HMS Fearless gets scrapped.

[Al R]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7024769.stm

:{

I loved my Airfix kit of her.

God, the smell and sight of a virginal pot of Airfix gloss as you first opened it. G4 was gloss black I think. M11 was the RAF blue. Again, I think.

And as for getting a naughty whiff of that glue.. := .

[Airborne Aircrew]

IIRC, G4 was Black... M11 is familiar but I won't commit to it's color... :)

Airfix... <sigh>... Newspaper spread out on the kitchen table... the smells... the sharp knife to clean the parts... all those paints that you convinced Dad to buy you because it "demanded" it on the plans... Displaying the finished product to anyone who would look... then, a few months later, destroying it in "air combat"... Only to save up to buy another model... :D:D:D

[Al R]

My dad ruined my HMS Discovery. :mad:

I used to glue bangers into the ones I didn't like..

Using sellotape to get a straight line. Ballsing up the gloss on the MRCA and ending up with paint about half an inch thick.

[Airborne Aircrew]

I used to glue bangers into the ones I didn't like..

<LOL>

I used to take out the prop and drill a hole in the rear, (we're talking Spit's, Hurricanes, 109's etc.), thread a fine cord through them that went from my bedroom window to the ground outside. Then, with the judicious use of Airfix glue (fresh, un-dried), and fire we would create the classic "Going down in flames"... So much fun, so many memories... :) :) :) :)

[samuraimatt]

Fascinating. I bet you two old duffers are a scream at the RAFA club.

[Airborne Aircrew]

Fascinating. I bet you two old duffers are a scream at the RAFA club.

Nice... If you live long enough you'll have memories... Then again, if you live long enough you won't... :}

[AR1]

AIRFIX AND YOU WERE BUILDING SHIPS.....?????????

Kommen sie bitter und listen to Kraftwerk!!!! - hang your heads in shame.:ugh:

My flying choice in the school sandpit was the 'Brewster Buffalo' - Nuff Said.

[Airborne Aircrew]

AIRFIX AND YOU WERE BUILDING SHIPS.....?????????

I'll admit to the following ships:-

HMS Victory
HMS Hood
Bismark

Aircraft I can remember:-

Camel
Fokker Drie(sp?)
Another WWI British kite I forget the name of
Spitfire
Hurricane
ME109

Lot's more... But I just got called for dinner... So I have to go...

Demand the rest if you really need them... ;)

[AR1]

AA...

Looks to me, that apart from birthdays, when Auntie Linda bought you the big kits, you were a series one, plastic bag 'wannabe'...

2 or 3 on middle class pocketmoney;)

[Airborne Aircrew]

I didn't have an Auntie Linda...

Did yours do something absolutely rotten to you when you were young? :uhoh:

But it seems to me that you are a bit younger than me... I don't recall the plastic bag kits till I was 10 or more... Everything Airfix was in a box when I started... Including all the little 1/78th(?) scale "Armies"... (8th Army "Desert Rats" etc...)

[AR1]

About 2 years younger... which makes it about right. Series 2 came in at 25p and were the boxed kits. Series 1 were about 18p. Around the time of decimalisation. - so my Father tells me...

[henry crun]

From "Don't Cry For Me Sergeant Major".

Just after the landings at San Carlos..........
"As another three Argentinian jets screeched over, a Marine shouted up at the pilot. 'Fearless is the one with the two black balls on the mast, there's a fiver in it for you if you get the cooks on board.' "

[Occasional Aviator]

Henry crun, please stop taking this thread where it clearly doesn't want to go.

Wasn't G10 silver? And did anyone graduate to using 'Liquid Glue' that dried up and fell apart after about a month?

[Strictly Jungly]

Ahhh Happy memories of popping onto FEARLESS for a quick dhoby before going ashore again.................

Airfix............Dogfight doubles...ME110 and Spitfire..sat on a plastic A frame.
My first model was a JU 88........it too ended up with 0.5 inch paint job!

No one has mentioned Duck Egg Blue.......essential for most British aircraft!

[tubby linton]

http://www.gasolinealleyantiques.com/kits/images/Boat/airfix-fearless.JPG

[Grackle]

Ah yes, snivelling in a school dormitory, making up Fearless as my first plastic model, and then finding that I really should have put the landing craft dock inside before gluing the hull together ....:ugh:

[Airborne Aircrew]

Around the time of decimalisation. - so my Father tells me...

Nice... <LOL>

I was buying models before decimalization which was 1968 wasn't it... Making me < 10. If you wanted to go cheap back then you bought Revell(sp?). There was another manufacturer too wasn't there... They went out of business, (well, they disappeared from the modelling scene), probably in the early to mid seventies... I can't remember the name but they were the real "low end" that even pre-teen boys sneered at... :D

[Thud_and_Blunder]

Series 1 - 2s
Series 2 - 3s 6d
Series 3 - 4s 6d
Series 4 - 6s
Series 5 - 7s 6d
Series 6 - 10s 6d

Then came the day I went to buy the M3 halftrack OR the F5 (decisions, decisions - only 2s pocket money) and found - horrors - that the price of Series 1 had gone up to 2s 3d :eek: Sad intro to the realities of inflation and increasing oil prices for a 12y/o with no experience of same.

[Dockers]

Airborne Aircrew

Decimalisation was 1971! The other manufacturer you were thinking about was probably Matchbox - deep engraved anel lines and bits that didn't fit as they were supposed to.

[XBD]

Airborne Aircrew

The other cheap manufacturer was probably FROG - only sold in plastic bags with a miniscule cardboard strip for the artwork.

[Occasional Aviator]

A lad lived down my road who I envied intensely because his Dad had bought him BOTH the Spitfire and Me109 1:24th scale Superkits - and built and painted them for him!

[k3k3]

I can remember building a Frog Blenheim that came in a box and included glue and paint.

[Safety_Helmut]

Did the French fly the Blenheim ?

[GeeRam]

Did the French fly the Blenheim ?

Dunno.......I think Belguim did though prior to getting invaded.

Going back to the main thread......:E
Frog weren't good quality, but they did rare unusal stuff no one else did back in those IIRC.

I remember clearing out my parents loft some years back and found a box of unmade kits including many Frog ones, that my late Father must have stashed up there instead of throwing out, years and years before when I'd flown the nest and long since forgotten about them.
A bit of net trawling turned up some specialist's in selling unmade kits, and I ended up getting quite a few quid for them as some were now rare.....:ok:

[Airborne Aircrew]

1971... The mind has gone... :{

Frog... I seem to remember that... It's a bit foggy... but I do recall one manufacturer providing the whole shebang... I think I had one or two of them but they were things like tanks, jeeps and half tracks IIRC. I don't recall Matchbox doing models at all... Cars... Yes... Had loads of them.

1/24th Scale... Ahhh... Those were mere dreams... Practically flyable in the mind of this young lad... :ok: A mate had a Me 109... Perfectly painted etc. It was the bees...

GeeRam: I read something a few years ago about unmade models being worth a lot if they were from back when we were young... It struck me as pretty silly that they were worth so much unassembled and someone would spend all that money just to not assemble them... :confused:

[elf]

I always thought that Airfix should have sold the Spitfire model with the undercarriage ripped off, no perpex and only one tail plane. The models always end up like that having been flown around the garden a gazillion times and used as a welcome gift by the dog.

And Airfix glue is great for removing chewing gum from car seats by the way. Or at least that's what my five year old claims.

[LowObservable]

But how do you remove the glue from the seat?

Airfix was always the price leader apart from (at some times) strange rebagged Frogs (like an FD.2) or weird bagged Hellers (1/100th Magisters are not large).

The Sunderland was the only Series 6 until the Stirling. Must have been a Shorts deal.

Airfix were fond of retractable landing gears with fixed doors. The wonder of making the gear work always seemed to make up for the fact that it looked odd.

Revell's WW2 fighter series were 2s 11d but had niceties like visible engines and sliding cockpits.

[Al R]

My first kit was the Walrus, and the second this Skyraider.. a series 2!
http://www.janestrains.co.uk/images/SkyraiderWeb.JPG
Series 1s came in bags, and went for 16 pence. Series 3's were 29p and Series 2s were 21p. Pots of paint were 4p.

Never used liquid glue, bah. Modern fangled stuff.

I really wanted the Handley Page Hamden, but never got it. Got the really big (18" wingspan! :eek: ), the big ME109 for 2 Xmas's on the trot. God, I was happy as a pig in sh#t.

Frog made rubbish kits, but not as rubbish as Revell though.

[Pontius Navigator]

Spitfire and Gloster Gladiator were mine - the first two kits issued.

I had a Lysander, it would never have flown with 3 tins of paint on it - all gloss.

I also remember a Canberra of unknown provenance as it was made differently from every other model. The fuselage was made of cylinders and not halves.

Always wants a B36 but we only lived in a small semi :)

[Hipper]

Propellors and wheels that could spin round, gun turrets moving. What was the point? Mine usually got stuck by my messy use of glue anyway.

I remember getting a Vickers Valiant in a box - that must have been in the late 50's or up to 1960.

[normally right blank]

Frog's Oxford was my first. My father brought three different kits home one evening from a sale - and started an "arms race" he came to regret between me and my two brothers.

Aurora had some specials: WWI fighters with crew - 1/24?

[Airborne Aircrew]

Aurora

That's the one I was referring to that I though went out of business in the early 70's... Hah... I feel better now... :)

[normally right blank]

Safety_Helmut: Did the French fly the Blenheim ?
Yes, the Free French according to this:http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/Reviews/raf/blenheim-iv.htm
(Scroll past the first "PC" boxtop and "voila!")

[normally right blank]

Also Lindberg and Monogram!
Even found my FROG Oxford here:
http://www.avkits.net/index.html

:8:8:8:8's - Love you!

[Union Jack]

AA and Dockers

I supect that you are both right in a sense because, whilst 15 Feb 71 was D-day, I understand that decimalisation was actually first introduced in 1968 when five and pence coins were issued in lieu of shillings and florins respectively.

Going back to FEARLESS herself, it's quite interesting that ORAC's thread with a nearly identical title started over five and a half years ago - and no mention of models!

Jack

PS Horrified at all you glue sniffers - mind you, I always thought that the old-style marker pens smelled rather special ....:)

[Airborne Aircrew]

I supect that you are both right in a sense because, whilst 15 Feb 71 was D-day, I understand that decimalisation was actually first introduced in 1968 when five and pence coins were issued in lieu of shillings and florins respectively

Phew... I'm still smart... :ok:

[Don's tin hat and prepares to repel boarders]

[AR1]

Just got in from the pub, where I was in discussion about this very thread, and it all came flooding back.

Matchbox made kits with componantsi n TWO colours, thus no need for paint. The Zero i think was green and red, whilst the Lysander was two shades of brown.

I bid you all a single malt enabled goodnight!

[Airborne Aircrew]

Matchbox made kits with componantsi n TWO colours, thus no need for paint.

That probably explains why they stuck to cars in the end...

I bid you all a single malt enabled goodnight!

And a darned fine night to you too Sir...

[Occasional Aviator]

Saw a programme about rocketry the other night - and it reminded me that I had built the Saturn V model - what a great kit. Also, the space shuttle, (with big tank and rockets, not the one on top of the 747), as well as the lunar lander (Eagle). I also had the 'astronauts' 1:72 box of soldiers with moon buggies, experiments and flags, ... Oh, and the Orion shuttle from '2001 - A Space Odyssey'.

I also had both the transporter and the patrol ship from Space 1999, but I'm not sure whther they were Airfix or matchbox?

(Also a Star Trek Enterprise, but that was definitely not Airfix and the long pylons the engines were mounted on were definitely not designed to operate in Earth gravity... or maybe I just didn't let the glue dry for long enough).

God, I was a geek!

[Roland Pulfrew]

Gentlemen. Gentlemen.

May I suggest that a more appropriate website for your wander down memory lane might be this one:

www.britmodeller.com

;)

Have fun.

[Occasional Aviator]

Roland,

Thanks very much - the best part on that page is when the guy building the Sea Fury says:

"Although my wife claims to have caught me in the act, I plead not guilty to supplying the engine sounds when I think I’m alone!"

Until that point I assumed he wasn't married!

[Al R]

There is a lovely Sea Fury there Roland, but did you read what he's done with it? He's only gone and painted the instrument panels (instead of in the black which they should be) in White Ensign’s new.. (wait for it) British Interior Grey Green. :ugh:

In all seriousness, why should we give any credence to someone who goes and does that??

[Airborne Aircrew]

In all seriousness, why should we give any credence to someone who goes and does that??

You can be such a snob!!! ;)

[Al R]

If a jobs worth doing.. :=

[Airborne Aircrew]

If a jobs worth doing..

Bloody hell... That's what my Father would always say to me!!! Old fart... :p

[Old Hairy]

You called,???
You young lads had it so easy:*In my day 1945/46 we had to make them out of Obeche or if lucky Balsa wood.My first the Brewster Buffalo,flew like a brick with wings :(

[Al R]

Balsa wood? You had Balsa wood? :eek:

You lucky lucky bastard.

Listen. When I was a lad, wood wasn't invented. In fact, neither were planes. We used to build models of plasma heated gas clouds swirling through space and time, forming their own matter and gravitational pull.

[Al R]

Bloody hell... That's what my Father would always say to me!!! Old fart... :p

My god. I thought depression knew no bounds when I realised I was turning into MY dad. Imagine how miserable I feel, turning into yours!

Oh dear god.. what should I have done differently, where did I go so wrong..? :{

[Airborne Aircrew]

I thought depression knew no bounds when I realised I was turning into MY dad. Imagine how miserable I feel, turning into yours!

ZING!!! OUCH... Nice... Fcuker!!! :ok:

[LowObservable]

Did anyone ever manage to make the guard dog in the Airfix Bloodhound not fall over?

[Airborne Aircrew]

I had the Bloodhound... I don't remember the dog though... Second thoughts I vaguely remember an RAF Policeman... did he have a dog?

[revik]

Yep, the dog was definately there although I'm sure it wasn't an RAF issue dog - Alsation - assault; more like a 'scooby doo' type mutt. And, of course, a Landrover was included, too. Was drivelling on to one of my daughters about how delicious duck and turkey eggs are to eat (fried) and I couldn't let the moment pass without regailing my memories of applying 'duck egg blue' to the underside of an Airfix Spit. Series 1 - definately in a plastic bag with card piccy attached by staples.

[Fake Sealion]

I'm definately from the era of making kits sold in plastic bags AND pre-decimalistion !

Recall saving and saving for the big Airfix B-29 - I think the their largest kit at the time - was about 18 shillings?

The scene:-
Newspaper laid out.
Paints,glue and old bits of decals stored in a large already made Airfix box. Sharp modellers knife for cutting off parts.(of model!!!)
Bottle of Turps with old fish paste jar to clean brushes.
Bit of rag for wiping same.
Rubber bands to wrap tightly around recently glued parts of the model in an (ofter vain) attempt to have a good seal. A few clothes pegs to augment this!
Saucer at the ready for applying decals - tweezers used for this.
Bits of plastic "twigs" from previous models to stir the paint.


My 14 yr old son wouldn't even begin to understand all this !!!

FS

[Almost_done]

I'm under obligation at the moment to work with my son to build his Revell A380, so I get to have fun again with plastic aircraft models and spend time doing meaningless wonderful things with my son :)

[Old Hairy]

Listen. When I was a lad, wood wasn't invented. In fact, neither were planes. We used to build models of plasma heated gas clouds swirling through space and time, forming their own matter and gravitational pull.

Yeah son,but I am really old,all we had was "Dick Barton" ! did'nt have all these super glues,but bananna oil smelt quite nice,plus of course dope for the tissue

[Airborne Aircrew]

My 14 yr old son wouldn't even begin to understand all this !!!

Now that generated a belly laugh... It's so true... and I remember a very similar scene... Never thought of the clothes pegs though... Did they really help with those imperfect seams? I just used to try to fill the gaps with paint... :O

[LowObservable]

It's a bit hard to determine the breed at 1/72nd scale.

[Al R]

This thread could now reasonably be expected to drift to the matter of Commando magazines now. When reet good and properly engaged, the Japs always used to say 'Aieeeee', the Jerries 'Ach', and the Brits, erm.. 'Ughhh'.

Just thought I'd share that.

Who remembers Lord Peter Flint, and Sgt Dan Duff (he fought with his boots clean you know)?

[normally right blank]

The Japs screamed "Banzai".

[Al R]

Soz. When they were shot, they deffo went 'Aieeeeeeeeeeeee!'.

http://www.commandocomics.co.uk/Commando.html

Union Jack Jackson!!

[Roland Pulfrew]

Did anyone ever manage to make the guard dog in the Airfix Bloodhound not fall over?

I had the Bloodhound... I don't remember the dog though... Second thoughts I vaguely remember an RAF Policeman... did he have a dog?

LO and AA

The Airfix Bloodhound? Now for that you need to go here:

http://www.britmodeler.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5207

And "Yes" the dog is there!!

[Airborne Aircrew]

Hah... Now I remember it... That Landrover was crappy...

LowObservable:

You're right... The combination of 1/72nd scale and the "less than imaginative" paint job leaves the precise species a bit fuzzy...

[samuraimatt]

Excellent. Now we have 4 pages of absolute drivel. GALC.

[vecvechookattack]

It may seem drivel to you but some people find this sort of stuff very interesting.

[Jetex Jim]

Fans of this thread might like to seek out a book called Achtung Schweinehund by Harry Pearson, Pearson goes on at great length about all kinds of miniature soldiers, Airfix plastic kits, Commando comics and the game of Airfix charades.

In this old mess favourite a person strikes a pose and the others have to guess which figure from the range of 1/76 scale Airfix military figures is being emulated. A popular choice being the German WW2 infantry officer who posed in jackboots, jodhpurs and cap and aiming a Luger, with his left hand poised delicately over his hip.

Pearson also makes the interesting observation that in Commando comics the enemy was invariably identified by his characteristic food, the Japs being ‘rice chompers’, the Italians ‘ice cream wallahs’, the Germans naturlich being ‘sausage munchers’ Although oddly the Axis powers were never depicted retaliating by referring to the British as ‘Stodge swallowers!’ or ‘Overcooked vegetable eaters’

[Al R]

Hi Jim,

Do you have an ISDN for that mate?

[Jetex Jim]

See your messages

[Al R]

Rrrroger.

Ever taken this? ;)

http://www.thechap.net/content/section_magazine/index.html

http://www.thechap.net/content/images/officer-small.jpg

"The Chap believes that a society without courteous behaviour and proper headwear is a society on the brink of moral and sartorial collapse, and it seeks to reinstate such outmoded but indispensable gestures as hat doffing, giving up one's seat to a lady and regularly using a trouser press."

[Airborne Aircrew]

Well... I have to say I have never used a trouser press...

That probably has a lot to do with the fact that I prefer an iron... I still iron my jeans before I wear them... and I wear jeans for work... :}

Other than that... I'm all for "The Chap".

[seafuryfan]

"The Dogfight Double": ME110 vs Spitfire IX. The kits might not have been cutting edge, but the art work on the box was fantastic to me as a youngster.

I once decided to make the old Airfix B1 Lancaster (the really bad one) at scale weight.

Well, sort of. I just crammed plasticine into every nook and cranny, marvelled at the finished product as she sat on creaking u/c, knowing that it was 'sort of' that heavy (scaled down), with a full bomb load.

[Al R]

Its a reet good read for train journeys AA.

Dogfight Doubles!!!! I had the MiG 15 one. Forgot about them.

[Flyingblind]

Excellent posts Gentlemen, brought back many happy memories, especially after spending hours constructing said models to only then fly them to the old bomb shelter down the back garden and launch them off the roof. After that a quick introduction to dads swiped box of Swan matches and burning Spitfire was a go go.

No OH&S in those beautiful days.

And living just down the road from HMS Deadalus we had all sorts of dark blue chaps flying over to nicely complement my oft short ranged plastic friends.

:)

[elf]

Is there any correlation between the durability of the model and that of the real aircraft?
For instance, the Sopwith Camel lasts about a nano-second in the hands of a six year old, losing first its prop and subsequently its upper wing. An F104 will shed a wing or two no matter how much glue, the Harrier loses the untiy of its nozzles and helicopters (which haven't figured much in the thread) are totalled fairly sharpish, the Lynx losing a tail rotor in seconds and the Puma undercarriage collapsing. Curiously the Apache model has only lost its gun and stabilator to date.
On the other hand the F4, Lancaster and Meteor have retained their their shape and form (less the rear guns on the Lanc) despite yesterday's pre-breakfast dust up with Godzilla, a 6" model of catwoman (a scary thought if scaled up to real life) and a flying version of Thomas the Tank engine.
Was there ever a Vulcan, I wonder, and how would that fare in the hands of an infant warrior?

[Strictly Jungly]

Commando Comics...........ahhh what happy memories of my youth....a few years later we had such jolly japes by an adept application of sno-pake we created our own scripts...............mostly unprintable now I am afraid.

[nacluv]

When I was a kid...

Harrier GR1 on 1/24 was a belting kit. You could lift out the wing assembly and see the Pegasus sat there in all it's glory. You could also swing the u/c legs up and close the doors - except for the nose leg which wouldn't bend at the oleo joint and so it fouled on the front edge of the wheel bay. Doh!

Also had an old WWI something-or-other which infuriated me to the point of tears. Airfix had obviously got the instructions badly wrong because the b*stard engine kept rotating with the b*stard prop.

Didn't know the difference between rotaries and radials then... :hmm:

[Roland Pulfrew]

Commando Comics...........ahhh what happy memories of my youth....
Whilst waiting for a train and perusing the shelves of a W H Smiths (other news sellers are available) I noticed that you can still buy Commando Comics!!:D So don't let them be a memory of your youth make them a memory of your children's youth as well!!! :ok:

And

Was there ever a Vulcan..?

Airfix did one and I think still do!!

[Wensleydale]

Never mind Commando Comics.... Better by far was Captain Hurricane in the Valiant comic of the 1960s. Now he could really beat up the cabbage eating Krauts (with the aid of his corporal, Maggot Malone, of course).

(Add "kelly's Eye" and "The Steel Claw".... wish I could remember functional analysis as easily):)

[snapper41]

Three 'best-of' Commando compilations are now available - try Amazon.
There is also a Battle Picture Library 'best-of', but I always thought it inferior to Commando!:8

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

Ah! FEARLESS. The last British warship Class to have main belt armour. Sorry, I digress.

Was it the Victor that had Matt Braddock as its intrepid birdman? Used to irritate me as a kid that I could get comics called Victor and Valiant but no Vulcan!

[elf]

Whilst "Victor" can be substituted in lieu of "Valiant" one can't really sing "He who would Vulcan be.." without being thrown out of chapel.

[wokkameister]

And the aviation interest here? Has Fearless ever flown?

Possibly a Rum Ration thread, sounds a bit fishhead!

WM

[Airborne Aircrew]

And the aviation interest here? Has Fearless ever flown?

Possibly a Rum Ration thread, sounds a bit fishhead!

Don't be such a wet blanket...

[Archimedes]

http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/upload/img_400/FKD_000199.jpg


Will this suffice for the aviation/Fearless link?

[Airborne Aircrew]

Now that's a hell of a model... Did you do it all yourself... :D:D:D

[Siggie]

A Labrador perhaps?

[JagRigger]

OK - to go full circle with this thread, I found this link to Fearless/Intrepid on a model site: :sad:

http://www.primeportal.net/naval/jon_davies/hms_fearless_and_intrepid/

[doubledolphins]

Hey Wokka, of corse she hasn't but she has a flight deck and I am sure you have threads about your aerodromes on pprune. Ok, Ok, big problem, there was no hangar. Took a couple of wessie 5s to the caribean in 81 and they needed rebuilding when they got home. All that sun, sea and........
(sorry, that was Insipid but who's checking.)

Any way, every time I head south and the weather is good I look down at them. It is easy to pick them out from 30plus on account of them being secured together. I shall miss them.

[John Farley]

Wokkameister....mmmm. On a point of detail is that monica related to something of which you are proud or ashamed?
JF

[garp]

Final pictures from HMS Fearless. Click on the picture for the short video.

http://www.deredactie.be/cm/de.redactie.english/mediatheek_en/1.228811

[Mr-Burns]

ooooh and jumpers for goalposts. marvellous. isnt it? wasnt it?