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C A Atkins Metal Model Kits

Posted: November 6th, 2017, 11:33 am
by Crashpilot
My interessant in rattert obskure Manufakturen led to buying a 72 scale Piper Cub done by Atkins. ??
Never heard of that brand before.
It's out of white metal.
Any info bout it welcome :-)

Re: Atkins Metal Model Kits

Posted: November 6th, 2017, 11:36 am
by Crashpilot
:-D! !
Funny how my "smart" phone "corrected" my text 8-0
I hope you get my point?

Re: Atkins Metall Model Kits

Posted: November 6th, 2017, 3:19 pm
by JohnRatzenberger
C. A. Atkins, of the UK, released a series of white metal aircraft starting in the 80's. They evidently were decent, but not popular with aircraft modelers who don't have a strong background in white metal. Soon after they were displaced in the marketplace by the limited run plastic kits like Pegasus.

Atkins also had a small line of 1/48 vacuform aircraft kits.

Everything I know, hope it helps.

Re: Atkins Metal Model Kits

Posted: November 6th, 2017, 4:48 pm
by Crashpilot
Oh, thats interesting!
And I feared they were much older than that.
Now it' s still in the Mail, I 'll do a review, once it shows up.

Re: Atkins Metal Model Kits

Posted: November 6th, 2017, 7:17 pm
by JamesPerrin
LSM were anothe white metal aircraft kit manufacturer who made a handful of kits. IIRC including a Mew Gull

Re: Atkins Metal Model Kits

Posted: November 21st, 2017, 7:03 pm
by Crashpilot
So here´s a review of Atkins Piper Cub J-3.
I don´t want to put it into "in-box reviews", because it´s difficult to get nowadays, of course.
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modest looking box....


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remnants of foam to protect the parts to be seen - I chucked most of it out, cause it dissolved into flakes!
vac clear parts got brown :frown:


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main parts: 2 fuselage halves, 2 wings, tailplane, rudder, fuselage top



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small bag containing small parts: prop with washer, small disc for tail wheel, "engine", top and bottom cowling,
instrum. panel, main wheels, undercarriage, 2 seats, wire for wing and undercarriage axle




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these are the "instructions", nuthin more, no parts list, no diagrams....
this is not for the faint at heart..... :cry:
if I want to build this, I would need some reference material first!
(ok, right now I´m not eager on building this!)
So, to make a little start, I wrote a parts list:

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this will be "interesting" to build, for sure!

Re: Atkins Metal Model Kits

Posted: November 22nd, 2017, 1:51 am
by JohnRatzenberger
Thanks for acquiring and sharing this.

Does the "instruction sheet" have any manufacturer data, dates, etc, that you can show also.

It's OK to show the parts here, but probably better to build it elsewhere (with a link back and forth).

What do you need to know about the J-3 Cub, I have a number of refs.

Re: Atkins Metal Model Kits

Posted: November 23rd, 2017, 6:15 am
by IronMan129
Oh this is very nice!
I never knew this existed until now.
Its always nice to find a "new"(to me) kit that's very old and short run.
What other 72nd short run aircraft did these guys produce?

Re: Atkins Metal Model Kits

Posted: November 28th, 2017, 11:47 pm
by Crashpilot
It´s not so easy tracking info about this manufacturer.
The guy I bought this from had about 7 or 8 other Atkins for sale (he sold them all), the Piper was the only monoplane,
the others were WWI biplanes, I remember Aviatik Berg D-1, Phoenix, Albatros, Fokker DVII, Hansa Brandenburg -
the others ones, I don´t remember.

Re: Atkins Metal Model Kits

Posted: November 29th, 2017, 12:03 am
by Crashpilot
jRatz wrote:Thanks for acquiring and sharing this.

Does the "instruction sheet" have any manufacturer data, dates, etc, that you can show also.

It's OK to show the parts here, but probably better to build it elsewhere (with a link back and forth).

What do you need to know about the J-3 Cub, I have a number of refs.
I found no production date, the only reference of the manufacturer, is his address, shown on the box!
Maybe something is missing from the kit?
The parts needed to build this, are all there, though - I went thru the instructions, and found them all in the box!
Thank you for offering me information about the Cub! :)
I don´t know yet, when I´ll start the kit, I think I´ll go ask around in my club first : "Does anyone have experience with white metal kits?"

Re: Atkins Metal Model Kits

Posted: November 30th, 2017, 9:55 am
by Crashpilot
Just to add more information:
I discovered 2 more Atkins kits: they did vac form as well, it´s one Fiat G.50 bis, and a Reggiane Re 2005, they are both in 48 scale. I´ll not bid for them, I´m too lazy for vacs, I´m even too lazy to vac clean my living room!