I've been building up in my stash a collection of various Halifax kits and I thought it must be about time that I actually assembled one of them. The one I have chosen to build is the venerable Matchbox kit which was originally issued back in 1979. It was later released under the Revell label. This could be a bit confusing for some modellers because in the last few years Revell has also released two brand new Halifax kits which are pretty much state of the art as far as quality of moulding, panel lines etc are concerned. Despite this, the first Revell issue, which was of the early Merlin powered versions, has some serious shape and dimension issues, particularly around the size of the engines , propellers and main wheels - which is a real pity. Their second new tool release which features the later Hercules powered versions is better (although the undersized mainwheels are still included).
The Matchbox kit has a few issues of its own. It's obviously an older technology kit and is less complex with less detail. There is also a problem in that the nose is a bit too long.
However, its main issue is the shape of the cockpit transparencies. The Halifax had an asymmetric shape to the canopy, the front windscreen on the starboard side being deeper than on the port. This was to give the pilot a better view off to his right. Matchbox missed this completely when they moulded the canopy. I have a Falcon "RAF Bomber" set which contains correct shape canopies so hopefully I can replace the kit version with the Falcon one - although some surgery to the kit is required to make it fit. As far as I know, they got the engine nacelles, wheels and propellers correct.
It looks like a Halibag so it's a Halibag. 
