SPECIAL EDITION EUROFIGHTER TYPHOON IN BATTLE OF BRITAIN MARKINGS FROM HASEGAWA AND CORGI

ACCORDING TO THE HASEGAWA promotions department of the Eurofighter Typhoon, “If only we had these in 1940…”

BATTLE OF BRITAIN MEMORIAL KITS AND BOOK FROM AIRFIX

SMN report
70 years ago, the skies over Britain formed the backdrop for the greatest aerial combat offensive ever known, as attacking Luftwaffe forces locked in conflict with Royal Air Force defenders. On August 23, after several weeks of the campaign, Hermann Commander-in-Chief Hermann Goring ordered his forces to bombard British fighter airfields, the first of a wave of heavy attacks over the next two weeks, during which some airfields were hit several times over.

Targeting fighter bases must have seemed like a good move to Goring, but it was difficult to knock out a grass airfield for more than a few hours at a time, and many historians agree that had the Luftwaffe concentrated on reducing radar defences to rubble, the Battle of Britain might have turned out differently. In any event, by late October 1940, the Luftwaffe had taken a beating and withdrew plans for further major air assaults.

Thousands of aircraft in the air
But the Battle of Britain lives on as one of the defining conflicts of World War II, and the aircraft that took part (more than 4500 machines were fielded by the two air forces) remain as popular as ever with kit manufacturers. So it’s no surprise to see the local-hero Airfix company releasing some special Battle of Britain products this month.

Airfix Hurricane and Bf110
Airfix has released a Hawker Hurricane Mk 1, the most numerous British fighter of the Battle of Britain, even if its rather workmanlike looks and performance never earned it the acclaim of the beautiful Spitfire. It’s a nice kit though, to 1:72 scale, and comes with a choice of two decal marking sets. Matching the ‘Hurri’ is a German Messerschmitt Bf110 twin-engine heavy fighter, again to 1:72 scale and also with a choice of markings. The real Bf110 was no match in a dogfight with a determined Hurricane or Spitfire pilot, who could both out-turn and out-shoot it - after heavy losses, the Messerschmitt was withdrawn from front-line service over Britain. Both kits look attractive in the now common and highly attractive kit-box art style.

Battle of Britain book
Also released this month is a handsome book, the ‘Special limited edition’ Their Finest Hour: Aircraft of the Battle of Britain by John G. Bentley. It’s a thoroughly decent work, with 80 landscape-format (wide, instead of tall) pages that cover the subject well, with a special emphasis on featuring relevant Airfix kits. The book is well-priced too, with a UK price of just £6.99 GBP ($10.85 USD).
  
Visit Airfix here.

View Airfix kits here, though don’t be surprised if some Battle of Britain-class steam locomotive kits have crept in too - that’s search engines for you! Hmmm... (thinks), those BoB streamliner locos were handsome beasts, so we should look at some BoB models soon.

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1  Airfix 1:72 scale Hurricane.
2  Airfix Bf110 box art.
3  The Bf110 builds into a neat and tidy 1:72 scale model.
4  The Airfix book makes a fine memento for those interested in this period of aviation combat history.

MEGA SALE OF DESIRABLES AT HOBBYLINK JAPAN

HobbyLink Japan (HLJ) is a well-established online supplier that has a particularly wide range of Japanese products on offer, ranging from aircraft and anime to military vehicles and robots. And now HLJ’s excellent site features a wide-ranging sale, with so many goodies on offer that it’s hard to know where to start - not that we’re complaining!

An item that caught our attention was the 1:48 scale World War II Luftwaffe personnel set, from Dragon. Neatly sculpted to represent pilots and ground crew from the Battle of Britain period, the eight-person group includes a table and chairs (four on-call pilots are playing cards while they wait for the next mission) and a pair of officers in easy chairs. There’s also a bomb loader pushing a bomb trolley.

This is just one item though - HLJ has an ocean of tasty stuff waiting for buyers, so do have a look. UK model makers might also like to know that HLJ will be exhibiting at the IPMS Scale ModelWorld on November 7-8, in Hall 2, Table 36.

Visit Dragon 1:48 Luftwaffe personnel here.

Visit HLJ main site here.

Visit the IPMS here.

BATTLE OF BRITAIN DAY

Today is Battle of Britain Day. From July to September in 1940, the German Luftwaffe attacked shipping and ports in southern England, moving on to target RAF airfields and infrastructure. The Battle of Britain was a close-run thing - at one point the Royal Air Force had all its aircraft in the air, with no backups left at all. But after September 15, Hitler changed tactics, and historians generally agree it marked the turning of the tide in that air war.

The aircraft heroes of the Battle of Britain were the Hawker Hurricane - a Guernsey Airport Model Show 1:72 specimen with fuel truck is shown at top - and the Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire (pictures below). There are more Spitfire kits that you can shake a stick at, but the grandaddy of them all is surely the big old 1:24 scale offering from Airfix, dating back to the 1970s. It’s still a pretty good kit that offers a wealth of detail, even if the undercarriage legs can be a little weak at the knees. The Spitfire shown was made by Warren Osborne, and looks to have just about the right amount of weathering, giving it a hard-used daily combat look.

If you like the outdoors then maybe a radio-control Spit could be a buy. ParkZone’s neat ready-to-fly electric Spitfire MkIIb is a great way into RC, as it comes complete with all the bits and bobs you need. It’s not too twitchy in the air, enabling a relative beginner (even this reviewer) to do loops and rolls in fairly short order. Unusually, the pilot figure manages to look semi-human, even if he does come minus body and appendages.

Thanks to Warren Osborne for his Spitfire pictures. You can see more at the excellent Aircraft Resource Center here.

Amazon has the Airfix 1:24 scale Spitfire here, and the ParkZone RC Spitfire here.