Old School Airfix Short Stirling

[Robert E Shedd]

One of Dad's old kits; he was going to throw away until I offered to try to restore it.
A classic Airfix kit of it's time; very limited interior fittings and fixtures and lots of lovely external panel lines and rivet detail!

I wanted to keep the kit as close to the original as possible and the way dad built it so the interior was left as it was. The glazing was toast but some acetate sheet, a vacform canopy and some turrets from the spares box did the job nicely.
The paint scheme is generic for the period and the decals scrounged from the spares box.

A fun little project of a kit that's hard to find at a reasonable price. Well worth pulling out of the stash if you have one!

 

[boatman]

One of Dad's old kits; he was going to throw away until I offered to try to restore it.
A classic Airfix kit of it's time; very limited interior fittings and fixtures and lots of lovely external panel lines and rivet detail!

I wanted to keep the kit as close to the original as possible and the way dad built it so the interior was left as it was. The glazing was toast but some acetate sheet, a vacform canopy and some turrets from the spares box did the job nicely.
The paint scheme is generic for the period and the decals scrounged from the spares box.

A fun little project of a kit that's hard to find at a reasonable price. Well worth pulling out of the stash if you have one!

HI Robert yes i built one if these many moon ago an i was surpised to see that this big bomber had two tail wheels an for its time was quite a big model an yes like yours i painted it up in green an brown camo an was very pleased with the plane
chrisb

 

[Robert E Shedd]

HI Robert yes i built one if these many moon ago an i was surpised to see that this big bomber had two tail wheels an for its time was quite a big model an yes like yours i painted it up in green an brown camo an was very pleased with the plane
chrisb

Hi Chris, I knew about the twin tail wheels but it's still an odd feature isn't it...?!
I had to create 2 new ones from the spares box as the originals were missing. A pair of 1.32 scale outrigger wheels from an old Harrier kit did the job nicely! I also opened the wheel bay up as I'm not a fan of the way Airfix used to blank wheel wells off in those days...

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Ooh I remember it well! Do you still have the bomb tractor and train?

 

[Robert E Shedd]

Ooh I remember it well! Do you still have the bomb tractor and train?

Hi Neil, no, unfortunately not. No idea what happened to them.

 

[boatman]

Hi Chris, I knew about the twin tail wheels but it's still an odd feature isn't it...?!
I had to create 2 new ones from the spares box as the originals were missing. A pair of 1.32 scale outrigger wheels from an old Harrier kit did the job nicely! I also opened the wheel bay up as I'm not a fan of the way Airfix used to blank wheel wells off in those days...

YES Bob regards them double tail wheels when i was building my stirling an come to fitting the tail wheels i thought AIRFIX HAD GIVEN ME A SPARE LOL
chrisb

 

[Miko]

Brings back a few memories, a Stirling was my first four engined heavy I build as a lad, I always thought the twin tail wheels were an over sight on behalf of the Airfix mold designer!

Miko (Tsk! Kids eh?)

 

[stona]

The Stirling, for all its well known tribulations, is one of my favourite aircraft, so nice to see it here.

Fun Fact. The last operational Stirlings with the RAF flew with Nos. 1588 and 1589 Heavy Freight Flights, the first between the Middle East and India, the second between Britain and the Middle East. It was not until 17 July 1946 that a signal was sent to Santa Cruz, ordering that no more maintenance was to be performed on the last operational Stirlings of 1588 Flight, and that they were to be immediately struck off charge.

Not bad for an aircraft generally considered less than a success.

 

[Robert E Shedd]

YES Bob regards them double tail wheels when i was building my stirling an come to fitting the tail wheels i thought AIRFIX HAD GIVEN ME A SPARE LOL
chrisb

I read that the choice of small twin wheels instead of one big one was because the area it had to retract into was too small for a large wheel and tyre to fit.

 

[Robert E Shedd]

The Stirling, for all its well known tribulations, is one of my favourite aircraft, so nice to see it here.

Fun Fact. The last operational Stirlings with the RAF flew with Nos. 1588 and 1589 Heavy Freight Flights, the first between the Middle East and India, the second between Britain and the Middle East. It was not until 17 July 1946 that a signal was sent to Santa Cruz, ordering that no more maintenance was to be performed on the last operational Stirlings of 1588 Flight, and that they were to be immediately struck off charge.

Not bad for an aircraft generally considered less than a success.

I toyed with the idea of converting the kit into a glider tug or a transport variant but lack of correct decals and turret fairing conversion sets put me off doing it...

 

[Robert E Shedd]

Brings back a few memories, a Stirling was my first four engined heavy I build as a lad, I always thought the twin tail wheels were an over sight on behalf of the Airfix mold designer!

Miko (Tsk! Kids eh?)

Hi Miko,
I think the Lancaster was my first British "heavy". The B17G was my first American one.
Airfix seemed to do a good job with the shape and dimensions of British bombers but looking back at the B17G now it's shape is definitely not quite right; especially around the Cheyenne turret and windscreen. Lindberg and Revell captured the shape of the B17 better in my opinion...!