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For a long time now,
I've been on the outside of the IPMS (UK), enjoying
Scalemodelworld as a visitor and then getting involved in
the Airfix TSR2 kit Campaign. From the latter, I joined the
TSR2 SIG and have since been in regular contact with Geoff
"Thorvic" Baker.
In 2005 I "dabbled" with the Whatiffery SIG and, perhaps
more significantly, created a Group Build display attached
to the Humbrol Stand, featuring a selection of kits produced
by Airfix Forum members during our Group Build sessions.
This was fairly well attended, at least on the Saturday and
I know from subsequent feedback that it was an idea that was
going to be expanded upon and developed.
Anyway, moving swiftly on, I found a gap, if you will, in
the current Special Interest Group's set up amongst the
hordes of the IPMS (UK) and initially thought about creating
an Airfix SIG.
What certain Suits never seem to wholly grasp and appreciate
is that "Airfix" is a Culture ... it is an ethos, a sense of
nostalgic warmth and regret, coupled with a clinging onto a
strong defiance against all things cheap and nasty.
To many of my generation, currently and reluctantly ticking
the 35-55 box in consumer surveys, ALL model kits are
"Airfixes".
That said, Airfix doesn't just relate to a series of plastic
model construction kits, released in the early 60's and ever
since.
To myself and others, it relates to tube glue and Sellotape,
crisp sandwiches, with sugar butties for afters, to turning
the stand into a phaser, long after the model it once
supported went off to the Great Sprue in the Sky. I'm
talking Instant Whip and R Whites lemonade. Airfix relates
to building a kit before a teatime of spam fritters and
chips and a whole squadron before bedtime, when it was still
daylight and you couldn't sleep for all the lawns getting
cut! How many of our childhood ceilings were cat's cradles
of cotton contrails, leading to Spitfires and Messerschmitts
roughing it up with Hunters and Phantoms, props bent and
wheels a-dangling?
Airfix exists in spite of the Beancounters...always
has...always will. Even without shiny new kits, the oldsters
will carry it through, especially the Airfix Gems and those
larger, once-upon-a-time Christmas-only kits, kits that we
can now buy on any weary Wednesday in April, thanks to the
likes of KingKit, Models For Sale and that marketplace of
the Devil, eBay!
It was this ethos and culture I hope to tap into and promote
with the new SIG. However, much as I love the older Airfix
brand and most of the kits, such a Group could be quite
limited in its scope. In addition, when you have the seizing
of the RAF logo, as a Registered Trademark, and the RAF SIG
becoming re-named, I didn't want to fall foul of any
corporate money-grabber. I'm also aware that those of us who
share a love of Airfix kits, also share a passion for other
classic kits, such as those made by Frog and, latterly,
Matchbox.
As a kid, I never really discovered Frog kits until later.
They always seemed a bit on the crude side, compared to the
airfixes, with their thick plastic and moulded in pilots. It
was only when I ran out of Airfix planes did I look further
afield, discovering the Sea Vixen and that marvellous "Grey
Nurse" Spitfire, with the exotic RAAF roundels, or the
Spitty on its base, chasing down the V1 "Buzz Bomb", or the
Fairey Delta, resplendent in Humbrol 11 and pointy, bendy
nose. I also learned that Frof kitted all sorts of the more
obscure types, (to me), flown by the RAF, in particular, the
trainers and that Gloster Whittle Pioneer. Thanks to Revell
Germany, I now own again a Sea Vixen and the East Europeans
gave me my replacement Delta, via those nice people at
Novo.
I did, however, eagerly seize the Matchbox kits that were
springing up in Sweet Shops and Newsies up and down the
land. What a brilliant idea…two, or even three, colours
of plastic made for a great way of by-passing the lengthy
painting stage, especially when the colours were so spot-on,
(for an 11 year old).
Got to admit though, that I dug out the Humbrol 11 so as to
lose that awful blue and cream combination, found in the
Hawker Fury box!
Still … weren't their biplanes excellent kits and so
much easier to build than the Airfix?
Then there were the more obscure types; Siskins and
Skyservants, Ju.188's and Me.410's. Matchbox even got me
into building tanks, with their lovely little diorama bases.
Again, more and more of these are now available, repackaged
and in monotone plastic, without a stand but with more
decals, in Revell Germany boxes.
To modellers older than myself, or more dedicated, the
then-obscure and pioneering short run kits, such as Eagle,
or Contrail vac forms, formed the basis of the now
burgeoning aftermarket industry. Dynavector and others as
yet unnamed are responsible for so much of what we modellers
take for granted nowadays.
To celebrate all of our wonderful Kit History, I have
decided to try and establish … drum roll …
The Classic British Kits IPMS (UK) SIG
The proposed focus for
the SIG will be all construction kits, manufactured by the
likes of Airfix, Frog and Matchbox...names from what I
perceive to be the halcyon days of modelling. Discussion
will be ongoing about which other British companies would
merit the definition of "Classic". On the one hand, we
wouldn't want an all-inclusive list of all British kit
makers and their products, on the other, we wouldn't want to
miss out true Classics and influences, through
ignorance.
The SIG will not be only interested with nostalgia,
wistfully looking back through H1321-tinted transparencies,
but will look to include all current and future incarnations
of those manufacturers within our field of interest. The
gems still exist and are still available on the market. It
would be helpful for people to know, exactly, where to look.
It would also be of use to be able to identify those kits
that are perpetually re-issued, that are well past their Use
By Dates…especially when , with the right pointers, you
can find a nicely moulded, fresh-of-the-press example, from
one of the second-hand kit dealers.
(Having said that, we will enjoy the cosiness in drifting
off, all sentimental like, about rushing home from the
Newsagents, with your two-coloured Matchbox kit, to build it
before Grandstand finished and the Dukes of Hazzard came
on).
After some consideration, "The Classic British Kits SIG"
will be concerned with all kits; injection, resin, vac form
and multi-media, originally tooled before 1980, by British
companies registered as such.
Other kits may be considered for "CBK" status by the
membership, following discussion and reasoned argument. For
example, the recent Airfix TSR2 may be up for consideration,
given that its roots lie well back in the time when the
original was scrapped and that, by all accounts, it's
latterday appearance may well herald a new era of success
for Humbrol.
It isn't my intention to get too bogged down with
definitions and nit-picking over whether or not a kit is
British, French or whatever. I'm hoping that the SIG will be
able to celebrate those care-free days of modelling and
those home-grown kits that made us what we are today.
That said, our intent is not set in stone and I hope for
input from an active membership to fine tune it.
I will act as Founder and SIG Secretary, up to and including
the period around Scale Modelworld 2006. This will be to
facilitate the initial growth of the SIG and to organise the
display for Telford. If, by this time, the SIG Membership is
content with my efforts, I will then continue to act in this
role for a period of one year, beginning with the official
start date of the SIG; 1st July 2006.
If we're as successful a SIG as I hope we'll be, it is
likely that other administrative roles may need to be
addressed and the membership will be approached to meet
these.
Airfix, Frog and Matchbox spring immediately to my mind
because I'm essentially an injection-moulded modeller of
aircraft. They are also the bigger sellers and of more
numerical significance to people of my generation. That
said, many other smaller concerns all had a part to play.
Input towards the many other subject-types must also be
given due consideration. I'm not just talking about ships
and AFV's, but Saturn V's, SRN1's and Henry VIII, Beam
engines, Stephenson's Rocket and even certain blue grey
tractors!
I'm hoping that, over time, we can accumulate histories of
our kit manufacturers and examples of box art and
instruction sheets. Already, good work has begun in
contacting representatives of those kit manufacturers that
hold our interest and lists are growing, cataloguing the
output of Matchbox, Airfix and Eagle, to name a few.
Whilst some of us might enjoy sniffing the musty contents of
an original 1960's box, we will be a modelling SIG,
concerned with building kits and showing them off for all to
see and remember. We are builders first, who just happen to
collect kits because we can't build them fast enough and
have run out of room for display space! For example, it'll
be interesting to be able to see examples of original kits
next to their modern reincarnations. Revell ex-Matchbox and
ex-Frog kits compare very well to examples that were
fresh-tooled back in the 70's and are even improved with
21st Century decals. The recently released Club Members
Exclusive Edition Airfix Jetstream was indistinguishable
from its original tooling, thanks to the moulds getting a
proper clean up. The same could be said for the same
company's Hudson and Marauder bombers.
Some Airfix kits have fared less favourably over the decades
and their modern counterparts are mere shadows of the
original. For example, the old VC-10 K2 kit has moulding
defects which suggest imminent retirement.
Also of interest will be examples of "evolved" kits. For
example, the Airfix 1/144 VC-10 became a VC-10 K2 Tanker.
Many Matchbox kits became modified so as to create their
Trainer equivalents. On the subject of Matchbox, we hope to
be able to show Matchbox models, well built but without
paint, next to fully painted and detailed examples of the
same kit.
We want a celebration of British Kits!
We will make our debut at ModelFest, to be held at
Doncasters Aeroventure Aircraft Museum, on Sunday 13th
August. We'll then be at Scalemodelworld in Telford this
year, joining the IPMS(UK) family of SIG's and, by then,
hope to have made a good start on the aims outlined
above.
Our on-line home is to be found on ...
The Unofficial Airfix Forums, founded following the closure
of the Official Airfix Forums, at: http://gregers.7.forumer.com/index.php
Anyone wishing to join in can make their presence felt at
the Unofficial Airfix Forums, or could contact myself at
bruceleylandjones@btinternet.com
I thank you for your
interest,
Best Regards,
Bruce.
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