The latest fair in Auckland, NZ, for collectors was packed, with both people and goodies. I managed to bag several treasures.
Four books, two of them 1970s vintage Aircam books by Osprey, on the North American P-51D Mustang in US service, and the Avro Lancaster bomber. You do not often see these any more.
The Augsburg Eagle, on the Messerschmitt Bf 109, with lots of excellent colour profiles. Finally, a 1962 space book by Collins. This one is worthy of a write-up of its own.
My die-cast haul included a Lledo Days Gone Vanguards boxed set of three models. Then seven loose models, six Matchbox from the 1950s and 1960s, and a single Road-Master Flyers Super Car - the red Volvo 1800S. This is just a little larger than a Matchbox model, and has opening bonnet with engine detail, opening doors, and boot. Made by Lone Star. I do not recall ever seeing these in NZ, but I am sure they were expensive.
The aircraft kits were all in 1/72nd scale. A North American FJ-1 Fury naval fighter by Siga Model, a firm I have never heard of before. Made in Ukraine.
A Kovozavody Prostejov (usually just called KP) MiG-21Bis, NATO code-name Fishbed. This has four sets of markings, for Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Croatia. Made in the Czech Republic.
Sikorsky HH-3E Jolly Green Giant helicopter by Revell. These were used to rescue downed aircrew during the Vietnam War. This example has © 1969 on the box, and Made in Great Britain by Revell (Great Britain) Ltd. A vintage treasure.
Lastly, the Takom Jagdpanther Late Production version. This was the tank destroyer version of the WW2 German Panther tank. The kit has full interior detail - suspension, fighting compartment (the 88mm gun was very large), and engine.
I could not resist all that interior detail, even though 1/35th is not my usual scale. The box is a massive 15 x 10 inches, and 5 inches deep. It is absolutely packed with parts.
I did a rough count - 1331 in grey polystyrene, plus a small photo-etch sheet, and a length of cord for the tow cable. That was not a typo - over thirteen hundred parts.
Granted, some of those are for use on other versions of the kit, the early or mid-production variants. But that is still a lot of plastic.
The tracks are made up of both individual links, and longer lengths. Each link has two track guides which have to be cemented in to place - there are 384 of these in total. I almost fainted.
The teeth are moulded in sections, with a frame across the top. The teeth are therefore cemented to the tracks in sections while still on the sprue, then the frame is cut away. At least you are not faced with 384 separate teeth.
The last photo shows the track links and the guides. The guides fit in to the depressions just inside the holes for the drive sprocket teeth. Each link is 19 x 5 mm.
If the kit is built as intended a lot of the detail is going to be hidden completely, or in corners too dark to see. It really does need to be made as a cut-away model.
Beautiful, but terrifying.
There were plenty of other goodies on offer, many of them outside my price range. Far more board games than usual.
One table had some vintage Dan Dare items, which you rarely see in NZ. The Dan Dare Spaceship Builder set, boxed, was $800. Wow. I have never seen one of these before.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
Not familiar with that spaceflight book. Any unique art?
ReplyDeleteThe Spaceflight book is really good, as it has the earliest known illustration of the Sword moon Bus/Spacex Mobile HQ. A really nice find. Bill
DeleteA fine haul indeed, the Jagdpanther alone would be worth the trip! The Spaceflight book is cool and the D-Type Jaguar is wonderful. looking forward to seeing that kit built up! Bill
ReplyDeleteDo You Know About ? Space Flight, by Maurice Allward, and illustrated by I. Teece, was published in 1962 by Wm. Collins Sons and Company Limited. Much of the artwork is of designs under test or of possible future designs. I am not sure if they are unique. Most of what I know about 1960s space art I have learned from Moonbase Central.
ReplyDeleteI am currently working on an article on these books. The Do You Know About ? series seems to have run to ten titles, all published between 1962 and 1964, but there is not a lot of information around on them. I count my self lucky to have found this example.
Thank you. Through out the 1950s Matchbox models grew steadily larger, which made the early models look small compared to the later releases. As a result, Matchbox often replaced existing models with larger versions of the same vehicle - this is actually the second version of the D-Type Jaguar. The smaller early, and larger late, models are very similar, but there are a few differences, so you can tell them apart without needing to measure them.
ReplyDeleteI just could not resist the Jagdpanther (not that I tried very hard). I am not sure I will survive the build. Over 1300 parts...
Lovely collection Paul. Sounds like a great day out at the fair. Always fab coming home and looking through what you've bought with a cup of tea! Get saving for the next one!
ReplyDeleteGood Grief that's a lotta parts!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I would love to have the time to build models, I've got a large stash of unbuilt kits. But some of them are just crazy.
I got a couple models of the German WWII Kettenkrad.
Who wouldn't love a Half-Track Motorcycle?
But, then I opened the kit and realized you'd have to build the tracks from individual track pieces.
I'm afraid at that point I figured it would be easier to build the real thing!
Good Luck!
What a great haul! Of course, the treasures for me are the two Siga planes and the Revell chopper. I decided long ago not to get into latter-day 1/35 armor kits. There is NO WAY I'm assembling a tank tread with hundreds of separate links! Of course, I was spoiled by the early Tamiya kits, with the rubber treads! Which no self-respecting modeller would be caught dead with nowadays! But I would have a blast with those two Ukrainian jets!
ReplyDeleteThank you. Only the FJ-1 Fury is by Siga Model from Ukraine. The MiG-21 is by KP from the Czech Republic. The MiG has lots of extra parts for different versions, including two sets of fuselage halves, and two sets of wings, but only one set of tailplanes. Looks like a really nice kit. The Jagdpanther is insane.
ReplyDelete