Favourite Box Art? - Page 2

Desert Rat Racer · 21-03-2008

Oh in that case it would have to be.

Monograms 1/16th scale Kenworth or Petebilt truck art

jspitza · 21-03-2008

Are you going to take that, Perry???

Pan_Am_Clipper_Girl · 21-03-2008

Eh? The comment about me growing up? Nah...coz it's twue! Honest. Yeppers totally twue..err...yer.

**Bunkerbarge** · 22-03-2008

Now there's something unusual Perry, someone who shares my love of all things old Airfix. I never had you down as a similar age as me though but maybe you have always appreciated the older stuff.

I worked in a model shop as a teenager and remember asking my boss what on earth the latest model was that we had just put on the shelf. It was the original Airfix bagged 1127 Kestrel and I remember him talking to me about how a vertical take off aircraft works. I was lucky enough to pick one up not that long ago on Ebay for just over 20 pounds and according to the recent Airfix book it is worth about 100 pounds.

I also have a superb book by Arthur Ward, "The celebration of Flight" about Airfix art work and the contributions from the amazing Roy Cross. A lot of these have to be considered in conjunction with the time we are talking about when the pocket money stuff was the series one bagged kits and anything bigger was stuff of dreams. I don't know why but I never really took to the competition in the guise of Frog, Revell, Aurora, etc and the Japanese competition hadn't really got off the ground at the time.

With this in mind here are a few of my own fond memories:

The Airfix 1/72nd Lancaster, coming in to land, engines on fire against a dark sky. That picture fired imaginations like no other had at that time and the size of the kit was beyond what most people had experienced up until then.

As for ships the artwork on the lid of the 1/600th Bismark always did it for me, but there again the 1/600th Hood, and the Ark Royal were both excellent. I think my favourite though was the Ajax because of no other reason than it was the first model I ever remember making.

Vehicles, I particularly liked the Old Bill Bus and the Dennis Fire Engine but the motorcycles at the time were capturing my attention even then. I made very nice examples of the BSA C15 and the Aeriel Arrow, in days when the closest you were ever likely to come to chrome was Humbrol silver paint!!

Anyway just a couple of thoughts from me, thanks for the subject Perry, great memories!

linebacker55 · 23-03-2008

Now we're on the subject of Airfix kits...what about the dog-fight duo series? Remember the Sopwith Camel and Red Baron's Triplane, and the Spitfire and Messershmidt pair. I think they also made an Albatros following an RE8, but those were among so many models we made.
Anyone remember the model of a Short Stirling, with ground crew and a couple of bomb-dollies, or was it a bowser and crew? And..the AEC Matador and the big field gun, and the WW1 Horse drawn limber and field gun? The scene showed The Royal Horse Artillery at a gallop across some pot-holed field, under fire... All these ended up left in a loft of a house in Windsor, along with a squadron of P51's, and numerous OO gauge soldiers of every army you could imagine...Action Men...of which we had a platoon! and the Kit to equipe them all...phew!...then there were also the trains sets...
Thanks for the info Perry, I'll see if I can source one of the Sea Harrier Kits...jules

jspitza · 23-03-2008

I have an Airfix 1/400 Scharnhorst kit that I picked up due to the box art and content! There is soooo much artwork from that company!

Pan_Am_Clipper_Girl · 25-03-2008

I'm a little older than I look

Airfix box art has got to be some of the best ever.
I remember a Big Orange in the shop on holiday and being impressed, it was there for ages, mind you it was a greengrocers

. Seriously though that box was in the Island stores for years, I was always fascinated by it then again it wasn't any good to me at the time, a set of polythene Romans or Farm animals could fit into my small rucksack and dad building a "Dog fight double" would just about go on the helicopter safely but attempting a 747 might be too much, besides mum needed space for her things

I'd love to know who had it in the end though.

Nearly all the ships were nice artwork, H.M.S Tiger was great with Victory in the background and the Graf Spee, very menacing. Pity they didn't follow up with the Exeter wasn't it

jspitza · 25-03-2008

um, 42......

Pan_Am_Clipper_Girl · 25-03-2008

What's this? Guess Perry's age week???? *giggles*

jspitza · 25-03-2008

ok, I'm in.................if thats you in the avatar-17 max