Who would have thought that RetrokiT would ever turn 20??! Not me, for sure! And yet here we are, at the threshold of this (relatively speaking) important milestone! Yes, in February 2025, RetrokiT turns 20. If one wants to be precise, Retrokit (small ‘t’) was indeed started in 2025, and the RetrokiT we now know (capital ‘T’) was a 2007 thing. But Retrokit and RetrokiT have been a major part of my life for 20 years now. Over 600 different products, 300+ shows in 10 countries, a large handful of collaborators that have greatly helped develop the offer over the years, and of course, you, amongst several thousands other scale modellers I have dealt with, talked to, exchanged ideas and information, and became friends with. You, without whom RetrokiT would not exist, because your purchases, feedback, suggestions, praises,.. have meant the World to me. Thank You!

There are a small handful of people out there that have been far more than instrumental in making this venture a success, from a certain British editor of a certain British magazine, to a gentleman in the Netherlands and another one in France who cared enough to make sure RetrokiT survived the Covid crisis, to a particular Belgian resin caster who stuck with me during various other crisis over those 20 years, to a few more people out there who brought their piece to the constant building site that is RetrokiT. But I will only name one, because without her, I would have given up a long time ago. My wife, Betty. She’s the one running RetrokiT, really. I am just the help! To them all, Thank You to!

With this, I wish you all and your loved ones a Happy New Year! The news from our world are not really encouraging but we must keep fighting for what we believe in. And maybe above all, if only as as an escape from reality, keep on scale modelling!

Domi

Almost the

It’s already almost a new year!!! Where does time fly? We’ve just released our 54th (and last!) new item this year, already planning for the first releases of 2025… 2025 should be as busy as was 2024, though we are also planning a certain stock:catalogue reduction, as, with over 550 different products in our current catalogue, we are starting to have storage issues and could end up with complicated production issues. So do not be surprised if some items disappear from our ranges! This would not necessarily mean a final retirement of those particular items, re-relesing them would be conditional to demand and opportunity (like the re-release of a particular plastic kit). And plenty of notice will be given, allowing people to stock up if necessary.

Our latest releases, those bananaaa! bookmarks, are… not what our usual customers are used to, they were just ‘a bit of fun’ for us and still might interest a few people out there. We will see how positive is your response! Let us remind you that the X-mas bookmark will be offered free of charge to anyone ordering over 30 euros of goods (postage thus not included in the 30 euros) throughout December 2024. A neat stocking filler item, we feel!

So, what can we expect in 2025 from RetrokiT? It is likely that most of our new releases will have to do with our 1/144 aircraft range (Mirage 2000 and A-10 two seater conversion kits and early P-51 conversion kits coming to mind), but the recent successes achieved by our 1/72 ‘light aviation’ sets make us keen to develop this range further! A few 1/100 aircraft sets should be expected too, possibly with our first conversion kits in this scale. Bananaaas! will remain a stapple food in our RetroSF range, for sure, though other SF/F items are in the planning stages. New aircraft and AFV ‘chibi’ detail and conversion kits/sets should be released too during 2025, mostly driven by the recent and continuing releases of new plastic kits. No plan as yet for our 1/35 AFV range, and, so far, just a few ideas for our 1/72 AFV range, nothing definite just yet.

Our 2025 show calendar is being worked on. Nothing like pre-Covid times, but we will still be appearing here and there throughout the year in various European countries.

OK, this is all for now, Folks. Despite the grim news and world in which we live in, have a wonderful ‘end of the year’ time! And above all, keep on scale modelling!

There will be quite a few new releases this month, starting with three new Bananaaas!; stay in touch to be made aware of the other releases later this month! In the meantime, noyte that we will be trading at the IPMS Nederland’s ‘Euro Model Show’, but not with our complete set of products, so if you need something in particular, be sure to inform us before the show.

That’s all for now, Folks. But keep on scale modelling!!

We are pleased to offer a 20% discount on 12 selected spooky kits until the 31st of October 2024. Be afraid, very afraid!!

Please note that RetrokiT will not be trading at this year’s event.  However, we are happy to organise for the picking up of orders at the show.  E-mail us, at info@retrokitonline.net, your wishlist before the 10th of October.  In order not to interfere with the trading during the show, beware that all orders that you want to pick up at the show must be paid in advance (Paypal or bank transfer, the details will be discussed via e-mails) and NO money will be exchanged at the show.

We are, however, trading at Modeling Mania at little earlier in October, so if you can, feel free to drop by as it is also a show that is worth coming to with a large array of international exhibitors and traders, a competition, a fantastic raffle with a large number of great prizes, including a set of 15 of our Bananaaas! (itself worth 150 euros, and that’s not the biggest prize of this raffle, by far!!) and, being Belgium, a well-stocked bar. What else do you need?

Well, that’s all for now but keep us scale modelling, Folks!!

September brings us a lot closer to the end of the ‘nicer’ seasons, and, rather sadly for those of us who like warmer weather, Christmas is only a few weeks away now.. Thankfully, we at RetrokiT still have much to keep us busy and think about that!

Our latest releases include two sets that we are pretty pround of, first a 1/144 ‘late MiG-21PFM dorsal spine’ that, also rather sadly, Eduard forgot to add to their catalogue when they released their gorgeous tiny MiG-21 Fishbed series of kits. It’s been a while since we’ve had the pleasure of purchasing a brand new 1/144 Eduard kit, and even their reprise of certain Platz kits petered out.. Sad, very sad.. But it gives us the opportunity to be creative and fill in the gaps..!

The other important release, for us in any case, concerns the still OOP 1/72 Airfix Piper Cherokee Arrow kit, one of those beautiful kits that Airfix released in the 1970s. The fact that it is OOP does not matter that much to us at RetrokiT, a lot of our best-seller items are designed for such ‘rare’ kits. We have found out over the years that a lot of those OOP kits still linger in many ‘stashes’ out there; this is an opportunity to get that little gem of an Airfix kit out in the sunshine, Folks!

A set of 1/144 Dassault Rafale ejection seats is also being released this month; this release follows a ‘trend’ established after hearing many request from our customers, or would-be customers that wanted to furnish their cockpits without too much mess. Not everyone wants a detailed tub after all, the main think visible through those tiny canopies being.. the ejection seat. So both options are available now, on top of extra small conversions we released a while back for the Revell Rafale.

So what’s to be expected next from RetrokiT. Well, we have, almost literaly, tons of masters ready to be cast and we must remain patient because it would be counter-productive to release 35 or so new products in one go..! That said, next month, we will continue releasing a few of the new Bananaaas! we sculpted during June 2024. That won’t diminish the number of Bananaaas! in waiting since 3 more are in the process of being compteled right now, but there you go. We are also working on a new line of product ‘derivatives’ that we plan to release soon before the Xmas we talked about earlier on.. Wait and see.

New patterns are still being produced, including that 1/200 Boeing 727-100 conversuon kit pictured above; it’s been a while since we added an item to that range.

There you go! Enjoy, for those in the Northern hemisphere, the last warm days of the year, but don’t stop scale modelling, Folks!

August brings the annual show in Mons, Belgium one of our favourites haunts, a two-day extravaganza bringing together various facets of our hobby, from R/C ships to drones to wargaming to train modelling and of course to static scale modelling. It’s a very convivial affair, a real family show with lots of public participation, do visit it, you will not be disappointed. Easy acces, plenty of free parking and free entrance too.

August also bring us the 1/144 E-2C Hawkeye sets, old (but re-designed) and brand new; we had aimed to release those sets earlier, but sh.. happened, as it does, and the sets are thus being released a bit late… Please accept our apologies! Also being released this month are two brand new Bananaaas! and two more that have been OOP for a long time.

With this in mind, keep on scale modelling, Folks!

Into this summer of ’24, we are still, here in any case, waiting for some warm and dry weather.. Not many chances of enjoying ourselves outside, so we keep working on the design of yet more patterns for future releases. And we take some time to build a few models ‘just for fun’ too..!

Anyway, we are slowly getting ready for our next show, in Mons, Belgium, during mid-August. If you haven’t attended to this show yet, try to come along, it is a very friendly show for the whole family, featuring many ‘sides’ of our hobby, including wargaming and R/C modelling. And Mons, the town and its area, has a lot to offer too for all visitors. And of course, come and say ‘Hello!’ at the RetrokiT stand..!

We have just released yet more ‘Chibi’ cockpit detail sets, this time for the Freedom and AFVClub single-seater F-16 kits. We are already at work on more of those sets for the latest Chibi releases, it’s actually hard to keep up with all those new kits!

Our 1/144 E-2C sets are being cast as we write, they should be out very soon, while new Bananaaas are on their way to the casters for release in Mons, as it happens.

Despite the weather, keep on scale modelling, Folks!

In order to celebrate the release of our 50th World War Toons conversion kit, the StuG III ausf.G, we are offering a 20 % discount on ALL items in our RetroTracks AFV Chibi catalogue for orders placed via the RetrokiT website between now and 11.59pm (GMT+1) on June the 14th. Postal charges apply as usual. What better time to start or complete your collection !?

Just keep on scale modelling, Folks!!

Here, in Western Europe in any case, the sun is still playing hide & seek (and to be fair, it is mostly losing the battle!) with the clouds and our spring has not been particularly enjoyable, unless of course you are a duck. Anyway, all s not wel, cold and bleak, this is also an opportunity to try to complete a few ‘just for fun’ projects and certaily complete a number of new patterns for future releases! It is still had to say whether the summer will be better, but until we know for sure, we are still working very hard on numerous projects that should bring some of you some joy in the not too distant future.

The ‘June’ batch of new releases includes a new WWT conversion kit, the StuG III ausf.G, a cockpit detail set for the Freedom Compact Series MiG-21 and a set of SSME ‘bells’ for any 1/144 Space Shuttle kit out there, a welcome improvement on any plastic parts in any of those kits.

If you have any suggestions (mostly if you can also provide the reference!!), we always welcome and often act upon receiving them.. So, until we hear from you, we leave you with a small list of a few brand new items that should be released this year again..

1/144 Mirage 2000D/N Conversion Kit

1/144 MiG-23UB Conversion Kit

1/144 A-10N/AW Conversion kit

1/144 E-2C Cockpit Detail set

1/100 A-4M Cockpit Detail Set

1/72 Piper Cherokee Arrow Cockpit Detail Set

1/72 Super Constellation Engine Nacelles

1/72 Fokker S-11 Cockpit Detail Set

WWT M7 Priest Conversion Kit

There you go, just jo whet your appetite.. There will be a few other new items and a handdful of re-releases too added to this list before 2024 is out.

So, make the best of the poor weather, build yet more scale models, Folks!