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Grumman Widgeon / Gosling ( Airfix 72 scale )


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Hi guys I am back with something new again, I needed something that I wanted to do quick and easy, OOB. Nice dream hey, Stunning looking box until i opened it up, well the sprues said it all as they say, what a frigging disaster. For the life of me i cannot understand how a company like Airfix who is doing some great work at the moment could dream of putting a kit like this out there.

The problems are endless and enough has been written about it else where.

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Above is the box-art Very neat.

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The sprues above, you can see where I have drawn on the fuselage to scribe some panel lines that are more realistic than the raised ones on the kit, ( even the panel lines on the 2 sides of the fuselage are not the same)

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THe decals above look quite good

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Thanks for looking

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Yip we were warned were we not, but as they say those that dont want to listen need to feel the pain.

Going slowly at the moment, below is a pic of the 2 Fus halves, that i have re-scribed , I also removed the rudder to try and improve the kit a small bit

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Thanks for looking

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You see this is what I lack, perseverance and patience.

Way to go mate. :thumbsup:

I'm looking forward to your next update. You never know, after watching your WIP and Crewchiefs I might be tempted to buy this kit again. MIGHT BE. :woot.gif:

Deacon

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Here we go again,a fair bit of progress, got the Fuselage halves together, a bit of fiddling but it went together OK. Also scribed the main wings and put them together got the engines fitted as well, although I had to add spacers between the engine halves to get the fit right, scribed them as well.

THen disaster while fiddling with the main screen it split down the middle, glued it back together but still looks crap I will add a center split to the screen that might just hide the crack, I will however still finnish this build.

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Next I will be tackling the main landing gear and see what I can do to improve it.

Enjoy

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  • 1 month later...

getting into some airfix boxes is dificult , i reccomend it should be made impossible !! :huh:

yep airfix does still have the odd bad kit in the range , but better than not having them atall

built it and know where you are comming from for a tiny kit there is a hell of a lot of work !!

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Graemeb,

Good looking job you are doing on this. I look forward to seeing the end result. I have one in the stash and am thinking it is time to pull it out.

Stunning looking box until i opened it up, well the sprues said it all as they say, what a frigging disaster. For the life of me i cannot understand how a company like Airfix who is doing some great work at the moment could dream of putting a kit like this out there.

I would like to comment on this. In some respects I agree with you. Airfix is doing a bang up job on some of their recent retools and new tool kits. But, being a father of a 12 year old that is just getting into modeling and saves his allowance for the kits he buys, I think Airfix is doing a stunning job by making simple kits available to people that want them for low cost. Academy is another one. If I am not mistaken, this kit runs for under $10 US. The participants in our hobby are getting older and older and anytime a company like Airfix deliberately thinks about leaving some of the tried and true, simple to put together, low cost kits on the market, I applaud (and I suppose defend) them.

Mark

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anytime a company like Airfix deliberately thinks about leaving some of the tried and true, simple to put together, low cost kits on the market, I applaud (and I suppose defend) them.

I have to agree, as bad as some of the older kits are (to our eyes at least) its highly unlikely that any other manufacturer is going to include some of the more unusual types in their line up, certainly not at the price Airfix does. Sure, there are niggles, problems, issues and headaches in some of them, but for a fiver or so a pop, I'll work round them rather than splash out ten times the amount of a limited run resin kit which my modelling skills don't justify.

Stunning looking box until i opened it up, well the sprues said it all as they say, what a frigging disaster. For the life of me i cannot understand how a company like Airfix who is doing some great work at the moment could dream of putting a kit like this out there.

But as great as their newer work might be, they just aren't going to invest in tooling up a new 1:72 Widgeon.

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I'm definitely in favour of Airfix retaining kits like the Widgeon in their catalogue, but I think it would be helpful to those not in the know to identify on the packaging the nature of the box contents. Looking back over the last couple of years how they have been dumping old tools and replacing them with new kits I'd have some measure of optimism that they might one day re-visit kits like the Widgeon.

peebeep

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  • 3 weeks later...
If I am not mistaken, this kit runs for under $10 US.

I just ordered a pair from Squadron on sale - list price was $6.99.

Hey wow, could have gotten one for 10 times Squadron's sale price, http://oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=6200&page=234

1/72 10030 Airfix Grumman J4F Widgeon

Sealed NM Injection Molded old

Still factory sealed. - US Airfix issue. Very nicely molded kit for it's time. The Widgeon saw WWII service as a Coast Gurad transport, trainer and recon aircraft. Before the war, the Widgeon was active in it's original design purpose - as a luxury sport airplane and executive transport amphibian.

$32.00

Have resurrected an ages old desire to do a collection of 1/72 scale civilian and/or civilianized floatplanes and seaplanes.

And 1/144 scale flying boats - only to discover Minicraft's Pa Am Clippers are not currently in production.

My health isn't what it used to be and some days 1960s models are all the sophistication I'm up to.

And then there's the angle of that on my good days, these old kits offer more modeling to do.

??? And then there is a big personal mystery involving Airfix - went to register for their forum and got "Sorry, but this e-mail address has been banned."

Umm, excuse me, but if I've never previously registered (at least as far as can be remembered) for your forum, just how, exactly, do you know my email address even exists?

Emailed the site admin from that same address, we'll see what, if anything, comes in reply.

Edited by southwestforests
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but I think it would be helpful to those not in the know to identify on the packaging the nature of the box contents

Maybe they should do a white box with the original box art on it smaller, in the same way some companies do with reissues of old computer games and the like, and maybe as you say, a notification sticker saying;

"Attention - this model kit is a continued production from our original moulds and as such is not representative of the quality and accuracy of our recent products"

Buyer beware I guess, but there are a bunch of similar gems in the AF lineup which are not likely to ever be released as new toolings by a mainstream manufacturer, simply because they are neither grey jets nor Bf-109's.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with this though, I made one when I was young, it was painted green and brown, and ended up falling to bits when used as a bath toy.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Guys

Appologies for the lack or responces but the world has been upside down for the last while, I have made some progress on this one, I just hope that it will be completed in time,

Cheers

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