Matchbox 1/32nd Scale Tiger Moth

[Dave Homewood]

Is the Matchbox 1/32nd scale Dh82 Tiger Moth still available on the market?

I haven't been to a model shop for years, and cannot find a webiste for Matchbox models, so I'm not even aware whether this British company still exists.

If the Tiger is still avaialbe, can someone give me an idea of the price in NZ shops please?

[Bruce]

The Matchbox company have now ceased to exist, Which is a pity because their kits were generally of very good quality. I have no idea what became of the molds, so we may not ever see them again under other brand names (unlike FROG, which sold thier molds to NOVO in Russia). My advice is to keep an eye on e-Bay, the 1/32 Tiger does come up from time to time. wouldnt be cheap though - it would be highly sought after.

[Dave Homewood]

I have the kit already, which I made some years ago, and was pretty pleased with it till my cat decided to take it for a flight, and it flew across the room and onto the floor with the cat on top all the way. So, I decided to rebuild it, but I came up with the idea of adding in more dtails as the interior is very basic. I stripped back the paint and disassembled it, and began to scratchbuild a new interior, but that's as far as it got.

I came across the bits all in a box the other day and I think I've lost a few bits, and also I think if I reassemble it, it'll be very difficult to get the top wing back on as I had a devil's own job to assemble it before Barney kindly decided to smash it to pieces. So I was thinking about starting from scratch with a new kit.

Matchbox wasn't, in my opinion, a bad manufacturer, but not exactly brilliant on detail. What I did like about their kits was their range covered many aircraft not covered by other manufacturers, and their kits were usually quite cheap and easy to asemble. The detail was never up to Tamiya or Hasegawa standards, and they never made stuff in the proper scale (1/48th) but they were all right by me. It's a pity they've disappeared. A lot of manufacturers have merged over past years, such as Revell and Monogram and Italeri and Esci, which i think are all one company now, aren't they? I wonder if they also bought Matchbox.

Does Matchbox still exist in the diecast cars arena? I know the better company, Lledo, went bust and their moulds and dies were bought by Corgi.

[Parrotfish]

While Matchbox is no more (in the plastic kitset sense anyway), keep an eye on Revell kits. Many of the large matchbox kits make it into the Revell releases from time to time like the 1/32 Dauntless. Also look on Trademe from time to time, three or four of the 1/32 Tigermoths were sold there recently. I may also be able to get you a 1/32 Tigermoth (or at least parts) as a friend of mine three kits- one in a parts only state. Let me know.

[kiwi]

Revell held the rights to the Matchbox moulds for a period of about 13 years , now they are in the hands of a Hong Kong company and the kits are being produced in China , with Chinese instructions but identical to the originals appart from that , I am told the decals look a bit iffy . Some have been seen on Trademe recently .

[Craig Sargent]

It is due to be re-released by Revell soon, along with the Venom and Spit.

[phil]

Ebay is a reasonable source of original matchbox kits, if you can find someone who will ship internationally. Fortunately quite a few sellers of matchbox kits are in the UK, and these guys will almost always ship to NZ.

Matchbox kits were the ones that got me started in modeling. I remember 'helping' my dad build a hawker fury (luckily he did most of it!), in fact it is still sitting on a bookshelf at my parents and is pretty much intact. The first model I built mostly by myself was the Matchbox MkIX spitfire. I have a lot of happy memories that relate to building these kits. The detail might not have been up to modern standards, but theysure looked great to a 6 year old. In the last couple of years I've managed to get hold of some of those kits again, a Hawker fury, Strikemaster, and a Lysander.

[davelochead]

dont know about the Matchbox Tiger, but early next year the Kiwi 1/32 Fox Moth and Gypsy Moth will be available..