Most modellers have a stash of unbuilt models.
My stash currently stands at around 70 kits, even after giving some away to my elder son, and that may be a classed as modest by some modellers!
Many of my kits are replacements for the long lost ones I built in my boyhood - think Airfix Short Sunderland III for example.
Some I would never build because, to my way of thinking, doing so would spoil my joy of ownership.
However, let's be totally realistic, I don't have enough time remaining on Earth to build even a fraction of my stash and it'll probably end up in a charity shop!
That's a comprehensive link on the history of the BKT Spitfire!
It references "Airfix - Celebrating 50 Years of the Greatest Plastic Kits in the World" by Arthur Ward - of which I have a copy.
First published in 1999, this large format book is copiously illustrated with box top art and photos of built kits, and is a must for any Airfix enthusiast!
There are many copies currently available on UK ebay.
That's an exaggeration! Double is a stretch, but I've seen the bids pushed up to £45 in one case of the sale of the Spitfire Mk Vb.
Interesting choice. You have to have sympathy for the crews that had to fly them. Along with those in the Short Sterling. I see it's an updated moulding too, the original Lancaster was... not good. Looks like it'll be a nice build with a satisfying result. I also see they're still attaching propeller blades to spru rather than at the hub. You need so much care releasing those parts or there's blade damage.
The new Airfix Lancasters are really nice, far better than the old kit from the 1970s. Great detail for the scale, too: you even get a decal with a map of Europe for the navigator's table.
I prefer the look of the Mk II to the Merlin-engined ones.
A late friend of dad's flew in them during training. By all accounts, the Mk IIs had a lower ceiling - although still higher than the early Halifax or any Stirling - but had more power, better rate of climb, plus the air cooled engines meant no glycol leaks or battle damage from shrapnel compared to the other Marks. Some were fitted with ventral guns, although sighting them was apparently difficult.
I have nothing but respect and admiration for Bomber Command crews; when you look at a Lancaster, you see how cramped they are and how difficult it must have been to get out in a hurry when wearing a parachute. The losses were horrendous: more crew lost their lives in the 1944 Nuremberg raid than the entire Battle of Britain.
Geoff
Me too. Had the privilege to be sat next to former Lancaster tailgunner for part of a flight to Australia a couple of decades or so ago. He'd gone out as a £1 pom and had been back in the UK for a squadron reunion. Interesting chap, but he didn't want to talk too much about it. Made it clear how isolated and COLD that rear turret was. No parachute because you couldn't fit in wearing one...
We had our house re-stumped a few years ago by a guy called Stephen Alkemaide - the name rang a bell!
His uncle was Nicholas Alkemaide, who for many years held the record for the longest fall without a parachute - 18,000 feet, into a pine forest in the snow. He was a Lancaster tail gunner whose aircraft was shot up and caught fire and his parachute was burnt, so he jumped out of the turret.
Dad's friend was a navigator with 460 Squadron RAAF, he survived 17 missions, I think, but in those missions they lost two 'tail end Charlie's'. He wouldn't talk about those times.
Geoff
His uncle was Nicholas Alkemaide, who for many years held the record for the longest fall without a parachute - 18,000 feet, into a pine forest in the snow. He was a Lancaster tail gunner whose aircraft was shot up and caught fire and his parachute was burnt, so he jumped out of the turret.
Dad's friend was a navigator with 460 Squadron RAAF, he survived 17 missions, I think, but in those missions they lost two 'tail end Charlie's'. He wouldn't talk about those times.
Geoff
Yeah, PTSD is a relatively recent discovery. My grandfather enlisted in 1914 in A1 condition. He was discharged in 1918 as F4 (I have his papers). He rarely talked about his time in France though I gather he did tell his wife about being gassed and later buried for a day in a trench collapse. My grandmother told my mum that he was still waking from nightmares, drenched in sweat, more or less up until the time he died aged 77.
I don't think any of us can understand what some men were put through or the lifelong damage that was done to them. In some respects it's amazing many of them were able to have any post war life at all.
Much as I enjoyed building those models I always tried to think about the people that actually flew in them Allied or Axis.
Let's not forget that, although scale modelling of military subjects is certainly popular, there are many other categories of plastic modelling.
These include; cars, motorcycles, buses, trucks, construction vehicles, railway trains, buildings, airliners, passenger ships, robots, figures of people, animals (including dinosaurs!), plus rockets and spacecraft.
Airfix was key in introducing an immediate post WW2 generation of UK youngsters to the then new hobby of plastic modelling. Now in their 70s & 80s, many members of that generation still want to model Spitfires, because doing so connects them to their youth.
These include; cars, motorcycles, buses, trucks, construction vehicles, railway trains, buildings, airliners, passenger ships, robots, figures of people, animals (including dinosaurs!), plus rockets and spacecraft.
Airfix was key in introducing an immediate post WW2 generation of UK youngsters to the then new hobby of plastic modelling. Now in their 70s & 80s, many members of that generation still want to model Spitfires, because doing so connects them to their youth.
Plastic modelling of anything is for me a form of relaxation, although that's tempered by the swear word output when something goes wrong or a piece disappears into the carpet.
I model Spitfires because - along with the Hawker Hunter, Lockheed Constellation and DeHavilland Mosquito, they're one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made. However, my favourite modelling subject is the Douglas DC-3/C-47: I've flown in it many times and it's an incredibly versatile, important and ageless machine.
Probably the most fun build was Airfix' Wallace and Gromit!
Back to the OP, the care and attention to detail in that build is truly awesome. I have neither the skill nor the patience to get anywhere near his standard
Geoff
I model Spitfires because - along with the Hawker Hunter, Lockheed Constellation and DeHavilland Mosquito, they're one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made. However, my favourite modelling subject is the Douglas DC-3/C-47: I've flown in it many times and it's an incredibly versatile, important and ageless machine.
Probably the most fun build was Airfix' Wallace and Gromit!
Back to the OP, the care and attention to detail in that build is truly awesome. I have neither the skill nor the patience to get anywhere near his standard
Geoff
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It's amazing how one can get so deeply lost in the modelling process that all the cares of the world are temporarily put on hold!
I agree about the elegance of form of aircraft such as the Spitfire and Hunter. Modern fighter jets just don't do it for me.
Re your favourite subject, I've got an Airfix Douglas Dakota Mk. III & Willys Jeep waiting in the wings - pun intended!
Dunno, there's something about the brute elegance in the Fairchild A10 or English Electric Lightning. F14 too. But all time favourite plane is the Mosquito, for how it looked, what it could do and did. But a big shout to the Bristol Beaufighter, what it lacked in looks it more than made up for in versatility.
I used to get lost in modelling too and put a lot of hours into it. I once spent a week of intensive work scratch building a new control column for the Airfix 1/24 MK1 Spitfire because I didn't like the kit version. These days you can buy things like this and this to get you on your way. If I was still doing this sort of thing I'd probably be in possession of a good quality resin printer and scratch building my own. The ejector seat in the second link is... incredible.
Here's a few pictures I've found of the 1/24 mosquito I made ages ago
Attachments
I so very nearly came out of 'retirement' to build that thing. Congrats for seeing it through. As it's a while since you built it, have you ever looked at the aftermarket parts for it. They're astonishing, including machined brass cannon and mg barrels, photo etch ammo chutes etc. I see the 2015 retool is out of production and there are prices as high as £360. Not tempted, not at all, nope, not me.
It's always puzzled me why Mosquitos had five exhaust stubs instead of six; there's one under restoration at the RAAF Museum in Point Cook, Australia and no-one there knows why five. It's being restored for static display only but it's a slow process due to wood supply and shortage of skilled wood-workers.
I almost bought that kit but didn't have the shelf space or WAF, thank you for the warning!
Geoff
I almost bought that kit but didn't have the shelf space or WAF, thank you for the warning!
Geoff