Well ... a few things to note. (1) With their Vintage Classic aircraft releases, Airfix normally go to some trouble to verify the supplied scheme, researching the colours and markings and thus improving the accuracy of the kit, even if the mould itself is ancient and suffering from accuracy issues. With their Vintage Classic AFV releases, they don't do any of that. They more-or-less just reproduce what the original release(s) of the kit did, and those in turn were typically based on very little research, particularly if the subject of the kit was not British. The less British it was, the worse the research was, and for their Soviet AFV kits, the research was almost non-existent. Therefore: if you're looking for "accuracy" in colours and markings, ignore what Airfix tells you. Supplied markings will be nonsensical, and suggested colours will just be wrong. (2) The JS-3 kit suffers further from general shape inaccuracies. There's not a lot you can do about it, because the problem is in the hull shape, which is virtually impossible to correct. (Of course, for some people, the challenge is the fun!) (3) The Airfix rubber-band tracks are always awful, but what are you going to do about it? In some cases you may be able to bodge up replacements, of a sort, which may or may not look OK, depending on how well the bodge goes. A lot of the time, you just have to suck it up. Fun fact: in the earlier releases of the various AFV kits (from say pre-1968 or thereabouts), the plastic used in the rubber bands would deteriorate and leak fumes that would, in turn, cause the styrene plastic in the kit parts to break down, become sticky and start to melt. For bonus points, once started, this process is irreversible! So, if you like to buy the older releases of the kits, for collecting or whatever, you need to check what's going on with the plastic, and at a minimum, separate the rubber tracks and seal them away in a bag of their own.
I bought this kit when it was in a bag, and stapled to cardboard. The flaw with these early kits was usually the rubber tracks. Instead of the flexible type, manufacturers should have settled on hard plastic that could have been glued into place, and allow for a realistic track sag. As a kid, I found the Airfix Tiger ! and Panther particularly frustrating due to the overlapping road wheels being messed up by the poor tracks. On a positive note, the Airfix Matilda is a great little kit.
Hi Skipper, don't forget, the fun doesn't end with the weathering. When you've finished buggering around with it, 1/72 Tanks make great Air Rifle fodder. Sometimes the sloped armour actually does deflect incoming ordnance.
Nice. This is also available dirt cheap in India. The price is roughly around £3.62. Anyway great build. Good as a practice mule no doubt. I liked the freight train in the end. Nice factory work getting the gun fixed. Cheers!
Build the Aurora 1/48 JS3 that Atlantis reshot. It's fun and a little larger. It's not very accurate but Soviet Tanks were a mystery in the 60's. It's kinda fun to build some of these old kits.
In over 50 years of tinkering with Airfix kits, I have never had a part missing, Which suggests this is quite unusual. I think their quick response was impressive. I love older Airfix kits and regard their 'limitations' as a part of the charm.
Sadly it isnt.....latley their qc issues have gone down the toilet...i know a number of people who have had either short shots or missing parts....it happened to me TWICE and even when the Bond Bug vintage classic was released the toolling for it was missing a part
Well, I stand corrected. This kind of thing is precisely what will put-off a younger model maker - or at least drive them away from this historic brand.
@neilbedford5082 agreed.....in my two cases Airfix disn't want to knoww and couldn't care less. Situation1 was the Mig -17 with missing decals and Situation 2 was the P-40 starter set which had NO instructions,NO decals,NO paints,NO paint brush and NO glue....and people wonder why i dont buy Airfix anymore
Brand loyalty from older model makers like me will only carry the company so far. Sounds like they need to pull their socks up as the competition is very hot
Kudos to Airfix customer service.
Like your stop motion train scene!
Your stop motion is excellent. Ardman will come calling
Well ... a few things to note. (1) With their Vintage Classic aircraft releases, Airfix normally go to some trouble to verify the supplied scheme, researching the colours and markings and thus improving the accuracy of the kit, even if the mould itself is ancient and suffering from accuracy issues. With their Vintage Classic AFV releases, they don't do any of that. They more-or-less just reproduce what the original release(s) of the kit did, and those in turn were typically based on very little research, particularly if the subject of the kit was not British. The less British it was, the worse the research was, and for their Soviet AFV kits, the research was almost non-existent. Therefore: if you're looking for "accuracy" in colours and markings, ignore what Airfix tells you. Supplied markings will be nonsensical, and suggested colours will just be wrong. (2) The JS-3 kit suffers further from general shape inaccuracies. There's not a lot you can do about it, because the problem is in the hull shape, which is virtually impossible to correct. (Of course, for some people, the challenge is the fun!) (3) The Airfix rubber-band tracks are always awful, but what are you going to do about it? In some cases you may be able to bodge up replacements, of a sort, which may or may not look OK, depending on how well the bodge goes. A lot of the time, you just have to suck it up. Fun fact: in the earlier releases of the various AFV kits (from say pre-1968 or thereabouts), the plastic used in the rubber bands would deteriorate and leak fumes that would, in turn, cause the styrene plastic in the kit parts to break down, become sticky and start to melt. For bonus points, once started, this process is irreversible! So, if you like to buy the older releases of the kits, for collecting or whatever, you need to check what's going on with the plastic, and at a minimum, separate the rubber tracks and seal them away in a bag of their own.
I bought this kit when it was in a bag, and stapled to cardboard. The flaw with these early kits was usually the rubber tracks. Instead of the flexible type, manufacturers should have settled on hard plastic that could have been glued into place, and allow for a realistic track sag. As a kid, I found the Airfix Tiger ! and Panther particularly frustrating due to the overlapping road wheels being messed up by the poor tracks. On a positive note, the Airfix Matilda is a great little kit.
Hi Skipper, don't forget, the fun doesn't end with the weathering. When you've finished buggering around with it, 1/72 Tanks make great Air Rifle fodder. Sometimes the sloped armour actually does deflect incoming ordnance.
Love the train scene!
Nice. This is also available dirt cheap in India. The price is roughly around £3.62. Anyway great build. Good as a practice mule no doubt. I liked the freight train in the end. Nice factory work getting the gun fixed. Cheers!
Build the Aurora 1/48 JS3 that Atlantis reshot. It's fun and a little larger. It's not very accurate but Soviet Tanks were a mystery in the 60's. It's kinda fun to build some of these old kits.
In over 50 years of tinkering with Airfix kits, I have never had a part missing, Which suggests this is quite unusual. I think their quick response was impressive. I love older Airfix kits and regard their 'limitations' as a part of the charm.
Sadly it isnt.....latley their qc issues have gone down the toilet...i know a number of people who have had either short shots or missing parts....it happened to me TWICE and even when the Bond Bug vintage classic was released the toolling for it was missing a part
Well, I stand corrected. This kind of thing is precisely what will put-off a younger model maker - or at least drive them away from this historic brand.
@neilbedford5082 agreed.....in my two cases Airfix disn't want to knoww and couldn't care less.
Situation1 was the Mig -17 with missing decals and
Situation 2 was the P-40 starter set which had NO instructions,NO decals,NO paints,NO paint brush and NO glue....and people wonder why i dont buy Airfix anymore
Brand loyalty from older model makers like me will only carry the company so far. Sounds like they need to pull their socks up as the competition is very hot
@neilbedford5082 agreed....also the most recent Sea Harrier Frs1 (1/72) that they released has a ww2 style pilot figure and NOT a jet pilot
Very good 👍
Fun video.
Obeying the algorithm
that was fun :D
Come on this is a 3pound kit all day long . What did this cost back in its day 6p.
Seems Airfix shortchanged you 🤣
Yet again
Airfix quality control is really bad.
Shoddy qc issues with airfix yet again
nice, funny video and terrible kit...........