Well, what a lousy kit by Airfix. The worst one by them that I have built in the two years since I took up this hobby of model building. Nevertheless, a great plane. The De Havilland DH.88 Comet, the winner of the 1934 MacRobertson Air Race from London to Sydney, covering the distance in just a shade under three days, which for that time was really flying.
The kit is 1/72, an ancient thing originally from the 50s, I believe. It has very few parts and none of them fit together very well, either. Lots of filling, sanding and fiddling.
I just loved the story of the air race itself, as well as the story of how this plane was built. The first prize for the Air Race was 15,000 Pounds, a lot of money back then. So de Havilland advertised that they could build a race-winning plane for 5,000 pounds, but needed three firm orders in advance in order to fund the whole experiment. Three orders quickly came in.
Though it looks more like a 1940s plane, this 1934 design still used a wooden aiframe. However, it did have variable pitch propellers, which gave it a level of performance that no other plane in the race possessed.
It’s a shame this old Airfix kit is such poor quality, but then again I don’t really mind the challenge of turning a fairly horrible kit into a presentable model.
This kit is older than I Am! Nice work, hones your skills working on old kits though… Perhaps Airfix should release old stuff on a ‘historical-only’ label as a fair warning? Or re-do this in 1/48th, now there’s a thought!
I agree that some kind of warning label, such as “heritage kit” would ease the surprise upon opening the super-simple kit and finding out that lots of parts don’t as nicely as you’ve come to expect from a company like Airfix.
And … I just noticed that somehow I must have accidentally knocked off the wheel housing cover from the right side wheel. It has to be there in on the bench somewhere (better go attach it again!)
The quality of some of the old kits may drive people away from the latest Airfix kits. But their newest kits are using latest technology, with superb detail! And the prices are very reasonable. I think if you try one of their latest kits, you’ll get a different view of the company.
Unfortunately, their latest kits are mostly military subjects (I guess that is where the money is). Can’t wait for some new civil subjects from Airfix.
I’ve fallen into the same trap unfortunately with old reboxed Airfix kits [:(]
A good tip however is to check the side of box where the bar-code is located. Airfix usually (but not always) state here if the kits is an old reproduction rebox in terms of the copyright year in their copyright small print For example the Airfix 1/144 DeHavilland Comet 4B kit states on the box side beside the barcode in very small print:-
Hornby Hobbies Ltd
Model Design & Tooling Copyright 1961
Decal Scheme and Pack Design Copyright 2015
Thus indicating the kit parts themselves are from an old 1961 tooling. Like I said I’ve seen a few kits where this is not stated so its not foolproof but in alot of cases it can avoid disappointment if you are hoping for modern tooling. To echo the other posters you won’t be disappointed with any of the new release tooling kits as they are very impressive.
You’ve done a great job with usch an ancient kit Ozmac, the finish looks spectacular. If you’re interested in a better starting point, SBS Models do a superb resin 1/72 kit of the Comet.
Building one right now as part of our secret santa promo at our club…and boy is she a pig. I cut the wing alignment tabs off just to square up the wings, sanded the canopy down as it was one of the thickest bits of clear I’ve ever seen, used more putty than a 1970’s ford falcon. Chopped the the round knobs of plastic off that are meant to resemble x2 pilots, opened up the cockpit and added 2 seats and an instrument panel from my spares. They don’t match but you can’t tell through that canopy, I won’t even start with the landing gear.
