New Airfix releases. Just a few notes from the kits I bought at Sword & Lance.
1/48th Spitfire Ia
Great kit. Right in line with their excellent Vb. 3 Props, 3 canopy versions with alternate fuselage insets. Good cockpit detail. Gun bay detail. It really looks the business. Good decal schemes too.
1/48th Hurricane I
Brilliant! Tons of detail on this one. Fully fitted cockpit, wheel bays and gun bays. Very nice moulding. I want another right now. Again, alternate parts included to allow you to get the perfect fit. Very impressed with this model.
A feature that both these models share is the need to get out a brand new knife blade if you want to open up the panels. If you want to open up the gun bays, you need to score around them and cut them out. Airfix supply replacement, removable parts for this, so you can pose them properly.
Add to these the new Aircrew set and vehicles and you will have a ready made diorama. The figures are very neatly moulded and do not have bases moulded on, as it looks on the box top. There are bases, but you don’t need to add them unless you want to. You get an ammo cart, trolley acc and an oiler trolley too. Add to these the 3 point refueller and Bedford truck and you have your diorama. Sure to be a few of these around at the shows. I’m really glad that Airfix have supplied aircrew ( Including two pilots ) for their new 1/48th releases, as I found the 1/72nd Bomber set mysteriously lacking in people. There is a very old polythene set about, but it’s a bit worn now.
Airfix are adding some notes to the box tops too. Little pieces of info about the featured aircraft, ala Matchbox. Nice touch.
1/144th Boeing 707 in BOAC and Air India Scheme.
This is a very old kit and there has been no attempt to tidy up the moulds. Moulded in the usual softish grey plastic it is going to need some TLC and re-scribing. One good thing is that you get very nice new decals. The way they are printed means that you can put the windows in, rub them smooth and paint the model before adding the decals, which include window detail. This will help a lot. The decals are very nicely printed and have plenty of detail. Unfortunately, my decals have yellow lettering and Speedbird. All the photos ( and the box art ) show these in gold. Hopefully Airfix will add a small correction sheet for these. If there was a B707 with yellow details, I can’t find it on the net.
I'll be getting the equally aged Comet and Vanguard re-releases, too. These feature differing BEA schemes. ( Suit you, Sir! ) I'm making them all 'Wheels up' on nice stands. Up where they belong.
1/72nd Dornier Do 17Z.
Now this is really impressive. A fantastic amount of detail is provided in the box. The large cockpit area is choc full of detail and has enough figures to go around too. The detail parts of the undercarriage are really fine and they look very fragile, so care will be needed. I may only have one of these . . . but you never know.
1/72nd Spitfire IXc
Not new, but new wing parts and decals. I’ll add a little more into the cockpit, but good to see another version hitting the shelves. About time Airfix swapped the modern pilot for a WWII one, though. Mine still has a large Bone Dome and Visor.
In all the models that I’ve mentioned, the value for money gets 10 out of 10. The boxes are absolutely stuffed with plastic.
I picked up new tool Mustang and Fw 190A, but these have been well covered earlier. Very good kits and excellent value. The Mustang was the easiest build so far of the new releases.
