and examining the contents. Upon
receiving Airfix’s new Walrus, I
imagined I knew exactly what to
expect from the big red-trimmed
box before even looking inside:
soft, blue-grey styrene, featuring
over-deep panel lines, and empty
expanses of slightly textured plastic
that would require some clever
painting to make them appear busy.
In short, a typical quarter-scale
release from this UK manufacturer.
I was only partially correct,
however. The kit parts were indeed
moulded in the usual blue-grey
styrene, but the over-deep panel
lines and vast empty spaces were
nowhere to be seen. Airfix has
definitely come a long way since
their acquisition by Hornby Hobbies
in 2006 (for some 2.6 million
pounds). Despite a wobbly financial
period in 2015 and a change of
shareholders, Hornby has turned
the brand around to such an extentthat Airfix is once again recognised
as a main player in the world of
construction kit manufacture. The
release of such highly anticipated
new-tool kits as the Walrus
confirms this, and the contents
of the box prove that they are not
content to rest upon their laurels.
The Supermarine Walrus reflects
the levels of detail and engineering
that we originally encountered
in their epic 1/24 scale Typhoon,
released back in 2014. Instantly
evident is the same bulged-
metal skin effect that graced the
Typhoon’s fuselage, and which now
appears on the upper hull sections
of their newly-tooled flying boat.
Each square millimetre of the
Walrus’s outer hull is crisscrossed
by perfectly straight rows of
rivets, and the panel lines are more
delicately engraved than we have
become accustomed to from Airfix.
Internally too, the hull sides areITEMS USED
EDUARD: FE849 WALRUS MK.1 SEATBELTS
EDUARD: 49848 WALRUS INTERIOR
EDUARD: EX557 WALRUS MASKS
EDUARD: 648343 WALRUS WHEELS
EDUARD: 48929 WALRUS MK.1 EXTERIORWWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • MARCH 2018 • 77
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