Nürnberg Toy Fair Report 2010

by Jean-Luc Formery
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At the Academy booth, there were many modern aircraft on display, such as an impressive F-117A Nighthawk in the "Last Flight" markings and a very nice F-15I "Ra'am" both in 1:48 scale. Also planned in quarter-scale are a F-111C in RAAF markings (Trumpeter?) and a F-15C MSIP II. In 1:72 scale a "Blue Angels" boxing of the F/A-18C will be done and new toolings are announced of the F-22A raptor (1:72), F-4B Phantom II (1:72) and the French Rafale (1:144). Big model lovers will be pleased to hear that Academy are working on a F-16I SUFA in 1:32 scale, of which one fuselage sprue was already on display. The 1:48 scale F-5E Tiger II is present in the 2009-2010 catalogue but has disapeard of the "New for 2010" flyer. Now that AFV have done theirs...

There was nothing really new for WWII era aircraft lovers. however, older kits have been reboxed with some additional items. The 1:48 scale Bf109 E-3 was displayed in it's "Special Edition" with the upper splinter camouflage included as decals. In the same scale, another Messerschmitt received some resin wing tips to transform it into a Bf109 T while the P-47 Thunderbolt returns in a "Gabreski" boxing including a nice resin figure of the famous Ace.

AFV Club products were present at Nürnberg though there was no booth exclusively dedicated to the manufacturer from Taiwan. Their new F-5E was on display as a completed model and it looked great. The people at Astromodel kindly allowed Steffen and myself to take a look inside the box. If you like the aircraft and if 1:48 is your scale there's no reason to hesitate...

Lots of boxes with the new red design were present at the Airfix booth. The completed model of the new 1:24 scale mosquito (see review here) was the highlight but there were many other interesting things to see. Of course, a lot is focused on the 70th anniversary of the "Battle of Britain" so we will see many gift sets as well as new tool kits based on the subject soon: Spitfire Mk.Ia (1:72), Bf109E (1:48), Bf110C/D (1:72).

Other new tools are planned as well for the WWII period: Hurricane Mk.IIc (1:72), Bf109E Trop. (1:48), Bf110E (1:72), Spitfire Mk.XII (1:48) and Seafire Mk.XVIIc (1:48).

Those interested in jet aircraft or helicopters will be happy as well, especially if they have a soft spot for British subjects: BAe Hawk T1 (1:48), Sea Vixen FAW.2 Limited Edition (1:48), Vickers Valiant Limited edition (1:72), Lynx Army AH-7 (1:48), Lynx Navy HAM8/Super Lynx (1:48), Harrier GR9 (1:72), F-86F Sabre (1:72), Sabre Mk.4 Canadair (1:72).

In total, there are 16 New Tool aircraft kits in preparation for this year. That's quite an ambitious program by the British company! However, it is important to note that the new Airfix toolings are produced in China and India. Let's hope that the quality of the products will be good because there are a lot of interesting subjects in the list.

If there was a price for the biggest static aircraft model in Nürnberg, it would have been arwarded to A-Model for their 1:72 scale Spruce Goose. This is a mixed media kit (see here) made of fibre-glass mouldings and injected plastic. Volker Helms from IPMS Deutschland was the lucky guy to receive the unique sample of the show, to the dissapointment of many. Personally I wasn't that much interested in the kit (though it was nice to see it in flesh), because it isn't my scale, but if a quarter scale Spruce Goose is made one day I would definitely postulate... and buy a bigger car!

The Russian company was present for the first time at the Nürnberg Toy Fair. Mainly known for producing ex. Frog and Alanger model kits they have produced their "own" Hawker Hurricane kit in 1:48 scale not long ago (see review here).

Two other New Tool kits are planned in the near future in quarter-scale: a He 112 and a whole serie of Polikarpov I-16s. The latter won't be the Eduard kit and the ambition of Ark Models is to propose models at a lower price than the other manufacturers.

The representative of the company has kindly offered me to take a look at the CAD pictures of the models they are working on, such as an IL-76 in 1:144 scale. As you can see, there are some very nice projects in the pipes and I'm already looking forward to see the next releases of this manufacturer.

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About the Author

About Jean-Luc Formery (TedMamere)
FROM: MOSELLE, FRANCE

I'm mainly interested in WW2 aircraft and I build them in 1/48 scale.


Copyright ©2021 by Jean-Luc Formery. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. The views and opinions expressed herein are solely the views and opinions of the authors and/or contributors to this Web site and do not necessarily represent the views and/or opinions of AeroScale, KitMaker Network, or Silver Star Enterrpises. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AeroScale. All rights reserved. Originally published on: 2010-02-20 00:00:00. Unique Reads: 16464