As per the title. Just read this on another forum and it has been confirmed by the owner. Kitty Hawk Models will be shutting down and will not be producing any more models/moulds.
Kitty Hawk Models Shutting Down
- Thread starter AlanG
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- Jakko
Probably not — this appears to be about the Chinese manufacturer of mostly aircraft kits that has been around only since 2012.
Kitty Hawk never seemed to have a website & their Facebook page has been removed - I can honestly say I've never seen one of their models, but I gather they had a very patchy reputation.............
Dave
Dave
They did subjects others never wanted to do such as cold war jets was and helicopters so, the market was always going to be more limited and their accuracy was not fantastic for certain things. But that being said, at least they gave it a shot and made the modeller have to work to produce a finished article rather than a Tamiya 'shake & bake' approach.
boatman
SMF Supporter
WELL Guys if this is the K/H kit company that i bought one of their kits an it was terrible fit an it was quite exspensive i bought a jaguar kit an like i said i had to do major surgury on the fusalagere to get the main undercart to fit with a dremel an a diamon cutter an the engine covers were also a terrible fit an someone eles on here had the same probs with their same kit an i think an they said they wont buy another of their kits so i think that if no one buys their kits because of this then there is only one opishion
chris
chris
I would not have wished them to go bust, but they certainly did themselves no favours producing poor quality kits and trying to sell them at premium prices.
Yes they did produce some great subjects the 1/32 OV-10 and F5 are the two that stand out to me, but the OV-10, expensive as it is, was a horror of a kit, they got everything wrong that they possibly could get wrong, the worse kit I have ever cut plastic on by a wide margin. The F5 was better, at least it went together but was certainly not a fun build and it needed a lot of patience. The worse thing of all were the prices for such crap, charging three times what Revell would charge for kits falling well short of even Revells worse….
it also seems that they were not interested in feedback and never learned from their mistakes. It is interesting to compare their journey over the last 6/7 years with ICM over the same period. ICM started off producing some crap kits but they listened to feedback and have just kept improving with every release. I look at their 1/32 releases and we see affordable quality kits of interesting subjects that I would rate nearly as highly as Tamiya. I have also bought several of their 1/48 releases and I am very impressed indeed. Look at their 1/48 JU88, in the box it looks just outstanding and it’s under £30… build reviews are glowing too. (John has some in stock….)
With companies like ICM, HKM, Tamiya and Zoukie Mura producing outstanding kits of great subjects there just isn’t any room for a company like KH anymore. I would add Meng, GWH and even Trumpeter/Hobbyboss to the mix of worthwhile producers.
Yes they did produce some great subjects the 1/32 OV-10 and F5 are the two that stand out to me, but the OV-10, expensive as it is, was a horror of a kit, they got everything wrong that they possibly could get wrong, the worse kit I have ever cut plastic on by a wide margin. The F5 was better, at least it went together but was certainly not a fun build and it needed a lot of patience. The worse thing of all were the prices for such crap, charging three times what Revell would charge for kits falling well short of even Revells worse….
it also seems that they were not interested in feedback and never learned from their mistakes. It is interesting to compare their journey over the last 6/7 years with ICM over the same period. ICM started off producing some crap kits but they listened to feedback and have just kept improving with every release. I look at their 1/32 releases and we see affordable quality kits of interesting subjects that I would rate nearly as highly as Tamiya. I have also bought several of their 1/48 releases and I am very impressed indeed. Look at their 1/48 JU88, in the box it looks just outstanding and it’s under £30… build reviews are glowing too. (John has some in stock….)
With companies like ICM, HKM, Tamiya and Zoukie Mura producing outstanding kits of great subjects there just isn’t any room for a company like KH anymore. I would add Meng, GWH and even Trumpeter/Hobbyboss to the mix of worthwhile producers.
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Interesting that in Barry's post Airfix and Revell did not get a mention.
Wingnut Wings made superb kits but the market they aimed at was too small to sustain the business so the plug was pulled.
Kitty Hawk on the other hand probably had the same marketing problem it would appear, so if they had quality issues as well?
Wingnut Wings made superb kits but the market they aimed at was too small to sustain the business so the plug was pulled.
Kitty Hawk on the other hand probably had the same marketing problem it would appear, so if they had quality issues as well?
Wingnut was closed as a direct result of the Pandemic. The production was closed due to lock downs the staff still got paid. The money ran out. It is a shame that a company oof any kind gets beaten down like that. Fortunately most of the tooling went to good homes.
The choice of subjects related directly to the owners own private passion. Which explains the work and detail that was put into the kits! It might be that the customer base was not the largest, but everything they made was ripped off the shops shelves quicker than they could fill them.
Kitty Hawk on the other hand just made some real duffers of kits. The word got out and the internet made sure everybody got to know. They had an OK line up of some good subjects.
The kits are not impossible to build but they take a lot of work. Work a lot of builders where not expecting to have to do on a modern produced kit.
boatman
SMF Supporter
YES Ian K/H were terrible in my opinion but i admit i only bought one of their kits at 50quid a go an for that kind of money i exspected a good fitting kit but im afraid to say it was'nt as i needed to do major surgery on the fusalarge bottom where the main under cart did'nt fit so out came the dremel an a diamond cutter to cut away the fusalarge the fit in the main undercart an then i had to cut an fit in a bits of plasti card to fill the holes an the main engine covers were nowhere near their correct size so had to fit on some plasticard exstenshions an still not right but better than they were an yes it got built but not in that exspected way so to me to buy another K/H kit no way
chris
I too have the Jag in the stash... Saw it and thought yeah new tooled Jag. Rather worried when I read all the negative feed back on t'interweb. Its still in the stash! One day when I am brave enough I might get into it and do a thread so we can all have a laugh.
boatman
SMF Supporter
WELL Ian yes mine was the jag i dont know about a laugh but you will certainly have a cry
an to top all what i said above in my post the decals were also terrible as when i put them in water to fit them they just splintered an well i just fitted the ones that did stay whole but not happy as i wanted to do the sqr up at RAF COLTISHALL but no they fell apart tooWHAT A DISSAPOINTMENT for me as this kit promised so much but delivered so little Aaaaaaaaaggggghhhhhhhhhh
chris
Jim R
SMF Supporter
I think Ian made a very valid point regarding 'reputation'. The internet and particularly social media can make or destroy a business. A few bad reviews which results in an explosion of negative comment online can destroy a company. A plumber once said to me "It can take years to get a good reputation but only a couple of bad jobs to destroy it". Maybe Kitty Hawk just succumbed to online negativity and consequently poor sales. If they made rubbish they didn't deserve to survive.
Jim
Jim
boatman
SMF Supporter
HI again Ian yes please you dont need to be brave enough to have a go at building the K/H jag kit i just wish i was on here when i built my kit but i wasnt but it would be nice to see it built by a proffenial such as your good self SIR an for ALL of us to see whats what on this kit so please have a go soon as i would be very intrested to see if i went wrong anywhere but i dont think i did an it would be good entertain ment also
ATB
Chris
"Insert great big laughing smiley here"
You are way to kind Chris. Once I have an opening I will try to fit it in my busy schedule! (pity Jags didn't play at the Falklands).
boatman
SMF Supporter
"Insert great big laughing smiley here"
You are way to kind Chris. Once I have an opening I will try to fit it in my busy schedule! (pity Jags didn't play at the Falklands).
It can be difficult gauging the success, or failure of makers - as most of them are now Chinese, and information isn't exactly unbiased! You think that a maker has gone, as there are no website, or Facebook updates - for example Rye Fields Model haven't updated anything since July last year, and their models are scarce. I can't quite grasp why some makers don't use Facebook, or their own websites to advertise their products, and others have such confusing sites they're not good adverts - maybe they're happy with their home market?
Dave
Dave
boatman
SMF Supporter
WELL Ian we will live in hope of you finding time to build it on here as it will be a very intsresting build to see if you have the same probs as me an i think it was mick who built one an he built a very nice model of it but dont know what probs he came accross if like me ?
chris
chris
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I did actually mention Revell…. But perhaps not in the context you are thinking about above.
I do have a soft spot for Airfix having been weened on their kits but, to be frank, given their poor standards of manufacture, poor QC, and poor quality plastic, I do not regard them as a particularly good producer. That is sad as their newer tools do seem to be well engineered and their customer service cannot be beaten. Their plastic is just not fit for the larger kits that I prefer, prone as it is to warping so I rarely build them. I do have the 1/48 Blenheim in the stash though.
As for Revell, they are cheap and that is the only consistent thing about them. They produced the superb 1/32 Ar196 but then drop the ball over their 1/32 Spitfire II. Again I would not put them into a category to be particularly admired, they are what they are. Cheap.