'On Track' February 2012

 ..About time I posted some pictures from the recent 'On Track' show held at Folkestone's Leas Cliff Hall during February.

Airfix Morris Marina -1:32

no I'm not building it ..or even bidding, but this is so rare I'd thought I'd like to keep some record of having seen it on this blog. This is one of the hardest Airfix kits to find out there and certainly the rarest of the so called “modern” car series. According to the seller; " the kit is all complete although some parts are of the sprues. The instructions and complaint slip are there and this is a series 2 kit in the Type 4 box. There are some minor marks  on the front but overall this is still going to be a very desirable kit and I would rate it 8 out of 10 if I was perfectly honest due to the parts not all being on the sprues and the marking to the box.." .

Hornchurch Southern Expo Saturday 24 March 2012

As usual Peter Bagshaw and the team (IPMS Hornchurch) put on a great show. I dropped my partner and kids off at Lakeside and then spent another hour in the horrendous Hornchurch traffic and only slightly less time tying to find a parking spot at the Sports Centre which was absolutely packed. Once inside I didn't get the chance to say hello to everyone - including the BM-ers - that I wanted to, sorry about that.

I managed to pick up some nice bits and pieces including half-price Xtradecal sheets from Hannants, Freightdog models PR.XI resin conversion for the Airfix PR. XIX, some Red Star Soviet fighter kits and ICM Spitfires for a fiver. Here's a quick look at some of the models on the tables, with the best table display IMHO going to IPMS Hornchurch's own Pacific air war grouping ..as usual you can click on the pics for a larger image..

new tool Airfix Hurricane IIC / Heller Hurricane IIC/ Manston Hurricane IIC

With the new Revell Ju 88 already on the 'shelf of doom' and no sign of the Fly Henschel Hs 123 on the workbench, I've been building another pair of WWII 1:72 fighters, the new tool Airfix Hurricane IIC and its elderly counterpart from Heller. Aside from the fact that with a bit of surgery you can build a Sea Hurricane from the new Airfix kit, there is not a lot to choose between the two. Of course the Airfix kit has engraved panel lines and is readily available and I'm already planning a nice series.

You have to cut out the rear lower fuselage to fit the arrestor hook and there are no catapult spools provided so I've added my own using some coloured beads from a craft set, partially visible in the pics below, which show the Airfix kit on the left and the Heller IIC on the right. The Airfix kit looks a little short in the nose alongside the Heller kit but is fine when painted and photographed on its own. I'm pretty pleased with it. In many respects as nicely detailed as the Revell Hurricane, and gets my vote as it doesn't have that poorly done canopy that detracts from the Revell kit.

As usual my pre-shading was a waste of time, but post-shading the panel lines worked nicely, if only because with a single colour scheme it's possible to lightly mist some of the main colour back over the post-shading! The Heller IIC (bottom) is finished in Gleed's well-known scheme from the Aeromaster "Hurricanes at War" sheet.

Worth noting perhaps that one of the three decal options in the new tool Airfix Hurricane kit is the Hurricane IIC BN 230 flown by the first Belgian RAF Squadron Leader, "Danny" Le Roy du Vivier of 43 Squadron. Leading the Tangmere Wing, Le Roy was one of the first pilots over Dieppe during the ill-fated 'Jubilee' operation of 19 August 1942 according to the plaque at the 'Manston Spitfire and Hurricane Memorial'. I mention this because the Manston IIC  is my 'local' preserved Hurricane and is finished as Le Roy du Vivier's machine. Originally LF 751 and built at Hawker's Langley factory in early 1944, Manston's Hurricane was restored duing the 1980's using many original parts especially in the cockpit .

A round-up of 1/72 scale Fw 190s -last edited January 2022

Above;  72nd scale Eduard Fw 190 A-5 'heavy fighter' 

Until the appearance of the Eduard Fw 190 kits in 72nd scale  the best small scale Fw 190 kit was almost certainly the Revell 1/72, especially as it is/was widely available and so much cheaper than the Hasegawa kits. At the last count I had built around 17 of them. There are/were a few 'issues' with the kit. In addition to the shape of the canopy (much less obvious than Hasegawa's 'flattened' effort) some modellers believe that Revell also got the cowl wrong. I have to say after carefully measuring the kit against some drawings and comparing it against some decent photographs I can't really see it. What do you think?

 ".....Revell moulded the front opening of the cowling too small. The error is quite large for the scale, being if I remember correctly around 2 mm. As a consequence, the front part of the cowling and the cowling ring tapers too much to meet the small opening. The negative effect is even more exaggerated by the model having its cowling slightly rounded in profile. All this gives the front part of the fuselage an unnaturally heavy "bulbous" look...."    

A few comparison shots, all current 1/72 Fw 190 kits. First up the Revell A-8/F-8 and that 'suspect' cowling x4. Generally a lovely little kit although recent production is displaying a fair amount of flash and the clear parts are no longer very clear at all. In fact they need ditching and the canopy replaced with a vac-form item. That requires some minor surgery - removing the rear canopy 'decking' moulded integrally with the fuselage halves. Aeroclub do (did?) a replacement canopy, along with a white metal 'unbulged' upper cowl for the A5-6 variants

Hasegawa A-5 finished in J.Gr Ost markings. The re-tooled Hasegawa kits are very good of course, although the new Dual combo boxings are retailing for upwards of £30 !! Two minor complaints - the overly long landing gear and a slightly misshapen canopy, it being slightly too 'rounded' where it meets the windscreen.

Italeri A-8 cowling (above) and the Academy A-6 below. I quite like the Italeri A-8 and their Dora. The Anton has raised panel detail and no dihedral on the wings unfortunately. The cockpit is quite good though. The Fw 190 A series are easily the worst kits Academy have done in 1/72 scale. Difficult to know where to start - wings, tail plane, cowl, undercarriage - in fact just don't bother is really the best advice with both their A-6 and A-8 boxings. Their Dora on the other hand is very good and doesn't share any parts wih the 'A' variant.

Airfix A-8 finished as Priller's 'Jutta' first issued in 1977. This was the best radial engine Fw 190 kit until the Hasegawa and Revell new tool. The outline was very accurate, although the surface detail featured raised lines and some rather soft cowl details and the kit is missing the cannon breech fairings on the wing upper surfaces - not at all a bad thing if you were thinking of adding an 'unbulged' cowl cover and back-dating to an A-6 or similar, as I have here with this model in the overall hellblau-grau markings of the night-fighter Staffel of JG 2, summer 1943..

Lots of new Fw 190s released since 2012. I am currently building my first 72nd scale Eduard 190. The 'new' tool Airfix A isn't bad at all ...and goes together easily - my latest with added FuG antennae in the markings of JG 300 ace Klaus Bretschneider - markings from EagleCals.

and the Zvezda A-4 on the shelf. Replacement wheels from True Detail, but yes, spoilt by some silly omissions..but for a 'snap-fit' kit, not bad at all..

That just leaves the Tamiya A-3 in this scale, along with the AZ Models and Mastercraft kits. The AZ kits include a resin wheel well insert and metal gun barrels and are thus three times the price of a Revell kit. They do look great in the box but I haven't built any of their range yet which includes an A-0 and an A-1 to A-4. AZ also supply a resin insert for the characteristic pointed antenna post of the A-4 tail fin. Will be starting one soon. Mastercraft look to be poor quality, although feature engraved panel lines and a half-decent decal sheet. And Quickboost (Aires) do a resin replacement cowl ring if you've a mind!

More 72nd scale Fw 190 builds on this blog;

Airfix new-tool Fw 190 A-8
http://falkeeinsmodel.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/new-tool-airfix-fw-190-8-172.html

Zvezda Fw 190 A-4 in 72nd scale
http://falkeeinsmodel.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/zvezda-fw-190-4-in-172-scale.html