Thanks Harry I really enjoy these videos, so much that I now go out looking for early Airfix to build. I had great fun building an original Airfix Triceratops. Lovely kit, detail was amazing and went together so easy. Not my usual thing, a true joy.
I remember those Airfix dinosaurs Roger, and built a few of them. The brontosaurus was one I painted on my bedroom floor but spilled brown paint on the stripe coloured 70’s carpet. Which I then hid with my slippers for months until it was discovered and the inevitable hiding took place LOL
Remember getting one of these as a teenager when they first came out - would have been one of the blue label boxes in 1975 or 1976. At the time I mostly made 1:72 aircraft, wasn’t that interested in ships. But it was that period between Christmas and New Year, I had some Christmas present money to spend and I’d just watched one of the old naval films on TV so I had a hankering to do my first ship. So down to the toy shop in the village and there was the Prinz Eugen - as I did back then it was built and painted in a couple of days - though I didn’t do the white and black disruptive pattern - my skill and patience with paintbrush, especially with white paint, just wasn’t up to the challenge. Shortly after, did the Airfix Narvik class destroyer to go with it but then when back to my real love which was 1:72 aircraft. Not done much naval stuff since.
@@HarryHoudiniModels I do have three in my stash. A weird scale 1:400 Heller Tirpitz, a 1:72 Revell S Boat and a 1:64 wooden kit of the HM Cutter Sherbourne.
I had a flashback moment when you mentioned twisting parts off the sprue. I was suddenly back in the early seventies. Now, of course, I use my clippers and other tools that I never would have considered back then.
Good review Harry! You know, as I was preparing to watch this today, a crow landed in the tree behind my house and called out to his mates in a nearby tree. Now, you cannot hear an anxious crow call out, without being reminded of of a F.A.R.K. It was a definite reminder to catch up with you and see what you had found for us. Looks like a fun little kit to build. Put it on your growing list mate, and keep them coming. Cheers from south of the border!
Oh wow i remember building that when it came out, as for the dates on the parts, Airfix don't tend to alter the molds, so even though it says 1974 it still could be a 1981 release, happy modelling Harry
Yes it is most likely a 1974 tooling of the mould, but my box says copyright 1976. Anyway it is a lovely clean mould of the ship. Thanks for dropping in Sarah-Jane
Great video! I have one of these that I think may be one of the originals. It came with a bag and older box design, the picture framed, the company logo in green, and pictures of other kits in the Series 5 range that you can get. You're right about the crisp details. It was a great find and I look forward to seeing how your build goes.
16:00 Being a German naval quad AA mount, I think that represents a 2cm Flakvierling. If there's other secondary mounts, they're probably the 10.5cm and 3.7cm twin mounts.
I wish Airfix would update some of their classic old ship kits like theyve done with some of their aircraft but i doubt they'd see ships especially in a small scale as profitable these days
I made loads of these kits, loved them, but the problem, as ever, was finding places to put them one built. I had about six on the window ledge of our family room alone. They all got dusted to death ...
As my collection grew in the 60’s my father put up a display cabinet on my bedroom wall to keep my battleships dust free. I wish I still had photos of them, but they were sadly lost over the years.
The kit was in the 1974 catalogue which agrees with the moulding stamp but there was a tendency in those days to delay getting new kits to the shops. One mystery I don't get is why the kit was a series 6 which was a bit of a stretch from the other 1:600 kits (apart from the obvious increase in quality over the older kits). For some odd reason it was changed to series 5 by 1978.
Thanks Eric, that does solve the tool date and release date issue. I’ve never got my head around the series numbers by Airfix. Maybe as they produced more complex kits, the older ones were downgraded?
The older big 1:600 ships stayed at series 4 for years, I think there are only Hood, Bismarck and Belfast left now and not sure what they are classed as but Bismarck should have been discontinued years ago, its's awful.
I just got Tamiya's Shokaku. I'm a fan of the Prinz Eugen, due to a couple of factors (one may or may not be an anime adaptation), and I was just shopping for one that was NOT Tamiya so that I could try more than just Tamiya, and Airfix. I want to get the full picture and form an opinion off of my interests unlike some, so I need experimentation. Gonna hold of on building Shokaku though. I looked at the parts, and I feel like I need 25 more airfix kits, and a decent tool-set before hand so that I can build confidence. I don't want to ruin a model of my favorite carrier class outside of the US Navy.
The Trumpeter range of warships in both 1/350 and 1/700 are very nice kits. Easy to build and fairly accurate. You will gain more confidence as you build more ships and understand the way to paint the parts first, then make sub assemblies, and finally put it all together.
Anybody: What’s special about Airfix white box? Harry, all that time messing around with 3D printing is an investment that will pay off handsomely I’m sure. I’m not touching that technology until I have mastered modeling basics, but when I’m ready you’ll have blazed a trail. Good on you!
Come come Paul…. you know why I love White Box Airfix kits.. tooling was newer, plastic was better, so the kit parts were crisp and clean, and it reminds me of my carefree youth.
Hi love the show and now I know I can get a wooden deck for the Prinz Eugen.I managed to pick up the original I.e 74/75 release for 10 quid last year....bit their hand off obviously and it's mint. Meanwhile noticed on flea Bay the Terror fish in 1/72 (how'd they know that??) Going for 45 quid ....crazy stuff. For interest I have always thought the old Weymouth( the original) town council building looks like WASP HQ in my mind 🤪...check it out
The modellers for Stingray must have been inspired by its architecture. At least thats better than the juice squeezer used inside Thunderbird 1 launch bay LOL
They are rare as Martin Bower & Bill Pearson stuck hundreds of them onto the Tug - Nostromo and refinery from Alien. You have to admit, the Germans designed some stunnning looking warships.
@@HarryHoudiniModels I think it's the lines, British ships always seemed to have bits bolted on, like they were not supposed to be there......And those high and defined bridges above the front turrets, shell magnets. Anyway, keep up the good work.
Aircraft kits sell in far larger numbers than ship kits so the moulds wear out quicker. This Airfix ship kit was moulded (1976) only a few years after the initial tooling (1974). So like many white box Airfix kits it is crisp, clean, and has hardly any flash.
Too much competition out there from Tamiya and Trumpeter I fear. Ship models always have a much smaller market of prospective buyers than Spitfires and Tiger Tanks, which they can sell in the millions.
60’s and 70’s Airfix will always be a long remembered love affair for me Marco. I did not scale model in the 80’s and 90’s so missed the awful years of Airfix, which so many viewers remember as their first experience with the brand. No wonder they hated it… just as my first experience with Tamiya was a disappointment. We shape our opinions on our experiences.
@@HarryHoudiniModels Hm, this makes me a little curious ... about the 90s etc. I stopped building '91with my first dragon tank. Tank tracks in singleparts ... And just start again. I always loved tamiya.Yes, assembling them is not all the fun over the years. But hey are modellers imo. Many companies aren't modellers by themselves or hate them.
