 ship models and cover off the modern royal Navy… there’s the type 26 and 31 frigates… and imagine a 1/350 HMS Queen Elizabeth/Prince of Wales :smiley:

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