We highlight new 1/72 Airfix boxings that involve reissued parts and brand-new toolings, which should delight aircraft fans.
It’s always a treat to see older Airfix kits reintroduced with fresh markings, but the latest raft of boxings also provides all-new styrene. Modellers keen on jet aircraft can again purchase the 1/72 Jet Provost T.3/T.4 (A02103A, above) with two debuting schemes. The first is for the T.3A XN579/14, as flown by the RAF’s first female pilot, Flt Lt Julie Ann Gibson, during her initial solo with 1 Flying Training School, conducted at Dishforth, North Yorkshire, in May 1990. Secondly, you also receive markings for T.4 XP568/85 from the RAF College Cranwell in 1962. The airframes wear Signal Red/Light Aircraft Grey/white and High Speed Silver and Day-Glo Orange respectively. This boxing costs £11.99.
Above: Airfix's MiG-17F offers markings for the US evaluation programme 'Have Drill', plus Egyptian livery.
The second jet is Airfix’s returning 1/72 MiG-17F Fresco (A03091A), which has two fresh schemes. A superb choice, the first airframe is White 055, flown as part of the then classified US 'Have Drill' evaluation programme, at Groom Lake, Nevada, in 1969 – wearing USAF Southeast Asia camouflage on its upper surfaces. But you can also replicate an overall aluminium Egyptian MiG-17F, allotted to Sqn Ldr Shalabi el-Hinnawy, the 1 Squadron Egyptian Air Force commanding officer in 1956. This kit costs £17.99.
For those interested in World War Two aviation, the new Dogfight Double A50193 provides all-new Starter Set toolings of the P-51D Mustang and Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4. These feature simplified construction but plenty of choice detail, so they’ll appeal to the novice and more experienced modeller alike. With the kit costing £19.99, the schemes are:
• P-51D-5-NA, 44-13926/E2-S, Lt Urban Drew, 375th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter Group, USAAF Eighth Air Force, RAF Bottisham, Cambs, UK, 1944
• Bf 109F-4, Blue 38, 4./Jagdgruppe Ost, Luftwaffe, Weidengut, Germany, 1944
Also provided in this Dogfight Double are two differently sized paint brushes, Poly Cement and nine pots of acrylic paint.
Above: The P-51 decals include invasion stripes for ease of finishing.
Air-combat fans will welcome another Dogfight Double, this time item A50194, Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vc and Messerschmitt Bf 109F-4. Both are, again, simplified toolings with ‘shadow’ display stands and markings for the following airframes:
• AB216/DL-Z, Sqn Ldr Robert Wardlow ‘Bobby’ Oxspring, OC 91 Squadron, RAF Hawkinge, Kent, UK, 1941
• Bf 109F-4, Wk Nr 7185, Gruppenkommandeur, Hptm Hans ‘Assi’ Hahn, Stab.III/Jagdgeschwader 2, Luftwaffe, St Pol-Brias, France, 1941
This kit also offers paint brushes, cement and ten acrylic paints for £19.99.
Finally, there’s the single Bf 109F-4 Starter Set (A55014), which offers the same parts but decals for White 1, flown by Oblt Wolf-Dietrich Huy, of 7./JG 77 while in Romania during July 1941. This costs £11.99 and offers a paintbrush, cement and four pots of acrylic paint.
All these kits are available direct from Airfix and its official stockists.
