Hi All,

Just a note of caution about the new 1:72 Airfix Falklands 25th anniversary set.
I picked up my set from my LHS which was lucky as although they only came in to stock on Monday, the LHS had sold out of all but my one.
However, on inspection at home, so far I have found that the transparency sprue has been left out of the Sea Harrier and the canopy for the Pucara is there, but split into three shards.
Therefore, a phone call to Airfix/Hornby is required tomorrow and I would suggest that if anyone else is contemplating buying the set, they ask to look inside the box before they leave the shop.
This is not on and lets hope that this sort of problem does not become commonplace with their new releases.

All the best,

Kristian.

Hello Kristian,

Even though this is an old post, and your set was defective, is there any way you could give us a review of what you get in the set? It does sound like an interesting set to have if you can find it.

Thanks,
Alex

Hi Alex,

No problem. I will do a quick in box review this evening.

All the best,

Kristian.

Hi All,

As promised, here is a quick review of the Airfix Falklands 25th anniversary 1:72 aircraft set.
The set contains the five major aircraft used by both sides with one decal option for each aircraft.
These aircraft are :-

BAe Sea Harrier FRS.1 No.899 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Hermes Air Group

BAe Harrier GR3 No. 1 Squadron RAF HMS Hermes Air Group

IA.58A Pucara Groupo 3 de Ataque, Pebble Island, Falkland Islands 1982

Dassault Super Etendard. 2 Escuadrilla De Caza Y Ataque, 3 Escuadra Areonaval, Comando Aviacion Naval Agentina (Argentine Naval Avation Coimmand), Commandante Espora Air Base, Argentina, Late 1982

A4 Skyhawk 3a Escuadrilla A de Caza y Ataque, Escuadra Areonaval, 25 de Mayo South Atlantic, April-June 1982

The set comes in a large box and is complete with glue, paint, one brush and a rolled A3 wall chart describing the aircraft and the actions they took part in around the islands.

However, in my opinion the box is where the set starts to fall down a bit.
While the set is very impressive on the shelf, once you open the lid you find that the kits appear have been thrown it to the box without much thought.
As a consequence, each individually bagged kit is able to slide about in the box and I think this is the cause of the broken Pucara canopy in my particular set. However, it doesn't account for the lack of a sea Harrier canopy.
The addition of a simple cardboard partition inside the box would have gone a long way to avoiding the problem.

While I haven't undone the bags, the kits seem to be a mixture of ages. The GR3, Etendard and Skyhawk would appear to be the original Airfix kits and all have raised panel lines but the Sea Harrier, Pucara, and Mirage have engraved panel lines and would seem to be more up to date kits, possibly from another manufacturer ?

The decals look good and are mainly in register but one of the Mirage's "Fuerza Aerea Argentina" decals is green instead of black on my sheet.

All in all I think is a nice set and good value for money at £34.99 but it is somewhat let down by its presentation inside the box, the damaged parts and the fact there is only one decal option per aircraft.
I have contacted Airfix for replacement parts and hopefully they will arrive soon.

I hope that Airfix will not make a habit out of damaged or missing parts as there new range includes some very nice items. I have the Nimrod on order which is due this week and I hope there are no issues with that.

The camera i have isn't up to posting photos but once i have upgraded, I will post some shots.

All the best,

Kristian.

Hi All,

As promised, some photos of the set.


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