Hi,

Does anybody know what on earth has happened to this kit? It was pretty eagerly awaited, it was pretty well-received when it was released, and now that I find myself wanting to buy a second one, it has pretty much vanished into thin air.

Given that everything Czech Model ever seems to have produced is still in print and available, it's downright strange. It doesn't show up as "Out Of Stock" anywhere, it's just *gone*. Squadron who, as Czech Models US importer, could be relied upon to have everything, doesn't even have a stock record for it (CM4814).

Did I miss something? From the way that it has totally vanished, I'm guessing it was pulled, all the way to the end of the retail chain. Anybody know why? My first guess is that Douglas got legal on them, but in that case I'd have expect it to reappear as "F3D2 Night Fighter", or something similar.

Is there some dark secret behind its disappearance, or did I just manage to miss a very obvious "it's being pulled, grab 'em while you can"?

Hi Al

It was a semi-short run kit, but I haven't heard of it being withdrawn, and you're right, neither Squadron nor Great Models even have it listed anymore. Hannants seem to have it in stock in the UK and there's no mention of "get it while you can".

The main parts were produced for Squadron by Sword and the moulds looked good to last for a some time. Maybe the masters for the True Details resin parts have been lost or damaged? That's purely speculation.

All the best

Rowan

Hi Al!

You can still buy the Skyknight here;

http://www.moduni.de/product_info.php/manufacturers_id/970618/products_id/3154814

It´s in stock, not cheap but still available!

Moduni is the best European dealer that I have used for several years now, and I can recommend them wholeheartedly!

Cheers!

Stefan E

I think the price at Moduni quite definitely confirms that something is up, especially since both the places people have seen it (Hannants, Moduni) are in Europe, and thus beyond the reach of a recall by MMD.

I tend to think that if the resin masters had been damaged there'd have been a gradual drop-off in availability, and there'd still be isolated kits in the retail channel in the US too. This is definitely beginning to sound like another case of "license our name or we litigate", especially since Douglas aircraft have been the subject of quite a few of these (i.e. C-47).

I don't see the point - in an effort to make a few bucks off of their "IP" they result in short-run kits vanishing (presumably not enough of them to be worth doing a new box) and their name disappearing from the boxes of kits by larger manufacturers. End result - they get a reputation as a bunch of greedy , low-run kits of their aircraft disappear which means that their IP isn't "diluted", it's eliminated, and major manufacturers rebox, so people can buy a kit of a C-47 or whatever, but can't tell you who made it. Wow, yes, the IP lawyers have really benefitted the company there - increase in company coffers, $0, and the "brand" starts to fade away altogether.

I think the (kit) manufacturers approach has been good - means they can still produce the kit for the most part but keeps lawyers at bay. If the aviation industry wanted a way to make a bit extra on the side from IP, it'd make a lot more sense to work *with* the kit manufacturers, and make any license fee not just the right to use a name, but include providing help to make sure that the manufacturer who buys the license also gets help making sure that their kit is accurate, and letting the box carry some sort of scheme with the original company logo and "Officially approved by". I can't recall having seen this on aircraft kits, but Tamiya's LeClerc kit has all sorts of "produced in conjunction with" and GIAT logos on the box. *That* to me seems a much better way for the industry to benefit from their IP without coming across as thugs.

Oh, and Stefan, thanks for the pointer, but much as I want to get hold of a couple more Skyknights, the price combined with the exchange rate combined with my current unemployed state means it's a little out of my reach financially.

Al

If that is the reason, I agree, FWIW. Trying to generate an income stream off something up to 80 years old that will never again get daylight under the wheels is something between desperate and evil, and I'm not too sure which.

But it might not be the reason. Is it possible to contact Czech Models themselves?

Tamiya seems to have the same approach to aircraft as to armour - their latest F-16 has "Lockheed Martin" all over it.