Warbird Information Exchange

This is an old Matchbox kit my friend gave me almost a year ago. He found it in his basement.

I've been working on it for almost a year and I am glad its finally done! Being an old Matchbox kit it was a bit tricky.

JDK was kind enough to send me a copy of his book, I would not have been able to finish this kit without it! Thanks James...

I had never even heard of a Stranraer before I got this kit.

Here are some pics.















Thanks for looking!

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Very nice! Sometimes building a model from one of the older kits is more satisfying than simply assembling one of the newest releases.

Scott

Wow, Thanks for the heads up, TADan!

You've done a great job - it's a stunner. You've really got the weathering 'right' from the exhausts, I think. I'm delighted the book was helpful - that was what it was for!

I have an unbuilt Matchbox Stranraer in my collection. Trouble is, I 'know' too much to build it, I suspect.

A big thanks must go to the late Maurice Landi, the design engineer for Matchbox's aircraft kits. The story as I understand it is that Maurice was 'allowed' an interesting biplane after a few money-earning 109 and Spitfires in the range. So we have him to thank for the Stranraer, Wellesley, Walrus, Dornier Do 18, Siskin and Fury, all much more accurate, carefully detailed kits than the mass market ones.

http://www.matchboxkits.org/

Like TADan, my Matchbox Stranny was my introduction to the type, but unlike him, it was many, many years ago now.

Many thanks to Maurice.

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Thanks for the kind words James and Scott.

JDK you were a huge help. I'd have probably pushed this one off to the side if you didnt fill me in on just how cool the Stranny was It was my first 1/72 bi-plane and first attempt at rigging, so I am pleased with the results. The kit will always be a special one in my collection based on the story involved. It is hanging from my ceiling searching the room for U-boats.

I know what you mean about "knowing too much" there were plenty of times when I had to step back and just build it right out of the box, otherwise I would have been there forever. For example, I lost one of the exhaust manifolds... so I spent quite a bit of time scratch building a pair of new ones based on the pictures in your book. Just as I was getting ready to install them... I found the missing kit piece So I just drilled out the kit parts and went with those, haha.

No doubt that the Matchbox designer was passing on a bit of history by creating kits of these types. I probably would have never heard of the Stranraer if I hadnt have come across the kit.

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