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The newest 1:24 kit from Airfix is safely built and stored away for the winter SPITFIRE Mk.IXe so it's time to turn my attentions to one of the oldest Airfix 1:24 kits and the one that really set Airfix apart IMHO in the large scale kit market. As a fresh faced (really, I was) 13 year old, I trailed one dark late November Saturday afternoon with my Nan to the local Sheffield toy megastore, Redgates to buy my Christmas present, ready to be whisked away to storage ready for Christmas day. It was a no brainer what I wanted and, if you knew the vastness of redgates and the range of the toys it stocked, you'd realise I was probably already a dedicated modeller even back then. I'd progressed from building 20 piece models from Aurora of creatures from my other passion, horror films, through balsa planes both rubber powered and Jetex (weren't THEY fun?. There are still trees growing in my local wood with bits of balsa Mig15 embedded in them) to smaller aircraft. But today there was only one beast I wanted. I'd seen it in the Airfix catalogue, paper then not virtual, and it was the 1:24 Junkers JU87B. Procured, stashed and unwrapped on Christmas day, the build was epic as was the size. It took me about 4 months of guddling around to get it finished and God was I proud of it. I still have it now. It's the only one of my models I've ever kept, it's that special to me. No airbrush or internet then, it was built OOB and brush painted with Airfix enamels. It's had a couple of rebirths... and a death. I refreshed it in 2010 on my return to modelling after a 35 year hiatus, it was dropped onto a concrete floor in 2015 and patched up after that. I still love it And now it's back. It's on pre-order naturally, but this time I hope to really do it justice with access to reference material I never had back then, paints from MRP, closer to the original colours and thin as gossamer to apply and obtain subtle variations I never could back then. Oh, and an airbrush to spray them with. Most exciting though is that some of the parts that were limited in fine detail due to the technology of the time have been produced as an aftermarket kit by Peter at AIRSCALE. Now it's not cheap but it's huge. It arrived yesterday and there are beautiful resin 3D printed parts such as pilot's seat, mg15 rear machine gun, rudder pedals, a fantastic pilots panel and twin radios. Those horrid rubber tyres beloved of 70s kits will go, to be replaced with weighted front and rear ones...I could go on. So, all that remains is to await the arrival of the kit and get building. Below are some pictures of Redgates in the 70s, some crummy pics of my original 1975 kit and the embellishments from Peter and MRP I can't wait to use. I'll be starting for nostalgia's sake, on Christmas Day because this year it's my totally gorgeous and understanding wife who's buying the kit and locking it away til Christmas. Feel free to watch.