Airfix

[PR19_Kit]

EVERYTHING was pressed into service as a bomber at Habbaniya! My Dad was there at the time......................

Have you read Hidden Victory, by A.G. Dudgeon?

Sure have, it's on my bookshelf. 

[Nick]

and was even pressed into service as a bomber during the Battle of Habbaniya.

EVERYTHING was pressed into service as a bomber at Habbaniya! My Dad was there at the time......................

Have you read Hidden Victory, by A.G. Dudgeon?

I've got this with the title of The War That Never Was.

I did see a recent work on this that I keep meaning to buy: The Big Little War by James Dunford Wood. I think it also explores the politics around this in depth and why it became a forgotten battle.

[dadlamassu]

or my Wargamer's Guide?

Iraq 1941 - Caliver Books

[The Wooksta!]

More recent book on the subject was titled Hitler's Gulf War, but I can't recall the author.

[NARSES2]

I've a few of those "Wargamer's Guides", but can't remember that one

[Weaver]

The new Airfix Club exclusive kit for 2024 has just been announced: it's a "D-Day Duo" of a Spitfire PR.XIX and a Typhoon Mk.IB in stripey markings.

As yet it's only available in the 2024 Red Box starter pack, which is £25 (twice the price of the 2022 one with 2 x Hawks that I just got!), so I don't know what they'll be selling it for as a separate item (if they do).



The Christmas sale is also now over.

[dadlamassu]

More recent book on the subject was titled Hitler's Gulf War, but I can't recall the author.

Barrie G James is the author. 

[Mossie]

Workbench with CAD shots of the 1/48 Bristol Bulldog and interview with the designers:
https://uk.airfix.com/community/blog-and-news/workbench/bristol-bulldog-inter-war-aviation-perfection

Interwar aircraft aren't usually my thing and it's not my scale either but I must admit it's turning my head.

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[Rick Lowe]

That's a decent amount of interior detail. Which you'd need of course, open cockpit and all.

[Mossie]

They may offer the option to have open panels, or to carve them open yourself.

[Weaver]

Why is the nearest Vickers MG detached from its barrel?

[Gondor]

Recoil from the gun when the barrel is securely mounted? 

Probably just showing all the parts where they go and without this side of the fuselage there is a bit missing?

Gondor

[jcf]

Why is the nearest Vickers MG detached from its barrel?

For the same reason that the port cabane struts are floating in mid-air, it's a CAD render that's
only showing selected elements. 

[Weaver]

Fair enough.

I notice in the head-on view that the barrels sit in external troughs: perhaps what's missing from the side view is the back wall of the trough that separates the barrel from the receiver in the kit breakdown? It'd certainly be a hell of a lot easier to build it like that than trying to thread a one-piece gun assembly through from the inside or make a barrel meet up with a receiver after the fuselage is closed up.

[Weaver]

Changes To The Flying Hours scheme.

This might be old news to some people, but because I've got three unused Airfix Flying Hours Passports, I've just noticed that the terms have changed several times in the last few years, so beware if you've got an old passport and always check the website for the latest T&Cs.

The webpage for Flying Hours is here: https://support.airfix.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360017083939-Airfix-Club-Flying-Hours
(You have to be logged on and a Club member to see it).


Number of Tokens Needed.

This has gone up significantly at some point since 2015. However, Series 9 kits are now included.

Old Scheme:
12 tokens - Series 1 or 2 kit
24 tokens - Series 3 or 4 kit
36 tokens - Series 5 or 6 kit
48 tokens - Series 7 or 8 kit

Current Scheme:
16 tokens - Series 1 or 2 kit
30 tokens - Series 3 or 4 kit
40 tokens - Series 5 or 6 kit
60 tokens - Series 7, 8 or 9 kit


Postage Costs:

The cheque you have to include to cover postage.

Pre 2015: £2.95
On a current passport sent to me only a few weeks ago: £4.98
On the website today: £5.95


Lastly, and this is pure speculation on my part, I wouldn't be surprised if they discontinue the Flying Hours scheme in the next few years and replace it with some variation on their Hobby Points scheme, which is all digital and essentially does the same thing, i.e. reward you for buying Airfix kits. At the moment it only applies to purchases though their website, but you could easily imagine a system where Flying Hours tokens are replaced by a discount code on the box which gets you more Hobby Points but which you can only upload through the Club Members Area of the website.

It might, therefore, be a good idea to use any Flying Hours tokens you've got whilst you still can.