Decals…
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Sound the trumpets and shout from the roof tops! (Has he gone mad I hear?) Well, no but at last, Airfix has included a decent decal sheet made by Cartograf in Italy. I have (and so has Max) been critical of the quality of decals provided by Airfix in the recent 1:48 Messerschmitt Bf 109E and 1:72nd scale Bf110C releases – they are awful, but this sheet is stunning! All the time stencils are there as are the major markings for three squadron and one preserved aircraft:
- No 899 NAS HMS Eagle, March 1975
- “Simon’s Sircus” 892 NAS, RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset, England 1968
- No 893 NAS HMS Victorious 1966
- G-CVIX 2010
Well done Airfix, you must keep this quality up with all further releases.
The all-colour painting guide/ decal instruction sheet is back and that’s a great asset and very welcome.
A Comment from a reader, received Nov 2010:
Hi…Just joined mainly so I could read your opinion of the Sea Vixen kit just released from Airfix but am impressed with the whole site which I shall enjoy reading and learning from. I’ve just returned to model making after MANY years and am amazed at the quality of kits now..I mainly like armour but I will be making the Vixen as I spent several years working on them in the late sixties ! Just a teeny quibble is in the Vixen review; decals for 899 squadron fine BUT not from 1975 as indicated. The squadron disbanded from HMS Eagle in February 1972 and the ship subsequently scrapped ! I was on the Eagle when the last Vixen left the ship. Phil White
Instructions…
These are very good and there are clear and seem at this stage to be unambiguous instructions on assembly. At all stages there are some neat symbols to indicate whether you are building a model with straight, extended wings or one with folded wings.
To conclude…
This is one of the most anticipated kits in years and, yet again, we have a large hole filled with what looks to be a very promising kit – how lucky are we? I will start the build this week in SMN so can’t wait for that and I hope you can’t too! You’ll end up with another in-depth review that I hope you’ll find useful when you build this kit. Judging by some of the figures I have heard of advance orders, this kit has and will sell in bucket loads. If it’s as good as it looks, it deserves to! I can’t wait to get stuck in and we’ll be off and running very soon.
Highly recommended
References…
You’ll find a complete, detailed internal and external walk around for the Sea Vixen FAW 2 in your SMN Photo Reference Library, so do check that out. Alternatively, you will find Roy Sutherland’s excellent book on the Sea Vixen a great companion.
Geoff C.
PS – please forgive me when the Airfix Avro Vulcan slips back a bit over the next couple of weeks and I focus on the Sea Vixen, but I’ll be back with that project very soon.
