British men over 30 do NOT read this thread

[English assassin]

Well, you asked for it. In a development that surely proves that the young of today are moral degenerates too busy downloading hard core porn off the internet to do proper boy stuff, Airfix have gone bust http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5301438.stm Yes, its all up for 1/72 scale Spitfires with little pilots squinting through the gluey fingerprints on their cockpit canopies at the Me109 dangling from the bedroom ceiling in front of them.

Mind you once I read that they had all their kits made in France it all became clear, obviously a dastardly gallic plot to take the airbrushes off the aeroplanes and into a certain few years of mid 20th century history....look out for the new Jeanne D'Arc range of historical figures soon

[mystic brew]

and yet somehow, life goes on.

smaller, poorer, but life does go on.

for this generation, is it going to be when games workshop goes out of business?

[Prodigal]

Oddly enough I bought a model tank to put together just yesterday...Why? RTW killed my PC. Anybody recommend a good base primer?

[macsen rufus]

Sob.... wistfully dusts off the ageing Lancaster with it's peeling decals and half-rotating gun turrets. No more will teenage boys know the subtle difference between duck egg blue and sky blue, or the secret formula for mixing khaki. No more will the best silver spoons in the kitchen drawer sport the tell-tale smudges of tank-track rubber.

[doc_bean]

for this generation, is it going to be when games workshop goes out of business?

They're using their IP for videogames now, a good move probably. OTOH mainland Europe is probably still an expanding market for them (a shop in leuven carrying a lot of there stuff has recently opened), figures aren't a traditional big thing, but with influence from the internet (and general globalization) they might still gain popularity. Board game popularity is also on the rise, so this might have a positive impact too.

Of course, it won't mean a thing if they can produce is overpriced reissues...

/end economic analysis

[Al Khalifah]

I am hurt by this. In my opinion, a boy is not a British boy unless at some point in his life he has constructed an Airfix model Spitfire and then painted it (or if you were clever, painted it first and then glued it together). It's a sad day.

I was never a "sad kid" but I still remember having a ceiling covered with the things. They were cheap addictive fun. Except the helicopters which were too difficult. The cutaway submarines were the best.

[yesdachi]

But the company making the next generation’s favorite war model, the suicide bomber, is making a killing.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

How depressing. I've still got the E.E. Lightning I painted as a kid.

It is worth noting, however, that several Japanese companies sell scale models of far superior quality.

[edyzmedieval]

Lol, I thought it was about hardcore porn not modelling.

[Byzantine Prince]

So I was hoping too, edyz.

What's this modelling then?

[Shaun]

Its pretty sad that Airfiz have gone burst, I used to have a few models a while ago, infact I still ahve a few un opened.

[danfda]

I used to build model airplanes as a kid with my uncle. Course, we built American fighter jets since he is in the Air Force...

I still have an F4 Phantom sitting in my room, covered in dust. I love that thing.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Lol, I thought it was about hardcore porn not modelling.

Clearly you've never spoken to a dedicated modeler. Those chaps get just as much of an endorfin rush from modelling [more?] as others might from perusing "calisthenics and fluid exchange" materials.

I never quite understood that, but....

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

You know as a child I never had the skill or patience for those models. My fingers used to tremble holding the brush.

Still, I saw this on the news and it caused a pang.

[macsen rufus]

Well, it's at least 30yrs since I had my Airfix collection, but I can still remember them: Aircraft: Spitfire, Me109, Me232(? - the Swallow jet, anyway), Lancaster, Mosquito, Gloucester Meteor, Saab Draken, Richtofen's tri-plane, Sopwith Camel, USN Mustang, Puma Helicopter. Tanks: Sherman, Panzer Mk1, Cromwell, Chieftain, Tiger, JS1, T34, plus US half track, German 88mm gun with half-track. Also had a few ships, inc HMS Hermes, a huge aircarft carrier complete with diddy lil planes and helicopters, the ill-fated Wasa (very complex, but loved painting the gold figurehead etc)

Ah, many happy hours of glue sniffing

[Al Khalifah]

I guess every small boy in Britain has spent many an hour, excited in his bedroom, fingers all stuck together, pouring over magazines full of models....

[Somebody Else]

I am hurt by this. In my opinion, a boy is not a British boy unless at some point in his life he has constructed an Airfix model Spitfire and then painted it (or if you were clever, painted it first and then glued it together). It's a sad day.

I haven't got a Spitfire, but I've got a Victory... Do I count as a real (British) boy?

[Captain Fishpants]

No Airfix kits?

No Humbrol paints?

Another chunk of my childhood has died. And just when I was getting ready to revisit it.

We're in mourning at the CA design corner, I can tell you.

[Somebody Else]

I used to have pretend wars with little plastic models... (Usually involving something daft like the USS Arizona being strafed by a Hurricane, and the HMS Victory coming in to support).

Now how do I play my little war games...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

...with a mouse...

[edyzmedieval]

Ok, when I was a little kiddie, I used to play with Bburago(assemble the cars) and about modelling kits, I used to buy Italeri and Revell kits.

[Duke Malcolm]

Alas, it seems I will not be able to finish off my Royal Navy (of HM Ships Ark Royal (WW2), Ark Royal (modern), Hood, Nelson, Fearless (almost modern), Manchester (modern), and Modern US Ships Enterprise and Tarawa).

[English assassin]

Huzzah ! According to the news tonight, they may be bought....by Hornby ! Put me in short trousers and call me an urchin.

All they need now is to start making Meccano again and all wlll be right with the world.

[Duke of Gloucester]

Seems like they still do, EA!

http://www.meccano.com/products/spec...php?ref=830570

On reflection, you probably want Hornby to make Meccano. They would have to buy it back.

[IrishArmenian]

I never made models. I spent my time as a kid...
A) Collecting Liquor Bottles (My most prized is the rarest, I found a Jack Daniels Bottle when I was 10, you never find those in this side of the world)
B) Playing Guitar and Tin Whistle
C) Shooting Wooden Targets
D) Putting the shooting practice to work in the field as soon as i turned 13
F) 75% of my time was spent doing this: Football
Is everyone in the UK a big WWII model fan?

[English assassin]

Is everyone in the UK a big WWII model fan?

Not any more it seems. For you, Tommy, the war is over.

@ His grace, I didn't know they still made metal meccano, so that is certainly good news. On the other hand they don't seem to make all the gears and things with which you could make stuff like a real working gearbox an inch long. (Well, you could according to Meccano.)

No, lets face it, the days when any self respecting British boy could knock up a radar system during a wet weekend out of a bicycle, his dad's string vest and next door's tin bath are over.