Hi folks,

I was just over on the MB site and noticed that the 1/35 scale Horsa and other planned WW2 airborne aircraft have disappeared from their in progress link.

This is a great pity, but perhaps they feel there is no market or they have moved the project onto someone else?

Any further news or thoughts? I'd really been looking forward to these especially given all the new Airborne releases.



Al

I don't honestly believe the Horsa was a viable (comercial) product. In practical terms perhaps the Hotspur would be a more sensible alternative?

Hi Jim,

It would be a nice early aircraft but given its limitations was soon relegated into a training aircraft for Glider Pilots. I don't know if it flew operationally.

I though the Horsa fitted much better with the range of available kits.

Maybe Bronco will do one as they already have a range of 1/35 scale aircraft and are developing their Airborne range of vehicles and troops, thereby making the airborne jeep much more accessible to many.

The thing I thought about the Horsa was the fact that it splits in half so if you didn't want a full size plane you could have had two dios for the price of one.

I don't know if the Great North Road kit is still available but it would most probably be too expansive for most.

Al

Too bad Masterbox cancelled it.

Bronco are working on a Gemran Glider DFS-230 B-1, so who knows...

Hisham

Hi Hisham,

Those were my thoughts to, given their recent Airborne offerings it would make sense.

We live in hope.

Al

I've been following this project for several years so when I saw that it had disappeared from the MasterBox web site I contacted them. I have had the following reply:

"Thank you for your letter.

I have two pieces of news for you: good and bad news. Bad news is that we refused to make this model. Good news is that we handed over all the materials of this model to one very famous company that name we undertook not divulge so far and, as we hope, the model will appear at the markets soon".

Best Regards,
Mary,
Sales-Manager
"Master Box Ltd."

Tamiya?...Dragon??...

MiniArt? Considering the geographic proximity of the two ...

Regardless, it's good to hear this project is still alive. Maybe I'll see a 1/35 JU 52 before I die.

It will be interesting to see what if anything develops. My money would be Bronco, but who knows.

Al

Well, HK Models are doing a whole range of 1/32 scale aircraft, including a huge B-17 which they released a while ago.. they might be a candidate.. unless they're not considered to be "very famous"

Hisham

Perhaps not so much "alive" as "I'm not dead yet!"

There's a subtle difference...

:)

And, let's face it, if there is amarket for an M6, and M103 or a T28 and Tortoise, there's a market for a Horsa and a Waco in 1/35.

It ain't big, but it's there.

Actually, there is probably a market for an injection moulded _front_ fuselage of a Horsa. For dioramas at the very least.

Paul

Hi Paul,

When MB first announced the kit those were my thoughts too, as the plane can be split into two sections it could be marketed s a whole of as part A and Part B.

I agree also it's as likely to sell as anything else is and whilst on the subject of big models how's about a front end of an LCT or LCI for dio purposes.

Cheers

Al

I would hope so Al but it's not like the history of 1/35 a/c sales isn't stunning.

DML and Academy's 1/35 helos
Tristar 1/35 Storches
Bronco's Piper Cub

I sure don't see many build ups of them. Nor do I suspect they were flying off the store shelves either.

Hi Roy,

I have the Tristar 1/35 Storche in the build pile, the British captured a few and used them in the desert. I'd like to build the V1 & V2 at some point.

If it was marketed both as a full kit and half kits it might do OK. Who knows, time will tell.

I'm surprised no one had done 1/35 scale parachutes to be honest, something that's always missing form airborne dios. Lots of bright colours there, Green, white, blue, yellow and red and once you have the design right production shouldn't be that expensive lol.

Time will tell.

Cheers

Al

I too hope to see this plane kitted in 1/35 scale,i DEFINATELY would but two !.If the JU52 was kitted i would have to have one of those too.
I cannot understand why they`d want to drop what would be huge money-maker,this kit would cross over between the two genres,plane modellers and armour modellers will go mad for this kit.
Not too mention all the A/M stuff and other versions that could be kitted from it.

ALL IT NEEDS NOW IS SOMEONE WITH THE STONES TOO RELEASE IT.

AS a footnote look how viral Hong Kong Models B-17 went !

Danny,

There's little cha nce it would be a huge seller, much less a huge money maker. The scale is off for teh aircraft guys so it would be those of us wanting to make a WW II airborne diorama.

It's not that big a market and, givcen that it would be pretty huge in 1/35, how many of them is any armour guy going to buy? The full aircraft would be marginal, I think, but a reduced kit of the main fuselage and the separable nose with an interior might do reasonably well.

Paul

I was thinking along those lines too Al.

Perry

I hope it's not gone to DML knowing what their prices are like these days. Plus if it's gone to DML the odds are with their crap instructions it will take longer to build in 1/35th than to actually build a real one

They are dropping a few items from the 'in progress' list, the Italian Infantry have been buried too by the looks of things....?

Al, did you see Zvezda's 'plastic' parachute from their Crete Fallschirmjager kit, not a bad effort for plastic considering no other manufacturer has gone there...!

Hi Jason,

No I hadn't seen it, I'll have a look. My thoughts here were that real stitched fabric chutes should be a possibility given that production cost should be reasonable.

I was just thinking that the announcement concerning the kit not being produced has probably generated more discussion than when it was announced

Cheers

Al

As a mutant propeller head and track head, I think the problem is the scale: large scale plane hounds want 1/32 scale to match their other kits; armor guys want 1/35th to match their figures and vehicles.

Marrying the two markets will be tricky. I think the smaller Waco is probably the better first offering. I'm surprised someone didn't get one out for the 70th D-Day. Those guys who came down in those deathtraps deserve more props than even the paratroopers IMO.

Hi Bill,

I'm not sure scale is an issue for Aircraft modellers in the way it is for armoured modellers. Aircraft modeller tend to build across the scales as they are normally one off builds for a specific aircraft, so if it's an aircraft they want then scale doesn't matter much, Shipbuilders are much like that too.

Armoured modellers on the other hand tend to do more diorama building so scale for mix and match purposes is more of an issue.

Just my observation from model shows and the forums. Obviously cost and space effect everyone and we all have our own preferences for scale dependent on budget and space but 1/35 scale for the Horsa and friends was a good choice I think. It fits the mainstream of armoured modelling and provides the aircraft builders with a large build if they want it.

Cheers

Al

Are you kidding? The parachute is vaccu-formed.

Just for fun I worked out the size of a 1:35 scale Horsa Mk.1.

Span: 771mm (30.35 inches)
Length: 571mm (22.48 inches)

Be a challenge finding space for display though it would no doubt be impressive.

Cheers.