NEW FROM CORGI - TRAINS, PLANES, CARS

SMN report:

Corgi’s next Aviation Archive diecast release will be a variation on the highly successful 1:72 scale TSR-2 British strike bomber. This one is modelled on the XR220 machine, now on display at the RAF Museum, Cosford. It’s a Limited Edition, with just 1500 in the run, and has extra parts to reflect the stronger landing gear fitted to the aircraft, and the two cameras fitted to monitor gear behavior.

COMBAT AIRCRAFT OLD AND NEW FROM CORGI

If you like diecast aircraft, then you’ve a chance to add an interesting pair to your collection this month with these two from Corgi, a 1:72 scale BAC TSR-2 strike bomber and a 1:48 scale World War I Sopwith Camel.

We gave a brief heads-up on the TSR-2 on May 30 last year, and here it is, nicely finished in Cold War anti-flash white. Sad to say, the real aircraft became a political victim - despite the prototype XR219 flying in September 1964 and promising to be streets ahead of anything else in the sky, the project was scrapped. Yet in a bizarre twist of incompetence, the swing-wing F-111 ordered to replace it was also cancelled a few years later. So the Corgi model is as much a monument to political uselessness as it is to the diecaster’s art. It looks good though, and is quite a hefty beast, measuring nearly 15 in (380 mm) long.

The Sopwith Camel is an old-fashioned delight, and represents the red-striped aircraft flown by Flight Lieutenant Norman McGregor of 10 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in late 1917, a unit that later became 210 Squadron of the fledgeling Royal Air Force (RAF) in April 1918. Corgi’s model shows off one advantage that ready-builts have over kits - the wire bracing is beautifully presented, and done so exactly that it challenges all but the most skilled model maker to beat the level of precision - certainly this reviewer couldn’t begin to match it.

To 1:48 scale the Camel is big enough - the wingspan is 180 mm (7.1 in) - to make a fine desk-top model, and with some careful weathering would look very fine in a mud-and-bullets World War I diorama setting.

Visit The Aviation Archive section of the Corgi online shop here.

You can buy the Corgi TSR-2 at a discount here.

There are several Corgi Sopwith Camels available, including McGregor’s aircraft here.

FAB FIVE: AIRFIX AIRCRAFT WE LOVE

We’ve all got our favourite kits, and this Airfix Fab Five is the second in a series that started with diecasts and will go - well, who knows exactly - but it will span the whole world of scale miniatures. So, here we go - Mr J’s five faves from the vaults:

1 1:144 Handley-Page HP-42
Maybe this is an unusual choice, but 1930s biplane airliner kits are not common, and the HP-42 was a significant aircraft in the days of the British Empire. It’s a nice little kit that assembled well, with pleasant cover art by ace artist, the late Roy Cross.
2 1:72 Avro Lancaster
This was a birthday present as a boy, and I recall expecting it to be in a big plastic bag - and was a bit miffed for a few moments when a ‘trad’ cardboard box was revealed! No matter, it built up into a young man’s dream of air power.
3 1:48 TSR-2
Its accuracy and build-quality are no great shakes - it’s here because it just looks so great and because of the tragedy factor. The real thing could and should have been a world-beater that would have still been flying today, but for the crass ineptitude of British politicians.
4 1:24 P-51D Mustang
This was a knockout kit at the time, and occupied a substantial part of the tiny little London flat I occupied when it was released. Sad to say, the first one did not survive an extremely noisy Saturday night party - the replacement never got finished!
5 1:24 de Havilland Mosquito
OK, so it’s not released yet, but the sales material that Airfix has released so far makes it an absolute must-have. I predict a massive hit for this one - there’s room on the bench for it, even now.

OK, that’s my Airfix Fab Five - what are your own choices?

Another HP-42 picture can be viewed at the German Modellversium site here.

IPMS favourite: SAM magazine review

It’s time for a look at the hardcopy mags, and SAM – Scale Aircraft Modelling – had a style update recently, so it’s a good one to choose. The cover says it’s voted “the modeller’s favourite magazine” by the UK IPMS (International Plastic Modeller’s Society), so let’s open one up.

The issue featured here is the latest copy, dated April 2009, and features an Airfix TSR-2 on the cover. Oddly, the image seems to be in mono: the 1:48 scale model is shown in colour inside, so maybe the designer thought it was a good Photoshop effect or something.

Still, that’s comment rather than criticism, and the rest of SAM makes up for it, with a total of 70 colour pages, printed on very good quality paper. The TSR-2 article includes a full build step-by-step, a useful how-to Tech Guide, and a 21-pic walkaround the two full-size aircraft, presently on display at the Duxford and Cosford air museums.

A nice SAM feature is the centre-spread, which folds out to show a really attractive set of scale drawings of the de Havilland Sea Vixen, by technical artist Mark Rolfe.

The back end of the mag is packed with new kit releases, accessories and other interesting stuff. You can visit SAM’s website here, where you can also find a FREE pdf download of a specimen issue, with the old-style front cover. SAM, we like the new one so much more! Available monthly, UK price £3.95GBP.