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1/72 Airfix Fairey Battle


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Last month I made it to Rare-Plane Detective, which if ever you are in Southern California, is a must visit. Tons of kits, old and newish, I was like a kid in a sweet shop. Really good selection of planes, armour, cars & sci-fi,  and I had to really restrain myself from blowing my budget there!

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I picked up this venerable beauty for the princely sum of $11, which is £7.80, according to Google. 

 

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I'm aware it's fairly (Fairey) flawed but won't be correcting any faults and probably won't do anything other than build it as instructed. I made one of these back in the day when I was a kid and it hung over my bed for many years. Looking forward to this trip down memory lane. First thing is to wash it and check that the decals are still usable, if not I can probably cobble some together.

Cheers

Segan

 

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Looks great Segan

 

Your display of restraint is very commendable when you had that many kits in the shop !

How long did you spend looking at them all before choosing  ?

 

Cheers Pat 

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Nice choice. The box art is striking. A real Roy Cross classic.

The decals will have a better chance of working if you clearcoat then first. Airfix decals from the period are very hit and miss these days. The undercarriage is very fragile as well. Mine has been repaired more than once.

 

I'll be following along with interest,

 

Tony.

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Great choice Segan I built it last year for the second time without any correction's it still look's like a battle and was great fun!

 

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Hi Segan. Welcome to the GB. What a great shop and what a fantastic choice of kit for this GB. I'm looking forward to following your progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

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12 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

Looks great Segan

 

Your display of restraint is very commendable when you had that many kits in the shop !

How long did you spend looking at them all before choosing  ?

 

Cheers Pat 

I managed to get out of there in about an hour, just on the planes, didn't even really go through the other sections. I made not of a few things I want to go back and get later, really was a amazing selection. The only other kit I got was the ICM Fokker EIV, which would also be eligible for this group build. We'll see if I have time!

 

12 hours ago, TonyW said:

Nice choice. The box art is striking. A real Roy Cross classic.

The decals will have a better chance of working if you clearcoat then first. Airfix decals from the period are very hit and miss these days. The undercarriage is very fragile as well. Mine has been repaired more than once.

 

I'll be following along with interest,

 

Tony.

Thanks for the tips Tony! And yes that box art is great. I love the current Airfix box art but I will always have a soft spot for this era.

 

11 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Great choice Segan I built it last year for the second time without any correction's it still look's like a battle and was great fun!

Thanks Steve. That looks great! A definite inspiration for this build.

 

7 hours ago, PlaStix said:

Hi Segan. Welcome to the GB. What a great shop and what a fantastic choice of kit for this GB. I'm looking forward to following your progress.

Kind regards,

Stix

Thanks Stix! 

Edited by Misterfriend
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I visited Rare Plane when they were still in Vegas. I however did not show restraint and filled a suitcase! It is a totally amazing place and I hope to visit again if I ever get ot to SoCal again 

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On 5/17/2021 at 6:53 AM, Tcoat said:

I visited Rare Plane when they were still in Vegas. I however did not show restraint and filled a suitcase! It is a totally amazing place and I hope to visit again if I ever get ot to SoCal again 

I went to it in Vegas a long time ago, I'd skipped out on a conference I was supposed to be attending! Seem to remember it was in a  dodgy part of town. As Vegas is generally pretty dodgy, that's saying something!

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We used to have something a bit similar in Cardiff but it was a lot smaller - perhaps 50 kits at most and only lasted a few years. The place you went to would make me bankrupt! I know that there are shape problems with the Battle - I think one is that the vertical tail should be twisted slightly to counteract the torque from the prop or some such, but I can't remember what else was supposed to be wrong. I built it after it first came out (badly) and refurbished it a few years back - looks pretty good to me no matter what is supposed to be inaccurate! Probably totally wrong but I seem to remember reading that Fairey gave Airfix the wrong plans - either an earlier version that was changed or maybe even the P4/34 light bomber that was developed into the Fulmar fighter.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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According to Ian Huntley. who was working there at the time. Airfix's request was answered by someone in the PR department who sent them an early project drawing.  As for what is wrong compared to the production aircraft, it is just about everything.  I must admit I hadn't encountered this about the tail, but I'm pretty sure that this is far from the only kit for which this is true, and Airfix not the worst offender.  Apparently there was one modeller who spent a lot of time straightening the tail of the Airfix Skyraider, poor soul.  After all, the Monogram one was straight, and Mongram had the same place in the hierarchy then as Tamiya or Eduard have now: they wouldn't get anything like that wrong, would they?

 

But the P4/34 is different again - think Fulmar.

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Thanks Graham,

 

I have a book on the Battle by Ian Huntley and the plans definitely seem to show the tail angled slightly to Port at the front - not by more than a few degrees. I suspect I read about the problems with the kit in an old Airfix Mag which I may see if I can dig out.

 

Hi Segan,

 

Don't mind Graham and me - this is entirely normal! Build it as you want, but if you do need any detail send me a PM and I might be able to help.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/18/2021 at 4:10 PM, PeterB said:

Thanks Graham,

 

I have a book on the Battle by Ian Huntley and the plans definitely seem to show the tail angled slightly to Port at the front - not by more than a few degrees. I suspect I read about the problems with the kit in an old Airfix Mag which I may see if I can dig out.

 

Hi Segan,

 

Don't mind Graham and me - this is entirely normal! Build it as you want, but if you do need any detail send me a PM and I might be able to help.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Thanks Pete! May drop you a line if I get stuck.

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Off to my usual flying start, like a sloth on a go-slow. 

Painted up the chaps, pleasantly quite delicately detailed, and put them in the office. Realised I need an eye test and new glasses and maybe some new brushes!

 

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Edited by Misterfriend
Forgot to add photo
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8 hours ago, Misterfriend said:

Realised I need an eye test and new glasses and maybe some new brushes!

Not looking at the ugly twins you don't, you've made them look about as good as one can. 👍

Steve.

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