Sunday, December 30, 2012

New Airfix Models and Molds




For most of my life, I have built mainly military model kits, but not exclusively. One of the more popular types of model kits in the early days of plastic was a company called Airfix from England. The models came in poly bags and the detail was sparse to say the least and the decals; well lets just say the decals were from hunger however; the price was right. For many years, Airfix kits were almost impossible to find in the United States. Recently Airfix, now part of a much larger group of companies, began publishing there own magazine both print and electronic versions. The kits have begun showing up in local hobby stores and more important many are now new molds and or new models which are completely on par with the big Japanese and Chinese companies. The model pictured here is one of the new molds and model of an early A-4 Skyhawk naval jet fighter. What's even better, this type of aircraft was a fighter attack wing attached to our carrier while I was in the service in the 1960's.

Monday, December 10, 2012

With nothing to do the other day, I opened my box containing my Anker Stone puzzles and there sat two boxes of miniature stone blocks.  One manufactured by the factory and is available from the Toy House.  The second box is one I designed myself and added stones to make the original set more versatile.
So what the hey, lets make something, I thought to myself.  So the photo shows a gate somewhat based on some gates in one of the design books.  Total building time, about nine or ten minutes.

 
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