Airfix 1:24 Ju87B -Back to my youth and the birth of a passion - Airscale Saves the Day, Clunk is Removed.

[Craigyboy]

The newest 1:24 kit from Airfix is safely built and stored away for the winter SPITFIRE Mk.IXe so it's time to turn my attentions to one of the oldest Airfix 1:24 kits and the one that really set Airfix apart IMHO in the large scale kit market.

As a fresh faced (really, I was) 13 year old, I trailed one dark late November Saturday afternoon with my Nan to the local Sheffield toy megastore, Redgates

to buy my Christmas present, ready to be whisked away to storage ready for Christmas day.

It was a no brainer what I wanted and, if you knew the vastness of redgates and the range of the toys it stocked, you'd realise I was probably already a dedicated modeller even back then.

I'd progressed from building 20 piece models from Aurora of creatures from my other passion, horror films,

through balsa planes both rubber powered and Jetex (weren't THEY fun?. There are still trees growing in my local wood with bits of balsa Mig15 embedded in them) to smaller aircraft. But today there was only one beast I wanted. I'd seen it in the Airfix catalogue, paper then not virtual, and it was the 1:24 Junkers JU87B. 

Procured, stashed and unwrapped on Christmas day, the build was epic as was the size. It took me about 4 months of guddling around to get it finished and God was I proud of it.

I still have it now. It's the only one of my models I've ever kept, it's that special to me. No airbrush or internet then, it was built OOB and brush painted with Airfix enamels. 

It's had a couple of rebirths... and a death. I refreshed it in 2010 on my return to modelling after a 35 year hiatus, it was dropped onto a concrete floor in 2015 and patched up after that. I still love it

 

And now it's back. It's on pre-order naturally, but this time I hope to really do it justice with access to reference material I never had back then, paints from MRP, closer to the original colours and thin as gossamer to apply and obtain subtle variations I never could back then. Oh, and an airbrush to spray them with.

Most exciting though is that some of the parts that were limited in fine detail due to the technology of the time have been produced as an aftermarket kit by Peter at AIRSCALE. Now it's not cheap but it's huge. It arrived yesterday and there are beautiful resin 3D printed parts such as pilot's seat, mg15 rear machine gun, rudder pedals, a fantastic pilots panel and twin radios. Those horrid rubber tyres beloved of 70s kits will go, to be replaced with weighted front and rear ones...I could go on.

 

So, all that remains is to await the arrival of the kit and get building. Below are some pictures of Redgates in the 70s, some crummy pics of my original 1975 kit and the embellishments from Peter and MRP I can't wait to use.

 

I'll be starting for nostalgia's sake, on Christmas Day because this year it's my totally gorgeous and understanding wife who's buying the kit and locking it away til Christmas. Feel free to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PanzerWomble]

I remember these huge kits so well , being of a similar vintage and background. My friend built the 109 late 1970's , my pal's dad built the Harrier around the same time .That was special as he was an oils artist as well as a part time modeller . I saw one of these in the sand yellow scheme hanging up in 'my' model shop in town , but I never went down the 1/24 route .

Sometime in 1980ish I was give my first Tamiya King Tiger tank ( oddly I still have that as well - I use it as  a stand in to 'size' dioramas )....and that was it for the next 5 years ..endless Battle of the Bulge scenarios .....jeeez all that talc and hairspray and teenage angst.  🙃

Be curious to see how this thing has aged , are the panel lines 3 mms wide ? Is the glass wildly thick ...does any of it fit together properly ? I'm also guessing the instructions will be 70 pages long as Airfix now seem to like a picture for every part these days  . Someone did a cutaway one on TOS a coupla years ago might be worth a gander if you can find it ? 

 

Either way I love the idea of an "updated" nostalgia build , TBH thats a lot of what I build now - stuff I couldn't do well, couldn't afford, or did but can do better ...and it's Krycell professional snow effect not talc🤣 ....ffs

Roll on Craig, I'm looking forward to Boxing day updates ! 

[PanzerWomble]

.......& please give it a damn good weathering ! Something else that no one really did 40 years ago ! 

[Craigyboy]

16 minutes ago, PanzerWomble said:

I remember these huge kits so well , being of a similar vintage and background. My friend built the 109 late 1970's , my pal's dad built the Harrier around the same time .That was special as he was an oils artist as well as a part time modeller . I saw one of these in the sand yellow scheme hanging up in 'my' model shop in town , but I never went down the 1/24 route .

Sometime in 1980ish I was give my first Tamiya King Tiger tank ( oddly I still have that as well - I use it as  a stand in to 'size' dioramas )....and that was it for the next 5 years ..endless Battle of the Bulge scenarios .....jeeez all that talc and hairspray and teenage angst.  🙃

Be curious to see how this thing has aged , are the panel lines 3 mms wide ? Is the glass wildly thick ...does any of it fit together properly ? I'm also guessing the instructions will be 70 pages long as Airfix now seem to like a picture for every part these days  . Someone did a cutaway one on TOS a coupla years ago might be worth a gander if you can find it ? 

 

Either way I love the idea of an "updated" nostalgia build , TBH thats a lot of what I build now - stuff I couldn't do well, couldn't afford, or did but can do better ...and it's Krycell professional snow effect not talc🤣 ....ffs

Roll on Craig, I'm looking forward to Boxing day updates ! 

Post Christmas day pub that should be fun 

[DocRob]

Nice tour down memory lane. To do a re-build of one of the old favorites sounds like a nice plan. The added detail will let it shine and I guess, yo will use an airbrush this time .

Cheers Rob

[belugawhaleman]

In 1984, while recovering from a second back surgery I built this kit....It

Was fun...And Big! The completed model hung from my bedroom ceiling

for years! Cool! Nice to see one built!

[Craigyboy]

34 minutes ago, belugawhaleman said:

In 1984, while recovering from a second back surgery I built this kit....It

Was fun...And Big! The completed model hung from my bedroom ceiling

for years! Cool! Nice to see one built!

Mine also lived on the ceiling, until......🤢

[PanzerWomble]

Bit of inspiration from the 1978 Airifx catalogue ....we take it you'll be motorising the prop of course 🤣

 

[Craigyboy]

18 minutes ago, PanzerWomble said:

Bit of inspiration from the 1978 Airifx catalogue ....we take it you'll be motorising the prop of course 🤣

 

All those dangly wires🤪

[PanzerWomble]

Looking again at that pic in their catalogue ....notice the big sink mark on the prop ? And the bright red exhausts.....the hobby has moved so far in 45 years .

[Craigyboy]

Well, obviously, the kit's not here yet so, short of buying an old one at inflated prices from eBay (other sites to buy things to feed our addiction ARE available), I've had a play around with the seats from Peter at Airscale in his superb Pro range for the Ju87. 

I'm going to say no more but leave the kit v Airscale pictures to speak for themselves. The kit parts are from my 1970s original kit which I've added to over the following years explaining the seatbelts which weren't available back in 1975.

I think you'll agree the degree of detail Peter's got into his printing is stunning. 

[Clunkmeister]

This is one I’m really looking forward seeing develop.  I remember that kit from way back then, and it was, at least to me,  ummm, klunky.  It sure had the ability to be brilliant, given enough scratch time and effort. 

[PanzerWomble]

On 11/20/2023 at 9:58 AM, Craigyboy said:

Well, obviously, the kit's not here yet so, short of buying an old one at inflated prices from eBay (other sites to buy things to feed our addiction ARE available), I've had a play around with the seats from Peter at Airscale in his superb Pro range for the Ju87. 

I'm going to say no more but leave the kit v Airscale pictures to speak for themselves. The kit parts are from my 1970s original kit which I've added to over the following years explaining the seatbelts which weren't available back in 1975.

I think you'll agree the degree of detail Peter's got into his printing is stunning. 

Soo.....are we still go for launch in T minus three days ? 😀

[Craigyboy]

12 minutes ago, PanzerWomble said:

Soo.....are we still go for launch in T minus three days ? 😀

Oh Yessssss

[PanzerWomble]

Excellent , here is a pic of someone else working out if they can skip stage 3 and go straight to the bomb cradle....

 

 

[KevinM]

On 10/29/2023 at 4:32 PM, PanzerWomble said:

Looking again at that pic in their catalogue ....notice the big sink mark on the prop ? And the bright red exhausts.....the hobby has moved so far in 45 years .

Yeah we have gotten older!

[Craigyboy]

On 12/22/2023 at 5:53 PM, PanzerWomble said:

Excellent , here is a pic of someone else working out if they can skip stage 3 and go straight to the bomb cradle....

 

 

Back in the day it was a lovely A5 ish sized book printed on shiny paper with the colour schemes as covers ...😔

[PanzerWomble]

19 minutes ago, KevinM said:

Yeah we have gotten older!

And slower , Craig needs to get a move on so this will be built by the time he returns to school if I remember the 1980s ….can’t boast to all you mates otherwise 

[Craigyboy]

9 hours ago, PanzerWomble said:

And slower , Craig needs to get a move on so this will be built by the time he returns to school if I remember the 1980s ….can’t boast to all you mates otherwise 

That reminded me. This is Finningley 1977, about 2 years after I first built the JU87. I'm the cool dude in the purple shirt LOL

[PanzerWomble]

3 hours ago, Craigyboy said:

That reminded me. This is Finningley 1977, about 2 years after I first built the JU87. I'm the cool dude in the purple shirt LOL

Wow you were in Stranger Things 😄.  
 

1977 year of the Silver Jubilee and Sex Pistols ……

 

 

[Craigyboy]

1 hour ago, PanzerWomble said:

Wow you were in Stranger Things 😄.  
 

1977 year of the Silver Jubilee and Sex Pistols ……

 

 

😁

[Bomber_County]

5 hours ago, PanzerWomble said:

Wow you were in Stranger Things 😄.  
 

1977 year of the Silver Jubilee and Sex Pistols ……

 

On my good …….. 1977 was when I started work…….and passed my driving test…..help…….

[KevinM]

8 hours ago, Craigyboy said:

That reminded me. This is Finningley 1977, about 2 years after I first built the JU87. I'm the cool dude in the purple shirt LOL

We are not far off in age Craig Graduated HS 79 and yes Guy I related to ST's real easy.

[PanzerWomble]

Old men , I was clearly still in the HJ in 77 ! 

[GusMac]

11 hours ago, PanzerWomble said:

Wow you were in Stranger Things 😄.  
 

1977 year of the Silver Jubilee and Sex Pistols ……

 

 

Still remember having that Silver Jubilee badge on my Cub uniform as well. My mum probably still has it somewhere!