LONDON BUSES NEW AND OLD

DAVID JEFFERIS REPORTS:

The SMN Crew had a trip to London yesterday, and apart from rides here and there on standard buses, we also saw one of the prototypes of Mayor Boris Johnson’s ‘Boris Bus’, and have to report it looks amazing in the metal.

Diecast Boris Bus

The 1:76 Corgi version (below) is nearly with us, so it's wait-n-see time for this one. Judging from this promo pic, it looks to be an excellent little model, and one we'll definitely have on display ASAP.

Airfix Old Bill bus

The Boris Bus is only the latest type of London bus of course, and was a reminder of the old Airfix 1:32 kit that came in both civilian 1910 B Type and military 1914 ‘Old Bill’ versions. The Old Bill (below) was used for troop carrying and as an ambulance to take war-wounded away from the Front, to field hospitals. Dating from the early 1960s, these kits come up regularly on auction sites and swapmeets, so it’s worth keeping an eye out, as they are both well worth a look. The kits include crew and passengers or troops, as relevant. Gorgeous stuff.

The Airfix B Type kit (above) assembles to make a fine model. The real thing out on the highway (below), with a last-generation classic double-decker behind.

Collectibles site

The Little Wheels Museum site specializes in diecast collectibles, and it’s well worth a visit to see another B Type, the Matchbox diecast model, sold from 1956-61 (link at bottom). It’s a tiny little thing - Little Wheels Museum reckons it’s about 1:100 scale. Not a lot changed during the Matchbox B Type’s five-year production run, though the windows may differ between models. According to Little Wheels Museum: “...the row of small windows at the top of the lower deck side windows. There will be four per side or eight per side.” The four-window version is rarer than the eight-window type, so is worth more.

Routemaster from Revell

And don’t forget the 1:24 scale Revell Routemaster, definitely the best ‘big red bus’ kit on the market. According to Mat Irvine: “...there are a lot of parts, so much so that adding them all up is tricky, but it has to be approaching 400. Part numbering actually goes only to 272 - but you get two sets of four of the 16 runners, and identical parts (such as seats) share the same number - and remember this bus is a double-decker bus with seats for up to 70 people.” And the decal sheet: “...is enormous, and if you were worried about reproducing all those tartan-patterned seats so beloved by London Transport, these are supplied as decals.” As for the bus-side adverts, they include: “the British Museum, Jacob’s Cream Crackers and ‘The Rod Stewart Musical’.”   

Revell Routemaster bus - Mat Irvine’s first look.

Little Wheels Museum here.

Vintage Airfix site here.

Airfix 1:32 scale kits here.

SPRING FAIR 2012 - TREASURE CHEST FOR COLLECTIBLES

Spring Fair report from David Jefferis:

Another trade show that’s running this week is the UK’s Spring Fair, held at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC), Birmingham. While not quite as massive as the Nuremberg Toy Fair, Spring Fair is still a major footslogger that attracts more than 70,000 visitors. It’s a mega-roundup of 300,000 offered products, ranging from goodies like coffeemakers and cooking gadgets, to art prints and jewellery. And neatly stirred into the mix are halls dedicated to toys and games, aka collectibles, hobbies, and models.

Ready-builts to the front

Companies I had expected to see were there - Hornby, Maisto, Revell, among them - plus distributors like Amerang and A.B. Gee. But the real eye-opener was the quality of the ready-made collectibles on offer. Seriously, if you don’t have time, skill, or interest to build a model from scratch, then you still have the chance - and usually at highly competitive prices - to build a display collection that need be second to none. And if you want to make a collectible ‘yours’ by some judicious weathering, or minor tweaking with the finish or paint scheme, then that’s the route to having a completely unique item for your display shelf.

Neat collectibles

And it’s a winning combination - for there were dozens of collectible ranges on display at Spring Fair, featuring all the favourite suspects. Alien, Batman, Star Wars - you name the movie series, there seemed to be a collectible range for it. And of course, Harry Potter was there, with some beautifully made sculptures of Hogwarts, Harry, and more. Retro was big too, with Beatles stuff newly minted for the collector market - I just luurved the life-sized Blue Meanie (below), its grin just as mad and bad as when it first appeared in the Yellow Submarine movie, back in 1968. 

London Olympics 2012

For sports lovers, the London Olympics 2012 had its own large trade zone, with some surprisingly interesting stuff on display. Corgi had items like Olympic-themed London taxis and Underground trains. But there also were unusual items like steel-sheet stencil kits, featuring mini-models of the Olympic stadium, and a very nifty (if somewhat mysterious) three-wheeled cycle figure. And naturally enough, super-size figures of the one-eyed Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville (below) lurked here and there to trap the unwary.

Summation

Spring Fair made a fascinating trip, with a huge variety of products on offer, as you’ll be able to see from the slide show. A bonus was that after the model side of things, it was possible to check out such intriguing items as a coffee machine disguised as a Friesian cow!

London Olympics 2012 here.

Spring Fair here.

Some fairly weird Beatles stuff here.

There's more

Here's a bunch of shots I took with the trusty iPhone 3GS. They certainly show that there's plenty of variety at Spring Fair 2012.

HORNBY GETS GROWN-UP - 2012 AD CAMPAIGNS TARGET ADULTS

SMN market report:

Hornby Hobbies are expanding the company image away from pocket-money-price ‘small boys’ toys’ to moneyed-and-mature ‘big boys’ toys.’ Well, that’s our take on the plan. In advertising marketeer-speak, Hornby has launched: “a long-term brand campaign as part of a big push to introduce adult consumers to its products.” Having said that, Hornby traditional strengths remain, with updates to the rail range that include the 4-4-0 locomotive above, and the ready-weathered 4-6-0 Black 5 shown after the jump.

Movie ads

Cinema and TV ads have already started to show people playing with Hornby train sets through the decades, while featuring the teaser line: “A passion for every generation and the next”. Which sounds a bit “ugh” to SMN, but we get what the ads are trying to do, and heartily approve - anything that takes at least an element of the scale model world up and out of the kidstuff swamp is OK by us. Unsurprisingly, brand logos for Airfix, Corgi, Hornby, Humbrol, and Scalextric, appear at the end of each advert. 

Rising sales
Hornby has previously run its ads during children’s TV shows, so adult ads are a big departure, and campaigns will run throughout 2012. Hornby is doing pretty well at the moment, especially considering the financial upheavals in the Eurozone, and it’s good to see confidence in the future. Hornby saw first-half 2011 UK sales rise by some 4 percent, while Euro-sales ballooned by around 50 percent, though from a much lower base. With this as a track record in difficult economic times, it’s great to see Hornby pushing to be on a rising wave as we (hopefully) come out of recession through 2012 and beyond.

 
Powerful punch for Hornby

Nat Southworth, marketing director at Hornby Hobbies, says showcasing the brands aims to: “emphasise the power” and adds that Hornby is more than one brand these days: “It is a family of brands and each one invokes a passion in the consumer.” SMN says: “Go for it, Nat!”

New Bus for London expected soon
Hornby has also signed a deal to produce models in various scales of the swoopily-designed New Bus for London. There'll be key-ring collectibles as well as 1:76 scale miniatures, sales being aimed at a wide range of buyers, from serious collectors to casual tourists.

More on the New Bus for London bus here.

View Airfix kits here.

View Hornby stuff here.

View Corgi here.

Humbrol here.

Scalextric here

And here's one of the 'generation' ads :

REVELL LONDON BUS KIT MAKING PROGRESS

David Jefferis reports:

Looks like the Revell 1:24 scale London Bus is making good progress. These newly released pix should make any public transport model maker raring to go. It looks good, especially the engine detail under that lift-up cover, plus those seats, and lots of ’em.

Details, details

At the business end, there’s neat detailing to the diesel engine pipework, while the trademark steering wheel looks to be at the correct nearly-flat angle. Upstairs, vertical handrails are included as are the built-in grabrails on every seat back. The step-on step-off open platform at the back is there, complete with waste bin for ticket stubs, and the under-stair hole for storing prams and other paraphernalia.

Ready and waiting

The rear view shows a few problems remaining with fit on the roof, but doubtless these will be sorted before the model is cleared for production. All in all, it looks like a good one, and we can’t wait.

More on the subject here and here.

Have a look at Sun Star’s handsome 1:24 RT double-decker here.

UNDERSEA ATTACKER - THE GERMAN BIBER MIDGET SUB FROM ITALERI

SMN report
Italeri’s latest 1:35 scale nautical kit is the neatly produced Biber (‘Beaver’) one-man midget submarine from World War II. To this big military-model standard scale, even the Biber works out to a fair size in model form, in this case some 186 mm (7.3 in) long. It comes with two well-sculpted figures, as well as decals for three different subs, and a small etched-metal fret with super-detail parts.

Biber on view at the Imperial War Museum
There are quite a few Bibers on display in military museums across Europe - the one pictured above is on view in the UK’s Imperial War Museum, London. It’s a place well worth visiting, and if you build the Italeri Biber kit, seeing the real thing complete with its quota of lumps, bumps, scrapes, dings and dents, will allow you to add those extra details to take the Italeri sub from smooth-but-a-bit-dull ‘stock’ to knocked-about-and-real ‘superb’.

Biber armament
In service, the Biber could carry two 530 mm (21 in) torpedos or a pair of mines, but the tiny U-boat was introduced late in the war and never became a big threat to its primary target, Allied coastal shipping. It had a limited range of some 185 km (115 miles) and could manage a speed of less than 10 km/h (6.2 mph) underwater. Over 300 Bibers were built, but they met with little success in combat operations, and most were damaged or sunk by Allied forces.

One-man Biber operations
Spare a thought for the man at the Biber’s controls - military operations generally lasted for one or two days, and the pilot-operator had to stay on combat-alert throughout the mission. To help do this, he refuelled on a diet of caffeine-boosted chocolate, or downed tablets of D-IX, a cocaine-based drug brewed up by Nazi scientists to keep him wide-eyed and awake. Apparently, earlier tests with D-IX on full-pack carrying troops had resulted in non-stop marches for anything up to 90 km (55 miles) before total collapse.

SMN note - A couple of the pictures look somewhat squashed, which is a software issue... we'll see what can be done. Meantime, if you click on any pic, the usual enlargement will show it undistorted.

Visit IWM London here.

See the Biber here.

View other Italeri military kits here.

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1  Italeri kit box.
2  Cleanly-pressed injection parts.
3  Italeri supplies details for three different subs.
4  Accurately printed decal sheet.
5  Biber mini-sub in the Imperial War Museum, London.
IWM picture courtesy Conny Liegl.

BARBIE DOLL HITS MIDDLE AGE WITH HER 51st BIRTHDAY TODAY

David Jefferis reports
Every teen girl’s favourite, the Barbie doll, first went on sale on March 9, 1959, and shows no sign of slowing down in the 21st century, through a constant series of reinventions to keep her up to date with the latest fashions.

Of more significance to us model fans is that Barbie opened the door to non-girlie ‘male dolls’ such as Action Man, and through him to today’s host of science fiction miniatures, from Terminator robots to Star Trek aliens. And of course, the she-doll is so popular that real-world marketeers have produced a host of tie-ins over the years. For example, last year’s 50th birthday saw a totally cutified and chrome-laden blush-rose Fiat 500 (top picture).

The Fiat 500 is a terrific designer-look car, and model manufacturers seem to be queueing up to produce miniature versions. One of the newer names is Mondo Motors, a diecast company based on the outskirts of Alba, in north-west Italy. Mondo produces both ready-made and kit-versions of the 500, including the variations shown in the pix above. Mondo produces in all the popular scales - 1:18, 1:24, 1:32, 1:43, 1:64 - so there’s likely to be a 500 to the size you want somewhere. Mondo also produces an older style of 500, the original Cinquecento (bottom pic). This was a car so small that when my friend Kate used to give me a lift down the trendy King’s Road in London, my head pushed up the canvas roof into a dome-shape! Luckily in fine weather, the canvas rolled back, so the only danger then was a suntan and eyeball contact with the micro-skirted Chelsea chicks...

So far as accuracy goes, Mondo vehicles are sold primarily into the toy market, rather than as out-and-out scale models. Even so, they are mostly well up to the standards of better-known makers, such as Bburago. There’s a 1:18 scale Mondo metal-kit on the SMN model bench right now - we’re currently stripping off the paint to bare metal, ready for a Mad Max-style post-nuclear external finish. We’ll be adding suitable detail, such as weapons and sensors, plus appropriate battle damage and radiation-scarring too. With luck the project will turn into a sci-fi delight. We’ll show the MM 500 off when she’s ready.

Visit Mondo Motors here.

The Mondo Motors range, including the Fiat 500, is available to buy here.

Science and transport museums: reference treasure troves

For the precision scale modeler, having decent reference material to add the final touches to your masterpiece can easily make the difference between a ‘very good’ model and a ‘wow!’ show-winner.

So tracking down original source material can be vital to the discerning modeler, as well as making for an interesting day out. Luckily, many of the world’s museums are waiting for you to step right in and take as many photos as you need. Remember though that while museums are usually happy for you to take photos for personal use, they are not so keen if they are for commercial gain, unless there’s a prior agreement in place.

The US has many such museums, though my favourite has to be the mammoth Smithsonian National Air and Space in Washington DC. I spent three days there on my first trip! London’s Science Museum is much smaller, but also has its share of treasures, including the original Vickers Vimy, beautifully preserved since Alcock and Brown flew it across the Atlantic Ocean in June, 1919.

There are also some fine models in this museum, including some nice dioramas like the V-2 mobile launch site, shown here. It could be time to check out your local museums – whether you like cars, trains, boats, planes or spacecraft, you’ll likely find something interesting not too far away.