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Nostalgia, it's not what it used to be...


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News of the retirement of the UK Jumbo Jets is a good enough reason to post a couple of pictures of the Airfix kit in 1.144 scale, released in 1969...

 

20200718-191625.jpg

 

20200718-191641.jpg

 

 

 A whopper of a box!

 

Not one I've ever built and this minter stays unbuilt while I own it. 

 

Looking at the transfer sheet see's a great big expanse of blue for the tail. It looks a nightmare to fit. Dark blue paint and separate Speedbirds would be my choice here.

 


 

 

 

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On 18/07/2020 at 02:15, Troy Smith said:

 

I always found it really odd that it too until 1980 or so for them to do plain British infantry! 

(having done  before in order, Paratroops, 8th Army, Commandos and Infantry Support)

 

As a child of the '60's I had an Airfix  British Infantry Combat Group which was basically British infantry. 

 

Edited by Neil.C
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You do not get better box art work than that Airfix at is best. The Lancaster is particularly dramatic- if that did not inspire anyone to buy it nothing would.. I used to have all the box tops plastered on my bedroom walls as a youngster.

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16 hours ago, TonyW said:

Messing around in the shed this afternoon see's a Bomber Command moment happening.  Break out that camera!

 

 

Wonderful. But my favourite Bomber Command box art was the later Wellington one - escaping at low level pursued by a pair of 109s!

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39 minutes ago, IanC said:

 

Wonderful. But my favourite Bomber Command box art was the later Wellington one - escaping at low level pursued by a pair of 109s!

 

I'll dig that one out later, it's up in the loft somewhere. The early kits are more to hand. Have another Bomber Command moment for now, the Type 2 boxes in this case.

The chances of me not including the Type 1's at some point are a bit slim, although there's only the Lancaster and Wellington that early on.

 

 

20200725-141900.jpg

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On 8/13/2018 at 10:04 PM, Paul J said:

I Like the pose with the period radio...! (Can you still listen to the light programme??/😄) Nice touch!!  The 109 you have there is just like the one I still have.

That were really the good old times!

thank you all  that I get these nice memories

 

Andy 

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@TonyW

 

Love this thread and all it's nostalgia. Got a bit of a classic stash myself, but not on this scale.

 

Love the photographs of the built kits with the original boxes and old paints and stuff. Lovely photography too. It's probably already been mentioned, but they would make a great subject for a book. I'd buy a copy!

 

Steve

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I really do like this thread and I have had two copies of the plastic bag version of the Airfix DH4.  I have made one and have kept one. Below is the one I have made.  Unfortunately I could not use the original decal sheet as it disintegrated as soon as it hit water and so I have collected together suitable decals.   
I would love to get some more of the original plastic bag versions of the WWI Airfix range and make them straight out of the bag as it were.  
 

Here is my Airfix DH4 - I really enjoyed building it.  

 

DH4

 

Here is the starting point.  
 

IMG_1013

 

IMG_1014

 

IMG_1016

 

 

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20 minutes ago, Bear Paw said:

I really do like this thread and I have had two copies of the plastic bag version of the Airfix DH4.  I have made one and have kept one. Below is the one I have made.  Unfortunately I could not use the original decal sheet as it disintegrated as soon as it hit water and so I have collected together suitable decals.   
I would love to get some more of the original plastic bag versions of the WWI Airfix range and make them straight out of the bag as it were.  
 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's a first class looking build. I'll take my hat off to your rigging skills.

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On 7/26/2020 at 2:07 AM, TonyW said:

Messing around in the shed this afternoon see's a Bomber Command moment happening.  Break out that camera!

 

20200725-142859.jpg

They're total classics to me.  Somewhat surprisingly, the Lancaster was the only kit among those that I ever acquired.  I "helped" my Dad put it together and it hung from my bedroom ceiling for (I guess) about 15 years or so.  

You can imagine how much dust it accumulated on the upper surfaces!  Lucky to stay in flight!

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On 7/26/2020 at 8:13 AM, IanC said:

 

Wonderful. But my favourite Bomber Command box art was the later Wellington one - escaping at low level pursued by a pair of 109s!

Here you go then...

 

20200727-162714.jpg

 

Action packed or what? It could almost be the cover picture for an Air Ace comic.

 

 

.

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Fantastic. It takes me back to Christmas 1970-something.

 

Much, much later I worked out that, strictly speaking, it should have been a Mk I in that situation, and I was slightly disappointed that Airfix didn't reprise the scene for the new tool kit. 

 

But so what. It remains, for me, perhaps their best ever box art. Thanks for posting!

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On 23/10/2017 at 00:14, TonyW said:

It's not only the kits that get collected in my little world...

 

sellers735.jpg

 

forsale111.jpg

 

As with the kits, if the paint or glue is old, mint and unopened it stays that way. I've amassed enough used old stock to keep me going without breaking into the collectables.

 

Parts of the collection have been out on show in the big wide world now and again. A favorite event, now sadly over, was the Arlesford Museum for a Day show. A hall in Arlesford, Hampshire was taken over for a day during summer with all kinds of collections, Triang Meccano, and me with my Airfix!

 

Airfix2_A_zps87483bd4.jpg

Arlesford1_zps4d267e85.jpg
 

 

All the different collections were well received by the general public and an enjoyable day was had by the exhibitors as well.

 

Happy days.

 

Tony.

 

 

 

 

 

Man, that's not a hobby room - it's a shrine.

 

You have my deepest respect! You are the patron saint of Airfix kits :)

 

Cheers, Moggy

 

 

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On 22/10/2017 at 21:21, Bangor Lad said:

Love it! Tales me back to the days when my pocket money was burning a hole in my pocket!

Beat me to it!  Every Saturday, down to see Reg Fetch and his father at the model shop on Ashby Road in Loughborough.  I could be in there for hours and come away with the littlest thing, or sometimes nothing at all!  They didn't mind a bit - they were real gentlemen.  Happy days!

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1 hour ago, Alpha Juliet said:

I could be in there for hours and come away with the littlest thing, or sometimes nothing at all!  They didn't mind a bit - they were real gentlemen.  Happy days!

Oh yes, that brings back memories of many, many an hour spent one five, yes five (at the time) local model shops, I used to visit regularly on Saturdays.  I could literally spend a whole morning in anyone of them and I was never hurried out.  Yes I totally agree real gents indeed.  

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21 hours ago, Kev The Modeller said:

Oh yes, that brings back memories of many, many an hour spent one five, yes five (at the time) local model shops, I used to visit regularly on Saturdays.  I could literally spend a whole morning in anyone of them and I was never hurried out.  Yes I totally agree real gents indeed.  

I kind of mourn for those days too. I must have had five or six model shops within walking distance, and that was without the many newsagents which leaned heavily towards Matchbox kits. I think most of my Saturdays were spent visiting these shops deciding what to spend the week's paper round money on. I did have one particular favourite though. It wasn't the biggest shop, but the owner was always happy to talk shop with the youthful, spotty me, introduce brands I hadn't tried before and was very patient and full of advice and support. Because of that alone, he generally got my pocket money, and I think that's what I miss most. The personal touch. Still have very fond memories of that shop. (Flying Colours, Westcliff on Sea circa 1982)

 

Steve

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Let's hear it for big boxes!

 

Getting one of the  big kits wasn't a pocket money thing unless you saved hard. Good luck with that! My pocket money ran to a bagged kit and maybe a tube of glue or a pot of paint. The idea of saving never crossed my mind.  Xmas and Birthdays might see you get lucky though

 

Airfix soon added different liveries to the 747 kit...

 

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The Hercules raised the bar a bit on the military side of things, this box is the Type 5 one.

The addition of the Bloodhound missile set as a load for the plane was a nice touch.

 

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And here's the T5 box Sunderland. 

 

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It's pretty hard to pick a favourite box style with this one, the T3 and the T5 both look spectacular.

 

 

20200728-084502.jpg

 

 

 

 

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6 hours ago, TonyW said:

Let's hear it for big boxes!

 

Getting one of the  big kits wasn't a pocket money thing unless you saved hard. Good luck with that! My pocket money ran to a bagged kit and maybe a tube of glue or a pot of paint. The idea of saving never crossed my mind.  Xmas and Birthdays might see you get lucky though

 

Airfix soon added different liveries to the 747 kit...

 

 

20200728-084655.jpg


 

I remember seeing those big orange Braniff 747's at Gatwick back in the day.

Edited by Neil.C
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On 7/26/2020 at 2:07 AM, TonyW said:

Messing around in the shed this afternoon see's a Bomber Command moment happening.  Break out that camera!

Roy Cross box art. Boys Own stuff! If I had to pick a favourite from those, and that's a tough call, it was the Stirling being bombed up.

 

Built the Airfix Wellington, Halifax and Lancaster during the period 1965 to '70 as an child/adolescent. Ugh! 'orrible black plastic. I couldn't afford the Stirling. Don't know if that has something subliminal to do with its artwork being my favourite, but I don't think so. I picked it up with the last iteration of that box art about a decade ago and still love it just as much. Back then, the Stirling was in an Airfix price niche of its own as a top tier Series 7 kit as I recall. ICR how I afforded the Halifax circa 1966? I didn't get the Lancaster until 1970, and that was as a Xmas gift. 

 

No doubt Roy Cross' artwork sold loads of models for Airfix.    

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On 7/25/2020 at 8:53 PM, ColinChipmunkfan said:

You do not get better box art work than that Airfix at is best. The Lancaster is particularly dramatic- if that did not inspire anyone to buy it nothing would.. I used to have all the box tops plastered on my bedroom walls as a youngster.

I stick em on the shoe cupboard wall .. like why not 😃

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I hope you don't mind me putting this on here Tony but people talking about the box art reminded me...A couple of months ago i bought three Corgi James Bond A4 size posters and they also had some of Roy Cross's box art in A3/A4 sizes,...

I have nothing to do with them but thought it may interest somebody on this thread....

 

On eBay it's

 

Justanothercraftshop

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On 7/31/2020 at 1:51 PM, Vince1159 said:

I hope you don't mind me putting this on here Tony but people talking about the box art reminded me...A couple of months ago i bought three Corgi James Bond A4 size posters and they also had some of Roy Cross's box art in A3/A4 sizes,...

I have nothing to do with them but thought it may interest somebody on this thread....

 

On eBay it's

 

Justanothercraftshop

Glad you said that ...ive been musing over a couple of different posters from them ...they combine postage too.So thanks for the review.

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