Short Stirling B 111 Airfix 1/72
Always a favourite of mine from being a lad the molds for this kit are the same age as me ! 1966 and yet this kit builds up beautifuly, for anyone wanting a nostalgia trip this is a good place to start. There is a good amount of detail especially around the wheels and landing gear, this aircraft had a bomb bay in the usual place but also in the wing roots and these covers did not fit at all well and needed lots of filling and rubbing down to blend them in. I completely removed the surface detail as the millions of rivets are hugely overscale and went with a smooth skin and I think this approach suits the scale well, I did the same on a vintage Hampden and will use it on the Sunderland I am currently building. The clear parts are thick but fit well, I used the masking set for the Revell kit to mask the canopy and it worked well.
A little bonus is that Airfix provided a tractor and driver and four carriages for the bombs if you want to build a dio.
All in all this kit builds up into a handsome addition to your collection though it is not up to modern standards.
We’ll done
Thanks George
Excellent result on the venerable Airfix kit, Neil!
Well done!
Venerable indeed , thanks Spiros ,a long time coming haha
All your effort turned out. Well done!
Thanks Dan
Great job, Neil! I loved Airfix’ old bomber kits as a kid. Only ones I never built were the B-29 and the Sunderland.
Thanks John, I have a long term plan to build them all, I am currently working on the Sunderland and will tackle the Halifax and Lancaster next then move on to the Americans so the B17 , B24 and finish off with the B29 but all strictly vintage moldings not the new ones .
Very nice, Neil. Inspiring!
Nice ti have inspired you , maybe something vintage from you ?
Nicely done Neil, an oldie but a goodie.
Just like me Haha
It looks great, Neil! Beautiful build of a truly not so elegant bird🙂
Thanks Felix , but I have to disagree , I always loved the strong lines of this aircraft.
I agree Neil (@neil-foster), Airfix kits can be a lot of fun to build if one is ready to tackle the issues common to older models. The best thing about Airfix was always the breadth of choices available. The Stirling is definitely an aircraft you don't see built often. And I think your approach of sanding down the rivets is a viable solution. I utilized this very approach on my recent Airfix Hudson build.
It looks like you did a great job on this kit. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Carl and very interesting that you used the same approach as me with regard to the surface rivets which are hugely out of scale but probably the best they could come up with at the time. I remember seeing your Hudson ,it is a stunner way out of my league.
I have been wondering which white paint to use , your choice on the Hudson looks great what did you go with ?
When I thinned out the larger kits from my stash (knowing I'd run out of room in my display cabinets), the Sterling was the one that gave me the most heartache to get rid of! Also a favorite of mine. Yours looks great!
Thanks Greg