OH NOSTALGIA! - MODELS WE’D COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT

SMN Weekender:

Grazing through a pile of old aviation mags earlier this week, we came across rare treasure in the form of a pile of ads for barely remembered models and kits. With some scratching of our memory cells, some did seem familiar enough, but we had to work hard to track down the story behind a full-page advert for the 'Vapour Trails' range of model aircraft.

Memories from the past

Our search led us to Martin Bull, who posted an interesting tale about Vapour Trails. In his words: “When I was very young (like about seven) I vividly remember my Mum (“to keep me quiet”)... buying me a 'Vapour Trails' Gloster Javelin. It was in a neat little box, and displayed by sticking a piece of white flex into the jet outlets (the 'Vapour Trail’...) I remember being allowed to choose from a few and went for the Javelin because of the shape. Eventually, it went the way of all childhood toys, I'm afraid, but for some reason I never forgot it....

Flying from a window pane

In fact, the Vapour Trail white flex did more than stick out of the tail, for there was also a suction cup included in the small box, which you licked and stuck firmly on a window. So the little aircraft - just 1:200 scale - looked like it was flying, once the flex was skewered via a ball joint into the suction cup. Self-adhesive decals were also included, while positioning was indicated by circular depressions moulded into the plastic.

Range of jets on offer

Martin goes on: “...Apparently, Playcraft (who also owned Corgi) introduced this range in late 1961 and included a Sea Vixen, Scimitar, Hunter, Javelin and Lightning. Sadly, Vapour Trails wasn't a success; they soon disappeared and today are almost entirely forgotten. But as an early foray into aircraft under the Corgi name, it's nice to spare them a thought here.”

Smart collector wallet

Martin’s pix, which we show here, include the box, inside which was a small flyer suggesting model fans send off for a ‘smart wallet’ to hold Vapour Trails leaflets, enclosing as stamp to cover return post. Those were the days! And thank you, Martin.

Vapour Trails crash

Later, we got talking to an older collector, and he recalled his disappointment with the Hawker Hunter he bought as a teenager: “They were so small - the Hunter’s wingspan was only about two inches (50 mm) across.” There was another problem, too: “The suction cup kept falling off the window!” So these are two clues to the market failure of Vapour Trails - a pity though, as they were a cute idea. There are some still around for avid collectors - we found Gloster Javelin delta interceptor (above) on eBay at a ‘Buy it Now’ price of £99.99 GBP ($158 USD), so they’re not exactly cheap.    

Aurora kit range

Other goodies in the advertising pile included one for Aurora kits. The Regulus II came with an operating launch platform, while the twin-rotor Piasecki H-25A represented state of the art vertical-lift capacity for US forces at the time, though not so much for modelmakers - the nose glazing was very basic indeed.

Pull of Hollywood stars

Kit companies weren’t averse to bringing in some big names - Revell used movie star Stanley Baker to sprinkle some glamour over their ship kits. He featured in Sea Fury, a drama about tugboat captains battling for the hand of a sultry beauty, played by the luscious Italian actress Luciana Paluzzi. Nice Revell kit, reasonable actors, indifferent movie, said model and film critics of the time.

Rising star, falling star

Airfix was a bright star for UK modelmakers, with news of the company’s latest kit releases awaited eagerly each month. We’re pleased to say that Airfix is still around, and better than ever, which is more than can be said for Keil Kraft, a maker that concentrated on balsa wood semi- and non-scale planes and boats.

  

Martin Bull here.

Fascinating stuff on Keil Kraft here.

Info on the Keil Kraft Hawker Hurricane plastic kit here.

Airfix kits here.

INCOMING - MORE NEW-TOOL DIECAST AIRCRAFT FROM CORGI

SMN report:

We noted the big new 1:72 scale Short Stirling heavy bomber earlier this week, and now here’s a pair of smaller aircraft to the same scale, a Hawker Hart inter-war period biplane, and a Hawker Hurricane from World War II. Both releases look interesting enough, the Hart looking especially attractive, with fine interplane rigging a highly appealing feature.

What’s the Corgi Hart like?

The Hawker Hart light day bomber was designed by Sir Sydney Camm, who later designed the Hurricane and Hunter jet. Camm’s design is captured nicely in this Corgi Hawker Hart, from the pointed propeller spinner to the tail skid. Details extend to the strut-mounted pitot tube for indicating airspeed. The long fuselage groove you can see under the engine exhausts is not a cooling intake, but the exit slot for bullets from the single Vickers machine gun, fired by the pilot. The observer had a Lewis gun, mounted on a Scarf ring. You won’t see it on this model, reasonably enough, but for bombing purposes, the observer had to burrow under the pilot’s seat to lie flat in bombardier mode, to aim the 240 kg (520 lb) of bombs the Hart could tote under its lower wings.

Goggles and markings

As usual with diecast models, the crew are perhaps its weakest feature, although the Corgi team has been trying hard - paintwork to these two even includes the metal frames to their flying goggles. The cockpit surround looks rather clunky in the pictures here - in the real model, it manages to look much neater. Markings on this Hawker Hart are for a 1935 machine, K2986 of No 600 Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force. They look good to our eyes, the red-and-white triangles lending a splash of jaunty brightness to this classic silver machine. To 1:72 scale, the Corgi Hawker Hart has a wingspan of 155 mm (6.1 in).

Night Reaper

The other Corgi Sydney Camm design is a Hawker Hurricane Mk IIc, painted in an all-black night fighter finish. This particular aircraft was flown by a Czech pilot, Karel 'Kut' Kuttelwascher who flew with RAF No 1 Squadron. Kuttelwascher was the highest-scoring pilot in 1942 night-ops, at one point scoring 15 kills in 15 missions, while flying his Hurricane named Night Reaper.

Hurricane features captured

The Corgi Hurricane has features common to all of these fighters, such as the slightly hump-backed upper fuselage contours, and fabric covered rear fuselage. This latter is well captured by Corgi, particularly for a diecast model. The wing leading edges feature landing lights needed for night operations, while the characteristic underbelly intake is also included. Wing tanks were carried under the wings, allowing pilots extra time in the air while hunting German bombers on attack missions. All in all, a decent readybuilt model from Corgi, albeit not exactly colourful! To 1:72 scale, the Corgi Hawker Hurricane IIc has a wingspan of 167 mm (6.6 in).

Sydney Camm in his early 20s, when he was a member of the Windsor Model Aeroplane Club. Note his twin pusher-prop aircraft, almost a ringer for today's Piaggio Avanti! 

Summation

A nice pair of models here, which gave us a thought - what about Corgi (or Airfix) producing a grand megabox, full to the brim with every major Sydney Camm design flown? Camm's designs already feature in model form,  such as the Hart and Hurricane, with others that include the Hawker Fury, Typhoon, Hunter, and Harrier. But more remain untouched by a mainstream model manufacturer, including his first design, the Hawker Cygnet. Such a boxful would make a tremendous salute to one of aviation’s great designers.    

Visit Corgi here.

Plenty of Corgi aircraft here.

Hurricane kits here.

2012 INCOMING - MORE FROM ITALERI

SMN report:

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the Eurozone’s finances, the fact is that outfits like Italeri are still producing good stuff, and it looks like 2012 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for modelmakers. Here’s the latest batch of goodies from that sun-kissed land of pizza, pasta, luscious ladies, and (oh yes) model kits.

Hawker Hunter

The Hawker Hunter (main pic and above) was a major British success story in the early years of jet age combat. The shapely jet had a similar size and performance envelope as the US F-86 Sabre and Soviet MiG-15, was flown by the air arms of 19 countries, and nearly 2000 were produced. This Italeri release - marketed under licence from Academy - is to a much-needed 1:48 scale, a size that shows off the sleek lines of the original well, and scales out to a fuselage length of some 293 mm (11.5 in).

What singles the kit out are the excellent markings supplied. The kit comes as a ‘Super Decals Sheet’ edition, with accurately-printed markings for no less than six different aircraft, in two Hawker Hunter versions, the F Mk6 or F Mk9.  

MH-53J Stallion

In real life, the Sikorsky MH-53J Stallion is a BIG helicopter. Even to this Italeri kit’s 1:72 scale, the model still scales out to some 284 mm (11.2 in) long. The original was designed as a US Special Forces machine, typically used to take commando units to and from targets deep in enemy-held territory, or for extracting downed aircrews in similar kill-zones.

If you like helicopters, then you’ll love this kit of a supremely useful combat veteran. As for markings, you can go with the ones supplied, or there are many options available. Reference pix are easy to find too - this one shows an MH-53J on a combat exercise, and shows its burly lines off well. 

M109A6 Paladin

The M109 self-propelled artillery gun is one of the most widely used howitzers in the world, and the A6 Paladin (named after the mediaeval knights) is the latest type in service. The six crew handle up to 39 shells for the 155 mm (6 in) calibre gun, which is well reproduced in this kit - though it might be nice for a future edition to have a Dragon-style turned metal barrel - as are the various hatches, accessories, and running gear. Decals for two machines are included, and when assembled, the 1:35 scale Italeri M109A6 is 201 mm (7.91 in) long.

Combat accessories

Useful for anyone into AFVs and military modelmaking, this 1:35 scale set contains more than 90 separate items of equipment, ranging from a single mortar to a dozen individual hand grenades. A boxful of useful stuff indeed - simple in concept and nicely moulded.

Rail station

This is a 1:72 scale building, particularly suitable for aircraft modellers, though it wouldn’t look too wrong in an HO (1:87 scale) layout. It’s conceived as a bomb-damaged diorama piece, hence the hole in the roof, though you could treat that as simple delapidation if a civilian role is more to your taste. When assembled, the station should make a fair rendering of a typical piece of European period architecture. Note that the base shown in the top picture is not included.  

Leonard da Vinci

Lastly, there’s yet another in the seemingly endless line of Leonardo da Vinci designs in kit form. This one is the ‘Spingarda a Mantello’, a mobile cannon with protective cover to you and me. This was a wheeled field cannon to which Leonardo incorporated a built-in shield as useful combat protection for the gunnery crew. 

The Spingarda could fire anything from stones, buckshot and cannonballs, to the armour-piercing arrows or flechettes supplied with the kit. When assembled, the Spingarda measures 280 mm (11 in), which makes the scale around the 1:12 mark.

Pictures courtesy Italeri.

All sorts of Italeri stuff available here.

Lastly, we couldn't resist this night-vision shot of a pair of heavy-metal MH-53J lifting off - IWOOT!

ITALERI 1:48 SCALE HURRICANE MK I

SMN report:

Is there room for another Hawker Hurricane kit? There are certainly plenty of them around, but this new-tool Italeri kit looks worthwhile, even if it does face stiff competition, not least from Hasegawa’s kit to the same scale.

Fabric fuselage

One of the Hurricane’s distinctive features is the humpback fabric-covered rear fuselage, and here the Italeri kit scores well, with the curve at just the right angle, and an extremely good texture behind the cockpit that really looks the part.

Engine revealed

Italeri has provided a neat engine, and you can show it to the world after assembly, because removable cowling panels are supplied. It’s perhaps not the finest 1:48 scale engine ever moulded, but with care and attention will look the part. And that goes for the cockpit, which is detailed and very nicely done indeed. As you can see from the pic (above) a small photo-etch sliver is supplied, carrying the instrument panel, seat belt, and also a set of ultra-fine cockpit handles - well done for these, Italeri.

Different versions

Parts are supplied for fabric- and metal-skinned versions, along with alternative propeller spinners and landing gear. As is right and proper at this scale, the control surfaces are supplied as separate components, to be deployed as you wish. Moulding quality is generally good, especially with the supplied transparent components, which are very clear.

Excellent decals, instructions and book

The kit comes with an interesting decal sheet printed by Cartograf. Note the unusual green-and-orange yin-yang symbol of the Irish Air Force. The instructions come via a a neatly-produced 16-page booklet, which includes an aircraft history, step-by-step build notes, drawings for alternative markings, and finish details. There’s also a smaller A5-size 36-page colour reference book, packed with notes, photos, drawings and much more - a very useful addition, and worth a good read at some point.

The real thing in the air - a beautifully preserved example.

About early Hurricanes

The Mk 1 was the first production version of this British monoplane fighter, produced from 1937-39. It had fabric-covered wings, and a wooden two-bladed propeller, powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Armament was a set of eight Browning machine guns, a quartet buried in the leading edge of each wing. A revised Mk 1 was fitted with a more efficient constant-speed metal propeller, sturdier all-metal wings, and various other detail improvements. The Royal Air Force received some 500 of these to form a major part of its fighter force, pretty much in the nick of time for the opening phases of World War II.

Summation

A thoughtful kit that truly makes the grade in 1:48 scale. Italeri will doubtless be adding variations in future, and a shelftop display squadron of Hurricane sub-types is a mouthwatering prospect.

The Italeri 1:48 scale Hurricane kit is available here.

On the ground - note the windshield mirror, canopy handle, and access stirrup.