THE INCREDIBLE RESIN STINGRAY -

 Some photos I’ve taken of my resin Stingray kit.

It’s based on a vintage kit I’ve been trying to add to my collection for quite some time, the Airfix Stingray model, which was available way back in 1965 as a mail-away from Lyons Maid.

In spite of it’s perceived rarity aspect, more than a few have ‘surfaced’ over time on eBay, but like many before me I always seem to get pipped to the post at the last minute.

I did send away for one at the time, or rather my parents did. All that was required was three Sea Jet ice lolly wrappers, and 6/- postal order.

I remember assembling and attempting to paint it. At the time I thought it was a perfect representation of the WASP super sub! However, thinking about it now, it would have probably been covered in finger marks from an over use of plastic cement, and the paint job would have owed more to abstract rather than accuracy!

Nowadays, the nearest I’ve got to an Airfix Stingray is the resin model in my photos, which is cast from an existing kit. Naturally, any imperfections were carried over to the casting, and the whole thing needed a fair amount of preparation to get it to look something like. Some of the parts were actually little more than blobs of resin!

It’s certainly not perfect by any means, and not a project for the inexperience modeller, but it worked out reasonably well in the end, and it’ll have to do me for now, until I hopefully one day get my hands on the real thing.

As for the fabled Airfix Stingray, most Stingray fans will remember the advert for the offer which appeared in several UK comics at the time. I’ve seen the ad in TV Comic, and Valiant, and most notably TV Century 21 which carried the advert every week, from issues dated July, 21^st 1965 until September 4^th 1965.

The offer closed on October 31^st 1965.

A nostalgic look at a couple of Lyons Maid Seajet and Super Seajet adverts