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Right place Right time, & about blooming time ! #Finally Finished#


JOCKNEY

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Actually, looking at back numbers of Airfix Mag, even the WWII 1/24 aircraft would be under £5 in 1978 - but the Harrier would probably have been a bit over that price! On the other hand, if Pat is implying it was a real bargain then we are perhaps talking about one of the Big Heller ships like Victory or maybe something like a Hasegawa Shin Meiwa or Emily or an Italeri Gigant. However if the previous purchasers accepted 3 Airfix blister packs as a replacement then maybe not as they were anything from less than £1 to maybe £1.50 so I am not sure - here we are on the second page already and he still has not told us what it is - is that a record?😁

 

Actually, if I had enough paint to do it and room to store it I might consider entering the B-29!

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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I'm beginning to think that Cunning Pat AKA @JOCKNEY has us all completely wrong-footed.

I've only thought aircraft upto now - so some very useful price-history information from @PeterB thanks.

I'm now thinking that an E-boat could emerge from his lair tomorrow, which would be NEW at that time.

 

I remember overhearing a refund preparation conversation - around the same time. 

This was in LMS in Stroud, with shop owner - I believe later to become the founder of Antics.

I believe an expensive kit was about to be purchased, as a gift - and the possibility of return discussed.

Outcome was pretty similar.  Possible - so long as packaging is undamaged,   no way once the kit is started, or parts removed from sprues.

Chelt Model Centre has signs at the tills, specifically excluding this possibility now.   They don't refund or exchange no-faulty items.

 

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we have 3 clues

1. it was a big Airfix kit

2. lots of parts

3. young person wanted to look at the parts

Hows about one of Airfix' tall ships? HMS Victory, Royal Sovereign, Prince or the Wasa ?

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18 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

we have 3 clues

1. it was a big Airfix kit

2. lots of parts

3. young person wanted to look at the parts

Hows about one of Airfix' tall ships? HMS Victory, Royal Sovereign, Prince or the Wasa ?

Another clue,   it was a bargain at £5 - in 1978 money.  That pitches it A LOT HIGHER than £5 in 2021?

 

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Sorry,

 

Missed the bit about it being Airfix. Funny thing about the old issues of Airfix mag is that although quite a few model shops advertise, they hardly ever list Airfix kits so pricing is difficult! The large scale sailing ships and the "E" boat all seem to be series 9 as is the 1/24 Harrier and I know that was about £6 at that time.There used to be a site which not only told you when Airfix kits were released and what series they were but also what price each series was selling for that year if my memory is correct, but I cannot now find it. I know that when originally released Series 1 was 2/-, Series 2 (Mosquito) was 3/-, Series 3 (Hudson) was 4/6, Series 4 (Wellington) was 6/-, Series 5 (Lancaster) was 7/6, Series 6 (Sunderland) was 10/6 and Series 7 (B-29) was 12/6 as I was buying pretty much everything as it came out in those days. Then I went to Uni and discovered booze and women so my modelling slowed down a lot!😁 By 1978 I had been working for 6 years, bought a house and just got married!

 

Not to worry as Pat will put us out of our misery before long.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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43 minutes ago, PeterB said:

There used to be a site which not only told you when Airfix kits were released and what series they were but also what price each series was selling for that year if my memory is correct, but I cannot now find it.

Could be this one?
https://www.vintage-airfix.com/

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Thanks Robert - good site and very useful but no prices unfortunately. 

 

Just to put it in perspective, unlike Pat who would be under age in 1978 I could buy a bottle of Glenfiddich whisky for £5, so that tended to eat into my "modelling budget" a little :drink:!

 

Pete

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4 hours ago, PeterB said:

... good site and very useful but no prices unfortunately. 

 

...

 

Pete

 

I think you're after this site

http://www.airfixcollectorsclub.co.uk/index.asp?page=Kit Catalogues and Leaflets

 

But with prices like 3/6d and 11/6d  I'm totally lost . It's like paying with stones, seashells in my metric brain 😉

 

btw, my guess it's a Stirling bomber at the end🤔

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Evening everyone 

 

First the good news, after an extensive search I finally found the kit, it was in a box with stuff that I got from the loft before we sold mum and dad's house when I moved my mum to live nearer my sister.

 

The rather embarrassing news is that it looks like old age is catching up with me as the kit still has the price written on it and it wasn't £5 ! 

It was in fact £2, I knew I was getting a fiver for my paper round but unlike @PeterB I couldn't benchmark it to the going rate of Glenfiddich ! (other single malts are available 🥃 )

 

I promise to reveal the kit tomorrow and again I apologise for misleading everyone over the price.

 

All additional guesses very welcome, and I hope the final reveal isn't a disappointment :cry:

 

cheers Pat

 

 

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Hi Pat,

 

Still no idea what it was but that price makes more sense - in 1978 I think you would be hard pressed to find an Airfix kit costing much more than a fiver though they did go up pretty sharply not long after I think - oil crisis forcing the price of plastic up or something like that. Going through the old mags is rather depressing at times when I look at the prices - in February 1982 Capital Model Supplies in London were offering the Airfix C130 for £4.95, the Revell B-17 for £2.95, the Italeri He 111Z for £3.35 and the Heller Mirage IVA for £4.04 - Airfix Series 1 were 69p, Series 2 90p and you could get the Sunderland and Stirling for £2.95 each - see what I mean!

 

Pete

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On 10/05/2021 at 19:26, JOCKNEY said:

I will keep the suspense going till Friday.

 

 

1 hour ago, JOCKNEY said:

I promise to reveal the kit tomorrow

 

Heartbreaker!!!

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Ok, time for the big reveal which is where I find out if I actually over-paid for it !

 

IMG_5818

 

Congratulations to    @theplasticsurgeon  @SAU For guessing correctly. @PeterB also gave the Stirling a mention.

 

I'll post the pictures of the circa 250 parts later on, it's one of the originals molded in black plastic.  Now to find out if it was complete after all !

 

Good luck everyone.

 

Cheers Pat

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Hi Pat,

 

Nice one - have you considered changing the title to "About ruddy time"?😁

 

Pete

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On 5/10/2021 at 10:09 AM, JOCKNEY said:

The year is 1978, I'm 13 years old and thanks to my paper round I have my own money to buy model kits.

 

<snip>

 

Emptying my pockets of sweet wrappers and of detritus found about £5 in coins so they put a sticker on it for £5 & I was the kits new owner. The kit was one of the big airfix ones that was normally well outside my spending money so I was absolutely delighted.

What I can't figure out, is why it wasn't built and completed withing 2 hours of getting home. 

Care to let us know that one Pat. . .

 

Oh, and as Bruce Forsythe used to say at the time - good game, good game.

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13 minutes ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

What I can't figure out, is why it wasn't built and completed withing 2 hours of getting home. 

Care to let us know that one Pat. . .

 

Oh, and as Bruce Forsythe used to say at the time - good game, good game.

 

That's a really good question, I can only think I got completely intimidated by the number of pieces, put it off, then building other stuff instead it fell of the radar.

 

27 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Hi Pat,

 

Nice one - have you considered changing the title to "About ruddy time"?😁

 

Pete

 

I think you have a very valid point there ! Watch this space...

 

Cheers Pat 

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Noice! I have one too but paid considerably more not so long ago. I've been putting off starting mine as well.

 

looking forward to seeing this one progressing mate.

 

Cheers Greg 👍

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18 minutes ago, theplasticsurgeon said:

What I can't figure out, is why it wasn't built and completed withing 2 hours of getting home. 

 

Good question, 

 

For many years my limited pocket money meant that all the "big" Airfix kits were Christmas presents from my parents - Wellington, Dakota, Lancaster, B-17, Sunderland and so on , but I see this came out in 1966 so I imagine I bought this one for myself as I was just about to go to Uni - I see it is Series 6 like the Sunderland which cost 10/6, but this may have been a little more expensive by then as I just found this in the September 1966 edition of Airfix Mag.

mag

11/6, say 57.5p for those not in the UK - there must have been a lot of inflation in the next 12 years as I suspect the price rise in August 1966 mentioned above was the first since Airfix started selling kits about 10 years earlier!

 

I was perhaps taking a bit longer with my builds  by that time and I suspect it may have taken me a week - after all it had a lot of parts and you had to decide which version you were going to build - I went for the MkIII. I have a replacement in my stash which I must build some time as I "borrowed" the tail turret for my Manchester last year I believe, or maybe it was the Lincoln - I forget!

 

So, having kept it for so long Pat, I am sure you will be able to make a better job of it than you would at 13 - I will watch with interest. To me it is still a nice kit with a reasonable level of detail,  though at over £40 I suspect the recent(ish) Italeri one is better.

 

Pete

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