Search the Community

Hello all, I found it difficult to pin down a specific model that defined the feeling of ‘building as a kid’ but for me and I suspect many others it is the overall experience and brands that hold more in the way of memories, for me that brand is Airfix. I can remember building kits on the dining table (covered with plenty of newspaper of course) at my Grandparents house during the long summer holidays and being fiercely loyal to the brand, especially when my cousin was building a Revell kit, using some strange liquid cement and casting disparaging remarks about my favourite manufacturer. It was great fun but only a limited amount of time was allowed to sniff the different types of glue before being instructed; ”come on you lot outside and get some fresh air!” My Grandad was the tool shop foreman at Smiths Industries (GE) in Cheltenham and was a keen model maker himself, though not of plastic kits. He made up a set of tools for me all in a slide top wooden instrument box which smelled of machine shop oil and lubricant, I’ve still got it along with his modelling books, much treasured. Later, the little toolbox contained some of my drawing instruments as I went to learn technical illustration at college. For my brother and I, model building was for many years the all-consuming passion, pouring over the Airfix catalogue, marvelling at the artwork, planning purchases and writing out Christmas lists or entering models in the ATC squadron competition. In addition, it was a godsend to our parents as they knew that to keep us quiet during the regular Saturday torture of being dragged around town, the promise of doughnuts and a model from ‘Woolies’ would be the reward. The reward was, more often than not, constructed, painted, decaled and hung from respective ceilings (not the doughnuts) long before the football results teleprinter had finished and it was time for tea and Doctor Who. Of course, my younger brother’s efforts included completely fictitious colour schemes which for the most part were dangerously Hi-Viz, especially for a combat zone, I mean Matt, really a black and yellow striped Lancaster?! It took me a while to decide on the subject of this Group Build and as I said in my initial post to the GB proposal, there were plenty of options, all Airfix, the Beaufighter with bullet holes along the fuselage made with a drawing pin, The 1/12 Figures built for my Gran, the M3 Halftrack with real mud on the tracks and of course the P-61 Black Widow which was the first to pop into my mind, however I have finally settled on the Airfix Series 5 1/72 Heinkel He.177 ‘Greif’ which first appeared in the Airfix catalogue in 1968. I am not sure exactly when I built it, but I would imagine that it was between 1974 and 1976. Not only was it the first German aircraft I can remember building, it was also a departure in terms of size, it sticks in my mind because it was so much bigger than anything I had built before. I can remember that a certain amount of re-jigging of the ceiling holding pattern was required to accommodate the Germanic behemoth upon its completion. I can also recall the frustration with the clear parts, an aspect of the hobby that persists to this day! Airfix’s ‘Greif’ is not a stellar kit, is definitely a kit of its age and to be sure has been long surpassed by Revell’s rendition but for me, that’s not the point of the GB or indeed our hobby in general, you make of it what you will, including a striped Lancaster if that’s your want. The Heinkel He. 177 box art by Roy Cross, I remember having this box art on my kit...... ...unfortunately, and I know it was a forlorn hope that a similar box would turn up in the post....this is what infact did: Hmmm, well never mind the contents are bound to be better: ....double hmmm......I think the parts are all there, would we actually notice if they weren't!? lots of rivet detailing and I thought about taking a close up of the "clear" parts but people of a nervous disposition might be reading and I don't want to be responsible for anymore calamity at the moment. ..anyway the instructions: Blue...nice... ...and some slightly out of date paint references and I'm not holding out much hope for the decals: Awesome, should be a blast! Mark.