At the 2023 Auckland collector's fair, I picked up seven kits, and a box of bits (but it was a really lovely box). A mix of modern and vintage kits.
Of course, the vintage kits will not be built. They are rare and precious treasures, to be preserved, still pristine in their boxes.
In the 1960s and 1970s Airfix kits were sold in the USA, usually in different packaging to those sold in Britain (and New Zealand). The Series 1 kits came in cardboard boxes, while in Britain they were still being sold in plastic bags in to the early 1970s.
The artwork on this 1960s Hawker Typhoon is amazing. The colour scheme is bizarre, and nothing like the scheme actually worn by RAF Typhoons.
I have never seen a US Airfix kit in New Zealand before, so I grabbed this one. Inside the box is a normal Airfix Typhoon, in silver-grey plastic.
The Hawk Convair C-131 light transport is really old - the copyright date on the early style box is 1959. This kit too is in silver-grey plastic.
There are 28 parts, including the one-piece wings (rather than the usual upper and lower halves). There are no clear parts for the cockpit or cabin windows.
This Revell Lockheed P2V (later P-2) Neptune box was full of various aircraft parts, mainly fuel tanks. But I bought it for the wonderful box art - an Operation Deepfreeze aircraft on skies taking off in Antarctica.
There is a small note in the lower left hand corner, which says ' Made in New Zealand by Lincoln Industries Ltd, Auckland', along with a Made in New Zealand Kiwi logo. It probably dates from the 1970s.
The French company Heller produced a lot of obscure French aircraft types, including the Mureaux 117 reconnaissance aircraft. This looks to be an original, 1967 kit.
The North American F-107A, was an experimental US jet fighter, first flown in 1956. Only three were built - its most unusual feature was the air intake above the fuselage.
There are not many models of the type. This being a modern Trumpeter kit.
A modern Revell Chance Vought F4U Corsair naval fighter of WW2. This one is destined to receive RNZAF markings.
I also found a 1/72nd scale Monogram P-51B Mustang, which will be covered separately, and a Heller P-39 Airacobra fighter. This had been re-packed in a plastic bag, not its original box.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
An amazing haul Paul. Have you made all these kits? My fave box art is the Revell, it looks stunning.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great haul! The F-107 is a design I have never seen before. The Revell Neptune box is stunning. And believe it or not, I had that Hawk Convair C-131 kit, and used the completed model as a prop in one of my Super 8mm movies! Spoiler alert: It did not survive! Haven't thought of that model in years. SFZ
ReplyDeleteAre those meant to be Normandy stripes on the Typhoon? They look more like the sort of livery you'd expect to see on 1960s Japanese Sci Fi subjects!
ReplyDeleteOnly the Corsair has been built - in RNZAF markings. The F-107 might get built, but all the others are vintage, and will remain in their boxes.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Revell Neptune has really stunning box art. Atlantis are re-issuing this kit, with the same artwork, so we will have a chance to build the kit, without disturbing a vintage kit - although in my case it was a box of random aircraft parts.
Wow, great that you had the C-131, SFZ. The aircraft on the box top is being buzzed by MiGs !
No, those are not D-Day Invasion Stripes. They are special recognition markings used on the Typhoon early in its RAF service. Four black and three white, of different widths, below the wings only. The D-Day stripes were three white and two black, of equal width, around the wings and fuselage.