Airfix Spitfire Mk.XIV G-Fire : Have Airfix kits improved in 25 years? 

In part 2 of this build I show how easy it was to fix the apparent fit issues. I must get around to painting mine and put out a part 3.

Glad to help

My pleasure... glad you liked it.

Glad you liked it!

Thanks for the sub!

I started a few years after you with the Airfix Spitfire in the bag. It was my first plastic kit, I’d built wood aircraft and ships up until then, but I loved it. This Spitty is coming together nicely, and boy so much more cockpit detail than even 25 years ago.

Wow - you're even older than me! My first kit was the Typhoon, in about 1968 from my local Woolworths. I've introduced kit-building to my son, who's now eleven. His first kit was a current-generation jet Typhoon. Sad to see how expensive kits are these days.

It has been a popular version.

I don’t see as bad a fit on the top cowl piece for my dry fit... however I am told once you put the interior cradle into the fuselage it helps fatten it out, so the wing roots are less gappy. Maybe then the cowl will be too narrow?

I agree. There are just Airfix haters out there who just don’t see the joy in their kits.

The fit so far on my build has been very positive. Typical of most modern CAD designed models.

Awesome, thank you!

I agree, and have all of them in my stash. Although there have been a few notable disaster kits, on the whole I still really enjoy building Airfix.

Agree. Love making those kits. Frankly not enjoyed making most of the new stuff . moldings can be poor and plastic too soft for good detail. Decals are a lot better now though

Pretty safe here mate. We had zero local transmissions and zero deaths from the vile rust in Australia yesterday.

Good tip! I will watch out for that.

Good to hear... I think those poorly reboxed kits from the late 90’s and early naughties gave Airfix a bad name. Their new CAD kits are state of the art, even if the Indian manufacturers let slip now and then.

@@HarryHoudiniModels I was pleasantly surprised at the fit and finish of the new mold P-40. The wing fillets were separate parts and fit like a glove. The cockpit was made up of numerous parts more accurately representing the real thing.

The thing is Airfix kits build up well, are fun to build and now they have the detail they lacked decades ago. What’s not to like?

So you failed to read the instructions, got it wrong, and that put you off the hobby?

@@HarryHoudiniModels yea it put me off for a long time. but recently started doing models again.

Thanks!

Bring back the old plastic, even if they had to press it in France!

Thanks… best take that up with Airfix.

Who knows... they make what sells... so they can stay in business.

Spencer Flack flew a number of aircraft apart from this Spitfire, including a Sea Fury and Hawker Hunter all painted red with a blue and white stripe. Not sure if it ever had anything to do with Coke.

Good to know.. I have that kit in the stash

That is a very nice kit, I have to concur.

Looks great in the box :)

Good tip... thanks

Good on you Marvin

They are, but back then their markets all spoke Anglaise... now you need to speak Cantonese.

@@HarryHoudiniModels Very true Harry.

Red ones go faster :) hehe

I think their new kits are enjoyable to build, but still require some modelling skills, not just shake and bake. I prefer that.

@@HarryHoudiniModels to my shame I’ve never built a Tamiya. I like some of the short run kits

Thanks for the clarification

The purpose of clipped wings was to create a low level Spitfire. The shorter wing was less stressed at low altitude.

@@leerogers6423 Don't forget the engine (supercharger rated for higher performance at low-medium alt). Wingtips were field-modded, takes 15 minutes adding or removing them. Taking off the tips is a trade off. As noted, climb rate suffers, but also higher take-off and stall speeds. Which is why many 2TAF spits had them - those advanced landing strips weren't great, and many Mk.IX were used as fighter-bombers carrying 500 to 1000lb bomb loads. You want the lift. you NEED the lift ;)

I have almost finished the interior and hope to have that video out this weekend.

I hope that makes you feel very special.

Airfix kit British you an Aussie model builder my hometown so maybe just a little yeah.

Thanks

There are options to remove the ledge inside of the cockpit if you want the canopy open. Did you do that on your version?

@@HarryHoudiniModels I wasn't aware of the option at the time..so no, i didn't remove the ledge.....Ho hum :)

@@iangoldstraw6002 That's why you READ the instructions first and DRY FIT! ..

I prefer the older harder plastic too. It doesn’t smell of curry.

@@HarryHoudiniModels this new stuff does have a weird smell doesn't it!

Good for you :)

@@HarryHoudiniModels I even had the LEM moon lander and Eagle 1 from Space 1999, oh and the aircraft from UFO. Loved the Lancaster, spit and P51 They started in the USA making kits for tractor sales men to show farmers so I'm told

No they are a British company started in 1939 to produce inflatable rubber toys. In 1947 they moved to injection moulding and made combs. In 1949 Ferguson asked them to produce a plastic model of their tractor for salesmen. To lower costs for that project they struck a deal with Woolworths UK to also sell the model to the public. Then in 1954 Woolworths asked them to make a model of Sir Francis Drakes Golden Hind to sell in their stores. It sold very well so in 1955 Airfix made the Spitfire model and the whole plastic model making craze kicked off.

Once they are all glued up and painted, who can tell if it was a serious model, or just one build for enjoyment?

@@HarryHoudiniModels Hence why I put the word "serious" in quotes. It's all relative. Ultimately we have to do what we enjoy and how we enjoy it. As a guy who is badly colourblind I can make some wacky looking concoctions but it's all just good fun to me!

Thanks for the sub!

Good for you matey… I still need to paint mine.

The moulds were pressed at Hellers facility in Turn France back then when the 1996 Mk.XX kit was new just after Humbrol bought the company, but the design was Airfix. The 2018 rerelease is manufactured in India, using the same plastic as the new Mk.XIV. I did a whole video on the changes in Airfix from 1932 to now, explaining how and why they changed moulding operations as they changed owners, and how many kits are simply released old moulds. Yes some kits in the 90’s were just rebranded Heller. The Mk.XX was not. It is Airfix.

You certainly will

I wonder if the hobby will dwindle away as the Baby Boomer generation disappears?

I expect there’s too much delayed gratification. And to be fair, they have a lot of choices too. And we grew up listening to people that flew these things for real whereas WW2 is ancient and unimportant history to the kids now. BTW: the rivet counters have it wrong. The photos of Spencer Flack’s Spitfire show just the two cannon.

Good to know. I was going to scratch the missing cannons. Now I won’t bother.

Thanks. I am subbed to Tom and enjoy his stop frame animations.

Good to know

Nice of you to think I am young. I built Airfix kits in the 60’s! And I look out now for white box kits all the time. Love them.

@@HarryHoudiniModels you can' t deny though that the subjects are less interesting than the older models , i also think the older boxes looked better , now it looks like a gamer targeted market

Built many of them too. They were excellent! Then I got the Tamiya Mitsubishi Zero in 1/32 and was completely amazed by the quality. Even the fabric control surfaces were duplicated. This around 1970.

I feel their main problems are the poor soft plastic and bad quality control at the Indian manufacturers, which is very unacceptable in light of what we see out of China, Korea and Japan nowadays. Yet I will always have a fondness for Airfix, despite their problems, and would still keep building their kits.

Yep..

If they tight packed the parts, as they have started doing recently along the lines of ICM, then you would not have so many broken loose parts which snapped off the sprues. Just poor packaging and a long, 50 year, gripe with Airfix.

1. I am not a collector I am a builder. Some, like this kit, I will build now. Others I save for my retirement. I never buy kits as an investment. I buy them for my use in my hobby. 2. I am honest about Airfix, but I have a nostalgic soft spot for them. I also have Eduard Spitfire kits, which are superior in detail but they don’t recall the fun I had in my youth when I first started the hobby. I am not complaining, I am just truthful about Airfix.

What are you talking about? Kits definitely do accrue value

Maybe not Smer!

@@jamessteale805 Some do some don't. I've been building models from kits since I was given a Monogram Gruman Wild Cat at Christmas time 1959. From memory and experience it seems that for a long time plastic kits were either partially built, abandoned from disinterest or built and hung from a kids bedroom ceiling on a a length of thin guage fishing line. Often unbuilt kits were biffed into the garbage from a general clean out because there was no longer any interest in them. The kid who had been given these, often as a birthday or Christmas gift had grown out of them and moved on to building relationships with girls, parties and booze while also pursuing an education. Later, when life became more domestic again, there became time once more and the hobby of kit building was resurrected. Interestingly enough and as you point out, older and presumably unbuilt kits, as opposed to partially started, will have a collectors value and so a separate interest in the hobby is created.