Airfix Quick Build Typhoon, Spitfire & Bf.109 Kits

[Mike]

Quick Build Typhoon, Spitfire & Bf.109 Kits
Airfix

A kit without a scale? What is the world coming to? I'll throw a guesstimate of around 1:60 for the Typhoon and 1:40 for the others, but that's a totally off the cuff figure, and I'll not be held to it in a court of law. These kits aren't quite kits in the sense that a serious (I use that word advisedly) modeller would build, but they're a fantastic way of getting youngsters interested in our hobby. They mix the shape of a proper aircraft with the ease of build of a lego kit, whilst ending up with something that is robust enough to stand up to hours of play, numerous dismantlings and reconstructions, and probably the occasional crash-landing.

So where do they stand in our hobby? By the till appealing to the children as daddy makes a purchase of his latest must-have loft insulation. They're cheap for what they are (£9.99 RRP), and they are quite straight forward to make up, with a recommendation for ages 5+ on the front of the box. The boxes are made of very thin card, and aren't intended to be kept for storage, but they do have a built-in hook for the shopkeeper to hang them on one of those rotating display bases, or a peg-board. Inside the box is a bag of parts, an instruction sheet in full colour, and a sheet of stickers. Stickers in the self-adhesive sense, not our sometimes self-deprecating humorous references to water-slide decals.

Opening the bag will probably result in spillage, so keep it over the table when you do. The external parts are all smooth, unlike traditional lego kits, but they are built around a core of flat bricks of varying sizes, which allows the builder to construct a pretty good likeness of the chosen subject. The bricks are made of similar plastic to lego, and the inner bricks have a logo comprising of a pair of interlocked Hs, which may tell some of you where they come from. I did a quick Google and came up with nothing.

The exterior parts are self-coloured, so your Typhoon is predominantly a creditably shade of Barley Grey, and the internal parts are bright red. The cockpit glazing part is a translucent smoky black, but of course there's nothing to see inside anyway. You can't have your ha'penny and the bun! The two camouflaged aircraft have their parts broken down along the breaks in their colouring, with Sky undersides on the Spit and Hellblau on the 109. The uppers of the Spit are green/brown, as is the underside of the nose and lower fuselage, with overhangs in camo under the wing edges. The 109 is green/grey on the upper wings and fuselage, with a stepped demarcation on the fuselage sides. Of course a 109 wouldn't be a 109 without a yellow nose, which is provided complete with nicely moulded nose guns and exhaust stacks. The props are held in with a small circular red brick, which was sadly absent on the Spitfire, so was temporarily bodged with a piece of Blu-tak. I can foresee these being lost very easily, as they are quite small, so expect to see lots of Quickbuild 109s and Spitfires without their props down the line. If you're able to grab them first however, you might try some epoxy or another suitable glue to permanently attach the props to their red end-caps.

The Typhoon and 109 include some removable drop-tanks that clip to the underside via friction fit pegs that slide into corresponding large circular attachment points. If you opt to use the stands that are provided however, you'll need to remove the 109's drop tank, and the centreline tank from the Typhoon. The Spit is unencumbered, so the three-part stand, which is moulded in the same smoke plastic as the canopy, fits straight into a hole on the underside of the aircraft.

Markings
Stickers! The Typhoon's markings are 19 squadron, serialled ZJ928, with low-viz roundels and fin flashes. These are a bit grainy, but I doubt any child would care. The Spit is serialled P7350 wearing the EB-G codes, and the roundels are very nicely done. Lower wing roundels are conspicuous by their absence though, although I doubt anyone will care. The 109 has a set of Hakenkreuz, but no Swastika, and a number 12 for the side of the fuselage.

If the intended recipient of the kit plans on dismantling them, it would be sensible to cut the stickers along the lines of the parts, although I suspect that the wing parts will benefit from being held together by the stickers, as I think there may be a tendency for the parts to spring apart over time. That should improve with use and as the newness wears off though. Some of the corners of the clear backing film are also not quite cut through, so they may need a little extra work, and if you want to be sure they don't get ruined, perhaps an adult's help will be useful here.

Conclusion
A great introduction to building your own aircraft models with as few corners cut in terms of detail as is practical. Exhaust stubs, panel lines and guns are all there, but moulded in to keep the builder from getting frustrated, or parts getting lost, eaten or worse. The only small parts that might get popped in the mouth are the prop retaining pieces, which again suggests that gluing them in place before construction/play begins might be a good idea.

Other kits are available in the range with an F-22, a BAe Hawk and Apache Longbow helicopter in the initial range. If these are as good as the ones reviewed here, there should be plenty of those sold too.

There are a couple of sink marks here and there, but nothing that will trouble a child, and their robustness is good due to the flexibility inherent in this type of plastic. I think they're a great idea, and have been well executed. Here's hoping that they become many a child's first memory of building an aircraft.

Very highly recommended for the youngsters of 5 years old and above.

Review sample courtesy of

[woody37]

Now Joseph likes these, he said...oh yes, Lego !!

[colin]

Excellent one for the kids, simple build up and they look pretty good too, hope they do more types.

My kids grown up now but I'm sure he would have loved these at that age.

[PZRGREN]

Argos are doing them for £15.00 for two, well a few weeks ago at least when I bought a few.....for my daughter to build!

[Mike]

Even better! My 3 year old son is having a whale of a time with the Typhoon, even though he's 2 years below the suggested age (I trust him). He's been flying it about the lounge, pulling bits off it and putting it back together most days since I gave it to him. I separated the stickers by running a blade down the gaps, and so far every single one is still in place. He trod on the wing yesterday while it was upside-down and it flexed nicely, breaking the tail off along the brick-joint, so they'll definitely stand up to some hard play

[gruffy]

So tempted for Christmas the me 109 and spit for my 6 month old son!

[Mike]

Methinks he might be too young for them yet, but they would look nice on a high shelf in his bedroom until he's older. Go on - admit it - they're for you, aren't they?

[Col.]

Excellent review of a very well thought out product Mike. Will keep an eye out & get one for Iona as she starting to take an interest in my models.

[Col.]

Methinks he might be too young for them yet, but they would look nice on a high shelf in his bedroom until he's older. Go on - admit it - they're for you, aren't they?

No no no Mike you've got it all wrong. Hung from the celling by thread and a tack remember

[Mike]

Yeah, but that might put a strain on some of the joints... they're not feather-light, ya see. Gots to be practical... don't want a child with a phobia about planes falling from the sky, do we?

[gruffy]

Methinks he might be too young for them yet, but they would look nice on a high shelf in his bedroom until he's older. Go on - admit it - they're for you, aren't they?

Caught me out mike! Why should kids have all the fun!?!!

[Mike]

Why indeed... get one/some and you can always donate it to the boy when he's old enough to appreciate it

[stever219]

These are the first two models I've finished this year (Spitfire & ;109)

[Duncan B]

What a great idea from Airfix. I can see these being very popular. Now I'm trying to think who I know with kids of the right age so I have an excuse to buy some?

Duncan B

[Bobski]

Those are 17 Sqn markings on the Typhoon rather than 29...

[Mike]

Sorry... I'll update the review

[robvulcan]

I think these are fantastic I bet a few adults would also have a laugh with these. I know I would enjoy messing with one. I loved lego as a kid and infact I still have it all in the loft..

Id like to know how many Britmodellers get one of these for Christmas.

[Navy Bird]

So how have these been holding up in the two years since this review came out? You know, typical toddler rough-handling, etc.

I'm thinking about buying some for my 5 year old granddaughter, who wants to make a model with Grandpa of an airplane "with laser things." I guess that's not a Spitfire...Typhoon, perhaps?

Cheers,

Bill

[robvulcan]

I think this line is so much fun I picked up a few while on holiday for fun in the hotel room at night with a pint and it's great for me as I love Lego and aircraft it blurs the fun of the toy world woth modelling to a degree as you could easily glue them and paint them if you wanted too.

The Harrier , and hawk I would say are the best of them.

I collect Transformers Toys so for me buying these seems no big deal. We're all big kids after all !

Me being a musician too im told we never grow up and that's good with me

I hope they do a Vulcan

[Julien]

So how have these been holding up in the two years since this review came out? You know, typical toddler rough-handling, etc.

I'm thinking about buying some for my 5 year old granddaughter, who wants to make a model with Grandpa of an airplane "with laser things." I guess that's not a Spitfire...Typhoon, perhaps?

Cheers,

Bill

You could try some of the new Star Wars stuff which is pre painted and snap together, they have lasers

[Mike]

So how have these been holding up in the two years since this review came out? You know, typical toddler rough-handling, etc.

I'm thinking about buying some for my 5 year old granddaughter, who wants to make a model with Grandpa of an airplane "with laser things." I guess that's not a Spitfire...Typhoon, perhaps?

Cheers,

Bill

Pretty good actually, and my now 5 year-old still plays with them. A few of the joints are a bit slack now, and the wings do tend to de-laminate with rough handling. I took the precaution of cutting the stickers at the brick joints though, so they're easy to put back together. he's also got a few more, including some of the cars and tanks, and he thinks they're great

[Paul J]

I helped my then 4 year old granddaughter with the Typhoon about a year ago She loved it after seeing one at a Dunsfold display whooping with joy at the noise!! I have to say I was quite impressed with it and is quite a sturdy lttle model. It would make a good desk top display for your office or somewhere.

[Tarnish One]

In case anybody is interested, here's the Quickbuild Apache my 4-year-old asked for (and got!) for his birthday. Not the easiest to put together due to most of the parts being oddly-shaped and not very identifiable. Also, the undercarriage doesn't look like it would put up with much abuse. Note that the plastic isn't quite so greeny as the photo would suggest. Measuring the rotor span and fuselage length, I'd put the scale at around 1:78 or 1:79.