Welcome to the official discussion thread for the ancient Airfix campaign. Here is where to post your progres, frustrations and camaraderie for your adventures with your ancient Airfix kit.

Link to the campaign page here.

I kick things off. My kit:

Except I'm going to use this bagged kit I bought used rather than that one.

The previous owner had glued the wings and doors. A little cleanup will be necessary.

The colour scheme I have in mind

Holy 1970s Batman!
I'm using the Superscale decal sheet, also from the 1970s. The decals have had a good coating of liquid decal film.

Hi Jessica!
How are you going to do the cabin windows? Decal windows to be cut out?
C[ ]

No, I have a set of wndow decals I borrowed from the Daco 735.

Hi,

I started on my chipmunk yesterday, and have read some reviews on recent builds, where some basic modification has been completed, feeling confident I am going to try and do the same.

I've started by cutting the rudder free, cutting the engine cowling off and shaving down the insides and drilling through the air intake and finally cutting the flaps free.

A close up of the engine intake, the front piece has some minor injection scarring which I will rectify with some squadron white putty.

A close up of the cut out flaps, I haven't got rid of the injector pin marks on the seats as I intend to put both figures in the cockpit anyway.

A close up of the fuselage and cut away rudder.

I intend to make some basic instrument panels also to give the cockpit something extra.

Then it will be a case of either toning down the rivet detail, or leaving it I'm not sure yet as I've seen good builds both ways, then painting the white bands, masking off, then the gloss black after I've put the fusegale together.

I have also thought that this will be a relatively quick build, so I think I will do a second build, I've got an airfix Dehavilland DH.88 Comet which I think I will do also.







Again I have seen a decent online build which I will take stock from and try to emulate to some degree.

Got the boxes out yesterday anyway, looked at the kits and went back to my Eduard Fokker DVII. This one dates from about 1968 and apart from raised panel lines and oversized struts doesn't look too bad. Detail is as expected, sparse but that was expected for the age of the kit.

Arado Ar196A3
This one is a bit of a horror story



Bristol Fighter F2B dating from 1957 ish. This one will take a bit of work just to ease the moulding faults, then to follow that the kit proportions are wrong, the under fuslage gap to the wings is too small which will probably throw out the cabane or interplane strut lengths, one of thyem has to be wrong. I was reading an thread on the Airfix tribute forum last night about moulds that have gone missing from Airfix over the years, it didn't mention the ones that should have been deleted or replaced by new ones. Airfix had an excellent range with some types that no one else did, but the quality of some of these moulds is very poor. Richard, I have got the DH88 for the Pioneers GP and can report that the mould has been reworked several years ago and is much improved. When I built Grosvenor House 5 years ago the mould was clearly on it's last legs, however Black Magic a couple of years ago was much better, still crude but better.

Hi guys, I am on a limited internet at the moment so I apologise for the lack of images for you to ponder at! But I aim to build the good old Airfix ME 262. The kit itself is the re-release (the picture of the model sitting on top of some awesome paper, which i beleive means the 80s?)but i believe that the kit is the same as the 1960s original. As it happens this kit was the first one I ever bough, but i really stuffed it up-only being 9 there are parts on upside down, bits are missing etc. So I bought this one at a carboot to replace it! I just have to pick it up from my mums loft. Tally ho boys and girls, good luck to you all! (especially Andrew with his Bristol Fighter, it was a horrendous mess trying to get the wings together! WHY would they make all 8 of the interplane struts seperate items?)

Here my entry



I started to prime the very basic interior and was hoping to use the figure to liven it up but he looks like he's been in a horrific plane crash I'm now searching through the spares box to see if I have a suitable replacement Airfix figure.

I have decided that i'll be doing this in the metal finish of the USCG.

That was one of my favourite Airfix kits, the other being the Anson. I must have built at least three of each.

Wow, some of you are brave to tackle those! This looks like its going to be a great campaign.
Here's my entry, the Orion III Shuttle from 2001 A Space Odyssey. Originally tooled in 1969, a year after the films release, and then modified as a Snap-Tite in 1980.
This boxing is dated 2000, I think the last time it was available in the catalogue. Luckily this boxing does include the correct PAN-AM markings along with the hideous fictitious scheme on the box top that was conjured up in the 1980 reissue. Was this a case of PAN-AM being funny about the use of its livery? I have to wonder why Airfix did not just use another airline scheme if that was the case. It would look great in retro BOAC colours!


What few parts there are mostly off the sprues. I could not resist a test fit when I first bought it. I also plan to junk the old stand and make up something a bit more presentable.



A picture of an Orion on the back cover of my Dad's old paperback copy of the novel reveals some interesting details I will have a crack at adding. There are some control thrusters around the nose and wingtips (easy, just drill them out), two almost triangular cutouts above the cockpit (could be tricky to do), some panel work in front of the canopy and the following additional markings - a PAN-AM logo on top of the nose, stenciling and warning markings, the American flag and 'ORION CLIPPER' on the left hand side of the canopy. They could be knocked up quickly in a graphics program and printed on ink-jet decal paper.


This should be a fun project!
Looking at it I can't help but notice what the designers got right on the Orion. It looks like it would work quite well in reality. It also bears more than a passing resemblance to Concorde. It would also make a great starting place to scratchbuild the Normandy SR-1 from the Xbox game Mass Effect. Very similar fuselage shapes and it must have inspired the games desingers to some extent.
http://www.myfreewallpapers.net/games/pages/mass-effect-normandy-sr1.shtml

No wonder I couldn't find it, it's in the wrong thread area. Supposed to be with the other Campaign Threads.









~ Jeff

Since this is a Kitmaker-wide campaign it's here so we all can find it no matter what our "home" site is. You'll note that the Osprey Duel campaign is also here for the same reason.

You do raise a good point. I should pop into the other sites and post a pointer to the campaign thread.

Hi fellow Airfix addicts
posting two starting images as I am not sure which one to build.


I think it might be the Cortina.




good luck with your builds
Martin

Oh my. Both of those are very collectible. I'm sure that the collectors will love seeing you build either, since it drives up the value of their kits which will never be built and loved.

I don't think I've ever seen the Cortina here. Presumably it wasn't issued in the Dominions. I'd enjoy watching it built very much.

Well, my general plan is to go with the 1967 Airfix OS2U-1 Kingfisher. It's the early carton but I don't know the actual boxing. It's all there except the forward rear canopy is missing, I hope I can get it from Airfix and not have to resort to Vac or home made. The decals haven't survived, But I van get around that. My goal is to build it as a land based plane (no floats) and go with the yellow wings finish.


It has the offer to get the Airfix magazine for 1-6 per issue.

Here's my entry:



and made a start I will be making a cover to cover the cockpit area as its rather empty apart from two plastic bits for the pilot to sit on. Also filled the sunken injector pin marks on the wings as well





with everything else I have on at the moment I think it might stay at this stage for a while

The fuselage is together.

Lots of work for the puttying crews

a minor bit of kit improvement was needed here. The rear of the fuselage didn't meet properly and the APU exhaust outlet was misshapen. I filed it out until it was circular, then glued in a blocked-off section of styrene tube. Once the glue has hardened, I'll file the proper shape into the rear fuselage and APU exhaust area. This will prevent the see-though look as well.

I'll be joining in with a a classic 1/600 warship kit, soon. I don't know yet, which one it'll be, but I got about all of them in my stash so there's plenty of choice. According to the lists it seems that all famous fighting ship kits of the 1/600th line were release before 1976, so no problem from that side either. However, I am not quite certain, if I can stick to that "charm of the naive" rule. I'll definitely use the proper White Ensign PE sets, will set the ship into a seascape, do full rigging and weathering as realistic as possible. I will however, refrain from making major scratch build corrections.
I certainly hope, I can still go along with this campaign.
Cheers,
Guido

That's going to look fantastic. I can't wait to see which one you'll pick.

I heard back from Airfix on my missing canopy section. They'll send it to me for £ 3.00 POUND STERLING. By the time I make the long distance call, and pay the international transaction fee, I'll probably spend more on the missing part than the entire kit.

Oh well, onward....

But what would you do with all the extra parts?

I guess I will re-join and build my Pup afterall. My wife says I cannot quit a girls Campaign, no matter if it is in the wrong section.

Pics soon... as soon as I get done with the yard work AND watch some pigskin action.








~ Jeff

Oh wow, now I'm all of a thingy over what to build. When I signed up I was intending to use it as motivation to build the (Rommel's) SdKfz250, but I'm not sure I want to be the only one building something with more than 30 parts!

In the loft there are the 1/24 scale Mustang and 109, but that's just even worse.

Then I dug out HMS Daring... and then I read Guido's piece about PE and setting it in a seascape and rigging...glug.

I may have another rake through the sub-stash that's been buried in my mother's house for 30 years.

Oh dear, give me some time, and I will join in I promise!

Yea, I guess with eliminating the floats for the fixed gear, I'm down to about 30 parts. But the painting and decaling is going to be a challenge.

I started a build log last night AAA Old Slow and Ugly.

@Matthew-
we could do something of a side-by-side build. It motivate you to go all-out on your Daring.
Cheers,
Guido

Wings and primer are on. Now I will turn to the engines.


I'll leave the shadows of the windows showing under the paint, so I know where to put the window decals.