Recently finished very large scale Avro Lancaster model

[Ian Raleigh]

Good God that‘s a fantastic achievement (My father did the box art for Airfix ‘56-‘64 so we are reasonable judges of building).
Love the correct tyre swell on ground….

Thank-You.

Didn't Roy Cross do much of the artwork for Airfix ? I loved the scenes on the boxes, years ago after finishing such kits I used to cut out the painting then pin it up on my bedroom wall, still do it these days if I really like it.

 

[Ian Raleigh]

Agree about the swastikas. It happened and it's no good pretending it didn't.

I built the old 1/24th Airfix Focke Wulf 190 Night Fighter and put it on Facebook,
the model has the swastika on it's tail, I got a two week ban from them because
I being a terrorist and goes against their shitty community standards, Facebook
also deleted all the pictures of the model I made......Nice of them!

 

[2manyoranges]

Thank-You.

Didn't Roy Cross do much of the artwork for Airfix ? I loved the scenes on the boxes, years ago after finishing such kits I used to cut out the painting then pin it up on my bedroom wall, still do it these days if I really like it.

Yes…Roy Cross’ work was brilliant, along with Howard Jarvis’ nautical illustrations. But from the early 50s to ‘64 my father, Charles Oates, did the illustrations which emphasised accuracy (he had Supermarine blueprints in cardboard rolls) and those took the company from the doldrums to leading manufacturer….

The written histories of Airfix get it badly wrong, forgetting the Red Stripe & Bag period of expansion of Airfix, and so forgetting that my father drove the branding in that key transition period.

Contrast the Type 1 (not accurate and not my father) with the Type 2 (accurate and done by my father)….

https://www.vintage-airfix.com/airfix-history/airfix-packaging-styles-type/

He also did all the railway illustrations until his death in ‘64….increasing the drama of each wagon, and sales went up hugely…

http://www.airfixrailways.co.uk/TankWag.htm
and then he introduced this aesthetic….

 

[Ian Raleigh]

The written histories of Airfix get it badly wrong

How come your father hasn't got the credit ? He surely deserves it.

 

[2manyoranges]

How come your father hasn't got the credit ? He surely deserves it.

Well, I think it was just ‘events’… he had polio when he was young and was very disabled, eventually dying of a polio-related thrombosis in ‘64. Any historians of Airfix such as Brook

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sixty-Years-Airfix-Models-Jeremy/dp/1847979750
were late to the party and tended to focus on Roy Cross. Roy’s work was wonderful, of course, but the historians forgot about the limitations of litho printing in the 50’s and the sheer cost of high quality printing, a limitation within which my father had to work. Howard Jarvis is similarly overlooked...

https://trent-art.co.uk/artist/jarvis-william-howard-1903-1964/

 

[Sir Neil d'Menture]

I built the old 1/24th Airfix Focke Wulf 190 Night Fighter and put it on Facebook,
the model has the swastika on it's tail, I got a two week ban from them because
I being a terrorist and goes against their shitty community standards, Facebook
also deleted all the pictures of the model I made......Nice of them!

That's Facebook for you. Full of virtue signallers.
Hope you didn't mention slavery, or The Empire, or the Spanish Inquisition.
Nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition.