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Airfix 1/24 hawker Typhoon


Algie75

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Thats really decent of you. Problem is getting it to me here in Austria. Just had a nightmare with eHattons getting my Javelin here because Royal Mail said the box was too big.

May I sleep on it ?

I denke der Mehran in Wien könnte Dir die Kits auch besorgen.

http://www.mc-hobbyshop.com/

Edited by occa
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Is it just me, or does anyone else think Airfix are deliberately shooting themselves in the foot?

The farce with the Mosquito shows 1/24 is just to darn big. 1/32 and they'd sell shiploads, here and in the States. One production run and then into the remaindered bins for the rest.

Either way, zero interest co-efficient here. Just can't understand their logic.

W

It's just you... :blink: and a few other people that haven't a clue just how well the Mossie sold, as mentioned above. You have to realise that just because you're not interested in a subject, it doesn't mean that it won't sell. It's not my usual scale, but I'll be having one because it looks like a beautiful kit. I met the designer of it yesterday, a young whipper-snapper by the name of Sam, and he's done a fine job on it. I told his boss to give the lad a raise, and although joking, there's good evidence there that he's done some fantastic work, and they should hold onto him and the other guys at all costs. :)

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:lol:

Just ignore her mate!! It's YOUR money!! I used 3 different tactics with my (now) ex!

1) Remind her of what SHE spent on her latest handbag/pair of shoes/other female accessories

2) Comment on what she is intending to spend on a new outfit after she opens the wardrobe door, looks at the vast array of clothes therein and wails " I've NOTHING to wear"

3) Ask her exactly HOW many ( see 1 above ) she "needs" :wicked:

Allan

I may of misled you there Allan, she has started the hobby as well, and considering the price of it, it could cause fun in the finance dept.

Sorry for any confusion. She saw the pics and said that she would buy me one for Xmas next year.

It just means finding more room to put things.

Mind you the more that I look at it , the more I think that Airfix have hit the mark.

Simon.

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I don't build 1:24 scale, but I thought that the Typhoon at SMW looked absolutely brilliant!

Even though it's not my scale, I think that it might be a good move for Airfix to produce 1:24 aircraft, as most other manufacturers are concentrating on 1:32 at the moment and so it gives the hobby another scale to work in.

Martin

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There is another train of thought... most modellers will have started in 1/72 and migrated to 1/48 and up again to 1/32 etc...

I know that I am jumping up a scale (1/72 to 1/48) rebuilding a lot of subjects I originally built in the smaller scale... so I'm guessing in 10 years I'll have a go at some 1/32... So Airfix are looking to the future when everyone will be building in 1/24th


Can't wait to see the 1/12th Stuka they will launch at the IPMS 60th Anniversary show... :popcorn:

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I cannot express succinctly enough how amazing this model looked at the show. The details outsrip everything I have seen before even the amazing releases from Tamiya and ZM. I will definitely be buying one or even two of these to go with my two big mosquitoes.

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It made the Mossie look a little agricultural by comparison, didn't it? Don't get me wrong - the Mossie is a good kit, but this is going to be something special. At the rate my eyesight is deteriorating, it may well be the smallest scale I can work in soon! :nerd:

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I've posted this in the Rumourmonger Section, but thought I'd add it here too.....



Looking great...and I shall be treating myself to one.........



I'm not that au fait with WW2 types nowadays, but a quick glance through the photos I do have - mainly Warpaint No 5 don't show the raised strip along the fuselage, running from just below the cockpit to the tail plane strengthening plates. What is that?



IMG_4288_zpseff7b81c.jpg

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I've posted this in the Rumourmonger Section, but thought I'd add it here too.....

Looking great...and I shall be treating myself to one.........

I'm not that au fait with WW2 types nowadays, but a quick glance through the photos I do have - mainly Warpaint No 5 don't show the raised strip along the fuselage, running from just below the cockpit to the tail plane strengthening plates. What is that?

IMG_4288_zpseff7b81c.jpg

Without having seen the kit first hand all I can say is that it doesn't look as prominent in other pictures of the kit but it's definitely there in pictures of the port side too and there's no split in the moulding there so it's obviously a feature.

It does look like a major stiffener, you do realise this means if i want to be able to sleep tonight I'm going to have to consult my references now to see if I can see it in other pictures (I have no recollection of seeing it).

Perhaps Chris Thomas can offer an insight.

Wez

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It is a panel overlap, and according to this photo, looks basically legitimate

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Hawker_Typhoon_fuselage_%286064280969%29.jpg

Also think it is overly exagerated by the use of the light directly above.

Ken

Edited by mekon
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It is a panel overlap, and according to this photo, looks basically legitimate

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Hawker_Typhoon_fuselage_%286064280969%29.jpg

Right, I've had a look through the references and there's a definite overlapping panel there as shown in the picture in WiP's link, you can see it in the middle picture on page 9 and pictures 7 and 8 on page 27 of the Warpaint book.

A cursory glance through The Typhoon and Tempest Story by Chris Thomas and Chris Shores shows several pictures where it can be seen (pages 19, 21, 43, 56, 76, 85, 95, 152 and 154 for those who want to take a look, interestingly it's also there on a Tempest on page 118 which you'd expect given their shared heritage).

Also thinkit is overly exagerated by the use of the light directly above.

Ken

Ken, I think you're right coupled with the fact that Airfix have correctly (looking at the picture on page 76 of the Thomas/Shores book), depicted raised rivets which casts a stronger shadow and makes it look more prominent than it is (like I said in my earlier post, it doesn't seem so prominent in other pictures of the kit).

Wez

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It made the Mossie look a little agricultural by comparison, didn't it? Don't get me wrong - the Mossie is a good kit, but this is going to be something special. At the rate my eyesight is deteriorating, it may well be the smallest scale I can work in soon! :nerd:

Me too, although I reckon I won't need my glasses for this one !

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Right, I've had a look through the references and there's a definite overlapping panel there as shown in the picture in WiP's link, you can see it in the middle picture on page 9 and pictures 7 and 8 on page 27 of the Warpaint book.

A cursory glance through The Typhoon and Tempest Story by Chris Thomas and Chris Shores shows several pictures where it can be seen (pages 19, 21, 43, 56, 76, 85, 95, 152 and 154 for those who want to take a look, interestingly it's also there on a Tempest on page 118 which you'd expect given their shared heritage).

Ken, I think you're right coupled with the fact that Airfix have correctly (looking at the picture on page 76 of the Thomas/Shores book), depicted raised rivets which casts a stronger shadow and makes it look more prominent than it is (like I said in my earlier post, it doesn't seem so prominent in other pictures of the kit).

Wez

Thanks all....I daresay it does look exagerated on Airfix's kit, due to the light etc.....and it is only a test shot. It was so prominent though I wondered if some Typhoons had a strenghening strip here - to co-incide with those holding the tail on.

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Hi folks:

I wandered up to Telford on Saturday and met some forum mates there, including Mish from BM and Stephen from Agape. Sadly, my connecting trains were delayed and prevented me from arriving in time for the unveiling by Airfix, of their flagship release in 2014, 'that' bubble top Hawker Typhoon in big 1/24 (I believe it's Airfix's 75th birthday next year, so happy birthday Airfix!).

I confess that my hands were actually shaking while I took the photographs reproduced below - apologies therefore for the slightly dodgy quality. I had considered taking my Slik tripod but the nature of such things at Telford usually makes their use completely untenable.

There was a fully built-up test shot in a cabinet, a 50% complete build and the engine and cockpit module - all in grey, with no finishing paint.

The head of the design team was present naturally and I took the opportunity to glean some basic information. The final production kit is scheduled to be ready for the D-Day celebrations next year. The retail price is estimated to be in the region of £80-£90. No final decision, as yet, has been arrived at in relation to the instrument panel - in terms of how the instruments will be depicted.

The gestation period for this model spans some 18 months and it would be fair to say that the earlier 1/72 release is very much the child of the extensive and highly detailed research that has gone into this extremely impressive model. Something that the crowds of admirers and onlookers didn't seem to pick up on, was the stressed metal effect at various places around the airframe.

I raised this with the head designer and he agreed that that was indeed a deliberate feature and not the product of moulding errors. He explained that he had examined large numbers of photographs which demonstrated this feature and had built it into the tooling.

Being careful not to assume, I asked how many variants of the bubble top could be built from the base kit. He confirmed that all of them can be assembled straight from the box - early, mid and late production types.

Weapons options include rockets and two types of 500lb bombs, plus drop tanks. It's really difficult to know where to start and how long the list would run in terms of the astonishing detail. My first thought when I clapped eyes on it was 'Zoukei-Mura in 1/24' and that's still how I think. Indeed if you go onto the ZM website and read the 'Brand Concept' - the Airfix approach here, is entirely in step with that.

A great pilot figure is included and reflects the Typhoon's known predilection to leak carbon monoxide into the cockpit, requiring the use of oxygen immediately before the engine was started and thereafter, in that he has the mask fitted. I'm not sure if a non-masked option will be included in the finished kit. There are even separate injection seat belts that certainly look the part.

The designer's finishing statement to me was "So far I've only seen it in grey. I can't wait to see the first one built up and fully painted". Him and me both. Him and me both... grin.gif

Stephen and I discussed the amount of detail present, while at the show. We both agreed that quantities of this will disappear when fuselage and wing halves are joined. My initial reaction was that this is therefore wasted but have since come round to the view that if you want to leave off panels or open others up, it's all there, all ready for you, straight off the bat. Indeed, the designer said that he wanted modellers to properly appreciate much of the actual design and construction of the real aircraft - experienced through building the kit. I think that is an entirely reasonable and laudable aim.

At one point, while I was viewing the plastic, another modeller muscled in close alongside. "Fantastic, isn't it?" I said. With a pained expression, he let me know how disappointed he was that it wasn't a Sea Fury. His face reflected something close to actual annoyance at the decision Airfix had made, to do a big Tiffie. Who'd be a model manufacturer…lol.

In tandem with all this, I went hot foot to the Master stand and asked them if they would be doing 1/24 versions of their absolutely beautiful Typhoon barrels, complete with separate springs. Looks like this is a racing certainty, particularly in this scale.

Anyway, enough rabbit from me, on to the pics - in no particular order. I've set them at 2000 pixels wide, to give decent sizing without download speeds too onerous for slower connections.

1_edited-1_zps93ba627b.jpg

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10_edited-1_zps0baf6316.jpg

Happy, happy, happy, happy, just plain happy days... grin.gif


Steve smiley.gif smiley.gif smiley.gif

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well having just got home from Telford, and having seen this model in the flesh....now you know I'm a Typhoon fan.....

This model is possible one of THE FINEST I have ever seen. A LOT of thought has gone into it, and it shows, big time. The oil canning on the panel lines is very subtly done, and this is probably the the first Typhoon kit to give you things like the the underwing fuel tanks, mk 3 lightweight RP rails, the under fuselage "tropical" air filter, a choice of tailplanes in the box.

It really is stunningly gorgeous, and its not my scale, but i will have one for sure. Christ they are even doing the 245 Sq sharkmouth as a decal option.

If a kit of this quality had been shown on the Tamiya stand, people would have said that Tamiya just raised the bar. Well it didnt.

It appeared on Airfix's, and Airfix has just raised the bar.

Well done lads.

Jonners, very very impressed

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Thanks for the hi-res photos Steve. Other things I've remembered from my chat with Sam: it took him 10 months to design it (not too very long at all, for just one person, if you ask me); it has 506 parts; and he gave a lot of credit to Chris Thomas for his research, information and feedback provided.

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