Hi Woodsy,
Here is another set of Lenticular cards from packets of breakfast cereal. This time from Nabisco Spoon Size Shredded Wheat.
From 1980 (40th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain), the 'Aces in Action' Magic Picture Cards. A set of five cards depicting famous RAF fighter aces shooting down enemy aircraft in the Battle of Britain.
Each card shows the action in three stages. Honestly, the images are not great, and the aircraft are not well drawn, but a very interesting set.
This You Tube video from Cerealmad shows all five cards, as well as the front and back of the boxes. The back of the packet even had a mail-away offer for two Airfix kits.
For £2, plus two box tops, and 60 New Pence postage, you got a Spitfire and a Messerschmitt Bf-109. The offer closed 31st December 1980.
The kits are described as the 1/48th scale Airfix Spitfire Mk.Vb, and the Messerschmitt Bf-109E. but Airfix did not do a Bf-109E in 1/48th scale at that time, only a Bf-109F – both this and the Spitfire Mk.Vb were far too late for the Battle of Britain.
Both the Spitfire Mk.Vb and the Bf-109E were available in 1/72nd scale, so something is amiss. Does anyone have any further information on this mail-away offer ?
The advertisement says 2 Models for Only £2, Save £1. This does indeed suggest the 1/48th scale kits, which were in Series 4, rather than the cheaper 1/72nd scale models which were in Series 2.
But neither of the 1/48th scale kits depicted aircraft from the Battle of Britain era, as both the Spitfire Mk.Vb and Bf-109F entered service in 1941. I have no idea what sort of packaging the mail-away kits came in.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
Nice post! As an aside, I'm in Spitfire Heaven/Hell at this very moment! I'm finally working on my long dreamed of puppet film and I've settled on a short story where my heroine dreams she's a Spitfire pilot fighting a V1 flying bomb!
ReplyDeleteMy close friend is helping out and he's building a filming grade 1/3 scale Spitire cockpit for my puppet.
Like you, he's a bit of a stickler for detail and we spent a while yesterday discussing how my Mk VI has been converted into a Mk IX by adding four inches to the engine bay to accomodate a Merlin 66!
Phew! I just want to tell the story!
Thank you. I have been watching a number of the Cerealmad videos, and they are very interesting.
ReplyDeleteYou and your friend are very brave - a 1/3rd scale Spitfire cockpit sounds very daunting. Good luck with the film.