Airfix Model Company Overview New

hi guys it's John back again with a novel another model company overview this is the 8th in the series and this is probably the most anticipated overview of a model company that I can think people have been looking forward to very much indeed today we're going to be talking about Airfix now Airfix is synonymous with the plastic modeling world in as much that if you were to say I want to do a plastic model kids to the average Joe on the street they may not completely understand what your intentions are but if you were to tell them that I'm going to start an Airfix kit tonight they'll know instantly what you mean the fact of the matter is is that Airfix has become a household name for everything linked to the plastic modeling world and yet they were not anything like the first model company following in the footsteps of companies such as sky birds and frog sky boats models were initially made from solid blocks of wood that needed to be wrought into the planned shapes prior to assembly they were quite labor-intensive to construct and sky boats had made wooden and metal toys amongst other products since about 1932 they closed down at the beginning of the war and reopened later in 1945 the sky birds 86 but it was frog that started building a form of plastic aircraft in 1936 when they built a range of flying kids that were powered by elastic bands in fact it was where they got their name from flown right off the ground frog they continue to build plastic aircraft for the military for identification purposes during World War two now Airfix was founded in 1939 by a Hungarian Jewish refugee by the name of Nicholas Cove and strangely enough the airfix brand name didn't come from anything to do with aircraft or modelling but as a result of Kove liking word sending in fix he wanted the company's name to begin with a letter a to ensure that the company was on the first page of any telephone directory and was very quick and easy to find and so Airfix was the name chosen the frog kits were not injection-molded but of a cellulose acetate butyrate mixture and when Airfix came on the scene in 1939 they made a range of cheap rubber toys filled with air and a number of plastic toys aircraft and figures as well later he introduced injection molding machinery into britain to make items more commonly found in households like kitchen accessories and storage units made from plastic at one time Airfix was the largest manufacturer of cones in the united kingdom airfix's debut into the world of plastic models came in 1949 when Massey Ferguson commissioned ethics to produce a tractor from their range to be used for sales purposes an efex sold a number of tractors to Massey Ferguson that had to be assembled by skilled workers at the FX plant prior to delivery Airfix were granted the right to sell the tractor in Woolworths at a retail price of two shillings that's about ten pence in modern money but the only way to meet the price limit was to make the kid from poorer starring parts and supply the tractor in kit form for the customer to assemble themselves they were packed in poly bags and paper headers were put on the top and they were sold as model kits and so the injection molded Airfix kit was born Airfix was the first company to produce an injection-molded construction kit anywhere in the world and Wallace was so impressed with the sales success of the tractor that they approached Airfix for a follow on kids and in 1952 Airfix released the Golden Hind the kit included plastic parts poly rigging and was released in 130 hundred scale follow-on kits for the Golden Hind came in the form of the Santa Maria and the Cutty Sark an ethics also released two more kids in those early years that were now considered quite rare these kits are the BTK Spitfire and the now very rare SS Southern Cross it is believed that if you have an air Crick's Southern Cross in your collection and it's seal when unmade it should be stored in a safe in 1962 Airfix released their first - airliner kits in the shape of the caravel and the comets beginning the skyking range of 1/144 skills in airliners later release has included date Handley page HP 42 Heracles and the Boeing clipper a number of 50s 60s and 70s airliners like the Vanguard the chidings and the dc9 and a couple of wide-body Jets like the dc-10 and the Tristar and also of course the iconic Concorde and the Boeing 747 all these airliner kits for sometimes quite tricky to assemble because you had to poke the decals out with a tool before fitting the cabin windows prior to assembly of the airframe but on the whole they were pretty reasonable in high quality in 1962 they also acquired Rosebud incorporated kit master models and added a full range of railway kits and double ohö scale incorporating models of locomotives shunting yard machinery in rolling stock and a very wide range of trackside accessories forming part of their now fairly large inventory there was however an oddity in the form of the 1/16 scale aerial Aero motorcycle that also formed part of a kit master deal now FX released the double series sailing ships are the some larger sailing ship kits which are an exception to their constant scale concept the aerial arrow was joined in the 1960s and 70s by several other motorcycle kits and a range of dinosaurs also fell into this group but Airfix chose a constant scale concert for everything else in their range in one six hundred scale that's equivalent to one inch to fifty foot for the ocean liners and warships later they also did a number of ships connected to the sink the Bismarck saga and 1,200 scale and 1/144 scale for their airliners of space vehicles in double oho scale which is close to 176 they built locomotives and railway accessories some military vehicles and figures in 170 second scale they use that for the aircraft and some small combine air combat boats they also made aircraft in 1/48 scale and a number of 135th scale military vehicles were added to their range late in the 1970s and 80s in 1/32 scale this scale was kept for the vintage and modern car range to keep in line with the Scalextric style Airfix track racing toy the idea was to have the body shells of the cars clip onto the racing car chassis later a range of multi post figures and military vehicles were added to the 32nd scale range also also aircraft were built in 1:24 scale in the form of the airfix super kits and also a range of cars quite a large range of cars were added to the 124 scale range and some 125th scale cars were also added later you can't ever forget and the fantastic in 1971 release of the 1/12 scale Airfix bentley the four and a half litre bentley blower which is truly an amazing model the kits were released in a wide range of colors aimed at molding the kits in similar colors to the paint scheme of the finished product the colors used were white light grey silver grey yellow light blue midnight blue green red desert sand and black just for interest sake the kit in front of you is the 12 scale 1971 release of the Bentley which recently has been released by jambe hobbies limited in their red times 16 boxes can you remember or can anyone out there remember what the plastic color used for the Bentley was when it was originally released in 1971 the modern release kit is released in light gray with a sprue of chrome and some rubber tires and parts well what color was the plastic in 1971 it probably wouldn't surprise you to know that it was green it's the modern day release down here with a rubber parcel on display and here's the nice tidy compartment for this kit with a really nice instruction leaflet some metal parts for cogs the chrome parts there and the green parts pretty similar to the cut that the color of the car itself I'm pretty sure there was also a black sprue in there as well but don't quote me I'm not 100% certain one of the other features of the 12th scale falling-off litre bentley was that you could add a small prop motor style motor electric motor and it provided you with all the metal parts the shafts and cogs to drive the back wheels and I'm not sure again but I'm sure I'm pretty sure that the the steering column is linked to the front wheel so when you turn the steering wheel the front wheels moved they steered an interesting feature on that kid now FX launched a range of adversary' sets called dogfight doubles in the nine early 1960s I think this kit was released in about 1964 initially starting with World War one biplane sets and then moving on to world war ii and post-war model sets as well they were the only company to release dogfight doubles as a standard model and not as a special release or limited release kit the kits used on these models were pretty old tool kits but one or two of them were not so bad like the Cessna - and the mig-21 and the mig-15 and the Mirage 3c pictured here the modern sets released by Hornby are on the main new tool kits and the so they're really really good excellent quality models even venturing into 1/48 scale kits for the BF 109 and the Spitfire mark 5b Efex released a number of kits that were filmed themed and television themed starting with a pan-american spacecraft from 2001 Space Odyssey yeah the famous Orion they later built the Angel interceptor from the TV series captain scarlet and please don't forget the amazing and wonderful double-oh-seven themed Aston Martin db5 the Toyota 2000gt and little Nellie yeah the autogyro from You Only Live Twice all in 1/32 scale accompanied by Odd Job and double-oh-seven himself the x-wing and TIE fighters as well as other subjects from Star Wars there were a number of kits from space 1999 earth in the Eagle transporter and Hawk spacecrafts they were all covered hell there was even a model released of the monkey mobile from the TV series for monkeys it was a truly and fantastic range and ethics are reading the market incredibly well their walls however in my opinion one serious mistake and it was in the terrible choice to customize the Ford Capri Cortina and the Zephyr models robbing future modelers of these three wonderful cars these are the results of what Airfix did when they brutalized absolutely destroyed and brutalized the molds on these three really good kids FX released a monthly magazine which was loaded with hints tips profiles and stories as well as reference materials for modelling projects a new release is called the airfix magazine they also set up an Airfix modelers Club with monthly offers and competitions advertised through the magazine and the pamphlets found in every Airfix kit one of the most famous precedents of the airfix modelers Club was dick Emery a popular TV comedian in the 1970s during the 1960s or 70s Eric sold a number of different products as follows they produced a number of action toys by the sky die the diving sub excetera these kits here were the many aeroplane kits that were started to be flooding the market in 1949 very very interesting was also the interchangeable world of the micronauts these are models that you could interchange parts with to produce new toys Airfix also produced a motor racing slot car set which was like their version of Scalextric they also produced a railway set similar to home be enjoying home B and Lima and these sets were electrified just like ordinary train sets and you can also use the WH Oh Scott sorry scale static locomotives as park ups in the shunting yards and various bits and bobs FX also did a couple of toy guns for children to play war with I never had one of these two but I think I could have fancied the FN rifle FX also produced an alternative to Lego in the better builder sets these blocks were quite a bit larger than Lego and they built much more sturdier buildings but of course so less versatile than Lego and so really never really hit the market as well as Lego ever did FX also produced a number of combat packs starting with the airfix combat pack and desert combat Bank and these generally utilized the poly vinyl cast which we'll talk about in a minute in w-h-o scale but they also produced a number of diorama combat packs which were designed to use the figures in Ko hearse with the actual packs themselves a lot of them came with figures included the pontoon bridge assault set I remember having myself and I had a pattern a Centurion tank and I'm pretty sure I had an a CFP with two packs of figures probably would have been the commando for the German infantry that was featured in this picture and also that god-awful gun emplacement which was never that good a kit but it was fun to play with Efex also produced a funny thing called the data method car this was a car that you pre-programmed with a data disc and it followed a preset course laid out by the data disc and the car you could make the car do lots of different things probably limited fun but it was very much a novelty at the time nothing else like it on the market they also did a number of adventure toys I remember the super flight deck with the power launcher I didn't have it but a friend of mine had it he lived up the road and we had a lot of fun with that with that plastic phantom coming on up the deck they're also the Super Eagles they were pinhead and the craft tying games and the space warriors these were a 1980s kit and also of course a zoo and farm animals playsets that were extremely popular in the 70s they even did a Fighter Command game which has a form of a board game based on the Battle of Britain then you also heard the polyvinyl military vehicles which incorporated a landing craft these kits were pre-made they were all green except for the landing craft which I believe was grey but they were designed for children to buy take home and play with rather than build up and put on your side and then you can't forget the 1970s and 80s phenomenon of the weebles and weebles playsets I don't know of anybody who didn't have access or had some of this stuff in their house when they were a child and then of course you've got the models themselves don't forget those now everything was hunky-dory with new kits coming off into the shops at a rate of approximately one a month when the oil crisis hit in the latter half of 1979 an Airfix started to run into financial problems these were the same problems that saw companies my frog rimas Esai and all roar assent bust and in 1981 Airfix bought up lock stock and barrel by Mattel incorporated managed by their toy Anatoli the first thing Palace we did was to drastically reduce the range being produced at any one time they started building the kits and limited runs to try and reduce the amount of dead cash tied up in stock and this process took about twelve months to accomplish and then they lock they looked at the image Mattel wanted for Airfix as a brand and palette I wanted something far removed from what was seen as a normal and came up with a novel idea they began Reebok Singh the kits shown the model made up on a blueprint and they didn't just keep this for the aircraft subjects they use this format for everything new kit releases were rare but some kits were released such as their famous Vulcan bomber and the b-1 lancer kit as well sorry I've got these slides all that room but this is basically showing you how they transposed from what was the norm over to the blueprint boxing's and they were very very different and here's one of their latest releases across the Falcon bomber and the b-1 lancer both these kits were really really nice although the b1 didn't have an issue with its canopy fitting and the fuselage was a little bit of a problem and the Vulcan that always had fit issues with its main air frame but the a-10 Thunderbolt 2 was a really really nice kit and the Sikorsky ch-53 sea stallion was also released in 1982 these models were all very very good quality things started to pick up in the second oil crisis hit sure in the middle of the 1980s and although ethics as a company was doing pretty well Mattel in general weren't in 1985 the Welsh railway firm dope hull models bought the mainline section of ethics and in so doing acquired all of the double ohö scale Railway orientated kits the remainder of fx4 sold in 1986 to board and incorporated USA and humbrol group was the division that took charge which also incorporated Henner and so the whole organization [ __ ] to France now during the mode one of the airfix kids jinx was lost ironically at the CSS France making this kit are very expensive purchase on the second-hand market virtually overnight some France ships still sell for stupid money even today and it's not unusual to find FX kits and hella boxes and vice versa as from broad group cashed in on the airfix brand here you can see the Hawker hurricane which was actually an hello release kit but it's also the hurricane found in this boxing of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight you also had the vampire Airfix boxing which was originally the Mistral in the hell okay this is exactly the same kit but found in an Airfix box that's actually a Hello model you also had the airfix secret on dart which was actually the humble and heller version of the super it's on doll fighter but also of course you found Airfix kits and henna boxes the MIL mi-24 hind a and d could be found in the Hello box here the Douglas a 1j Skyraider was found in a Hello box and also the p38 F and H lightning was found in a Hello box hell even the 24 scale super kits were found in hella boxes they they release all of them the stoker the harrier everything they released everything in hello boxes boom years for again apparent again with but again financial problems for facing humbrol in much the same way that they faced palitoy in the mid 1980s FX was up for sale again and in a source of and a source of cash was found from Island when Alan and McGuire purchased humbrol group in 1992 this time sorry this was a time when kits wery boxed in Eric's branding this orientating from the Czech Republic and Japan things ran okay for a number of years until the receivership people stepped in and put Airfix up on the market yes again jambe productions stepped in with a deal securing the purchase in 2006 and Airfix appears not to have looked back from this deal in 2008 JB models was acquired by Hornby and so the entire JB models cape range was reboxed by ethics now jambe has had a very positive effect on air Airfix as a company with virtually every new kit release being of a top-notch level kids such as their Victor the Shackleton the 72nd scale fountain - Blenheim and Beaufighters and of course their war a Sea Fury a meteor in 1/48 are all absolutely fabulous hawlings present kits presently sold by ethics in the new red box labeling and boxing's our aircraft in 144 scale 101 72nd scale one forty eight and twenty four scale ships in one twelve hundred scale on seven hundred scale on six hundred scale one four hundred scale 1/350 scale and one one hundred and eightieth scale also in one 130th scale and seventy second scale they also build a number of military vehicles these are found in 176 scale on 72nd scale 1/48 scale and 1/32 scale and FX also roulette release a range of buildings in 76 72nd 148 and 1/32 there is a range of cars in 1/32 scale and of course 1/12 scale Bentley there's also a number of engineering kits which are quite interesting as well so I'm not forgetting the fact that they build figures in 176 scale 148th and 1/32 scale and a number of quick build kits are featured in 170 second and 32nd scale and what the feature the engineering kits that I've gone out and I'm sorry about that the engineering kits are basically pit depicting engine but there were a number of old tools that are released as well the trophic loco I think was released and also the beam engine which were quite interesting and these are new new icon releases by Holmby and they're they're full working models are really really interesting also of course you had the diorama playsets these were produced in 176 172nd 148 on 1/32 now what I want to do quickly now if I want to take you through the boxing history because the boxing history is quite interesting the way things have pained through the original boxing started off with a tiger oh but before we go into the boxing I want to explain something about the instruction leaflets as well because the instruction leaflets they've evolved through that through the years as well in the Type O and type 1 headers similar to the Vickers simmering BTK Spitfire that you can see here yes this is the original instruction leaflet that came with the BTK Spitfire and as you can see everything is in one picture everything all the parts are all loaded into one picture even the stand but there's a text box here which tells you exactly what you've got to do however you've got to do it and when you've got to do it now this is a type 2 header and this is another idea where you've got virtually everything in one box the only thing that's missing and pretty sure is the undercarriage and the cockpit assembly which goes on the Spitfire mark 9 yeah this is a Johnny Johnson Spitfire that was pretty awful as well you'll see images of this later but this is a type 2 heading and again you've got a text box at the bottom here which tells you exactly how to put everything together a win and and why and everything else and then you've moved into the type 3 assembly instructions and this is for the angel interceptor and you'll note that the exploded views are similar in concept to the type 1 but you've got information here on the aircraft itself and stats and build instructions here which which are pretty general but you still got the text boxes at the bottom which tell you how to put everything together with a pain guide there underneath and this was a type 3 format it was the last time the type 3 was the last time that instruction leaflets carried the text boxes which I need all the parts and gave you full build instructions in writing after the type 3 the type form 5 assembly instructions went over to this type of format this was the one used by Airfix prior to the palitoy takeover where all the stages were all split into small sections and you had them all itemized with very easy follow easy-to-follow arrows pointing to exactly what you've got to do with the optional parts all they don't separate boxes the pain guide was then split into two sections according to the different versions he had decals for and this one is for type 8 9 style instruction leaflet which was used by pallet Ori he notes how the actual build instructions are very much simplified there are no arrows apart from where you don't cement which I always thought was a bit weird and again you've got optional parts listed here but this is the format used by palitoy more modern formats go into the boxing style segregated server-sent lease which were used on an awful lot of models produced by Airfix during the 1990s and this style of boxing is quite common this one is actually carried over into the female tank which is presently released by Amba hobbies but it's the same in its the same instruction leaflet you get in the Hornby hobby that's was released before and then of course you've got the modern day zombie style instruction leaflet so naik really quite lightly so have a little bit of color which adds interest on the plans but they also show you the sub-assembly in a different color and some of the bits and bobs that her needs special attention are all clearly marked and it was a real treat to see a change in the instruction leaflets from what I often film is a complicated and difficult to follow format you know how to read the instructions very carefully to make sure that you didn't make mistake when you were building them this is a lot easier to follow know the boxing history the typo boxing history these were the first head is used by ethics in 1952 and this format carried through to 1959 and the reason why carried through to 1959 is very straightforward and easy type-0 was applied to bank kits and header kits up till 1956 but the type 1 boxing's which was this style with a small different colored icons at the side with the picture of the the kids it wasn't actually a painting it was just a picture of the kids formed on the right hand side of the header but type ones were only applied to series one and two models that were formed in a bank kids type o carried through to 1959 if the kit required a box and the Box style with similar to this the airfix lancaster was actually the first multi engine model produced by Airfix if you have one of these it's quite an interesting bill but quite dire box type 2 flew from 1939 to 1963 and these are quite easily identifiable by the fact that they have a white and red line border on the right hand side and sometimes a white and red line border on the left hand side it depends which way they printed the box at the time it covered both boxes unbag header kits this is the hawker hearts which of course was the the mold for the hawker Hart was altered to produce the Hawker daemon so you can't still get the Hawker Hart on the market here and their type 3 style boxing's run from 1963 to 1971 and these were the famous red striped kits these were formatted on all the boxes and all of the bad kids but they weren't always red stripes some were blue and some were yellow and some were green depending on the type of kit sold at the time type 4 ran from 1971 to 75 these did away with the the red stripe and put the airfix logo on the top of the box they still had box lids at this time all of the kits were released with box on it and the bag headers this is actually a type 4b and that is a time for C the 4c was the blister packs and they ran from 1972 to about 1975 then in 1975 the time v a boxing appeared and they ran until about 1977 and they were replaced by the time 5b which ran until about 1978 the interesting difference between the type for 5a and 5b is that the 5a didn't have some I like it was explained iterative information underneath the subject matter for the kids and it was written underneath I've got a couple of kids since in type 5b boxes and they're quite interesting type six type 6a above these had the planetoid logos and the top left-hand side and they covered an awful lot of kits that were released and re-released as new but this is actually the same old toolkit that was released in the red stripe days from 1964 65 and the 6b boxing which also rang concurrently with from 1978 until 1981 with the 6/8 these were introduced because of a law that was passed in Britain whereby in 1978 the government decreed that all toys which were sold to children in the UK were never to have any form of violence or war evidence appearing on their boxes they were trying to take violence our children's worlds completely and this actually caused Airfix to have an awful live if you like photoshopping else but they had to do it with paint of some of the box things why I'm not some it was quite a loss of them they even went to the extent of re feathering certain propellers on the aircraft that had been shot up like the Lancaster bomber kit the b-17 and a number of other models I think the Wellington was another one that had a propeller and they had to be re feathered and painted in as still turning otherwise the children would have known that they've been shot up by something during the war type seven boxing's which contain the slapping glueck it's 1981 to 82 these were an experiment by Airfix to produce a number of kits that were predominantly slap fit with a few of the parts which were to be fitted by gluing them together and then you had the type eight the blueprint panel toy boxes which were introduced in 1982 they ran through - about 1982 to 1988 and the two images on the box right our hellos first boxing stars of the time lines and they ran from 1988 to 1990 the way you can tell in it first edition hell up kits is the louvered border on the left hand side of the box this was the only boxing that Heather released with this style of ID they were in various different colors and also this kit here which is actually a type 8 model was still snap and glue and it was one of the kits left over from the days where they were trying to get rid of a lot of the stock and try and reduce some of the tied up cash in the dead stock and everything and again the the planetoid models here you can see them here as a chieftain tank and that's an f5 a two different complete generous of kits on the same style of boxing then in 1990 the type 10 style boss appeared and these were the the famous white bordered window framed boxes they came in two styles predominantly but the first style was basically for the aircraft of the Aces World War one and World War two kids and also the second style were for everything everything else was utilized in this box style where you have a white border around the outside and the series 3h o double O or 72nd scale whatever label would have been fitted into this side here also you had type 11 boxes and these ran up to about 2001 and these were the first kits that had the skill level graphs printed on the actual box lids these kits I think still had lids they didn't have open ends these were leaded boxes as well which were quite interesting then in 2002 the time twelve boxes these boxes had lids as well these were interesting because they were an image from the original paintings superimposed on some sort of weird planet orbiting picture which was a high level graphic that Hello used some of these kits were open-ended and they didn't have lids but most of them had lids they were a very unusual and unique style of boxing but also the type 13 boxes were also running concurrently in 2002 to 2003 but the type 13 boxes were only used for these two sets of well these two set kids you had the world rallycross cars racing set in 143rd scale and a set of three motorcycles including riders in the motorcycle racing sense as well and they were the only two kids found in type 13 boxes type 14 another unusual box these are very easily identified by a circular skills graphed but I found these boxes quite interesting because they were full width box lids some of them again were open-ended box lids but they showed the aircraft or the the subject matter in full full size across the box with it was really quite injured ingenuitive and then in in 2004 to 2008 the time 15 a and B ran as well these these were quite nice boxes as well I quite like these they were quite interesting the thing you have to also remember is that just trying to see which boxes it was yes it was in type of living boxes the boxes in type and which ran between 1998 and 2001 where the first box is released we're all series 1 2 & 3 were found in boxes of similar size and this I think was a cost reduction program a lot of these kits sizes carried over as a series 2 kit with a lot of series 1 and series 3 case were found in boxes of this size as well and the type 15 B just had can you see the yellow and black writing well these are type fifteen B's and that's a type 15 no you are the yellow and black guidance around the other way quite interesting now then type 16 the type 16 is the present-day boxing and these have been utilized since 2008 and still being used today I really like the red framed boxes I think they're very strong they don't tend to crush in your stash and they are very vibrant and they're easy to find even from the other side of a model shop which is great I've always found that the the Hornby release products have been not just as much of a top-notch level with the re-releases and new release kits and toolings but the old release kits and the old toolings they're easy to find as well and they've given a flash of life to some of these models I really like them now then kits worthy of note FX have made a number of kits that are very humdrum and run-of-the-mill but they have made a number of kits are really really nice they've also made however a number of kits which are real out nail howlers I'm going to present these in a slideshow very quickly for you kits worthy of note are the piper cherokee arrow the piper cherokee arrow is a series one kit it was first released on a twenty four blister pack and as you can see from this image it's a really nice model it's a shame about his silvering there on the but on there the deco wear but the kit is really nice I have built this kit before and it's got a bit of an ill-fitting canopy but you can deal with that quite easily by chafing it down and then filling in the little tiny gap that might be left but the kit is really really nice and attractive to look at you also have the Scottish aviation ball which is another kit that's really really nice it's done in two different variants of Swedish Air Force variants and this one and both kits when finished a really nice and tasty looking kits and also of course don't forget the other Bristol Bulldog the biplane this kit I'm building this K at the moment and it's absolutely superb I can't fault this kit there's a bit tricky to build to get all those struts on the right place or when it's jigged in and rigged it looks fantastic yeah very nice they also of course built the Sopwith Pup which is another gem from Airfix I really I've built this kit before quite a long time ago but I remember it was really really nice and this image shows how good the Saba the pumpkin look and also I wanted to introduce you to a ship which a lot of people overlook this is HMS Leander she was nineteen s late 1960s 70s frigate and quite a few of these were expensively used in the Cold War in the 1970s you know that war where Iceland was fishing in our borders and these ships were going and cutting all their nets up so they couldn't fish anymore this is an image showing f1 27 I think this is HMS Phoebe the wasp helicopter on the back is quite crude but it does look like a wasp and the kit is actually quite accurate and quite nice series too they did a number of kits which I think were quite good as well but before we go into that we've got this the Scorpion and Matilda tanks I think both of these two kits are really superb the Scorpion yeah it might be small but it's really accurate and a beautiful care to build and also in series 2 sorry in series 2 we were going into we got the britten-norman Islander which of course is built in a defender variant there and the two models are shown here you can see how the lines of the Islander have been faithfully reproduced and the kit itself is absolutely fantastic there are no fit issues for this kit whatsoever and it really does it really does build into a gem of a kit Airfix also produced a really nice fuga magister they did it in two versions from this boxing you could do the patch rail de france or you could do a belgian air force trainer both these kids version to look really pretty with the airfix food a Magister the only issue I didn't find with this kit is that it's a bit rivet city but if you found the roots down it's a beautiful lovely looking model really nice they also did the Beagle Bassett's in series 2 which with again another kit really really nice and don't forget they'd lost a museum art 3 another kit that's often overlooked I actually think the airfix meteor Mart 3 is one of the best paths 72nd scale meteor kits on the market it's actually a bit tricky to get it to sit on its nose wheel but when it's built as you can see here it looks quite apart the Beagle Basset is very colourful very nice looking attractive kit to put together and having your display there ethics also built a couple of kits which you might find are acquired taste a quiet face because the Narvik glass destroyer when it's built as an Airfix kit out of the box is a little bit bland in detail but this particular person has filled in the additional detail which is missing from the kids and the rigging and it looks really really nice but the thing you have to remember about the Narvik class destroyer is that it is really accurate and the paths are extremely good and really nice looking authentic paths that the kit builds up into a really really accurate model of the Narvik class destroyer very very nice indeed and the other kit that I featured here is the airfix camel tank transporter now this kit is often experienced with delight and glee and absolute hatred because there are certain parts of this kit that take hours and hours and hours of cleaning up and I'm guessing this person that's built this case has probably spent hours and hours and hours cleaning it up because the tires on that kit look wonderful but the scammer is actually a really nice kit and if you fit plastic hard windows into the cab it looks extremely nice series three you had the airfix navy links another really nice kit especially if you get the mark 8 and the command sh2 FC sprite and really nice kids I've built both these two models so the Western and Navy links recently and their sea sprite after another model of this kit because I want to build and do a review on it it is superb very very accurate very nice-looking and an intricately detailed rotor head very nice air fix also did in series three that I have around Canada DHC for beaver this kit is an absolute gem the the finished product he's got here with this model looks really really nice but even if you build up without the day-glo strips and everything else it's an extremely accurate and very attractive looking kit to have in your display FX also dead ahead econ circuit which a lot of people overlook and I think it's a really nice addition to a display they did it in two versions originally releasing the American SH 3d seeking which commemorated the number 66 helicopter which was involved in picking up the Apollo 11 space crew you know the lunar landers neil armstrong and the like and they also produced a westerlyn sinking and the difference is there are a number of paths to interchange and replace the american sinking paths but the main feature being the the rotor the tail rotor which has six blades instead of five and a number of aerials including that radome that sits on the top later editions of this kit actually had a shield that fitted over the front of the air intakes which is actually featured on the picture of the palitoy blueprint boxing there just above that model this kit is really really nice I really enjoyed building this kit when I did build it a number of years ago and the American variant is a very colorful and good-looking kid to add to your collection as well now series 3 built a couple of ships that I really think are nice additions to a collection HMS fearless I did build this kit recently she's a really nice-looking kit lots and lots going on all over a deck and to wessex helicopters and also there are a couple of landing crafts in the background which actually are opens and closes and there are of landing craft which sit on the ship's upper deck which are quite nice and also there's HMS Suffolk which is actually quite a large ship in Series three and she's reasonably well detailed as well I found this kit a joy to build she was really accurate very nice looking model very much enjoyed that one two series four you've got the shorts sc7 sky van a really nice kit again this bit tricky to bill because the fuselage builds up in fall slabs but when it's finished it's an extremely accurate and quite attractive looking model and also series for Erick's build one of the best twin-engine bomber models I've ever seen this is the b-26 Marauder it has an incredibly detailed interior and bomb bay and the undercarriage wells and Bay's of the engines are really really good as well this kids should never be sniffed out and I think the new release even though it's Martin new I think it's the original kids but it's still extremely good Eric's also built the DA so bring it mirage f1c not an awful lot of detail on this kit but the airfix mirage f1 is actually a really accurate rendition of the mirage f1 and although it's a series four it's a it's quite a nice kit to build on I have built this kit a long long long time ago when all of the teenager and I've got another model of this to build in my stash and hopefully I'll be getting around to that one pretty soon as well but it's a nice nice attractive and very accurate kit very accurate indeed and also one of the best model ship kits Airfix have ever produced and this is the series for HMS Belfast believe or not this kit has two hundred and fifty-seven parts and it is extremely detailed the kit has so many so much detail going on on their decks that it's actually a delight to paint build and finish off it's a real gem this kit is a must-have for any ship builders collection wonderful kid HMS Belfast there the other thing that's interesting is Belfast was done up in these colours when she met the Sean Horst incident in the Battle of the North Cape but there was another ship that was built as a sister ship to Belfast in HMS Edinburgh and you can build HMS Edinburgh from the same model she was identical and again I've got two of these kits and the stash to do just that FX also produced two kits in series five look quite nice for the interdictor mark six Canberra a really nice kit quite nice to build but a nightmare to get it fit on it's certainly asunder on its undercarriage properly but it is a nice really nice quite well detailed kit nicely finished and also this kit is one that a lot of people overlook yes it's a world war 1 biplane and it's quite large but any of you guys who like to rig biplanes and I know there are a number of you are there and you know who you are this kit is purposely built for you because all of the holes to rig this kit are actually preformed in the parts so you can rig this kit before you assemble the wings and everything is there laid out ready for you it's a superb kits very accurate actually and quite an impressive model to build and put together and put on your side unit but I mustn't it's expressed the fact that it's quite big FX also produced a couple of ships in HMS repulse and the king george v and again these two kids so extremely detailed and very accurate models the repulse again is one of the best battleship models Airfix have ever produced she's an absolute beaut and also don't forget the USS forrestal in series 8 and in series 9 and sometimes series 10 the Lockheed c-130 Hercules this image here looks like a photo the model has been finished that good but you can see the F explode own missile and Land Rover loading into the rear ramp and if you look very carefully the kit is actually a model with there's a slight seam line there on the cabin which gives it away but that picture makes that kit looks it looks real very very nice well done model but the Hercules has got certain fit issues and nightmares which people have to overcome but it does build into a very impressive and reasonably accurate kit and the original release also had the blood missile and Land Rover set included in the kit and this kit the USS forrestal is the biggest ship model Airfix have built and again I've built this kit and featured up one of my slide shows and it's a really really nice quite busy model on the deck with lots going on including shunter and cranes for maneuvering the the aircraft about nice kids very nice indeed they also built a couple of 72nd scale boats which I don't think should be marked out has not been wonderful kids the Vosper MTB I think is actually a really nicely detailed kit it has got inaccuracy issues for the front end of the Gunners position here and what Shore 100% but I've seen a few reviews where there are issues with that Gunners position but the rest of the key is really really nice and you can detail this kid up quite well which this fellow is actually done but the kit is really really nice very enjoyable build in the RAF launched these two turrets actually move and the boat itself is really really accurate very very accurate and really nice fitting kick beautiful and also of course one of their best motor torpedo boats the airfix have ever released the famous Germany boat which was re-released by Hornby as a famous German s boat not quite sure why it was called an e boat or an S boat or which was which was correct I'm not quite sure but the S boat was short for schnell boat and the e boat I don't know what it was short for but a lot of the Royal Navy referred to these boats as a boat's interesting but this is another one of my god I have kits if you're interested in small small craft and large scales 72nd scale therefore all three of those the one kit you need never to leave out is the airfix be a Nimrod now I've seen this kit made up several times and each time it never fails to amaze me and all me this kit is also mine it's put together it looks absolutely beautiful and I can't think of a better kit to have as an addition to your to your display the Nimrod is is a true gem it comes in four different variants as well and you can even build a reconnaissance variant which is really nice too that's for bae nimrod and don't forget the 12 scale for mathletes at Bentley blower this is probably one of the best kids Airfix have ever produced it's incredibly accurate it's very very impressive and it builds up into a very highly detailed and very highly accurate kit really really nice now then we've gone through some of the kits worthier notes we've also gone through we've got to go through the number of Howell ascetics have done so please avoid all of these at all costs the first of these is the Boulton Paul defiant NF male 1 and their early toting of the doublet of the Gloster gladiator Mart one talk about the defiant that defined it and it's just simply a dreadful K it's so bad that I would never even want one given to me it's dreadful awful kids the turrets the guns are too big the cockpits too small the propellers too small the entire front end of the aircraft airframe is too narrow is too spindly the wings don't look right the undercarriage is abysmal everything about this case just God it's just it's a joke it's a laugh the airframe on the gladiator isn't actually that bad it's a little bit fat and waxy here and there but the main issue I have with this kit is the fact that there's no carpet in it it's a flat plate with a neck and head sticking out the top of it and the canopy is big enough and clear enough for you to see the fact that this just ahead of next sticking out of it the kit looks absolutely hideous and should be avoided at all costs the next two are the hawker typhoon 1b in the Royal aircraft factories re eights now I've mentioned on a couple of videos about the airfix Typhoon the airfix Typhoon is quintessentially dreadful the cockpit is dreadful the airframe is pretty dreadful the front end the propeller propeller especially everything is just awful about this kit I can't think of any reason why I will ever want a and the re8 isn't bad rendition of the Rea the tailfins a bit garbage but the worst thing about this kit is the detail in the front end of the airframe and the pilots the pilot's look like they've been deflated they look like they've had all the life sucked out of them and it shows the kit is absolutely dreadful the next two models of the Supermarine Spitfire mark 9 and the jet Provost team are three both these two kids should be avoided like the plague this particular kit hasn't got a terrible airframe and even the cockpits not that bad the thing that's wrong with it is that the propeller spinner is far too narrow the exhausts are far too big and the front end of the airframe is just completely the wrong shape and the undercarriage looks a little bit spindly it just doesn't look right and the jet promised e-mart three well yeah there's not an awful lot it's it's just dreadful awful kit not worth even looking at let alone buying and building that do you have a line mosquito FB mark six and the Messerschmitt anyone one OD these are the early tools these kits should be avoided like the play the mosquito it's plain evident the cockpit canopy is dreadful the undercarriage is slightly too big for the airframe the airframe just hasn't got any texture detail in it whatsoever apart from the rudder which is quite nice but the rest of the aircraft it's just a ball it's an abortion terrible kit and the BF one will know this kit has some airframe issues and problems the propellers don't even they're not even the right shape but the main issue I have with this case at the cockpit canopy doesn't fit at all properly and the nose section the front of the aircraft is actually wider than the rest of the airframe and it just looks atrocious and atrocious kick terrible now then one of the biggest howler Zarek's have ever done and I have to talk about another kit when I look at this one as well is the Heinkel 8111 h20 the airframe isn't that bad the upper gunner isn't that bad the undercarriages of its spindly and thin the propellers then they're alright but the main problem with this case the cockpit the cockpit canopy and the cockpit is devoid of detail but the canopy itself is made up in two halves and there's another care that this this problem is featured in and that's the Bristol 192 Belvedere where the canopy heart the canopy sections are made up in two halves and how anyone is supposed to glue those two halves on the Heinkel they're actually three parts building that no it's - sorry is - it's not it's not one that this can't listen time to let greenhouse canopy is two bits of plastic and how you're supposed to glue that together without misting up the canopy I'll never know this guy has done a pretty good job but it's still an awful terrible kit avoid this one like the plate and buy the new tool release is much much better and now we lead onto one of the worst kits Airfix of every release this is the one 600 scale Bismarck and Tirpitz now looking at this image you'd think well that's actually quite nice isn't it the superstructure of the kit is actually quite good the problem with the kit is the deck the actual hull and the deck is just too short and too thick and wide the stern section is a little bit too wide and it's not long enough and the bow section should be about another two inches longer sorry no another 1 inch longer but it should be about half an inch narrower in front of the forward turret in front of Anton Terra there if that was the case the airfix bismarck would be an absolute gem but unfortunately it's not it's a nightmare it's a nice bill it's a really nice easy kid to build very impressive to build up but this deck makes this kit one of the worst worst ship models you can buy the Bismarck on the market and of course it's the same pass for the Tirpitz so the same goes for that as well now then before I say that's all folks I've just put this up because there's no more slides to go but I do want to say something before I leave like many of you Airfix has been a massive influence on me as a child and I'm still pulled - they're older kids for nostalgia terrible as some of them may be I've been very impressed for the Holmby release kids but it is worthy of note that some of their model releases are just the older molds reboxed I do feel however that Hornby as a company are trying to address the fact that some of their older molds are terrible with many of their new releases seeming to replace the tired and not very good older kept releases from the 1950s and the 1960s the future of Airfix looks pretty settled for now but it is worthy of note that ethics is a model brand that has been sold many many times but it stayed firmly as Airfix brand as a product with each new owner understanding what the name Airfix means to this industry it is probably a name that will stay with us for as long as plastic modeling is with us and that can almost be stated it's a fact I hope this video has been of some use I hope that all of this research and putting together this flight this slideshow is worth it and I know the video is quite long I'm sorry about that but Airfix is a very interesting and very lengthy historical company if you have any questions or queries or any comments you want just pop them in the comments box any questions I'll try and get back to you as soon as possible and thanks for tuning in and watching and I hope all your modelling projects are going really really smooth bye for now I'll see you for the next video bye my nuts

Channel: John Parker

Views: 94,997

Rating: 4.8431373 out of 5

Keywords: Airfix/History/Models/Toys/Humbrol/Hornby.

Id: 2F50fgjzBKY

Length: 60min 40sec (3640 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 13 2018