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For a short period of time (79-81)Airfix kits were imported to the USA and marketed by AVA. In 1980 the operation was renamed "USAirfix" and new decals included to appeal to that market. The plastic content was straight off the Airfix production line. In 1981 General Mills bought up the entire Airfix Co.. Well, I got one as a "collateral purchase" in an auction, bundled with the kit I was after. It was indeed the old Airfix Douglas Boston inside the box, and an intriguing decal sheet. The paint instructions were for aluminium over all. The decals were the prewar "meatball" style and red striped rudder. Not much else. So we're talking about a Douglas Bomber DB7, the kind of thing the French and British purchasing teams would have been looking at on their emergency shopping trips. More reading revealed that the Douglas design team on the project was led by Jack Northrop, a name that appears regularly when a major advance in aviation development is happening. A truly remarkable guy. An all metal twin engined bomber on retractable tricycle undercarriage, and the design work started in 1936....! http://www.aviation-history.com/douglas/a20.html So I built it. I thought I should put up a little RFI due to the rarity of the kit and the Airfix historical context. The big external gun blisters on the sides of the front fuselage had to be removed, and the crew were converted to aircraft fitters. Covered in sticky backed Ali foil, which is my tendency. And I spent a while doing the glazing bars etc in strips of the foil. I'm afraid the Airfix transparencies offered very little help or information on this challenge! 🙄 It's an ancient kit, raised surface details, hinged control surfaces, retracting gear legs and fairly well nothing internal. But, it had to be done! 😋 Probably not that many bare metal Airfix Boston builds on here 🤭👍
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