Eduard needs to jump back into the 1/32 109 arena....

[Mikester]

Been seeing lots of really impressive 1/48 109 builds of the new Eduard kits.  They really need to upscale these to 1/32.  I thought they had plans to do the whole 109 family in 1/32 at one point, I think maybe they were a little put off by the negative reaction by the Diaperscale crowd to a couple of minor issues on their 1/32 Emil.  I still think their Emil is a really good model though and enjoyable to build.  The Revell kits are OK but still a disappointment due to a couple of glaring errors (beule size, cowl MG spacing) and questionable engineering (rickety land gear).  Trumpeter has some shape issues as well, Hasegawa is IMO the best of the bunch (still) but you have the availability and price issues.  I'd love to see the F, G and K with the same subtle riveting Eduard used on their Emil.  If they could produce these in the $40 range for a Weekend Edition and $60 for a Profipack I think they'd sell like crazy.

If you see Eduard management at a show, tell them!

[Artful69]

I agree ... sort of.

The only 2 Bf.109E kits (that I can think of??) in 1/32 before the Eduard kit, were the Matchbox and the Hasegawa ... and although I've seen both built into impressive displays - I could write my own 'Mein Kampf' book on the Hasegawa kit before it exited my life forever via the round filing cabinet. That was before the Eduard kit even hit the rumour mill!!

The Eduard Bf.109E has the odd little error (wing slats spring to mind) - which are fairly easily corrected ... and the odd fit issue (front cowl) - again, using the modellers dictum "test fit thrice, glue once", the fix is fairly simple. Overall the kit was pretty good, but we were entering into the Tamiya era of very well engineered, highly detailed kits that fit near on perfectly. Even so, I don't think it was this sort of comparison that killed their 1/32 ambitions ... after all it was still the best 1/32 game in town for the E variant, regardless of the nay-sayers.

Less than one year after their first release - the Profimodeler E-1 - Cyber hobby drop the E-4 into the market ... Though not without it's own cowl fit issues (to those not proceeding with the necessary caution), the general level of engineering, detail, fit and finish were miles beyond the Eduard offering ... and in a lot of areas throughout the world, it was miles cheaper too! ... The original production run sold out within the year and existing kits sold at a premium until further runs were issued ... in what was typical Dragon/Cyber Hobby fashion (check the range in their 1/35 armour), further E variants were issued in the following years. I dare say that if Cyber Hobby had decided to proceed down the F, G and K lines, they would have provided Trumpeter, Revell and even Hasegawa with a decent run for their money on market share! We can only speculate as to why they didn't ... perhaps it's because the Hasegawa kits were 'good enough', where as their E variant was VERY old tool?

Either way, I feel that The Cyber Hobby kit release meant that Eduard kits were left on shelves ... so much so that I still found 3 Profimodeler E-1 kits though a local supplier here, long after the kit was OOP in 2013 ... and if Cyber Hobby had released the E-1 variant, the Eduard kits would have remained in the hands of that retailer! Many an ambitious market foray has been drowned out by simultaneous releases from other companies - it's a shame, but it happens. Probably the most damaging factor to the Eduard release was the Cyber Hobby pricing point. Even error ridden, Revells He.219 still sells well enough and more than than the much better (all round) Zoukei-Mura kit, probably because of the pricing. I wonder what sort of impact on sales of the HK Models Mosquito the (almost simultaneously released and similar priced) Tamiya kit had?

Now ... if Eduard released an ACCURATE Profimodeler Spitfire Mk.I, II and V - that may fill a 'new tool' hole in a market full of error ridden kits.

That's my take

Rog

[Dave J]

Sorry not going to happen!  

Was talking to the Eduard guys at Nuremberg Toy Fair and asked about this or anything else in 32nd. And it's not going to happen. Their focus is on 48th. 

[JeroenPeters]

Yup. No more 32nd scale kits from Eduard I'm afraid...

[Guest DannyVM]

I'm glad i bought myself the 1/32 P-47 Thunderbolt. Somehow i knew that Eduard don't put their focus on 1/32 scale kit's but rather on 1/72 and 1/48 scale.

Greetz

Danny

[Wumm]

Even before Dave's confirmation I would have thought it unlikely that Eduard would dip their toes in the '109 pool again...

 

They were called out on their 1/32nd '109E canopies, and then embarrassed by the 1/48th kit's wing dimension issues. That's probably enough to warn anyone away from pitching to scale Aircaft modelling's arguably most knowledgable group of Enthusiasts. This, and probably Revell's price point for their Bf109 kits, makes it not worth bothering. 

 

S

[Mikester]

Well you guys are just full of good news!  Not surprising though.  Will Tamiya EVER give us a 1/32 Luftwaffe bird?

[Mikester]

58 minutes ago, Wumm said:

Even before Dave's confirmation I would have thought it unlikely that Eduard would dip their toes in the '109 pool again...

 

They were called out on their 1/32nd '109E canopies, and then embarrassed by the 1/48th kit's wing dimension issues. That's probably enough to warn anyone away from pitching to scale Aircaft modelling's arguably most knowledgable group of Enthusiasts. This, and probably Revell's price point for their Bf109 kits, makes it not worth bothering. 

 

S

Steve,

 

That's what's killing me right now, a $25 kit that needs another $25 of after-market to get it up to speed.  The one example I built with the kit supplied landing gear has already collapsed.  $15-$20 for Eduard Brassin gear legs unless I can come up with a way to beef up Revell's silly design for the struts.  $15 or so for new cowl beule and and upper cowl section to correct the MG spacing.  There are some other less glaring issues that most people wll live with but you and I won't.  I love the versatility of the kit and the amount of options it gives you but it's far from perfect and the bargain basement price means that no one will attempt another 1/32 109 for the forseeable future.

[Wumm]

And that's their dilemma...

 

Larger scale = more detail. Revell already covers the Casual Modeller with their price point, and the Enthusiasts like you or me for the most part are happy to pay more for either resin sets to make up what we consider a shortfall in detail, or a kit with Tamiya-like quality. As Eduard already have some lovely resin sets out there to fit the Revell '109, it seem like they've already chosen their place in the market for 1/32 Messers.

 

S

[Artful69]

31 minutes ago, mikester said:

... Will Tamiya EVER give us a 1/32 Luftwaffe bird? ...

 

22 minutes ago, mikester said:

... I love the versatility of the kit and the amount of options it gives you but it's far from perfect and the bargain basement price means that no one will attempt another 1/32 109 for the foreseeable future ...

 

I think there you have answered your own question ... To produce an accurate kit on the F-thru-K variants appears to take a fair bit of work!

Even then ... no-one has got it right ... Hasegawa, Trumpeter and Revell kits all have issues ...

Cyber Hobby have the E sorted (with the exception of the E-1) - not perfect, but as good as you'll get.

 

For all the 109's available, I think a Tamiya kit would still sell in masses ... well engineered, highly detailed, superb fit and finish and, most importantly - considering the likely price tag - accurate. It doesn't look likely to happen, though.

 

Rog