Airfix Beagle Basset: new canopies? Transfers?

[Seahawk]

From my memories of when Airfix's Beagle Basset first came out in the 1960s, the transparencies were always a weak point with this kit.  I heard a story that, when Airfix did the last batch of Bassets under the Kitstarter scheme, they mislaid the transparencies and that the kits in the recent reissue therefore have a completely new set of canopies. 

 

1. Has anyone had the chance to do a side-by-side comparison of the transparencies in the Kitstarter or previous releases and in the current reissue?  Are the new transparencies any improvement?  How do they compare in respect of a. clarity and b. fit?  Worth buying another kit for?
2. I imagine the transfers this time round are by Cartograph.  Again, has quality improved markedly over what's in the Kitstarter release?

 

Thanks for your help.

[treker_ed]

Cannot respond regards the fit as I do not have the kit, however, this workbench blog from Airfix, explains that the original mouldings were lost, and that they had to reverse engineer new moulds and make new transparencies! So they should fit better than the originals (according to the blog anyway!)

 

https://uk.airfix.com/community/blog-and-news/workbench/beagle-b206-basset-designed-take-world

[MarcB]

I recently bought the reissue and noticed that the clear parts are very thin, compared to the original kit I built.....50 years ago ? 🙄

 

I clearly remember the original parts were ill-fitting and quite thick. No idea if the new ones will fit beter.

 

HTH

 

M

[Wez]

If you want a bit more choice with your decals, there's these...

[fightersweep]

On 12/7/2022 at 12:26 AM, treker_ed said:

Cannot respond regards the fit as I do not have the kit, however, this workbench blog from Airfix, explains that the original mouldings were lost, and that they had to reverse engineer new moulds and make new transparencies! So they should fit better than the originals (according to the blog anyway!)

 

https://uk.airfix.com/community/blog-and-news/workbench/beagle-b206-basset-designed-take-world

 

I must have missed that edition of Workbench, but that was an interesting read. I'd heard rumours that the transparencies had been re-done, and this confirms it. Either I read too quickly, but I didn't see whether or not the new transparency tooling was done for the Kit Starter release, or purely for the Classics release. Either way, I've got both editions, so I'm duly going to have to try a test fit. The photos in the article look promising though.

 

Steve

[Paul J]

I believe they have been made for this latest issue. I have two on order and a very original issue from way back when.

And, I have a set of those decals on order too.

 

[Paul Thompson]

25 minutes ago, Paul J said:

I believe they have been made for this latest issue. I have two on order and a very original issue from way back when.

And, I have a set of those decals on order too.

 

The process was explained in the link provided above by Steve. Easy to miss, I think, due to the glazed brain induced by the writing style, but worth giving it a go because it is genuinly interesting, once you mentally excise all the excess superlatives. Anyway, the answer in the blog to several peoples' questions is that the new parts are supposed to fit better than the originals ever did. Accidentally bought 3 of these, so both that and the Xtradecal news is good to hear.

 

Paul.

[stever219]

1 hour ago, Wez said:

If you want a bit more choice with your decals, there's these...

Xtradecal have dropped the ball with the instructions at least, they have the underwing serials the wrong way round.  The serials should read inwards from the wingtips on either side, not outwards towards them.

[Paul Thompson]

21 minutes ago, Black Knight said:

Not necessarily.

99.9% of the time they were but there is evidence of the codes being painted the wrong way round, and even sometimes the codes being read the same way under both wings

Yes, but in this case they're all done the same non-standard way, so at least suspicious.

 

Paul.

 

[Paul J]

3 hours ago, Black Knight said:

Not necessarily.

99.9% of the time they were but there is evidence of the codes being painted the wrong way round, and even sometimes the codes being read the same way under both wings

And does that apply to the Basset being discussed here??  True, there are were some types with the underwing serial  incorrectly applied but checking photos will often prove one way or other.