New Warbirds on King and Country Site (2 Viewers)

[jazzeum]

King and Country has just posted 8 new Warbirds on their site, which are just incredible.

They are as follows:

AIR 031B Hellcat Minsi III Model
AIR 031C F6F Hellcat Royal Navy Model
AIR 031D F6F Hellcat French Navy Model
AIR 032B F4U Corsair Angel of Okinawa
AIR 032C F4U Corsair French Navy
AIR 033A Helldiver Bunker Hill
AIR 033B Helldiver Baby II
AIR 033C Helldiver French Navy

All of these have been produced in quantites of five except for the Royal Navy Hellcat, only two of which were produced.

I will post pictures shortly.

 

[jazzeum]

Photos:

 

[jazzeum]

Last four,

 

[Pierre]

Agree with you, Brad. They are incredible.

The Hellcat French Navy is awesome!

Pierre.

 

[jazzeum]

Pierre,

Are you going to order any? I'm kind of rethinking about not being interested in some of these planes

 

[Pierre]

Pierre,

Are you going to order any? I'm kind of rethinking about not being interested in some of these planes

Hi Brad-

Unfortulately, I can't. But the Hellcat (French Navy markings) would be the one if I could.

Pierre.

 

[jazzeum]

The Royal Navy Hellcat is gone

 

[Louis Badolato]

I know, and so is the Bunker Hill Hell Diver. The two I wanted are all sold out.

 

[jazzeum]

The French Hellcat is now history. I can't believe these moved so fast.

 

[jazzeum]

Corsair Okinawa is now gone. Amazing how these are moving.

 

[jazzeum]

Corsair Marine's Dream, not part of this group, is also gone.

Tammi tells me there is not much left of the others so if you're thinking about getting any, this would be the time.

 

[M1SLAPPY]

I Would Like To Buy Any War Bird But The Prices Are Just To Hi.

 

[Harrytheheid]

Agree with you, Brad. They are incredible.

The Hellcat French Navy is awesome!

Pierre.

Pierre/Brad/and anyone else,

I completely agree with you guys. Yes, they look great and now that I've actually seen the Swordfish I can appreciate your enthusiasm. But with the greatest respect, how can you possibly justify the prices?** It's beyond me but obviously you guys must see something that I'm still blind to.

**That question is asked out of natural curiosity not to stir anything up and I look forward to the responses.
Regards
H

 

[Pierre]

Pierre/Brad/and anyone else,

I completely agree with you guys. Yes, they look great and now that I've actually seen the Swordfish I can appreciate your enthusiasm. But with the greatest respect, how can you possibly justify the prices?** It's beyond me but obviously you guys must see something that I'm still blind to.

**That question is asked out of natural curiosity not to stir anything up and I look forward to the responses.
Regards
H

Hi Harry-

I love aircrafts and K&C Warbirds are the best on the market. That certainly do not justify the price of them but that certainly justify why I am ready to spend that much money on one item.

Have a nice day,
Pierre.

 

[Vezzolf]

I Would Like To Buy Any War Bird But The Prices Are Just To Hi.

I agree "prices too high".....I have purchased Franklin Mint air craft very well done and price is reasonable scale is smaller......I beleive 1:50 or so......

 

[OzDigger]

I agree "prices too high".....I have purchased Franklin Mint air craft very well done and price is reasonable scale is smaller......I beleive 1:50 or so......

1:48 to be exact

Btw there are heaps of 1/32 aircraft available, for example 21st Century makes some decent aircraft at low prices.

 

[Harrytheheid]

Hi Harry-

I love aircrafts and K&C Warbirds are the best on the market. That certainly do not justify the price of them but that certainly justify why I am ready to spend that much money on one item.

Have a nice day,
Pierre.

Fair enough Pierre.
Have a good one also.

Cheers
H

 

[Louis Badolato]

The warbird prices kill me too, but I don't think we are likely to get any price relief anytime soon. Every plane K&C has made in the last 11 months has completely sold out. Andy listed 8 new planes yesterday and 4 of them sold out before the day was over! When you think about what the ealier K&C planes were going for in the secondary market (anywhere from $600 to $2,000, depending on the size and rareness of the model), Andy realized he had a captive audience of K&C warbird enthusiasts, and I guess he priced the planes accordingly. As long as these planes keep selling out their very limited production runs (5-20) Andy doesn't have to justify the price, the market has done it for him.

 

[Harrytheheid]

The warbird prices kill me too, but I don't think we are likely to get any price relief anytime soon. Every plane K&C has made in the last 11 months has completely sold out. Andy listed 8 new planes yesterday and 4 of them sold out before the day was over! When you think about what the ealier K&C planes were going for in the secondary market (anywhere from $600 to $2,000, depending on the size and rareness of the model), Andy realized he had a captive audience of K&C warbird enthusiasts, and I guess he priced the planes accordingly. As long as these planes keep selling out their very limited production runs (5-20) Andy doesn't have to justify the price, the market has done it for him.

Louis,
I don't believe that Andy or any other manufacturer has to justify his prices to us or anyone else - but I guess that's just me.
Maybe I worded my original question a bit imprecisely. What I meant was how do you justify the price to yourself? Pierre explained his point of view and so have you.
I suppose its the same as someone asking me to justify why I like K&C UK's Charge of the Light Brigade figures so much. A collection is such a personal thing.

Cheers
H

 

[jazzeum]

Harry,

I understood what you were trying to get at. Maybe Louis is just getting up

I think Pierre's answer sums it up for me. You can't justify it. However, when I walk into the room (the music room as I call it, since it also has my CD player and speakers in there) where I have a lot of my K & C and I see my Typhoon and Whirlwind on opposite sides of the curio cabinet, I feel good. I just love and have always loved model airplanes, being, for some reason, partial to the English ones (must be the insignia).

I didn't get this bug until I met Louis at the first Symposium in 2005 and saw his planes and was just blown away. That did it for me.

I hadn't counted on purchasing any of the new issues but when I saw that Royal Navy Hellcat, I said "darn, that is great." Unfortunately, I didn't get it but settled for the French Hellcat. I'm so excited that I can't wait for the thing to get here and couldn't sleep that well. Unfortunately, I don't get the same rush anymore from the normal K & C issues, maybe it's because the planes come out so rarely.

I hope that explains some of the mindset of us War Bird nuts.

A couple of points, as an aside. First, I think the new ones are having a definite impact on the market for the old ones. When you can have ones like these, why go for the old ones.

Second, I think Andy may have hit on a good number (five) for each plane. 20 might be too many and as he is worried about overtaxing the factory, you can produce more different planes if you keep the numbers for each plane low. I only wish he had made a couple more of the Royal Navy Hellcat. That is just a beaut.