Did Academy Copy FROG? - Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat 1/72 Scale

[@tuberchat]

Here to check out another video. Hope you're doing great. Be safe and well. Keep up the good work!

[@MOS6510Models]

Thanks, you too!

[@michaelvalenzuela2528]

It is a copy, as well the TBF/TBM and P-40 b/c as well. The Sprue layout is different and Academy used recessed panel lines.

[@MOS6510Models]

Thank you @michaelvalenzuela2528 for leaving a comment. Please subscribe if you haven't as yet.. It really helps the channel grow.

[@michaelvalenzuela2528]

@@MOS6510Models been done, did so.

[@MOS6510Models]

@@michaelvalenzuela2528 legend :)

[@Adam_Boots]

Very interesting comparison. They definitely took the original and brought it up to a more modern standard. With Frog being gone this was definitely a nice way of maintaining their legacy. Who know's, if Frog had survived they may have ended up doing the same themselves. It's definitely has a different feel to Mistercraft copying kits. One is done due to a love of the kit, the other is done as a love of the profit they may make off the kit.

[@MOS6510Models]

Yeah I take that point.. I still think at the time, with the minicraft deal, academy took liberties as frog was still in business

[@Adam_Boots]

That's true. It was a different time as well. Now with the Internet we can get detailed information about the history of kits with a click. When Frog was operating all you really had was word of mouth and possibly adverts. Other companies were able to take more liberties without being caught out because there was no way to check up on things.

[@MOS6510Models]

@@Adam_Boots exactly matey.. nothing is hidden

[@scratchinpetepa]

Nice premiere! Thanks for continuing uploading great content! I really enjoy all your videos! Great job!

[@MOS6510Models]

Glad you like them!

[@MOS6510Models]

@Cmndr Roy Fokker does it sound like that? lol

[@MOS6510Models]

@Cmndr Roy Fokker the air tattoo?

[@MOS6510Models]

@Cmndr Roy Fokker not since 2011 sadly, i dont get much time off in july

[@alantoon5708]

Academy since then has moved very, very far along past this and produce some very fine and very original kits. I am building one of their 1/35 M-1A2 Abrams currenly and it is an excellent kit.

[@MOS6510Models]

Yes i totally agree with that, This Wildcat is much better than FROG so i believe the just wanted to do better with little development cost

[@alantoon5708]

I think it is the best M-1 kit out there...

[@brucejack606]

I looked in one of my old frog kits and noticed there address is westwood margate sounds like a conection to humbrol/ airfiixs address,is there more to it

[@MOS6510Models]

I don’t know.. rovex tri-ang owned frog.. who did own hornby for a time

[@andrewgrave]

@@MOS6510Models Lines Bros owned Rovex (Tri-ang Hornby, Scalextric and Frog) hence the Westwood, Margate address for Frog. This is now the base for Hornby Hobbies which now includes Airfix and Humbrol. In 1971, Lines Bros went into receivership and fellow toy company Dunbee Combex Marx (DCM) acquired Rovex. By the mid-70s, DCM were quite cash-strapped and decided to sell the Frog moulds to the Soviet Union in exchange for the Soviet Union producing the sprues for them. DCM set up a packing plant (Novo Toys Ltd) in Peterborough to pack the sprues received from the Soviet Union with UK-produced boxes, decals and instructions, selling the kits under the Novo brand. This contract ended with the demise of DCM in 1980. The new owners of Rovex (now called Hornby Hobbies) did not acquire Novo Toys Ltd which was liquidated.

[@lesgl]

Well i suppose Academy had to start somewhere...their Wildcat is definately better moulded than the Frog one

[@MOS6510Models]

I agree.. better finish

[@use5555]

Great Vid. Where did you get your cement holders for the three Tamiya bottles to your right?

[@MOS6510Models]

Bulldog models.. There is a link in the description for them and a 5% off code. Thank you for the kind comments

[@andrewnally7973]

Great and comprehensive video once again. Well, I have been educated. After looking at the 2 kits (flash not withstanding) it seems Academy have done well (re panel lines). As a side note, Frog supplied beautiful decals. Whose decal stash isn't filled with spare Frog decals?

[@MOS6510Models]

Glad it was helpful! The thing is, is it a big crime seeing FROG was no more? I have another side by side to film this week of another two, and also their might be a link between FROG and Academy which ive never seen before so hoping to answer from the people who watch the next FROG/Academy side by side im preparing to do.. :)

[@alantoon5708]

There was a lot of discussion about that in the late '80's, when the kit came out. Tha American importer denied it, of course. Korea does not have any copyright laws, as I understand it. Others like it are the 1/72 TBF and A-10. There are others...

[@MOS6510Models]

the minicraft connection is a possibility

[@alantoon5708]

There was a big bruhaha in the 1980's involving IPMS/USA and the then president of Minicraft, who at the time was the US importer of Academy. This involved the Frog and Minicraft Ventura. The Minicraft F4F is an engraved very close copy of the Frog....was were kits like the Avenger and the Ventura. There are other examples as well. There were no copyright laws in the ROK at the time...

[@MOS6510Models]

Yes ive found in my stash a FROG minicraft vampire.. I'm assuming that Academy did this "borrowing" after the company closed down

[@richarddouglas688]

The Avenger is another copy. Academy copied many manufacturers' kits, Tamiya 1/35 armor, the most obvious example is the M2 Bradley, as well as their earlier M1 Abrams. Airfix and Heller kits, like the U-2 and Me-163, as well.

[@alantoon5708]

@@richarddouglas688 , you are correct. Most of Academy's early efforts were like that.

[@lpjmodels]

Cool comparison, the parts breakdown is very similar, not a big fan of these nostalgia kits but frog did quite well for the tech of the time .

[@MOS6510Models]

yes they were, might be a great video, building a classic matey :)

[@AbbieOates]

Is it a copy, or rather they purchased the rights to the kit? This happens quite a bit with reissues under newer brands. For example, 1960s Airfix figure kits were re-released by Hat in the early 2000s.

[@MOS6510Models]

Thats interesting.. I didnt know that about HaT..

[@AbbieOates]

@@MOS6510Models All of the early 2000s Hat WW1 sets were Airfix, not sure if others were as well. Plastic Soldier Review, a 1/72 scale figure dedicated website helps locate what is a reissue and in the very rare case, what is a stolen mold.

[@julianmhall]

MOS6510 I haven't watched your 'flappy box' video, but the thought occurs it wouldn't be too hard to convert any box, even an end opening one, into a flappy box. 1. If it's a top opening box, just glue one side to make a hinge and the lid, then cut the corners so it will open. 2. If the box opens at the end, glue the end shut, cut all four corners and slice around three of the top edges leaving one long side alone. The result is a box with a hinged lid, albeit not one that seals shut.

[@MOS6510Models]

watch the video :)

[@SamsVlogstrainsmore]

Reminder on

[@MOS6510Models]

brilliant

[@cnfuzz]

Frog went belly up for their subject choices and kit prices as written in most specialised books

[@MOS6510Models]

FROG didn't go belly up.. It was the Parent company that owned FROG.. Rovex Tri-ang went down taken FROG with it sadly.. I personally think they had a fantastic line up of models and were partnered with Hasegawa for the bigger planes.. Shame as their car models which were released late 60's never were released more than once and the tooling was rumoured destroyed.

[@julianmhall]

Regarding copying. Unless someone copyrighted a model (and how could you, it's the /same/ aircraft so models at the same scale /should be the same/) copying would be very hard to prove and wouldn't be illegal anyway. The only way I can think of to prove an exact copy is if two kits made an identical mistake. As for Frog / Academy, if a manufacturer had gone bust could another buy their toolings and legitimately use them? Even if another /hadn't/ bought them it's not as if a defunct company would or even could prosecute. Also if someone else has already done the hard work and they're not harmed in any way, why reinvent the wheel?

[@MOS6510Models]

That’s true but each manufacturer has ways of assembly.. each design parts to fit in a particular order, the way each part is on a sprue etc.. what academy did was clone it.. same as MisterCraft cloned matchbox

[@julianmhall]

@@MOS6510Models the parts on the sprues looked as if they were arranged slightly differently, as if one had thought 'Good idea but I can arrange the parts more efficiently'.

[@양재우-o8k]

In the 1970s, Academy produced copy products and it had a shameful history. Because until the 1970s, people were not ashamed to produce copy products. However, starting in the 1990s, foreign model kits began to enter Korea and as the era of globalization began, people began to feel ashamed of low-quality copy products, and among Korean companies, Academy was the only company to stop producing copy products and begin producing high-quality, proprietary products. Develop. Most companies that focused on copy products have gone bankrupt, and now only companies that do not produce copy products remain.

[@MOS6510Models]

absolutely :) and good kits too

[@ModelMinutes]

How suspect . . . There are enough changes there for it to be a different model rather than an exact copy, but it seems as though the designers probably had this on their desk and lifted various elements that work for their own design - i mean the work is already done for you really

[@MOS6510Models]

Yes.. and Yes.. and like i said, is it really a crime seeing the tooling from frog was 10 years old and they werent even around?.., there was over ten years from their demise to when Academy "borrowed" it :) like i said, they improved on a great design :)

[@ModelMinutes]

@@MOS6510Models just like how im gonna copy all your videos when you quit YT :D haha

[@MOS6510Models]

@@ModelMinutes you can have them mate haha

[@ModelMinutes]

@@MOS6510Models haha!

[@johnparker1696]

Frog was a victim of the 70s oil crises and went to the wall alongside many other companies, Academy have been linked to many copying scandals, it seems they didn't just carbon copy sprues but they copied the parts and updated them in funny ways. IE: the Frog kits rivets were pronounced and the Academy kits rivets are recessed which is really wrong. The Rudder rib lines on the Frog Kit are pronounced and the Academy kits Ribs are Recessed again wrong. the build of the kits parts are almost identical but they are arranged on the sprue in different positions and this is common on a lot of there models. I think it is worth considering that if you used the airframe of the Frog kit and the parts from the rest of the Academy kit you would get a superior model than building both kits from the box. Also Frog Pilots for me always looked like they were on the toilet. I have both old and new toolings from Airfix and I hope to get videos out on those soon, I like this video Mos great idea mate!!!!!

[@MOS6510Models]

Hi John.. Thanks for commenting.. yes i was thinking on the lines of if you could swop parts between each it to build the ultimate.. I would love to se your videos on old vs new airfix kits.. see how the tooling has faired and the better instructions/decals :)

[@johnparker1696]

There are two already up the old and new tool comparison builds on the Gladiator and the Bf 109G

[@DrewidDesktop]

Dong! :-) Like it.

[@MOS6510Models]

Thank you

[@52down]

Just take new Airfix or Arma Hobby and you will be more than satisfied

[@MOS6510Models]

Mini Art and Zvzda is up there too

[@RCUKScaleModels]

All manufactures copy one another in one shape or form

[@MOS6510Models]

I dunno.. Most take the tooling and rebox.. but not many copy the fit and feature set like this