Airfix @ Scale Model World, Telford 2026

.. Everybody is talking about Airfix post-Telford - for all the wrong reasons. Well, the days of the 'Big Reveal' seem to be over. There were no announcements of any consequence whatsoever. The days of the big red boxes are apparently also on the way out. The Airfix stand was mostly black and blue manned by ladies dressed in pink! Even a cursory glance at the videos on line show that Telford was mostly (Heller) yellow. Well that was novel - Airfix make their marketing man redundant and he goes to Heller who make a big splash. But apparently 'red' is the colour of 'discount' and 'sales'.. From one well-known FB modeller; 

 "..the entire Airfix stand at Telford was a vibe-free branding catastrophe. Dark blue logo, pink shirts, zero knowledge. When you consider how intensely strong the branding and presentation has been, especially in the last decade, this felt like the soulless product of some doe-eyed clueless teenager's least literate AI prompt."

But as someone else put it, 'Heller may have 'stolen the show'- but how many truly great Heller kits has anyone ever made?' Airfix may or may not have taken a marketing step backwards - but maybe, just maybe, they are trying for a different 'younger' market. Airfix do need to address the youngsters. Starter sets with ancient mouldings and rubbish paints included are also not a great move probably - even when sold cheaply in Aldi/Lidl. At least the new Canberra looks nice - but no news on when it might be here..and it could be a while after this before we see anything new from Airfix.... 

East Kent Scale Modellers at Scale Model World, Telford, 2026

A few views of the East Kent Modellers at the biggest scale model show possibly in the world certainly in Europe, Scale Model World, 2026 held in Telford, England... 

 

Get the 'sit' of your Fw 190 right..

An SG 3 Fw 190 A. Click to view in full screen mode. (ECPA-D KBZ 24 F327)

Most modellers know what a Focke Wulf 190 looks like, don't they? Why then do they go and do this? Beautifully finished in the makings of the 'Eismeer' Geschwader JG 5, but with nothing done about the ridiculously elevated stance. I don't even blame the modeller here really, this is down to the kit, probably another Eduard iteration.... 

Perhaps the thought of surgery on the gear legs was too awful to contemplate, perhaps the modeller had to get the kit finished for the table (photo taken at the IPMS West Norfolk show back in June) and put it together OOTB. Not only do the gear legs have to be shortened, they have to be raked forwards and obviously inwards. Looking down on the wing from directly above you should be able to see the wheels ahead of the wing leading edge. Yet model companies - especially Eduard - continue to produce Fw  (and Me 109) undercarriage under no compression - as if you ever see them like this ..anywhere.. All you really have to do is take a mm or three out of the leg and glue it back together, perhaps inserting a small metal pin. Easy enough to do using a hand-twist micro drill...If you need to slightly 're-position' the leg in the well to rake it forward use a small circular spare part, a 'ring' to locate it..the sort of part you attach to the back of a prop to stop it falling out of an engine. Small enough to sit in the gear well and take an undercarriage leg.

 Here's another recent completion of the Airfix 1:72 Fw 190. I used the EagleCals JG 5 Eismeer decal sheet. Obviously gear leg 'surgery' is a little less daunting in the smaller scale and probably isn't really necessary on the Airfix.. but I did it anyway...

    

Above; Fw 190 with Stammkennzeichen (factory radio code) TI+DQ was an Fw 190 A-1. In the sequential block allocations used by the Luftwaffe, this specific four-letter registration code was painted on the fuselage sides of the early A-series production model during its factory and acceptance testing phases before being assigned to a combat unit. It is part of the same factory code sequence that included nearby prototypes and early testing blocks, such as the TI+IG and TI+IH codes used on the Jumo-engined high-altitude Fw 190 V-prototypes. Note in this view the inward 'cant' of the starboard leg in particular. 

Below; A few more Focke Wulfs seen at the same IPMS show - what do you think about the 'sit' on these ?

At the ECPA-D photographic archive in Paris, the 'fonds allemand' (German collection)  has a host of PK images taken during early 1944 in the East. This image shows a Focke Wulf Fw 190 F-8 of SG 3 being bombed up. Click on the image to view in full screen mode. From the KBZ 240 files. 

Revell 1:72 Halifax B. Mk II reissue

 

.. as built by Les and on the table at our last club night. Halifax B. Mk II of 405 "Vancouver" Sqd RCAF, 1942. Featured 'Ruhr Valley Express' nose markings, each mission being represented with an additional 'wagon'... 

Airfix new-tool 1/48 Phantom FG1

 

Airfix 1/48 Phantom FG1 as built by Bill Clark and on show at East Kent Scale Modellers' October club night. Click on the images to view them large.. 

One or two small(ish) issues which needed correcting. Seats were Quick Boost, ladder from Flight path. Model painted with Humbrol acrylics. The 111 Sqn markings came from various sources. Bill commented that he didn't use all the stencils, finding them too 'stark' against the light grey. General comments at our club - a lovely kit but at £75 when most still had Hasegawa/Revell FGR 2s in the stash meant that one or two had no plans to get one...

A full build article will be published in a forthcoming edition of Scale Aircraft Modelling - SAM

Tiger Tiger! - Saumur Musée des Blindés unveils 'new' Tiger I

 

Courtesy of militarymachine.fr and the Saumur museum here a few views of the recently unveiled Tiger I seen alongside the always impressive Tiger II in an event for fundraisers. A 'World first' claimed by the French at the end of a three-year restoration to have these two Tigers 'in motion' alongside each other. Note the French roundel and the 'Bretagne' marking but this machine - after escaping the Falaise pocket - was a French ' war prize' captured after colliding with another Tiger and being abandoned. It was apparently restored to working order by an FFI unit after being left behind by the German owners. The German Balkenkreuze have been literally scraped off the hull. Note the 'off-set' muzzle brake. A single click on the 'red' square to watch the video below without leaving this site.. 

Produced near the end of Tiger I manufacturing, the tank was delivered in April 1944 to the 102nd SS Heavy Panzer Battalion and fought in the Battle of Normandy. In August 1944, while trying to escape the Falaise-Chambois pocket, it collided with another Tiger tank, damaging its front armour and rendering it immobile before the crew abandoned it. During the winter of 1944–1945, French Forces of the Interior (FFI) led by Besnier recovered the vehicle. The "Bretagne" Squadron - repaired and put back into action, it was renamed "Bretagne" as part of an independent FFI tank squadron where vehicles were named after French provinces. It later saw combat during the liberation of the Saint-Nazaire pocket. Following the war, it was briefly renamed "Colmar" in the 6th Cuirassier Regiment, sent for occupation duties in Germany, and later used for technical experiments and trials at Satory.

Eduard Fw 190 A - 'old' new-tool. What a dog! (part 2)

 

Finished the Eduard Fw 190 A-5 - the 'old' new-tool 'weekend edition'  Obviously it is not designed to be built 'closed-up' (or even finished in a weekend!) but I did not want to leave it all open. I drew the line at filling, filing and sanding a second cannon-bay hatch and left the starboard wing-root door open. Some of the engine parts have to be mounted (somehow) inside the cowling panels in order to have the BMW fan correctly positioned.. 

The other point to mention about this kit is the poor 'sit' or 'stance' of the finished model - it definitely needs some tweaks to the gear legs. 

Finished as 'black 7' flown by the Staffelkapitän of 5./JG 54 - Lt. Emil Lang. During the late spring/ early summer of 1943 bands of earth brown/sand were roughly applied over the two greens and the unit's green heart markings were over-painted - not 100% convinced by the paint finish, it looks a little too neat to my eyes, but at this stage I was just happy to get something that looked reasonably 'presentable' on the shelf.. 

Some images from Huw Morgan's build of this kit - or rather the A-8/R2 boxing - that was featured in the now defunct 'SAMI' in 2015. I chuckled at the 'minimal filler' needed. There isn't one part of this kit that fits to another that doesn't require it! Obviously if you attempt this - I do have another in the stash -  you will encounter the same issues.