Mike Williams takes a trip to the halcyon days of modelling as he tackles a favourite kit from his childhood… Airfix’s 1/72 F-80C Shooting Star, now available as a Vintage Classic.
Some say we are living in the golden age of modelling, the varied choice of subjects being beyond anyone’s wildest dreams – and with the additions available from aftermarket companies and decal producers being just as diverse, if not more so. But there is also a large throng of modellers (admittedly of a certain age) who would argue that the golden age of modelling was in the 1970s-80s. This is possibly why a rose-tinted view is taken when Airfix decides to release some of its older kits (usually those that were first produced in the aforementioned decades) under the Vintage Classics banner.
These kits seem to be quite popular with modellers who have fond memories of those so-called halcyon days and want to relive that moment, using the skills they have honed over the intervening years. This 1/72 Lockheed F-80C Shooting Star was a case in point for me. I vividly recall building this kit when I was about eight years old – the tooling was already 11 years old, having been released originally in 1973.
Above: The Roy Cross box art that adorned the o…
