For decades, toy replicas of British warplanes like the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster have outsold those of their Nazi foes, but now kit sales of Second World War German aircraft have overtaken those of the Allied forces. Spitfire, Hurricanes and Lancasters losing out to Nazi foes in kit toy sales - Telegraph
Here's the Top 10 from that article. See there is only one Yank plane! The good old Spit is number 1 by 20 000 kits!!! Top ten most popular aircraft: Supermarine Spitfire 45,000 kits sold Messerschmitt Bf 109E 25,000 De Havilland Mosquito17,000 Focke Wulf 190D15,000 Avro Lancaster Junkers Ju87 Stuka Hawker Hurricane P51 Mustang Dornier Do17 Mistel
I did used to like making Spitfires when I was a child....Not sure what a Minstrel is though, I thought they were chocolates
Drew, Mistel is the Generic name given to planes used as a bomb. The doner plane was packed full of explosive and the plane used to guide it to the target was the pick-a-back, connected by struts that were disengaged (explosive bolts usually) when the target was located and the Mistel plane lined up for the attack. There were many variants in use at the end of the war. Regards Tom
That's interesting, I liked to make the Allied and Axis aircraft. It was nice to make the Me262 but you had to put something heavy in the nose as the model tipped back when it was on it's undercarriage. Nice to see the Dogfight Double Meteor & VI Doodlebug 1:72, looks cool. Plastic Scale Models The Official Airfix Website
Sad to admit, but most of my model airfix planes ended their life hanging from the wash line and used as target practice for my air pistol. Sometimes the end product was like some pretty realistic Flak damage! Regards Tom
lol, Tom ! I had mine in the loft and nearly burnt the house down when I used to set fire to them for realism.......God my parents gave me a right shoeing for that ! Cheers
wasn't Mistel German for Mistletoe? and it was a just code name for the weapon? I remember 3 variants, BF109G/Ju88 (itlaeria kit) Messerchmitt small glider thing/Do17 (old airfix) ME262/ bomber and the new airfix FW190/TA152
No shame in air-guns and kits - the two go together well, isn't that what they're for? Pleased to have helped out perfidious Albion's score with a recent 48th Mosquito. Now I really must finish it... only you can't cover mistakes in mud like you can on AFVs, there not being much mud in the air.
This thread has really brought back memories of my weekly saturday morning pilgrimage to my local model shop, were I purchasing my 2/- airfix aircraft kits. My first ever kit was a Gloucester Gladiator, which still ranks as one of my favourite machines. Possibly inspired by reading the endevours of the three machines based on Malta called Faith Hope and Charity. Regards Tom
When I was a boy I certainly made models of German, Japanese and Italian aircraft as well as Allied ones. After all, I had to have somebody to shoot down!
That losing out to German aircraft kits is an old story, when I subscribed to Airfix Magazine 30-something years ago people were already complaining about it. Let's face it, it's those sexy paint schemes and those uniforms to die for
