Classic Matchbox Stranraer - OOB and still the only game in town...

[Faust]

I guess it’s true – it’s always the ones you least expect!

When I bagged a tonne of Matchbox kits a month or so ago, and I asked everyone to vote on which they’d like to see reviewed first, I figured it’d be something relatively famous, and weird only in it’s being a Matchbox. Something like a Spitfire or Tempest or Panther, even the Prowler.

Nope.

I mean, there were some weird ones in there, with the Siskin and BAE-125/Dominie, so I was thinking maybe that would be the most popular. Nope again. I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised when it was the biggest and weirdest of them all, the Supermarine Stranraer! Given that the Matchbox is the only way to get a Stranraer in styrene, even in 2021, the appeal should have been obvious.

So, check out this massive collection of wings and struts flying in formation. Oh, it’s “BYOI” (bring your own interior) to this party, just so you know! Get ready for some classic, classic stuff!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/matchbox-pk-601-1-72-supermarine-stranraer-oob/

Edited April 29, 2021 by Faust

[unclescott58]

Great review of a kit I never even knew existed. 

[Faust]

See, that's why I'm here. 

Now everyone can go out and add it to their wish list, and there'll be a sudden swelling of love the world over for Supermarine's lost flying bridge span. 

Or, maybe not. I could go both ways, I guess...

 

[bisc63]

Another good read on your review! Matchbox really did have a knack for kitting some underdogs, didn't they? I love it. I'm still fairly impressed at their approach to kits; they seem to focus on the big picture; is the overall shape and proportions RIGHT, does the finished build look like what it mimics? They were good at getting the look right, just short on detail. The exaggerated panel lines are easy enough to fill in, so no problem there for a serious modeler. Funny, but people that gripe about those panel lines now ooh and aahh over recent Airfix and Revell of Germany kits that have absolute trenches for panel lines. Sure, they are crisply cut and molded, but no less grossly over-scaled for 1/72.

Looking forward to your next Matchbox dissection!

[64Comet404]

I used to have this kit, and always wanted to convert it back to the actual aircraft's last configuration prior to being returned to Britain for restoration. It had been flying in British Columbia as a bush plane for Pacific Western Airlines, powered by a pair of P&W radials. Whiskey Jack used to have the decals, but they're probably long OOP. 

[Mike999]

Great review, as always!  I always wondered about that kit, but the struts and rigging scared me off.  I'm sure you'll do a great job on it.

Speaking of struts and rigging...this month's "Aviation History" magazine has an article covering the history of the Pan Am Clipper aircraft.  One of those was the Sikorsky S-40. When Charles Lindbergh flew the S-40, he said it was "like flying a forest through the air."

[ChrisBcritter]

On 4/30/2021 at 6:09 PM, 64Comet404 said:

I used to have this kit, and always wanted to convert it back to the actual aircraft's last configuration prior to being returned to Britain for restoration. It had been flying in British Columbia as a bush plane for Pacific Western Airlines, powered by a pair of P&W radials. Whiskey Jack used to have the decals, but they're probably long OOP. 

The engines, props and cowls from the Airfix Lockheed Hudson are what you'll need for the Canadian Stranraer. I had one too, plus the Hudson, but never built it - wish I had.

[robertw]

Thanks for the review. I have a couple of those in my stash but don't know when I'll get to one. While the Matchbox kits were very basic, sort of like the old Frog ones, they were often of aircraft that no one else built, a/c such as the Siskin, Twin Otter, Norseman, Privateer. All are of interest to Canadian buff such as my self.  I believe Revell ended up with some of these molds. How many of them we'll ever see again is the question. They were great kits for beginning modellers to build and for serious modellers at least we had a starting point.