Need advice before purchase

[CamberrySauce]

Hi all,

I was considering buying the Airfix Halifax III for a sort of RAF airfield base dio, what is the quality of the kit? and also would a defiant be seen on a airbase with Halifax's?

Thanks,

Cam

[bentwaters81tfw]

It's a typical Airfix kit of the early '60s. Basic, lots of rivets, transparencies a bit thick, but it looks the part. I have one, but will replace the glazing with Squadron/Falcon vac.

[Graham Boak]

That's right, although there are a few other things you can do to it to improve the appearance. Replace the guns, also the propellers but that will be more difficult, and reduce the size of the engine front by wrapping a piece of microstrip around the inside.

As to the other part of the question, there wouldn't normally be a Defiant at the same base, and a Halifax Mk.III places you in 1944 by which time the only Defiants still around were the target tugs - though there may still have been a few fighters at Gunnery Schools. Maybe the jammers, but that's a little late (said he without checking the dates), and they'd be unlikely to stray from their home base. There may of course have been a range of visitors, but I suspect that there on a regular basis would have been a communications Anson either with the Squadron or (more likely) the station.

[CamberrySauce]

Hmm.. Do you know a company that makes a good Avro Anson?

[Graham Boak]

There's only the old Airfix one, and I gather that the older the better, as it was retooled with exaggerated fabric (warning: 2nd hand information as I've not seen it myself). There is also a Special Hobby kit or three, but don't get the early one with the sloping windscreen.

[Don McIntyre]

Very basic, but there is the old Matchbox (has it been rereleased by Revell?) Halifax. I don't recall much about it, but IIRC it's got the Merlin engines. Typical for Matchbox kits of it's era the interior is somewhat basic (ok, VERY basic, not a lot better than Airfix's kit)) but I thought the molding quality put it far ahead of the Airfix kit that I also had in the stash at the time.

As a companion, how about a Mosquito night fighter?

Edited September 2, 2016 by Don McIntyre

[Graham Boak]

The Matchbox Halifax is shockingly wrong on the nose, canopy, engine cowlings, propellers,and undercarriage legs, not to mention the broomstick for machine guns (or were they tree trunks?). Being nicely tooled was pretty well its only good point beyond overall outline. If you are considering a Halifax other than the Airfix then the Revell Halifax Mk.III is the one to go for. It has its faults but they are fairly minor (new wheels and nose gun, for a start) and it is the best Halifax kit overall. The Revell Merlin Halifax also has appalling engines and is wrong in other details.

[theplasticsurgeon]

For assistance of Camberry - here's my Airfix Halifax, built about 1998.