80 Years of Airfix GB

That's great news Bish!

Unfortunatly this GB ended 2 years ago. But hang onto those kits if you can. Due to its popularity, i will be hosting another one in 2023.

I wounder if Harrods still sell kits. How long have you had yours.

[quote user="Bish"]

Hungarian businessman Nicholas Kove founded the Airfix company in London in 1939. At first it made inflatable rubber toys. Shortly after the end of WW2 he was the first person to bring a plastic injection moulding machine into the UK and the company was now making combs. Soon after Airfix was commisioned to make a TE20 tractor as a promotional model and it was decided to also sell the tractor through wolworths to help reduce production costs. In the early 50's the owner of Woolworths suggested making a model of the Golden Hind ship, which at the time was being sold in the USA as a ship in a bottle. And so begain Airfix's association with plastic model kits.

By the 70's and 80's, the brand was synonymous with the hobby in the UK, and even today, if you tell someone who is not as fortunate as we are to partake in this great joy we call a hobby, they will mention Airfix. And for those of us of a certain age, Airfix is the brand we grew up with and cut our modelling teeth on. After some decline and troubles in the 90's and early 2000's, Airfix was bought by Hornby in 2006 and since than has had a re-birth with a great range of mostly well recieved new kits.

So, to mark 80 years of this important company in our hobby, what else but a Group Build. And all you need to take part is an Airfix kit. Your kit can be anything in Airfix packaging, whether it is an Airfix original or an Airfix re-box of someone else kit. But also re-boxing of Airfix original kit also count, Airfix and MPC had a thing going back in the 80's and there may be others. Scalemates will have the final say.

Your kit can be OOD or full of After market, including decals.

It can be any genre, planes, ships, tanks, TV, cars or anything else Airfix may have produced.

Take plenty of pics.

GB starts on jan 1st and ends on Dec 31st 2019

Partially started kits are fine.

Enjoy yourself.

Anything i may have missed, just ask.

And, once you have finished one build, apart from being very welcome to build more, you can proudly fly the flag.

So drop me a line and sign yourself up.

Now those are 2 very impressive builds, cheers guys. I will get the front page updted.

I deffinetly need to get me that 110 kit to do a Trop 110. I like that.

TJ, your 110 is terrific. I'm a big fan of desert camo. Jaxcon is next weekend and I'll be looking for a 110 to put on the shelf. Well done.

Excellent builds guys!!!

Two real nice builds, well done!

The Bf-110 came out perfect TJ!  Didn't know those served in N. Africa....love the desert colors!

I totally forgot to post pics of the 1/72 P-51 that I finished the first week of Jan. 

I've been travelling the last couple of weeks and was catching up on the forums today when I finally remembered!

So here's the P-51 that I started at the same time as the FW-190:

Didn't use the kit decals.  Used a set from Kits-World....really liked the red/yellow checker pattern on the nose!

Ok my final build is finished Bf110E-2 7./ZG26 Libya 1942

Your welcome frank, will look out for it there.

I'm gonna move this up to the Airliners forum. Thanks for everything, Bish...

Its amazing what you can pick up for older kits if you know where to look.

Thunderbird used to be based in the UK, i used to buy sanding sticks from there. But they moved to Canada in 2018.

The paint mask for the Ford arrived the other day. I am impressed that someone would make a paint mask for a kit that's almost 60 years old. I painted the inside of all the clear parts black because there is no interior. It never occurred to me that the paint mask would be black too. BTW: The paint mask is made in England.

Thanks, Bish. You know, the last time someone said "nice approach" to me, I was on final in a C-150 with my dad in the right seat. He was a WWII AAC flight instructor. Anyway, I finished the engine nacelles(?). One was assembled with Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. The other with extra thick cyanoacrylate.

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The super glue made the second assembly a little easier, but only a little easier. I'll still have to attach the landing gear struts at some point. Oh well. Ninety years ago, Ford engineers must have been yanking their hair out building this airplane.

Nice approach there frank. I can see that engine would be akward to paint underneath if attached.

Well, here is the left engine cowling with bracing attached. It's not glued to the wing yet, it's just resting in the holes to keep the braces aligned. Now I know what to expect when I glue the bracing to the right engine.

Thanks, Bish. I'm attaching the support braces to the left engine cowling on the Ford. Not an easy task.

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I'm trying to make subassemblies for painting: Fuselage, wing, engines & landing gear, etc. Then, before the wing is attached, do the decals. We'll see if the plan comes together.

I always have the same rule frank. As long as your name is on the list when the GB closes, your more than welcome to keep posting the builds you have entered.

Thanks, Bish. After a year, still figuring out the protocol for these threads.

TJ, I'm liking that Bf 110 in desert camouflage. Very nice.

Nice work on the 110 TJ. Good to see one in a desert scheme.

fotofrank

Don't ever let an old man near a desktop computer. I just deleted all the images of all the builds and W.I.P.s I had posted to the forums. Damn. I had to create a new folder, so here we go.

The Ford is coming along well. I am attaching the windscreen/canopy and the wing is assembled. There wasn't a lot to attach the canopy to. I had to tape it on and glue it from the inside using Formula 500 Canopy Glue.

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Surprisingly, for a kit that was stamped out in 1968, it needed filler only on the nose in front to the windscreen. The fit is a little better than OK. Assembling the top and the bottom to the fuselage sides required gluing the parts about an inch at a time. The wing just clicked together. I'm working on the leading and trailing edges now. I'll paint the airplane before final assembly. In 1/72 scale the wingspan is almost 13 inches. The instructions are a PDF downloaded from Scalemates and printed from Photoshop. Thanks for tuning in.

Bish, should I keep posting here or move this up to Airliners?

EDIT: I actually found a canopy/window mask for this specific kit! Whoda thought?

 

Sorry frank, i seem to have missed that post. please do feel free to keep posting that here.

I love it when I get a few hours to myself

Jacknewbill, nice F-14. I remember that kit in the MPC boxing with VF143 markings. Built it as a kid and had much fun flying it around the back yard spashing zeros. It's not a bad kit with a a bit of work, as you've shown.

Still plugging along on my final build

RLM 78 is on

Don't ever let an old man near a desktop computer. I just deleted all the images of all the builds and W.I.P.s I had posted to the forums. Damn. I had to create a new folder, so here we go.

The Ford is coming along well. I am attaching the windscreen/canopy and the wing is assembled. There wasn't a lot to attach the canopy to. I had to tape it on and glue it from the inside using Formula 500 Canopy Glue.

.

Surprisingly, for a kit that was stamped out in 1968, it needed filler only on the nose in front to the windscreen. The fit is a little better than OK. Assembling the top and the bottom to the fuselage sides required gluing the parts about an inch at a time. The wing just clicked together. I'm working on the leading and trailing edges now. I'll paint the airplane before final assembly. In 1/72 scale the wingspan is almost 13 inches. The instructions are a PDF downloaded from Scalemates and printed from Photoshop. Thanks for tuning in.

Bish, should I keep posting here or move this up to Airliners?

EDIT: I actually found a canopy/window mask for this specific kit! Whoda thought?

Thanks guys. The P-Mask set was half the price of the Eduard, won't make that mistake again.

That 109 has come out nice. I have tried vinyl masks and really don't like them, especially on 109 canopies. I have used Montex. I am deffinetly sticking to Eduard.

Thanks for posting that, will get the front page sorted soon.

Nice finish with the 109, looks sharp.

I have a vinyl cutter and only use vinyl in it if I'm going to use them immediately, or for larger markings as on R/C airplanes.  The problem I see is that the material seems to shrink after it is cut, and the longer it waits to be used the more it shrinks.  Kabuki paper doesn't do that and it conforms to curves better.  It has just the right amount of stick.