Corgi Models – not amused!

Albert, I am referring to the proportion of the outside blue band to the overall emblem. It should be one eigth of the radius of the inner circle containing the star. The bar is half a radius high. On the BBD it looks too thin.

Albert, could you provide Corgi with the correct information on setting out the USAAF ‘Stars and Bars’ please (at least with reference to BBD)?

I have just compared photos of the real thing to the Corgi 1/32nd model and can’t see too much wrong. Perhaps the fuselage ‘stars and bars’ should be fractionally smaller, but that’s all.

Albert, could you provide Corgi with the correct information on setting out the USAAF ‘Stars and Bars’ please (at least with reference to BBD)?

I have a fairly extensive library, some bought new (mostly presents), some second-hand and many remaindered.
The Putnam series are great but they’re fearsomely expensive, even second-hand generally speaking.
I keep a beady eye on Ebay these days. I’ve picked up four in the last few months at reasonable prices.
Daz’s Corgi thread seems to have been hijacked. Sorry.

I think those of you that collect Corgi models should have a look here, which is the best unofficial Corgi Aviation Archive Forum with replies from the company’s researcher:
http://modelcrazy.co.uk/forum/

Flood, I’ve found that although it looks nice, the new shop actually has a bit less to offer. It’s a shame, all that space….

I made very good use of my Friends of Duxford discount at the old shop, but I’ve bought little from the new one.

I spent £90 on books at Hendon (fairly comprehensive), £70 at Middle Wallop (smallish, but well stocked), about the same at Yeovilton three years ago (must go again sometime…) and, on reflection, I just feel cheated out of an oportunity to fill some gaps in my bookshelves without resorting to the net (shudder!).

Models? Don’t buy them anymore – I have a wardrobe full of unmade (and hopefully rare) kits (plus tubes of hardened glue, an airbrush that has set solid, and probably lots of dried-up tins of paint too!) against the day the market picks up and makes me a millionaire…;) Certainly would never consider buying pre-made examples which are the same as yours, and his, and theirs… (And the FAA never operated Mustangs, or Thunderbolts…)

Flood.™

Corgi models are crap. Would you honestly buy an injection moulded model kit for a tenner with that amount of ‘detail’? Absolutely ****e IMO. And no, I don’t have the 609 Spitfire. It’s rubbish.

dont worry i dont buy them, thats just how much duxford are trying to charge for some of them (i think)- our sales lot dont miss a trick you see!

I wish they didn’t – I approached the IWM shop with something akin to lust at MoM, but came away in under ten minutes with my wallets virtue completely intact (it got slightly battered at the pub shortly after, but that is another story…). The books I expected to see there weren’t, the kind of books I hoped might be there weren’t, even the sorts of books I could only dream about but wouldn’t expect to see weren’t there either.
Most disappointing…

Flood.™

Daz…yes, finding a home for these big models is certainly a problem – the only place big enough for my Spit is the sideboard…finding a bookcase that’s wide enough is a bit of a job

You won’t be buying the Corgi 1:32 Mosquito thats due next month then!!! 😀 … and i thought Duxford had problems finding homes for aeroplanes!!! 🙂

I didn’t know you were in Finding Nemo! 😉

‘cos she keeps stealing my big cuddly shark, Bruce! 😡

I’ve never been called that before….. 😀

Daz…yes, finding a home for these big models is certainly a problem – the only place big enough for my Spit is the sideboard…finding a bookcase that’s wide enough is a bit of a job (unless you fancy spending a whole wad of moolah on it…like more than you paid for the Spit) Incidentially, I do keep mine on the stand and after 18 months, it’s still there (my parents have the same Spit and display it on it’s stand with no problems)

Hope you can sort your probs out and your Spit is back looking as she should before too long 🙂

Ashley

I keep it on top of the TV because it’s relatively safe up there – compared to putting it on my bookshelf where this is every possibility it could either A) fall off, B) get mashed by some very heavy books, or C) both A and B! In fact, I’m amazed the big Airfix Spit has survived so long up there – and in one piece, too!

I didn’t fancy putting the 1/32 Spit on the stand because I didn’t think it was secure enough.

Also, being an only child helps! Although little cousin Amy is barred from my room ‘cos she keeps stealing my big cuddly shark, Bruce! 😡

Hmmmm…I have exactly the same Spitfire as you Daz, but it is the 3rd example of that model, as the first two were returned as they were both found to be damaged 🙁

I’m a little surprised that you would keep something like this on top of your TV though, I’m so anal about mine, that when Mr Ashley’s family come round, it gets put in it’s box where it stays until they’ve gone (With good reason I hasten to add, as one New Year’s his family came round, and one of them, who has never owned up to this, managed to snap the probe off the front of my EE Lightning…fortunately Corgi’s spares department came up trumps and I managed to fix it, but that’s another story altogether!)

I have to say, I have never stood any of mine on their wheels in case the wheels snapped, I tend to display mine “in flight” (although the covers on where the wheels should go on my Hunter are always falling off…and I mean always…I don’t even have to go any where near it and they fall off :()

Is it still £90 for a 1:32 Spit in the shop, Adam? I thought they went down in price once…I have to say, that if I didn’t have the IWM staff discount I might well baulk at paying that, but then I have seem them for sale at other Museums for similar prices.

Ashley

I gave them a ring and they said they’d get back to me.

One thing that puzzled me upon first seeing the Spit is the cordite streaking – shouldn’t it come from the gun-ports, and not the cartridge ejector slots?

Ahh good old IWM Retail!

Daz, Corgi run a Spares department which are quite useful worth a ring!

personally, i dont bother with the corgi models. they all look rather crappy, and excessivley fragile for how much they cost. its £90 for a 1/32 spit at duxford, now thats just silly money.

erm a think you might be buying yours in the wrong place! 1:32 spits are less than £40.00 at the moment!

I have also had problems with my Sea Harrier models – the legs underneath the wings are far too weak to support the weight of the model. Result? – ping. Model thuds into cabinet.

The replacement matchsticks cope a lot better thankfully.

Nope, it was more of a slide than a fall. The back of my TV is pretty ample and has a subtle slope to it. The access panels were pretty loose, and I imagine the resulting sudden jolt as the undercarriage gave way and the belly hitting was enough to knock them out of position. The slide down the back of the TV would be enough to let the access panels slide off and all but disappear. Afterwards they were more securely fixed with Blu-tack in order to stop a repeat of that happening, if at the expense of not being able to see the guns.

As I say, there’s no apparent damage to the prop shaft. In fact, the shaft looks to be fine – whatever it is that holds the prop on appears to have come off inside the spinner.

Engineering.

Last week I couldn’t spell engineer – now I are one.

Hang on – you don’t think that the previous fall from the TV perhaps set up a stress fracture on the prop shaft?

Mark