By Maz Woolley
Text by, and copyright of the Author. Illustrations provided by Hornby Hobbies.
Hornby Hobbies has recently announced the Corgi products for the second half of 2018. There are no new castings and little sign that any major changes being made by the new management team. Perhaps we will start to see those in 2019? Though the fact that prices are not being significantly increased shows that Hornby are finally realising that the market for their models is price sensitive.
Product Revivals
The sales of the film and TV tie-in products from Corgi are substantial and the products are carried by a wider range of retailers. Of recent years the emphasis has been on reproductions of earlier James Bond models but this time the models celebrate 50 year anniversaries of two films: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Magical Mystery Tour.
I am sure that Beatles fans the world over will buy the re-released models and that the Chitty will sell in respectable numbers as nostalgia for childhood and for the films of the late 60s is still strong.
03502CC Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
05401CC Yellow Submarine
42418CC Magical Mystery Tour Bus
85925CC Paddington Bear Taxi
This will come in special packaging and will include a
Paddington Bear Figure. This will certainly be a good tie-in but Hornby need to be quicker with negotiiating deals like this Paddington 2 has already been released so the model is coming along a bit late to catch the maximum sales.
Aviation Archive
Here Corgi has created new liveries on castings which have already been seen in a variety of other liveries. Whilst the liveries are undoubtedly attractive ones one wonders how many versions of the same casting Corgi can sell. Looking on eBay many of the previous versions of these castings sell for considerably less than the latest models recommended price and only very popular and scarce ones attract a premium.
34018AA Consolidated B24H Liberator
‘Male Call’ of 453rd Bombardment Group 8th AF 1944
Jimmy Stewart
38109AA Sopwith F.1 Camel, No.3 Squadron RNAS
Lloyd S Breadner
Bray Dunes Aerodrome 1918
38808AA Do17Z-10 R4+LK I/NJG 2
Gilze – Rijen October 1940 – sadly the artwork from Hornby has a large watermark on it.
38906AA Fokker D.VII (OAW) 4649/18
‘Seven Swabians’ Alfred Bader Jasta 65 September 1918
Sadly the artwork from Hornby has a large watermark on it.
Original Omnibus
46514AOM Wright Eclipse Gemini 2,
Go-Ahead East London Transit
EL2 Ilford Station
46514BOM Wright Eclipse Gemini 2,
Go-Ahead East London Transit
EL1 Thames View Estate
46713AOM Wright Eclipse II (Single Deck),
Transdev The Shuttle 662
Keighley Bus Station via Crossflats
46713BOM Wright Eclipse II (Single Deck),
Transdev The Shuttle 662
Bradford via Bingley
Vanguards
At the risk of repeating myself we are seeing the same small range of castings again and again in different colours. Whilst some of the new colours are quite eye catching and may well persuade people to buy another version of the model the market for yet more of the same must be shrinking.
In many cases the castings are now looking old and basic. The Morris Minor for example has cast in window ventilators which are painted body colour, black printed line round the screen and a clumsy grille. Partwork models are superior to this in many cases.
The Land Rover in Military Police livery is different and will I suspect be a popular release as will the 1275 Mini in Special Tuning livery.
But taken as a whole the release is disappointing as it has been for about 3 years now. I hope that this is just a holding exercise before the new management re-launch Vanguards with some new castings.
VA02541 Austin Mini Cooper S Mk1, Almond Green
VA05212 Ford Granada Mk1 3.0 Ghia, Jade Green
VA05810 Morris Minor 1000, Turquoise
VA06713 Triumph Spitfire, Mk3 Saffron
VA09524 Ford Escort Mk1 Twincam, Blue Mink
VA10111 Triumph Stag Mk2, British Racing Green
VA10509 Triumph TR7 FHC, Triton Green
VA10712 MGB Roadster, Acconite Purple
VA10818 Ford Capri Mk3 3.0S, Arizona Bronze
VA11117 Land Rover Series 1 80”, Military Police
VA11509 Triumph TR5, Jasmine Yellow
VA12612 Ford Escort Mk2 RS Mexico, Signal Yellow (Forrest Arches)
VA13507 Mini 1275GT Special Tuning, Press Launch Car,
Auto Car Magazine
VA13605 Volkswagen Golf Mk2 GTI
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