| Archive for DIECAST DRIVE-IN Diecast Chat, a forum to share your diecast hobby. |
| mini95 |
James May toy storiesAnyone watching this they start tonight theres going to be some interesting viewing. Such as building a real life sized Spitfire from huge Airfix pieces,AIRFIX - Tuesday 27 October PLASTICINE - Tuesday 3 November MECCANO - Tuesday 10 November SCALEXTRIC - Tuesday 17 November HORNBY & LEGO - Christmas Specials. Dates To Be announced. More information on this video 
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| Gaz |
How have I missed the trailers for that, yes Mini95, I will be watching them, thanks to you.
Looking forward to tonight already. |
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| Guzzi Gadgy |
Well Gaz who's not paying attention now  I saw them .gif) 
Ian |
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| Gaz |
You saw what, when? |
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| dinkydublin |
Excellent programme, could almost smell the glue, tried making that damn spitfire on numerous occasions, never did get it right. looking forward to the rest of the series. 
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| Andrew |
Me too - so typical of the man to get his dad involved, great fun. I thought the poor man who did all the work at the fibreglass factory got a thin deal and not much recognition - mind you he was a miserable so and so
For those of you who missed it or outside the UK go here to see it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...3d/James_Mays_Toy_Stories_Airfix/ |
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| Steven David |
Unfortunately it won't play for us over this side of the Atlantic .gif)
This is what we get... 
Just allows other members to tell us all about the series!!! 
We can see the YouTube videos 
Cheers Steve |
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| libertine |
i enjoyed the program i like when his dad said , thats my boy  i wasnt allowed to make them when i was young in case i got glue and paint everywhere but ive made a stuka this year so alls good im also building a bulsa wood and tissue spitfire
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| sandie seward |
I used to enjoy making Airfix kits, the cars were always my favourites followed by the Railway Kits. Planes were not really my "thing", still aren't, come to that.
James had his work cut out trying to get those kiddies interested, however they did do a great job on the painting of that Spitfire, didn't they? 
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| Guzzi Gadgy |
Will you be flying the balsa model or is it for static, I've made them with just the airframe, stained and a coat of varnish.
Ian |
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| vincent ryder |
Among my many vices I have been building and flying model aircraft since I was a kid making Keelcraft tissue covered, rubber band powered models. Maybe that was what sparked my interest in flying the real thing. I have a couple at home including an Extra 300 and a Tiger 60. Boys and their toys eh !! | ||||
| james_autos |
It was brilliant! I can't wait for the next one.
Mind you, with the beeb trying to cut back on spending, this series must be costing them a fortune to make. Definately worth it though. |
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| Andrew |
It was cars with me too - TR4, E-Type, MGB, Beetle, Escort then I was lucky enough to get some of the US kits with plating and rubber tyres - a Mustang and a Ford Fairlane, they were fab.
My best Airfix though was the Bond Aston, it must have been about 1:24 or 1:18 scale, bigger than the usual ones but everything worked, ejector seat, tyre slashers, revolving number plates, even the tail-lamps dropped down to release the caltraps - what a cracker that was - and damned hard to glue the bits together with springs under tension inside. |
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| Guzzi Gadgy |
Thought the scenes in the model shop were funny. Faces made fuzzy, filmed from a low angle as from a hidden camera. Are we now the dirty mac brigade
Ian |
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| libertine |
thats what i wanted to do after seeing the ww2 planes being built on the history channel but i sort of gave up with mine  im not the best model maker in the world,i can never seem to get the wings right.
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| Mark G |
I thoroughly enjoyed the programme!! Looked impossible but shows what can be done! I was worried the wheels were going to come off when it came out the hanger but I'd love to see it in the flesh one day! 
I take my hat off the James May for being "gooked" so they could make a likeness of his face, for the life size pilot!! Amazed that many of the kids took to it, with all the work they did but well done! Nice to see there are some good kids out there rather than all the trouble makers we're hearing about too often!
James May is the one Top Gear presenter I'd have a lot of time for.
Looking forward to next weeks about plasticine!! These were all toys we all had as kids (I know I did!). I started with Airfix kits and the first I did was a Cheiftan Tank and I later did other WW2 models which were kits by Matchbox including Monty's caravan. The real one is at Duxford now. I tried cars, one truck, and another plane, the Sepecat Jaguar jet fighter and a Nimrod. Nowadays I've rediscovered plastic kit making and have done a few cars again in the last 3 years or so, as I was stuck with nothing to do over winter when I couldn't spray diecast restos! Interestingly, May also found that Airfix headquarters who supplied missing spare parts - although it's not an Airfix kit, I have some missing parts I need for a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air coupe I wish to build, acquired secondhand, but the floorpan and glass are all missing. I wonder whether contacting AMT might help, with the missing parts....... Otherwise it'll just sit there unbuilt, or will have to be sold for parts.........
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| Guzzi Gadgy |
My first Airfix was a ship. It was in a plastic bag with a picture of the completed model on a piece of card.
Ian |
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| Andrew |
They came in ranges of prices - the ones in the plastic bags were about 1/6d - as were the bags of little soldiers - great for crash scenes with your train set. The planes and the simpler cars like the E Type and the Beetle came like this - then you got the boxes for about 3/6d with the cars like the TR4A and the MGB that had opening bonnets and a bit more detail. There were other good sets in the boxes at about 1:72 scale with RAF ground crew type vehicles - I had a Land Rover & bloodhound missle (ring any bells?), an ambulance, fire engine etc and of course there were the tanks. However if you spent 10/- or more they got really good. I had one of the big sailing ships with the detailed rigging and ratlines (not a word I've seen or heard anywhere since). Painting in all the detailed decoration on the thing nearly drove me daft. In a childhood spent on a remote Lakeland farm with no other kids within miles and with only one channel on the telly Airfix (and Corgi) saved me from going completely stir crazy. |
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| Old Tom |
*Puts Airfix anorak on (I've been building them for over 50 years) and starts spouting 'interesting facts'... sorry*
The model that was built was NOT the original design for BT-K. They actually used the later 1965 MkIV kit to produce the 1:1 kit. The original BT-K was a copy of a 1:48 Aurora kit [complete with the same fake squadron codes (BT-K) and the same inaccuracies and exactly the same parts sprue, just a smaller scale] which came out a couple of months before the Airfix one. No-one in Airfix can 'remember' if there was a deal done with Aurora but both companies 'were on friendly terms' at the time. Superb programme, I enjoyed every minute and look forward to the rest... |
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| Guzzi Gadgy |
I remember the land rover and the bloodhound, but I can't remember any boxed ones when I made the ships in the bags. Much later I can remember some large scale figures, Henry the V111, maybe one or two of his queens, a Life Guard, a Coldstream Guard. Because they were larger you could paint a lot more detail on them.
Ian |
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| sandie seward |
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| Andrew |
The boxed sailing ships were really big - over a foot long and 18" high - probaly about 1:80 scale. The one I had was the 'Revenge' which came in two sizes, the little one in the plastic bag and the big one in the box. Big one: 
little one 
I never saw Henry - but my older brothers had the Coldstream Guard and the Life Guard - how else would we have known what one was? |
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| libertine |
me too i cant stand clarkson for alot of reasons and hammond is a minature clarkson in training |
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| mini95 |
ReminderJust a reminder to say it is lasticine tonight.
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| sandie seward |
Or even Plasticene Mini. I used to play with the stuff and all the colours would go and it would just become a brown mess!
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| mini95 |
New episode tonight Meccanno never remember having much of this or Plasticine. Any way building a life size bridge over a Canal? One word springs to mind
Sploosh |
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| Andrew |
I inherited my Meccano from my Dad - always found it a bit frustrating as it was not only 40 years old when I got my hands on it there wasn't much of it and it was too expensive to buy more.
However my kids had Lego Technic, and whisper it low - it knocks Meccano into a cocked hat - even more effective for learning engineering principles while playing, and they did it in pink so girls could play with it. We had so much fun, we even built a four wheel drive vehicle with suspension based on the 2CV principle which would go right over the cat. |
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| vincent ryder |
Meccano is probably my main vice. I have about half a ton of it back in N.S.
Did you know that Sir Alec Issigonis used it to design the transmission for the first Mini. When he retired Meccano presented him with a special Number 10 outfit. The set now belongs to a pal of mine in Nottingham. I also have a pile of Lego that I got for my son. Great stuff too. |
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| Guzzi Gadgy |
I have been thinking of getting some Meccano for a while now. Back in the 50s I used to get a small set or upgrade at christmas, don't think I got past proberly 4 or 5. I would have loved to make that dockside crane. Never knew anybody with a number 10 but I can dream  Wonder how much you would pay for an early set now
Ian |
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| Old Tom |
Lots and lots and LOTS of £s, I would have thought, Ian. If you Google Meccano you'll see that there are some very serious collectors out there. (even more serious than diecast collectors )
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| vincent ryder |
I have a virtually mint Outfit No. 10 in the original cabinet. It's light red and green and a real cracker. It has a couple of pieces that I'd like to replace but they are not easy to find. The most difficult mint parts to find are the bases, part 52. They were always the first to be used. I have another not so nice number 10 and about half a ton, well that's what my wife says, of "working" pieces. I could probably make up at least two more number 10 outfits from that.
I have built and torn apart just about all the big projects, the Blocksetter Crane and so over the years. I have also built numerous other models from other plans. I got my first Meccano set, a number 4, in 1953 and have been a chronic and inveterate collector, my wife says "hoarder" of all things Meccano since then. I have many good Meccano pals in the UK and around the world. I joined The Meccano Guild in 1956 at age 10. It doesn't exist any more but I still have my original Membership Certificate. If you want to get yourself some I do know where it can be obtained fo much less than it goes for on ebay. Sadly, I don't have any pictures down here on my laptop. Neither do I have any Meccano. It's always a tight squeeze to bring stuff down here and this season it's Dinkys. If you want to know anything about Meccano just ask. I reckon I have accumulated quite a bit of knowledge over the past 60+ years. Cheers to all. |
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