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Model Forum / General / Models / June 2006Whither Fujimi?
What is happening with Fujimi? In the UK, Fujimi kits are becoming rather difficult to acquire. The Hannants website has them all listed as "Limited availability", yet up until recently it had a couple of kits listed as "Future Releases". I have read on the internet that Fujimi is no longer being imported into the UK. Yet, I have also read other comments ("the late, lamented Fujimi") that seem to imply the company is no longer trading. What is going on? Fujimi had a nice range of kits and they had ranges within ranges that seemed to attempt to replicate every version of a certain aircraft type. I currently have examples of their A-7E, OA-4M and Sea King kits in my stash. Despite all of them being over twenty years old, they are still very nice kits indeed. I would certainly buy more of the A-7s if they were available. The Fujimi US-style Phantoms were also very nice (I have an F-4F in my stash) although they are not up to the standard of the latest Hasegawa kits. The Fujimi British Phantoms are a different kettle of fish, however, being the only truly accurate kits available. And that brings me to a strange observation that I have made. I've recently been buying up a few of the Fujimi Brit Phantom kits, just in case they disappear forever (yes, I *am* going to build them!) I mostly have the "Alcock and Brown" kit which is very nice indeed. I recently managed to get hold of an earlier kit, the "F-4M Shark's Teeth" boxing. I was convinced that these were the same kit, with the shark's teeth version just having a sprue of air-to-ground ordnance included. However, it seems that the later version has been almost completely retooled! The later kit has seperate drooping ailerons, deployed speed brakes, a retooled fuselage with deeper auxiliary inlets, new multi-part jet exhausts, a more detailed cockpit and a choice of all plastic wheels or wheels with rubber tyres. The early version is a very nice kit indeed. The later, retooled version is even nicer. But I don't see the need for Fujimi to have retooled a perfectly good kit. I'm not complaining, of course, but it puzzles me that Fujimi should have seen the need to fix something that wasn't broken!  SignatureEnzo I wear the cheese. It does not wear me. > What is happening with Fujimi? I don't think they're dead; they've apparently just released two new boxings of the Spey Phantom with different markings: http://www.hlj.com/product/FUJ72192 http://www.hlj.com/product/FUJ72193 The problem looks like getting them imported to the UK; the price on Hobbylink Japan is 2,500 yen; ~£12.50 Stirling, but the last Hannants import retailed at £20. It may be that the price is getting too high to justify importing them. As for Fujimi themselves, I'm not sure when they last did a new tooling, but they seem to be surviving quite well by re-issuing kits with new decal options. Jon. >> What is happening with Fujimi? > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Jon. They've released quite a few nice new tool 1/24 scale cars recently, Ferrari F430, F355, 550 & 575 Maranello's, and several new Lamborginis, all reasonably priced and readily available out in the far east but not seen on the shelves much elsewhere. SignatureDave Swindell >> What is happening with Fujimi? > [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > tooling, but they seem to be surviving quite well by re-issuing kits > with new decal options. Thanks for the link, Jon. I only really need one more Fujimi Phantom and I will have enough for all the ones that I want to build. I think I'll try ordering one from Japan. The postage is slightly less than 8 quid, which makes the whole deal a little less than getting one from Hannants. It's not worth getting more than one at a time though, because then Customs and Excise will slap VAT and a handling fee on them. That's probably what makes them so expensive to import. All the kits I have at the moment represent aircraft without the RWR fairing on the fin, but I think it should be just about within my capabilities to fashion one from plasticard! ;-) Incidentally, I worked out a possible reason for retooling the whole kit. On the earlier kit that I have, the auxiliary inlet doors on the fuselage sides are incorrectly placed. They are about a scale foot too far forward. Not a major problem in the big scheme of things, but Fujimi obviously saw fit to get rid of the error. While they were doing so, I assume that they took the opportunity to improve the kit in other areas as well. Well done, Fujimi! SignatureEnzo I wear the cheese. It does not wear me. >Incidentally, I worked out a possible reason for retooling the whole kit. On >the earlier kit that I have, the auxiliary inlet doors on the fuselage sides [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > >Well done, Fujimi! The re-tooling happened fairly early in the life of the kits - about a year after they were first released IIRC. They moved the upper fuselage intakes, added the underside intakes, made the flaps droopable and amended the exhausts to a correct shape - they didn't amend the lower fuselage line, which is about all that's wrong with the kits. (Real thing didn't have a 'kink' approaching the jet pipes). Beware last year's Alcock and Brown kit - it's an FGR2 with the weapons/nose undercart sprue from the FG1, so it can't make an FG1 OR an FGR2. Easy option is fill the catapult attachment points and amend the nose wheel leg to make an FGR2 Remove nospam to reply!! Dave Fleming offered me a plate of cheese and whispered: >> Incidentally, I worked out a possible reason for retooling the whole >> kit. On the earlier kit that I have, the auxiliary inlet doors on [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > an FGR2. Easy option is fill the catapult attachment points and amend > the nose wheel leg to make an FGR2 Thanks, Dave. I'd come to a similar conclusion myself. I have a number of those Alcock and Brown kits. I do need to build an FG1, but I have a Hasegawa F-4B kit that I need to build as a very early jet without the slatted tail. I figure that a stabiliser swap between the two kits could work wonders! SignatureEnzo I wear the cheese. It does not wear me. > Dave Fleming offered me a plate of cheese and whispered: > > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > >> > >> Well done, Fujimi! Well, open underside doors and drooping flaps are a distinctive configuration on Phantoms that have been stood still for a while; I think the Monogram kit is the only other 1/72 kit that allows this without surgery. As for the new Phantom kits, my package of 3 kits arrived from Japan today, fortunately unmolested by HM Customs. Both kits are the later tooling with the underside doors, plus two canopy sprues (open and closed) and rubber (?) tyre options. The FG.1 kit has three 111 Sqn marking options in the low viz grey scheme; XV574 with black spine and black and yellow fin; XV589 with standard markings, and XT865 with tail art of a hammer and lightning bolts. This kit as the air to air weapons sprue (which also includes the FG.1 nose gear). The FGR.2 kit has three low viz grey marking options, XV470 of 19 Sqn, XT895 of 228 OCU and XV466 of 1435 flight, Falkland Islands with a white fin. This kit has the air to ground weapons sprue (which also includes the FGR.2 nose gear). Jon. > What is happening with Fujimi? I think they cut their throats with pricing--I a 1/72 Spit Mk XIV costing more than a 1/48 Spit? I doubt if they're on the way out. The imminent demise of Fujimi was widely announced some years ago. Even the wholesalers were warning retailers that Fujimi were going out of business. It was all just rumour, of course. My local model shop owner told me at the time that Fujimi and Hasegawa were only small firms, much smaller than their presence in the market would suggest, and this influenced their prices and the availability of their kits. Gordon McLaughlin >> What is happening with Fujimi? >> > I think they cut their throats with pricing--I a 1/72 Spit Mk XIV > costing more than a 1/48 Spit? |
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