My local toys r us is selling 1:24 spits for thirty quid. They've labelled them as 1:32. Can't decide whether to tell them or buy one? For my lad, of course!


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The standard of workmanship from some people with Airfix models
always amazes me.

Good to see they are still around and being made.

Airfix models, Humbrol paints, Commando Magazines, seems a fair few
who end up in the military started the same way :O :ok:

Airfix has never released a 1/32nd Spitfire.
 

If the box says "Airfix", grab it. They have done Spitfires I and V in 1/24th. They are working their way through the Spitfire/Seafire line in 1/48th scale. Two weeks ago, I picked up, all in 1/48th scale, a Spitfire I which includes parts to build a very early Spitfire with the two bladed prop, as well as a Spitfire XII and a Seafire 46/47. I have hidden them from my dearest because although she is a lovely woman, (who has abysmal taste in men), she probably wouldn't take the time to differentiate between Spitfires and Seafires. She would just see three models of the same aircraft and start organizing the firing squad, or jankers at best.

Did she make the Dog that came with it??

RAF career in modelling?

Well when I were a lad I had big hopes of doing this one day whilst I built the kit (now long since fallen victim to the air pistol)

http://www.scalemates.com/products/i...ccaneer%20s.2b




Sort of made it:



http://www.hyperscale.com/images/air...viewbg_box.jpg

:}

I still have one of these sealed in its bag - perhaps I'll get round to building it one day:


A pity Airfix didn't sell them some 40 or so years earlier...

Go for it BEagle ...

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.co...1223375742.jpg

Nice TSR2s Coff. Is that 1 in 72 and 1 in 48? Your builds? :D:D

Not my work RP old chap ... sorry I really should have made that clear ... just appreciating the skill shown by modellers :ok:

As to scale 1:48

Here is another favourite of mine at 1:48 (not modelled by me :()

ETPS TSR2

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.co...1265253240.jpg

Oh no, it's that babbling Canuck again!
 

Roland, if you built that Bucc you are either a good model builder or an incurable masochist! JK. That TSR-2 has been my "Holy Grail" for a very long time, as Airfix apparently released them in fairly limited numbers when they first came out, and over here in the colonies they are as rare as rocking horse manure. I finally picked one up from un garcon in Lower Canada recently, to go beside my Avro Arrow.

In my case, I started off building 1/72nd scale model aircraft, thank you Messrs Airfix and Frog. As I aged, I found that hours of playing with an electric computer at work and just general wear and tear made my eyes not as sharp as they used to be, so I switched over to 1/48th scale. As I posted earlier, I was very pleased when Airfix moved into 1/48th scale in a big way. I really enjoy building RAF aircraft of any era, and I am glad to see more options becoming available for those of us with that particular inclination * Now, if only they would do a Hunter....or a Javelin...or yes, a Chipmunk. They could also do some WW II aircraft. (Blenheim, anyone?)

It is good to see that Airfix are coming back strongly, and I for one welcome it.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Friday.

* Building 1/48th scale plastic models of RAF aircraft, Nutloose, just to make things perfectly clear.:rolleyes:

54 Phan - I have had the same idea of displaying an as-early-as-possible Spit (the prototype would not be a long jump from an early Mark I) alongside the FR.47. I don't think that there are many aircraft that have absorbed a 135 per cent increase in installed power through evolutionary development.

I will say that building models is a good way to start learning about how aircraft are put together (conceptual design). Between that and the imaginary designs that appear in my margins during long meetings...

54Phan

I don't remember it being a particularly difficult kit. Then again it was a l o n g time ago and back then if it looked like a Bucc it was a Bucc.

As for 1/48 Hunters depending on the mark you are after you could always try this one

LO, you are right, just some rescribing for the rudder balance and a different colour scheme would be the major differences. If I had the space, I'd do a whole lineup of Spitfires/Seafires*. I want to do an early Spitfire from 19 Squadron, possibly the first Spitfire to be written off, the serial number of which escapes me at the moment as most of my references are in storage.

And yes, instruction sheets used to be much more informative about "the gubbins" than they are now.


* Disclaimer, my favourite piston engine aircraft is the Mosquito, my favourite jet is the Phantom, not that anyone cares, I suppose.

Hi Roland. Thanks for your insight on the Bucc. I have spoken to others who have built it and found great difficulty with the fit. I have one in my to-do pile and will engage the beast at sometime in the near future. Somewhere in the midst of this disaster I call an apartment, I have markings for 237 OCU.

As far as the Hunter is concerned, I have an Academy FGA 9 here somewhere. It would nice to have a two seat Hunter, and I feel that Airfix would be able to do it justice. They certainly did a great job on the Lightning.

It had yet to be named the Buccaneer when I made mine in around 1960:


The folding wings didn't fit very well, the folding radome was even worse. But it was my pride and joy at the time!

Ah yes, Beagle, another stroll down memory lane. I never got the chance to pick up an N.A 39, but you're right. They were our pride and joy. I had a large collection of unputtied 1/72nd scale aircraft, mostly unpainted, and those that were painted had no relation at all to reality!

It so happened that my parents had company over one day, friends of my aunt and unknown to us. The conversation flagged, and finally, in a desperate attempt to break the impasse, mon pere announced "Well, Peter builds models! Show them your collection, son!"

I proudly took them and showed them my collection of misaligned aerodynes, some bearing dabs of paint under the cockpit denoting successfully completed operations against the cat or even other plastic models. (I had an Airfix FW-190D that spent most of its "flying time" being shot down, mostly by my Airfix Mossie.)

The woman maternally trilled about how wonderful it was, whilst the man exhibited his very best "Damn, I wish I was golfing!" look.

Peaceful, more innocent times. I hadn't thought about that incident until this morning, reading this thread.

BEagle you must have loft space the size of RAF Cardington at BEagle Towers to keep all these treasures :)

24th scale spit my dad built for me along with the same scale me109 for a battle of britain dogfight.

the splendid man went to the trouble of mocking up a engine fire in the jerry plane with painted cotton wool and modded the pilot to look like effecting an escape from the cockpit.

after discovering birds, bikes and booze (all at once it seemed), i lost interest in plastic planes and glue.

having lost my son to the same erm, vices plus the RAF at sixteen i now know why my father looked so sad when the planes ended up in the bin:(

i suppose like a lot of middle aged men i would give parts of my body to build one again with me long departed dad........feel sad now!!!!!!

Indeed they were. We used our imagination and dubious skills to have fun with our model aircraft.

Pride of place went to my 1/72nd Airfix Lancaster. Over the years it became rather grubby and battered after many sorties in chubby hands...I modified it to drop a bomb with a crocodile-type spring clip from a Cat 5 Christmas tree ornament (courtesy of our Scottie), one part of which was wedged into the slot for the stand and the other could be operated by thumb whilst clutching the rear fuselage just behind the wing. Plus a 'bomb' from some other source, although I don't recall whence. The bomb could be taken apart and stuffed with 'caps' which came on a reel for toy guns. Insert bomb into spring clip, take off on imaginary sortie and approach target making Lancaster noises, then release bomb... Which the first time I tried it out landed with a satisfying flash and loud 'crack!', causing our normally placid ginger (ex)-tom to take to the hills for a day or so!

I can't imagine that today's expensive, electronic iToys are quite as much fun. Although the ginger moggie's descendents might disagree!

And the Lanc's eventual demise? BSA Meteor.....need I say more?

Coff, sadly no. The few remaining models in my collection were sent out to Menorca when my late father decided to move there; soon afterwards they were all given away by my step-mother without my knowledge. So I've only the memories now. Although I still have a 1/72nd Frog Hunter FGA9 in 58 Sqn markings, a relic of my 1976 Hunter time.

mr fish, thank you for that. It was my dad who got me into modeLling (plastic modeLling, just in case Nutloose reads this.) He built the Airfix bagged sailing ships, like the Santa Maria and the Golden Hind, while I watched in fascination. Eager to emulate him, one day while he was at work, I got my hands on his latest project, the "Revenge". Alas, my 7 year old skills weren't quite up to the self imposed assignment. I remember he was remarkably calm when he got home and surveyed the main deck, which his middle child had managed to soften through the application of too much cement! I still got fed though, so he couldn't have been that angry.

I remember reading the blurb on the instructions and getting inspired to research Sir Francis Drake, and I have maintained this love of research and plastic model aircraft even after I discovered "birds and booze."

In my collection of aircraft models, the only outsider is a large Airfix kit of HMS Sovereign Of The Seas, which I purchased for my dad as a present when I was older and got a job paying me better than a paper route. After his death, it devolved to me. (I suppose my sisters couldn't give it away at the yard sale.) I will build it and remember him.


And yes, mr fish, you spoke for most of us when you mentioned longing to build something with your dad again. Remember sir, that memory is life's most precious gift.