Your Favourite Box Art...?

[Richard E]

Prompted by @JOCKNEY's Airfix B-17 build, I was thinking about some of the most memorable box arts from my childhood.  

 

I think the two standouts from me were Roy Cross' Sunderland and B-26 Marauder, both of which I was very pleased to find under the Christmas Tree and, with some help from my father, spent many years suspended from my bedroom ceiling with cotton thread and drawing pins in close formation with my prized B-17.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to its eye catching boxart, one of the first large kits which I bought and built myself was Airfix's "one kit builds most versions" F-4 Phantom

 

 

And whilst taking a trip down the memory lane which is the World Wide Web I stumbled over this slightly "bonkers" but very tantalising view of an alternative reality

 

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Richard E

[JOCKNEY]

I always found the Sunderland box strange, as it shows a FW200 Condor in the picture. I wonder why Airfix never offered one ? 

After all Revell and Airfix made lots of kits of the same subjects.

 

 

Wow, flying battleship and Galleons all in the same catalogue whats not to like  !

 

cheers Pat 

[klr]

Some of my favourites to start with.

 

Heller Bf 108. This isn't the original boxing, but it's the first boxing I bought:

 

Heller Nord 2501 Noratlas. This is the 1980 boxing, which I managed to get c. 1991:

 

Airfix Pe 2:

 

Ye Olde Airfix Bristol Beaufighter TFX. Great artwork, shame about the kit ...

 

Airfix B-29, just before all the detail was removed:

 

ESCI King Tiger. All of the ESCI AFV kit artwork from that era was wonderful.

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by klr

[Neil.C]

That Sunderland box art takes some beating but the first model I bought with my own money strikes a chord with me, the Phantom F4 USS Forrestal. It was a first line aircraft at the time and of course featured heavily in the Vietnam war which was raging then.

 

Brilliant transfers and made up into a really nice model although quite poignant due to what happened to Forrestal later. 

 

 

 

[lasermonkey]

Probably these:

 

 

 

 

[klr]

1 hour ago, lasermonkey said:

Probably these:

 

...

 

 

...

 

 

I was going to post the Blenheim. Unsurprisingly, the artwork for the new 1/72 Mk. IV bomber version bears a resemblance. Imitation, flattery and all that.

 

The time I bought the Blenheim (Christmas 1979), I also bought the dauntless:

 

In fact, many of my Airfix favourites were of US aircraft, particularly USN:

 

 

 

 

 

... and finally some USAF:

 

 

 

[RobL]

Lots of Airfix in here.  Usually I don't pay much attention to the box art, I tend to be more interested in what's inside, but there are a few that I like from kits that I've bought/built in the past 5 years -

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by RobL

[upnorth]

I cut my modelling teeth on Matchbox kits, so I havea soft spot for their box art.

 

I'm particularly keen on their Victor box art for its immediacy. It makes you feel like you're right there at the side of the runway just after a rain. You can almost feel the vibration under your feet and feel the spray in your face:

 

[cmatthewbacon]

Great interview with Matchbox box artist Roy Huxley in Wingleader Magazine free online here:

 

https://issuu.com/wingleader/docs/wingleader_magazine_-_issue_11_-_digital_edition/6

 

best,

M.

[Uncle Uncool]

7 hours ago, upnorth said:

I'm particularly keen on their Victor box art for its immediacy. It makes you feel like you're right there at the side of the runway just after a rain. You can almost feel the vibration under your feet and feel the spray in your face:

 

This!  The mother of all behemoths; next thing to a dragon spreading out "they're" wings, like...

 

This one I've posterised sandwiched between two sheets of polycarbonate after building the kit

 

Fell hopelessly in luv with this one the minute I laid eyes on it

 

And this one I like much better than the latter box art.

 

Yeh, me does...

Cheers,

 

Unc_{2 <--- that's because this bug has kept me feeling a tad under the weather as of late} 

 

Add this one for "they're" obvious reason.

 

 

 

Edited April 30, 2020 by Uncle Uncool

[Black Knight]

I have several favourites too but its late, or early, 02.25.

This one for now.

[Dave Batt]

I can't find the imagery, but anyone remember the Airfix "Dogfight Double" of the Mirage III vs MiG-15?  All flaming afterburner and panicking groundcrew?  The MiG-21 vs Cessna O-2 was equally dramatic.

[Black Knight]

Airfix;

Cessna 0-2 vs MiG 21 - a strange one

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/airfixtributeforum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=968

 

Mirage III vs MiG 15

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/airfixtributeforum/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=819

 

Both courtesy of the Airfix Tribute Forum history section

 

 

[Alfisti]

https://boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Boxart-Collection/AIRFIX/SCI-FI-AND-FANTASY/Airfix-Orion-Pan-Am-1st-box

 

https://boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Boxart-Collection/AIRFIX/MILITARY-AIRCRAFT/PROPELLER/Airfix-Handley-Page-0-400-T3

 

Also the Tamiya Centurion box art,but I couldn't get a photo posted.

 

Dave.

[klr]

6 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I have several favourites too but its late, or early, 02.25.

This one for now.

Oh yes ... another of my favourites. Again, its been imitated recently:

 

[cmatthewbacon]

8 hours ago, Dave Batt said:

I can't find the imagery, but anyone remember the Airfix "Dogfight Double" of the Mirage III vs MiG-15? 

Guess which box art is my favorite...

 

 

 

best,

M.

[stevej60]

Most of my favourites have been posted but this has been a favourite since it's release.

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/revell-h-286-bell-uh-1d-huey-helicopter--192343

[davecov]

I was in the Sea Cadets in the early Seventies and this was my favourite ship box-art at that time.

 

 

I look back on this artwork with so much nostalgia as I eventually joined the Royal Navy in 1976 and later spent over three years on another County Class Destroyer - HMS Antrim (D18).

 

Dave

[Parabat]

In no particular order:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Graham T]

I've always thought that the box art for the Special Hobby Firefly Mk.5 was an absolute corker.

[593jones]

12 minutes ago, Graham T said:

I've always thought that the box art for the Special Hobby Firefly Mk.5 was an absolute corker.

Oh yes, I used to have that as my desktop  picture, can't remember now where I found it.  Great picture!

[Neil.C]

On 30/04/2020 at 13:15, Parabat said:

In no particular order:

 

 

 

 

 

That pic gives me vertigo!

 

[Brad]

I like the box art stuff ups the best. Some of my favourites;

 

Dropping a torpedo on the Astronauts.

 

 

Neanderthal Man trying to smash the Arora Allosaurus with a rock...what's a few million years between friends anyway?

 

 

I need a picture of Japanese soldiers, but I only have a picture of Chinese soldiers...ah well, no one will know the difference.....

 

 

This reminds me of the new Midway movie...explosions and action and fire, more flak and explosions...no no Mr Bay, those are special effects, not story line....I don't know the difference.....

 

[Mick4350]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

 

 

1 hour ago, Brad said:

Neanderthal Man trying to smash the Arora Allosaurus with a rock...what's a few million years between friends anyway?

 

 

That's what finished the rule of the dinosaurs...

[Nev]

I was never a fan of the OTT "comic book" style box art, even as a kid.  I preferred, and still do, Tamiya's more minimalist approach.

 

 

 

I've also always loved Hasegawa's art style

Edited May 1, 2020 by Nev