As some of you may know, this month is the 70th anniversary of the Bismarck battles, resulting in the sinkings of HMS Hood and KMS Bismarck. Airfix is finally re-releasing all its 1:1200 models in set A50120. Suppposedly coming out in April, the latest word to hobby shops is June 20th.
The set includes Hood, Ark Royal, heavy cruiser Suffolk, 2 Tribal class destroyers - originally it was going to be 1, but I think I was the one who got them to include 2 - and Bismarck and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen.
Of course, that leaves out heavy cruisers Norfolk and Dorsetshire, battleships Prince of Wales and King George V and Rodney, a couple more Tribals, and the JKN class Polish destroyer Piorun.
However, I am designing a cardstock paper set of those … which may enhance the value of the Airfix set, actually … and have a thread on my www.coatneyhistory.com webpage about that. Attached here are the latest photos.
I just got a stock notification that the set is now out, although the webpage still shows it out of stock.
My work on my complimentary set of 1:1200 cardstock paper models which I described above proceeds. From a British supplier, I just got Plastruct (90849) .015"/.4mm plastic rod for the destroyer caliber guns of Cossack etc. and Piorun. I’ve even done a miniscule pixel by pixel Polish naval ensign … with the left-facing chicken/eagle? … for Piorun.
I for one support Airfix as they are a big part of modeling history while finding new enthusiasm in recent releases.
Although 1/1200 scale is not in the mainstream of popularity the idea of the ships altogether in a manageable sized base will appeal to quite a few modelers & historians.
I had the Airfix Tribals from this series. I normally do sailing craft, but I have a big soft spot for destroyers (Dad served on one). Nice to see it return, though separate kits would’ve been nice as well.
