Eric Mc

The "framing" on the original X1s was not "framing" in the normal sense. The canopy was actually a single piece of plexiglass. It was not known what effect compressibility might have on the canopy as the aircraft went through the transonic region so stiffeners were added to help prevent the canopy from disintegrating. One of the later early X1s did away with most of the strengthening straps.

By modern standards it's very crude - but airliner models can take a lot more fettling and abuse than more "normal" aircraft kits - chiefly because you don't really have to mess about with cockpit interiors if you don't want to. The one area of the Airfix Comet I would like to see them provide an improvement on are the jet exhausts - which are simple plugs on the kit and not very representative of what the real things looked like.

That is very nice. I've built the Tamiya version which is pretty good (although originally not a Tamiya kit). The Hobbycraft X-1 looks pretty good in its own right.

Thanks folks. I have another one or two in the stash. Next one will probably be a Red Square BEA edition - although that won't be for a while.

Truly beautiful.

Finally managed to finish this one. The modern decals really help what is a decidedly ancient (1962) set of mouldings -

Now finished and pictures of the end product are now in the Ready for Inspection - Aircraft forum.

At least you can get it. As far as I know the only "modern" 219 is the one from Dragon - which must be approaching 30 years old itself - and will be a lot more expensive.

I used markings that came with the Special Hobby kit - which I have yet to build.

Sorry for being complimentary. I'll try to be rude and insulting next time.

Thanks for the update. It instills a bit of confidence when you can report a decent service from an overseas supplier.

Sadly, Airfix never did a Viscount. It was a Vanguard - which is currently available.

The wish list always way exceeds the building capacity.

I've always liked building airliner models but in recent years I shied away from them. However, in the past few months I've rekindled my interest in the genre. My particular area of interest at the moment are airliners of the 50s and 60s and airliners I remember from my keen plane spotting days of the 1970s Almost completed is BEA Airtours Comet 4B (Airfix) and coming along is a Welsh Models Handley Page Herald destined to be completed in the colours of BIA.. As you may notice, my preferred scale is 1/144 - which is linked to my love for the original Airfix Skyking range of airliners (the Comet began life as part of that range). This is a great time for airliner modelling. There are an unprecedented number of kit manufactures now including 1/144 airliners in their ranges (Airfix, Revell, Roden, Zevzda, Minicraft, F-RSIN, Welsh Models etc) and there are also a vast array of great quality decal sheets covering all eras. We've never had it so good.

That is very nice. Airliners of that era were so full of character.

Ah - dial up. I miss those tweetering sounds.

Sadly, the pictures are either only partially loading for me - or not loading at all.

Thanks for the offer. I really want to do an AIr Spain 21 at some time. I have a built Revell DC-8 11 which I finished in Eastern colours. I made it 27 or so years ago so I don't regard it as being to a decent standard. Plan B would be to strip it back to the bare [plastic and repaint the whole thing - and replace the engines with Braz alternatives.

Great tip. My mind was turning towards that even as I was typing and you have confirmed my thoughts.

I'm on a bit of a classic airliner stint at the moment and I would be absolutely delighted if I turned out a model and diorama like that.

I didn't say whose knickers.

You will fit in very well here as we are all devilishly handsome and can snap knicker elastic at 40 paces.

Double post

Further to the build, I was wondering if anybody might have an idea as to what shade of red BIA actually used? Although 2-6 decals provide a full set of colours for the tail fin, I am pretty sure it will need to be touched up once the decal has been provided. The red BIA used had a strong orange content and I was curious if anybody such as Xtracolour or even Halfords had a red shade that matched BIA's. The alternative is to do a bit of mixing.

You can't beat a nice Spitfire - and that's a nice Spitfire. I also find painting invasion stripes a more realistic approach than struggling with decals.