Matchbox kits were ahead of there time with an interesting choice of subjects if you are prepared to do some scratch building find some after market decals you can have a good kit at a reasonable price
Matchbox kits stood head and shoulders above their European competition at the time. I still fondly remember their PK-1 kit, the Hawker Fury biplane. Great fit, and good surface structures. The Boing P12 e, just superb. Cockpit detail was nowhere to be seen and the pilot was always the same (but surprisingly good). Ok, there were two: one propeller age, one jet age with an oxygen mask. The "trenches" that are bemoaned today were an innovation at the time: RECESSED panel lines!
In the day we had no benchmark to go by but we loved them and today we have wonderful kit but it all started here, l wish Matchbox had survived they did some great models a Chinook look forward to seeing that when it's do 👍
The "Made in China" is a give-away, along with the flash and the apparent "roughness" of the plastic. This would appear to be one of the series of Chinese re-pops of the original kits, dating from the '90s I believe. I'm not sure if they were deliberate knock-offs or just an arrangement by whoever owned the moulds at the time (which may or may not have been Lesney still; it was before Revell ownership, I believe). Original MB kits were made in England, and the sprues were absolutely not contained in plastic bags, they were loose in the box. (Nor did the kits come with glue, except for a small number of "gift set" releases, which may only date from Revell's ownership of the brand.)
Although the decals and instruction sheet are printed by Revell. Now I'm confused! I speculate that Revell kept producing the plastic in China for a while before bringing the moulds back to Germany.
Revell purchased the moulds from Matchbox and an agreement was made between Lesney and Revell as part of the sale, where they would produce kits for the first 10 years and still use Matchbox branding on the boxes. After this, the kits were then only boxed with Revell branding.
@@simonjohn8904 Yes, but prior to that arrangement, MB kits were being made in China (not under Revell ownership; and possibly not even legally). It appears that for a period of time after the Revell acquisition the moulds were still in China, but I am pretty sure that didn't continue for any great length of time (i.e., the moulds came back to Germany). The easy way to differentiate between pre-Revell and post-Revell is the kit number -- before they are PK-##, afterwards they are a 5-digit numerical code. Of course the other oddity in the Revell ownership of the brand name is that many ex-FROG kits, some older original Revell kits, and maybe one or two other older brands had kits released under the Matchbox logo.
How wonderful! I had that model when I was a kid, and I must say that it was a real pain to put together, because at that time I used glue and my fingers, without any of the tools I use now.
it would be an interesting exercise to put a three colour Matchbox kit together without painting. but also without leaving sanding marks and gluing visible.... Or perhaps as an alternative painting it in the plastic colours, if you see what I mean.
Hello mr. Gary!i had alot of fun watching mm!also i like the boxart.keep going and keep the Faith. With sticky greetings from brandenburg/ Germany.your modellmate.christian
As I’ve always said mate nothing like a big chopper to show off with 😂,they fly over here in Hammersmith but you go on flight tracker and they don’t show so must be secret squirrels. I have a nice BA one from corgi in diecast ,so I can see you’ve added it to your rota,so I best not hover around 😊 Take care my friend Mark 😊😊
Hi Gary. I did'nt realise there was glue in the box, as I got it from ebay as a brand new and still sealed kit box. Clearly the seller was either fibbing or he had been told the same when he got it before selling it? Hope you enjoy the build mate. 👍
One thing you can say about the old Matchbox kits is the plastic is smooth, unlike many modern kits that have that rough, grain texture, making a smooth metal finish a problem. Love the channel...
Hiya Gary.. lovely kit :) I doubt the glue came with it as I don't think that one was available - maybe not even in the same decade - when the kit was released :) Even if it was I think it would be drier than the Sahara by now *lol* With different coloured plastic, wouldn't that affect undercoating, or is the paint opaque enough it makes no difference what's under it? Re the decals. As the Airfix one is the same scale maybe a set of those would work, at least for generic areas. The Union Flag is a deeper issue.. do you have any decal paper to print you own?
That's why (well, one of the reasons why) you should always apply a primer coat before applying paint. I find it somewhat amusing to read contemporary reviews of the MB kits from "serious modellers" who would say "ew, the multi-coloured plastic makes it look like a toy, not a REAL model". Well, dopey, if you know how to paint a model -- and you should, if you're a "serious modeller" -- then the colour of the plastic doesn't matter, does it? What does matter is what the end result looks like, and most MB kits look just fine when they're properly finished. (And if you were a young kid who wasn't into painting, the multi-coloured plastic made the kits look much more exciting than the usual single-colour kits from other brands.)
No I haven't yet gone down the print-your-own decal route, although I do want to as I don't think Airfix will ever release the Ferret in RAF Regt badging. As for the plastic, a decent primer will unify the base colour very nicely - did on the Swordfish and the Hunter after all! I may go down the rabbit hole of Mr.Surface Primer for this one - not used it yet...
Oh, and I think I'll look for an after market set of decals for it! I'm thinking of BN in Falklands era colours to do a direct comparison with the Airfix one (next month???) - also it was flown by an old boy of my school.
@@garys_stuff I look forward to it :) Re the flag (as usual with me everything is easier if you don't have to do it yourself *lol*) Maybe paint a white square, mask the blue triangles and white outer edges, paint red, then cut the triangles leaving where you want it to stay white masked, peel the triangles off, fill the red with liquid mask, then paint blue. Remove the masks. Probably easier to just source 1:72 Union Flag decals *lol*
@@garys_stuff Hi Gary. Mr Surfacer 1500 black and levelling thinner absolutely great. A doddle to spray (I go with 0.5 but 0.3 is fine). Tough base and dries fast but very smelly/nasty. Mask with full solvent filters and booth extraction. Then once you've finished spraying the smell dissipates quickly. Mix, clean up etc in the booth. If you can smell it you are breathing it. I was also told to store the mask in an airtight container to extend the life of the carbon filters in the cartridges and to change them annually at least. I cut a hole through gable of my shed and used stormwater pipe as vent pipe from my booth, with an 90 degree angle outside facing down to stop wind blowing in (you can get a one way flap to help seal the vent). Be very wary of recirculating systems, good for particulates, not solvents. Smell = it's not working. Or spray it outside if the weathers ok. I even like a small fan on when I'm gluing etc to help circulate the air in my shed. (Our modelling spaces can be dangerously confined spaces at times). I've worked in toxic atmospheres with masks or full coverings and SCBA and been trained for such environments (Ex Customs, BSc Microbiology) Be careful brother. Thanks for all your work in creating your channel. Matt 🦘🦘🦘
It will be interesting. I think the Airfix one will have a full interior (like the Sea King did) and all sorts of wonderful bits that modern design and mould technologies allow. But, fundamentally, will it be a better Wokka that this 40-year old?
@@garys_stuff who knows Gary...we will have to wait and see.have Airfix actually released any of their new for 2024 kits /boxings yet (at least in the U.K )....we are 4 months into the year and still no sign of them in shops over here yet.
Matchbox kits were ahead of there time with an interesting choice of subjects if you are prepared to do some scratch building find some after market decals you can have a good kit at a reasonable price
Matchbox kits stood head and shoulders above their European competition at the time. I still fondly remember their PK-1 kit, the Hawker Fury biplane. Great fit, and good surface structures.
The Boing P12 e, just superb.
Cockpit detail was nowhere to be seen and the pilot was always the same (but surprisingly good). Ok, there were two: one propeller age, one jet age with an oxygen mask.
The "trenches" that are bemoaned today were an innovation at the time: RECESSED panel lines!
To be fair the current Airfix 1/72 PR.XIX Spitfire has, shall we say, generous panel lining...
In the day we had no benchmark to go by but we loved them and today we have wonderful kit but it all started here, l wish Matchbox had survived they did some great models a Chinook look forward to seeing that when it's do 👍
The "Made in China" is a give-away, along with the flash and the apparent "roughness" of the plastic. This would appear to be one of the series of Chinese re-pops of the original kits, dating from the '90s I believe. I'm not sure if they were deliberate knock-offs or just an arrangement by whoever owned the moulds at the time (which may or may not have been Lesney still; it was before Revell ownership, I believe). Original MB kits were made in England, and the sprues were absolutely not contained in plastic bags, they were loose in the box. (Nor did the kits come with glue, except for a small number of "gift set" releases, which may only date from Revell's ownership of the brand.)
Although the decals and instruction sheet are printed by Revell. Now I'm confused! I speculate that Revell kept producing the plastic in China for a while before bringing the moulds back to Germany.
Revell purchased the moulds from Matchbox and an agreement was made between Lesney and Revell as part of the sale, where they would produce kits for the first 10 years and still use Matchbox branding on the boxes.
After this, the kits were then only boxed with Revell branding.
@@simonjohn8904 Yes, but prior to that arrangement, MB kits were being made in China (not under Revell ownership; and possibly not even legally). It appears that for a period of time after the Revell acquisition the moulds were still in China, but I am pretty sure that didn't continue for any great length of time (i.e., the moulds came back to Germany). The easy way to differentiate between pre-Revell and post-Revell is the kit number -- before they are PK-##, afterwards they are a 5-digit numerical code. Of course the other oddity in the Revell ownership of the brand name is that many ex-FROG kits, some older original Revell kits, and maybe one or two other older brands had kits released under the Matchbox logo.
How wonderful! I had that model when I was a kid, and I must say that it was a real pain to put together, because at that time I used glue and my fingers, without any of the tools I use now.
it would be an interesting exercise to put a three colour Matchbox kit together without painting. but also without leaving sanding marks and gluing visible.... Or perhaps as an alternative painting it in the plastic colours, if you see what I mean.
Nice subject, spare decals could be useful for the Airfix kit release next month. Microscale decal film will sort out those cracks on the union flags.
The other way around is rather more likely!
Hello mr. Gary!i had alot of fun watching mm!also i like the boxart.keep going and keep the Faith. With sticky greetings from brandenburg/ Germany.your modellmate.christian
As I’ve always said mate nothing like a big chopper to show off with 😂,they fly over here in Hammersmith but you go on flight tracker and they don’t show so must be secret squirrels. I have a nice BA one from corgi in diecast ,so I can see you’ve added it to your rota,so I best not hover around 😊
Take care my friend
Mark 😊😊
Hi Gary. I did'nt realise there was glue in the box, as I got it from ebay as a brand new and still sealed kit box.
Clearly the seller was either fibbing or he had been told the same when he got it before selling it?
Hope you enjoy the build mate. 👍
One thing you can say about the old Matchbox kits is the plastic is smooth, unlike many modern kits that have that rough, grain texture, making a smooth metal finish a problem. Love the channel...
The CH-47 is a great model. I'm looking forward to seeing this beauty being built up.
Keep up the great work Gary 👍
I just got one of these from Ebay and looking forward to this build.
Can't wait to get my hands on the new Airfix wokka wokka
Cheers Gary
Been crammed in a few times in one of these looking forward to the build Gary . Regards Gav.
Wokka-tastic!!!!
Looking forward to seeing the build and finished model, might have to invest in one, unfortunately I don’t have people sending me kits!
Hiya Gary.. lovely kit :)
I doubt the glue came with it as I don't think that one was available - maybe not even in the same decade - when the kit was released :) Even if it was I think it would be drier than the Sahara by now *lol*
With different coloured plastic, wouldn't that affect undercoating, or is the paint opaque enough it makes no difference what's under it?
Re the decals. As the Airfix one is the same scale maybe a set of those would work, at least for generic areas. The Union Flag is a deeper issue.. do you have any decal paper to print you own?
That's why (well, one of the reasons why) you should always apply a primer coat before applying paint. I find it somewhat amusing to read contemporary reviews of the MB kits from "serious modellers" who would say "ew, the multi-coloured plastic makes it look like a toy, not a REAL model". Well, dopey, if you know how to paint a model -- and you should, if you're a "serious modeller" -- then the colour of the plastic doesn't matter, does it? What does matter is what the end result looks like, and most MB kits look just fine when they're properly finished. (And if you were a young kid who wasn't into painting, the multi-coloured plastic made the kits look much more exciting than the usual single-colour kits from other brands.)
No I haven't yet gone down the print-your-own decal route, although I do want to as I don't think Airfix will ever release the Ferret in RAF Regt badging. As for the plastic, a decent primer will unify the base colour very nicely - did on the Swordfish and the Hunter after all! I may go down the rabbit hole of Mr.Surface Primer for this one - not used it yet...
Oh, and I think I'll look for an after market set of decals for it! I'm thinking of BN in Falklands era colours to do a direct comparison with the Airfix one (next month???) - also it was flown by an old boy of my school.
@@garys_stuff I look forward to it :) Re the flag (as usual with me everything is easier if you don't have to do it yourself *lol*) Maybe paint a white square, mask the blue triangles and white outer edges, paint red, then cut the triangles leaving where you want it to stay white masked, peel the triangles off, fill the red with liquid mask, then paint blue. Remove the masks.
Probably easier to just source 1:72 Union Flag decals *lol*
@@garys_stuff Hi Gary. Mr Surfacer 1500 black and levelling thinner absolutely great. A doddle to spray (I go with 0.5 but 0.3 is fine). Tough base and dries fast but very smelly/nasty. Mask with full solvent filters and booth extraction. Then once you've finished spraying the smell dissipates quickly. Mix, clean up etc in the booth.
If you can smell it you are breathing it. I was also told to store the mask in an airtight container to extend the life of the carbon filters in the cartridges and to change them annually at least.
I cut a hole through gable of my shed and used stormwater pipe as vent pipe from my booth, with an 90 degree angle outside facing down to stop wind blowing in (you can get a one way flap to help seal the vent). Be very wary of recirculating systems, good for particulates, not solvents. Smell = it's not working.
Or spray it outside if the weathers ok. I even like a small fan on when I'm gluing etc to help circulate the air in my shed.
(Our modelling spaces can be dangerously confined spaces at times).
I've worked in toxic atmospheres with masks or full coverings and SCBA and been trained for such environments (Ex Customs, BSc Microbiology)
Be careful brother. Thanks for all your work in creating your channel. Matt 🦘🦘🦘
Awesome....wonder how it compares to the Airfix kit
It will be interesting. I think the Airfix one will have a full interior (like the Sea King did) and all sorts of wonderful bits that modern design and mould technologies allow. But, fundamentally, will it be a better Wokka that this 40-year old?
@@garys_stuff who knows Gary...we will have to wait and see.have Airfix actually released any of their new for 2024 kits /boxings yet (at least in the U.K )....we are 4 months into the year and still no sign of them in shops over here yet.
@@jaws848Apparently the Liberator has landed.
@@iangascoigne8231 fantastic...will keep an eye open for that.thanks Gary👍
@@jaws848 the Liberator is on its way right now...
I always wanted this kit when i was a nipper!
I think there will be plenty in this series of kits from Matchbox that I'll be thinking just that!