What Ever Happened To?

[Dave Ward]

Whilst doing my daily trawl through the 'net, visiting my usual sites, I suddenly wondered what happened to those kits that you remembered making as a kid?
An example is the Frog 1/500 HMS Torquay................

OK. they were an odd scale but as models of post war Royal Navy ships, they were unusual. When Frog went bust in the '70's, the moulds were dispersed. a lot of them going behind the Iron Curtain, some appeared sporadically - even now Mistercraft seem to be selling ex-Frog models ( H-Class destroyers ) - but others have vanished, presumably as moulds were worn-out or damaged.
The one I really wonder about is the Airfix 1/600 HMS Leander - I must have made half a dozen or so of these, either OOB, or modified ( Ikara launcher )

I've done a search for this model & it seems to have vanished from the globe - it can be found in a combined boxing, with HMS Devonshire & Amazon in a Falkland version ( both rather poor models ). The single ship model went through a few changes, the final being the Exocet armed version. Given the length of production - 1969 to 2004, I'm surprised that there aren't any around!
Some models do occasionally appear on collectors' sites - at collectors' prices!!
There must be a whole host of models that have vanished - not just the primitive early models, but ones which, even now would be extremely buildable - like the Matchbox 1/72 Siskin....................
Anybody else have a favourite model that seems to have totally vanished?
Dave

[boatman]

YES Dave i must admit i always liked the ole type 12 leanander
an loved the tv series called warship with the ship called HMS HERO if i remember rightly an yes i wanted my tiger in 1/700 but was to dear on ebay but a freind gave me one so im lucky an i will build it some day but ships now dont seem to be a popular subject as i think thats the reasonn why they have vanished
chrisb

[Ian M]

Anybody else have a favourite model that seems to have totally vanished?

In this age of limited run where even the big boys, Airfix, Revell, Tamiya, Trumpeter etc. put out a new tool of new boxing if you dont buy one the same week it comes out you are stuffed.
As for the blobs of plastic Airfix tried to pass off as a scale model back in the early days, I imagine that the best that could happen is melt the moulds down and use the good British steel to make a new mould version.
A 1969 Leander has no appeal to me at all. If they could get their act together and start making new tool models of some of the "Classics" I could be tempted by some of them.

[Dave Ward]

YES Dave i must admit i always liked the ole type 12 leanander
an loved the tv series called warship with the ship called HMS HERO if i remember rightly an yes i wanted my tiger in 1/700 but was to dear on ebay but a freind gave me one so im lucky an i will build it some day but ships now dont seem to be a popular subject as i think thats the reasonn why they have vanished
chrisb

Chris,
Those models that I mention aren't in the popular scales of 1/350 or 1/700. 1/500 or 1/600 isn't too bad if you have a single stand alone model. - but if you have a collection, then it's nice to have one scale. The Leander was a nicely moulded model - unlike the Daring/Fearless/Hotspur era............
Dave

[Airborne01]

Leanders and Daring class - sex on a stick ships!
Steve

[boatman]

Leanders and Daring class - sex on a stick ships!
Steve

WHAT about the tiger class lol ?

[Dave Ward]

Not actually referring to the ship itself, but to any available model!
The Daring Class & the Tiger/Lion cruisers were unfortunate in being completed when warship design was changing rapidly, and they were immediately obsolescent. the RN couldn't afford any replacements, so that they served on well past their useful lifespan.....
Dave

[Guest]

A good way to figure out what happened to a model is to go to Scalemates and search for it, then look at the timeline part of its page. The moulds for the HMS Torquay kit, for example, seem to have gone to Poland in the 1990s where they were used for this kit.

As for ones that have totally vanished: Revell Robotech kits I had two or three of them when I was young, and loved them. A decade or so later I discovered BattleTech and soon noticed it used some of the same designs for the mecha in it. By then already, the Robotech kits were impossible to find.

Other than that: Matchbox kits, just in general

[rtfoe]

I've got the Matchbox Siskin...been meaning to build that.
Most of my etched railings are 1/700 so building 1/600 ships can be a problem. I do have a few 1/600 PE from White Ensign...even for the odd 1/720 Ark Royal from Revell and that's it. I need to get PE for the Belfast but now might switch to the 1/700 scale one which would be more detailed.
I remember seeing many out of production kits in Leonardo in Akihabara, Japan.

Cheers,
Richard

[Airborne01]

Not actually referring to the ship itself, but to any available model!
The Daring Class & the Tiger/Lion cruisers were unfortunate in being completed when warship design was changing rapidly, and they were immediately obsolescent. the RN couldn't afford any replacements, so that they served on well past their useful lifespan.....
Dave

Agreed - but they were beautiful ships nevertheless! My favourite genre of warships I think!
Steve!

[Tim Marlow]

Frog weren’t common in my neck of the woods, so I only really remember making the 1/72 Vultee Vengance. Kits I remember lusting after that disappeared well before I could afford them were the Rosebud kitmaster railway kits. Even then, when I saw them I was very young and they were remaindered stock that had been out of production for a number of years. Not really models, but I always wanted Triang minic ships as well. I had an older cousin that had a collection and was never allowed to play with them :angry:

[Airborne01]

Frog weren’t common in my neck of the woods, so I only really remember making the 1/72 Vultee Vengance. Kits I remember lusting after that disappeared well before I could afford them were the Rosebud kitmaster railway kits. Even then, when I saw them I was very young and they were remaindered stock that had been out of production for a number of years. Not really models, but I always wanted Triang minic ships as well. I had an older cousin that had a collection and was never allowed to play with them :angry:

I remember Minic ships, the father of a schoolmate of mine had shed-loads in glass fronted display cabinets. As I recall they were in the International Recognition Scale :thinking:
Steve

[Tim Marlow]

I remember Minic ships, the father of a schoolmate of mine had shed-loads in glass fronted display cabinets. As I recall they were in the International Recognition Scale :thinking:
Steve

Yep, 1/1200 I recall, which was why Airfix ships at 1/600 made so much sense.

[stillp]

Anyone else remember SME? No, not SMER but Scale Model Engineering, based in Potters Bar. Made beautifully engineered kits - I have their XK120, which has machined brass wheels and a pre-bent aluminium exhaust with the end drilled out. It once had nicely moulded rubber Dunlop tyres, but sadly three of them welded themselves together. SME switched to making high-end hi-fi turntables and tone arms, turntables at prices from £6 000 to upwards of £26 000.
Pete

[Dave Ward]

I've got the Matchbox Siskin...been meaning to build that.
Most of my etched railings are 1/700 so building 1/600 ships can be a problem. I do have a few 1/600 PE from White Ensign...even for the odd 1/720 Ark Royal from Revell and that's it. I need to get PE for the Belfast but now might switch to the 1/700 scale one which would be more detailed.
I remember seeing many out of production kits in Leonardo in Akihabara, Japan.

Cheers,
Richard

Richard,
the difference between 1/700 & 1/720 for PE isn't noticeable - especially for handrails. You can pick up PE for odd scales - I got some 1/400 handrails from Jadar Hobby in Poland & they do 1/600 as well https://www.jadarhobby.pl/part-x002-...600-p-972.html
Dave