Any Interest in New Warbirds? (1 Viewer)

[Louis Badolato]

One of the areas of old King & Country that generated the most interest at the New York Symposium was the old wood warbirds, pilots, ground crew, vehicles, and diorama materials. For those who don't know, Andy made at least 98 different wood aircraft, with a lot of great accessories. The planes and related materials made up about 25% of the first 10 years of Andy's production. Later, Andy made two polystone warbirds, a Pacific theater Corsair and an ETO ME109. They didn't sell well, according to Andy because (1) they didn't go together and (2) he failed to put out the kind of accessories (ground crew, Fuel trucks, ambulances, diorama materials) that made the earlier warbirds so much fun to display. With that as a background, would any of you be interested in Andy making more polystone WWII warbirds (with the related accessories), such as a Spitfire, Hurricane, P51 Mustang, P47 Thunderbolt, FW190, and for the Pacific, a Zero, Hellcat, Val, Helldiver, Avenger, etc.

 

[Alexdakar]

I would like only a few more but not a lot because they take up more space. I have the Me109 and Corsair but they are still boxed waiting for a new space.

 

[jazzeum]

As Louis knows, I would be extremely interested in any warbirds that Andy would make. My preference would be the European theater but beggars can't be choosers. Having the accessories that would go with them would be a huge plus and would also help sell them. If I had my druthers, a Sptifire or Hurricane would be on the top of my list, followed by a Mustang and a FW.

Count me in and I hope Andy views this with interest (please, pretty please )

Brad

 

[binder001]

I guess that I am not too interested. I'm worried that a "Warbird" series would draw time, attention and funding away from the ground troops and vehicles that K&C really shines at. We have some decent 1/32 aircraft available and coming from 21C and FoV, but I agree that the addition of ground crews and support stuff would really make a new series look sharp. When I was young I bought the 60s-vintage Monogram 1/48th Navy series models partly because I was impressed by the deck crew figures, bomb carts, etc. that came with several of them.

One exception to my opinion - how about some Army liaison aircraft? A US Cub artillery spotter with pilot and ground team, or a German Fiesler Storch with figures (either Europe or AfriKa Korps) would be interesting additions to a collection.

 

[jazzeum]

With all due respect (and my son has some of these 21st Century Planes), there's no comparison between these and a warbird. Dude, they're not even in the same galaxy.

 

[gk5717]

I held off buying the 2 warbirds thinking they were not that great a piece.
There was a slow time a while back and I found a dealer who had them with free shipping so I bought them.
Wow,was I surprised when I got them. Much nicer than the pictures I had seen.
I would love for K&C to do more, especially with some ground crew and vehicles.
Gary

 

[jazzeum]

I held off buying the 2 warbirds thinking they were not that great a piece.
There was a slow time a while back and I found a dealer who had them with free shipping so I bought them.
Wow,was I surprised when I got them. Much nicer than the pictures I had seen.
I would love for K&C to do more, especially with some ground crew and vehicles.
Gary

Time for a poll, me thinks

 

[Louis Badolato]

My little group of collector friends and I just made a deal to obtain some of the rarest of the old Warbirds, including an F14 Tomcat, Junkers JU88 Nightfighter, P51D Mustang, ME262 Swallow (the first jet fighter), Hawker Hurricane, and a Fairey Firefly. I had never before seen several of these planes in person, and had never even seen a photo of the F14 or the JU88. Andy's warbirds, which spanned the eras from WWI to the Gulf War, continue to amaze me with their level of detail and shear realism. They are more museum pieces than toys. Upon request I will happlily e-mail around some photos of these and other warbirds in my collection, so perhaps we can get a little more interest in Brad's poll on this subject. Get out there and vote people!!

 

[jazzeum]

Further to Louis' post, if you go to the Sager's site and look at the brochures you can get an idea of what they look like and how nice they are. My ambition is to get one and I once told Louis, I'd be happy with one and he shot back, no you wouldn't, you'd want more. He's right but I'll settle for one at some point.

 

[Njja]

Hi I would certainly be interested in a new Warbirds series. I have never seen any of the original ones listed anywhere for sale.
JA

 

[Louis Badolato]

I can put you in touch with a gentleman in Scotland who has two for sale, the WWI Sopwith Camel and Fokker DR1 Triplane. Drop me a message if you are interested.

 

[bsager]

I would love to see the Warbirds extended. i had a conversation with Andy a couple months ago about this and he told me since Century 21 came out with their line it would not be feasible for him to produce them anymore.

I do not agree. I think if we all respond it might sway him a little. We collect K&C products because they are made by K&C. I am only a K&C dealer and only a K&C collector and will only buy what K&C produces. i am very satisfied with their product and do not want to display century 21 items with my K&C products.

I would love to see Andy bring back some of the old Warbirds in wood or resin. I would be buying!!!!

Thanks,
Bill Sager

 

[Louis Badolato]

Bill, You make a great point. King & Country collectors collect King & Country products. Andy would not be competing with 21st Century if he produced more warbirds, he would be selling to a large captive audience of K&C fanatics. Plus K&C would produce pilots, ground crew, accessories, vehicles and diorama pieces to go with the planes, all of which would generate interest in the planes, and as far as I can see, would have no competition from other producers. We just need to generate more interest in the wonderful airwar items K&C used to produce. Maybe its time for me to break out all 38 of my wood planes and all of the related figures, vehicles and diorama pieces (I have them all now), take some photos, and get them to you to post on your website and here on the treefrog website. Andy's brother Gordon is presently custom building me a wood and papier mache RAF control tower to go with the planes. Lets let the newer collectors see what they have been missing, and maybe we'll get a few more "yes" votes on the poll. By the way, vote if you haven't!

 

[bsager]

Louis and all K&C Fans,

This has been a point that I have tried to portray to Andy about his company. If you have an audience that loves your product they will go no where else. You can design and manufacture whatever you want or what the collectors want and make a profit. It's the same with any business.

Louis we need to get more individual shots of your warbirds and other older vehicles to help stir up the masses. I'm sure Andy will be listening.

Bill

PS: I voted!!!!

 

[gk5717]

I totally agree, I collect K&C, whatever he makes, I will buy.
I also buy 21st vehicles & planes, but they are not for display like K&C, but for large dios with my Conte plastic.
This is apples and oranges.
Gary

 

[Fullyautomatic]

My only concern with the warbird interest is that of price.There seems to be alot of collectors here on the board with alot deeper pockets than the average person so if the sets continued at $100 per than I would say yes but if Andy decided to produce planes that were going to be closer to $200 or more than I would pass.Just my $.02 as an average joe.

 

[Louis Badolato]

That's the genious of polystone - the first two polystone warbirds were less than $100, as opposed to the $250+ price tags on the wood warbirds (the Flying Fort and other larger wood planes originally sold for in excess of $750!). So lets talk Andy into producing some affordable air cover!!

 

[bsager]

I'm with you all the way Loius. I would love to have them.

Bill

 

[jazzeum]

Louis or Bill (or Andy, if he's looking ,

Do you think King and Country could produce both types. I think there's interest in both. I would certainly be interested in both.

We need more support for the poll

 

[bsager]

Brad,

Personally I think both could fly, no pun intended! I like the warmth of the wood but the sturdiness of the polystone. I would go for both.

Bill