Airfix Gladiator ++Finished++

[John]

My Uncle Bill was a TV engineer. He had a shop where he sold tellys, radios, lamps and assorted other electrical items and a workshop through the back where he repaired the same types of things but especially televisions. 

In his shop he also had a rack of bagged Airfix Series 1 kits. I don't remember any in boxes but he may well have had some of these too.

The shop was located in Bainsford, an ironfounding village a mile or so North of Falkirk town centre, where my Walker ancestors come from. It's pretty much a suburb of Falkirk these days and of course the mighty Carron Company and the many smaller concerns are long gone. 

Every Thursday during school holidays my dad and I headed to Bainsford to visit my Grandparents and other members of the extended family. If I was lucky, and if Uncle Bill wasn't too busy, there would be a visit to the shop, where if my luck held I'd get peace to study the rack of kits while the adults had a cup of tea and a natter. My uncle and aunt had 3 sons who were all keen kitbashers, so I've occasionally wondered how much profit Uncle Bill actually made from his Airfix kits. Probably not much 🙂

Occasionally, but by no means all the time, dad would tell me to pick a kit before we continued on our travels. I'd usually made a selection well in advance so the kit would be plucked from the rack fast, in case he changed his mind...

One arm of the rack held 3 or 4 Gladiators. I was a bit wary of biplanes so it took me a while to pull one off the rack and present it to Uncle Bill. 

"One of your dad's favourites" he said. "Remember when we used to cycle down to Grangemouth airfield to plane spot and there was a squadron of those sitting on the grass?" 

That was the first time I'd ever heard that there was an airfield just down the road. 

It has to be said that the Airfix Gladiator was a disappointment. It was clearly a product of an earlier era than the Spitfire IX and Bf109 I had in my collection. In any event it was built and presented to my dad, who had the good grace to study it gravely and pass a favourable opinion, followed by more tales of visits to Grangemouth in 1939 and 1940.

Years later I built him a much better model from the Heller kit.

Uncle Bill had an accident which robbed him of the sight in one eye so he decided on a career change and took up a post teaching at Aberdeen Technical College. That opened up the opportunity for holidays in the North East and access to some really good model shops. 

I have 2 or 3 Gladiators from Humbrol era gift sets but I also have a bagged Type 3, which I'll use in this build. We'll see how it goes. 

John 

[modelling minion]

Another great back story John and another great choice of aircraft.

[John]

By great good fortune the Falkirk Burgh Engineer took a series of photos of some shiny new flats in Carron Road, Bainsford, in the late 1960s and captured Uncle Bill's shop:

 

 

This isn't the shop the Gladiator came from though. Flushed with the thrill of modernisation, the old building was demolished a couple of years later and replaced with an early 1970s concrete box. Uncle Bill took the shop in the same relative position, and it was from here that the Gladiator departed in my hot little hand. The shop's still there, used as an optician these days. I pass it twice a day going to and from work:

 

 

I wonder if it's the same pillar box? It probably started life about 400 yards along the road in Carron Works.

 

Anyway, this is my bagged Type 3 Gladiator:

 

 

This is a Humbrol era version from the 90 Years of Fighters gift set, of which I bought a couple for the school model club. The red, white and blue of the roundels was reversed on the gift set decal sheet so it was a French Gladiator:

 

 

I'll probably use this one.

 

John

 

[JOCKNEY]

Great choice John

The original photo of the shop makes you immediately think of Arkright in "Open all hours" complete with the bike with the big basket on the front.

Just to reassure people i wasnt being offensive i was referring to a large wicker receptacle for carrying things in !

Good luck with the build mate.

Cheers Pat 

[TonyW]

What a fantastic GB this is continuing to be.

Yet another backstory that we can all identify with one way or another. Good luck with the build John and enjoy the memories.

 

 

Here's the first issue of the kit, from 1956, same as me! 

There's slight header differences with these two bags, but that's veering into collector territory. The kit also came in blue or silver plastic.

 

The kit was one of a few really early ones that came with the rectangular stand that was ripped right off from Aurora.

 

 

Yours is a slightly updated one. Two blade prop replaces the original three bladed one, subtle panel line differences but not much more. Airfix got their moneys worth out of this mould.

 

Tony.

[John]

The last ever release of this kit by Hornby reinstated a 3-blade prop and came with markings for the Maltese Sea Gladiators.

I managed to find a couple for a good price at a local swap meet and still have the decal sheets for future application to the new Airfix kit. 

The plastic...long gone 🙄

John 

[John]

Well, I'm going to have to use both kits to get one model because my Type 3 is far from complete:

 

 

Maybe no bad thing as Humbrol had clearly made some effort to clean up the mould:

 

 

Still not ideal, but we'll see how it goes. The kit's 5 years older than me, so I should give it a break 😱

 

John

 

 

[stevej60]

Nice choice John,now I know I've never built this kit despite it's age so looking forward to progress.

[John]

No locating pins on either version, interesting:

 

 

John

 

[John]

Old vacform modeller's solution to aligning the fuselage halves:

 

 

Worked reasonably well...

 

 

...but would have been even better if both halves were the same size:

 

 

John

 

[Jinxman]

13 hours ago, John said:

...but would have been even better if both halves were the same size:

 

I know how you feel - my 109 had exactly the same problem on the earlier mould - I don't think I would have batted an eyelid back in the day though. 😀

 

At least the pilot seems reasonably whole.

[modelling minion]

Good job lining up the fuselage halves John, your extra tabs worked a treat.

It would be helpful if they had been the same size though.

[John]

This is pretty rough:

 

 

Curiously the only thing I can really remember is the way the undercarriage legs fit. It's very like an early Eastern European short run kit. Still, it's a product of its time. 

 

John

 

[modelling minion]

It might be rough John but you are knocking it into shape.

[Jinxman]

I see the pilot has hit the silk!

[John]

1 hour ago, Jinxman said:

I see the pilot has hit the silk!

He looked like something out of Henry Moore's nightmares. 

I'm going to adopt the age-old cheat of painting the inside of the canopy. 

John 

[Jinxman]

8 hours ago, John said:

He looked like something out of Henry Moore's nightmares. 

I'm going to adopt the age-old cheat of painting the inside of the canopy. 

The one kit I built when I was a kid that reminds me of this is the Novo (Frog) Gannet - I couldn't believe the three of 'em sat there up to their torsos in plastic.

[John]

Airfix Comet Racer as well, if I remember correctly. The original Lysander had seperate upper torsos that you glued onto a flat shelf under the canopy. 

Actually I think I might have a Type 3 Lysander somewhere. I always liked the artwork. 

John 

[John]

The surface detail on the tops of the wings is quite petite, not so much the bottom:

 

 

Either way there's no chance of a silver finish so a base coat of Humbrol 29 is a start.

 

The rest of it looks like a weird Matchbox kit:

 

 

John

 

 

[Dansk]

Just caught up with this, its looking good and i love the story and shop pic references john

[AdrianMF]

Fantastic background story and it’s coming along well. I built this in tandem with the new one a couple of years back. Airfix have come a long way.....

 

Regards,

Adrian

[modelling minion]

3 hours ago, John said:

The rest of it looks like a weird Matchbox kit:

It really does look like a Matchbox kit doesn't it.

 

Don't blame you for going camo John, good choice.

[Jinxman]

Agree it's a good choice with the camo - at least we know where the person who did the panel lines on this one ended up - Lesney Products! 😀

[John]

Blocking in the shadow-shaded camouflage scheme:

 

 

 

The greens are still wet in the photos. Humbrol 84 and 86 for the lighter shades and 29 and 108 for the darker.

 

The final Hornby issue of this kit had an excellent decal sheet, which will contribute the roundels for this model:

 

 

John

 

[TonyW]

It's good to see this one coming together John.

A kit of it's time, no doubt, but it looks like a Gladiator when it's done. It is over sixty years old now, so a few less than perfect mouldings can be forgiven I think.

 

Tony.