The Little World

Occasionally you can get caught out by events…or by your own eagerness for business. This has happened twice to Airfix kits that I have encountered, but has not dimmed my pleasure in building them.

The first model that made me aware of this was the original Airfix 1:72 Blackburn Buccaneer. I was given a historic kit by a friend and set about building it to a good standard. It was delightful, but the plane it depicted was a prototype that bore small resemblance to the plane that went into service. Yet Airfix had committed to the mould and sold it for decades.

The newest example of fate overtaking the kit is this fine Airfix Classic; the Handley Page Jetstream. They are part of whatever BAE consortium now exists, but this was still HP back in the 60’s. They came up with a good design for a twin-turboprop plane that could be a small feeder airliner or become a fast small cargo plane. The US Air Force was interested in buying them and had plans to make an air ambulance of it. Airfix took them at their word and produced a model of what it could possibly have become.

However it never did. The plane was delayed due to engine problems and the USAF eventually lost interest in it, cancelling out of the contract. Lots of other people took them up for small airlines or military flights, and they are still being traded today on the secondhand airplane market…probably not as air ambulances, however.

I love the idea of the stretchers inside, seen from an open loading door. So it will behoove me to think up a use for this plane that justifies retaining the fit-out…and I think I have just the answer.

The kit’s a cracker for $29…some flash but everything else as good as the original