Airfix Control Tower - Info?
Discussion
perdu said:
I would use the Airfix doors and windows and adjust the rest to suit 
Slaters make a good selection of Polycard
The Airfix doors and windows are rubbish Slaters make a good selection of Polycard
But Slaters mail order service is excellent.
The world of model railways is where the best resources for this kind of thing are found, I expect.
dr_gn said:
This is kind of like it:
...but not quite.
Thing is, if I was going to scratchbuild any of the main structure, it's such a ssimple structure I might as well do the whole lot and base it on a real tower. I want to keep the Airfix structure really, even though the missing cantelever balcony is annoying me now; it seems like a common feature.
If you add stairs at the front of one of those and give it bigger windows too I think you have the one at HG too...but not quite.
Thing is, if I was going to scratchbuild any of the main structure, it's such a ssimple structure I might as well do the whole lot and base it on a real tower. I want to keep the Airfix structure really, even though the missing cantelever balcony is annoying me now; it seems like a common feature.
I am sorry Wolverhampton, you would have Wolverhampton Municipal Airport
I think
TJS10 said:
Fairly close - the Airfix version would still need the front wall moving back, and an extended roof and sides though.
dr_gn said:
I thought there was a preserved WW2 tower at Carew in Pembrokeshire, but when I was on holiday down there last year I got the impression it had closed down for some reason.
Turns out it hasn't closed down - on the contrary, it seems to be thriving. We called in on our way home from holiday on Saturday, and found lots of volunteers working on the tower itself, their small museum, and on the restoration of an Avro Anson they have in a hangar. The people are extremely friendly, and nothing is out of bounds in the control tower - not like many museums where room doorways are covered with perspex:
A few photos really can't do it justice, it's well worth a visit:
https://www.carewcheritoncontroltower.co.uk/
The Airfix control tower is very similar to one of those at RAF Odiham. Unusually, Odiham still has all three of its towers, the original pre-war one, the wartime one, and the modern one that is in current use.
The wartime tower is almost a copy of the Airfix one, although it appears to have had most of the top layer extended onto the balcony at some point.
RAF Odiham Control Towers
The wartime tower is almost a copy of the Airfix one, although it appears to have had most of the top layer extended onto the balcony at some point.
RAF Odiham Control Towers
GliderRider said:
The Airfix control tower is very similar to one of those at RAF Odiham. Unusually, Odiham still has all three of its towers, the original pre-war one, the wartime one, and the modern one that is in current use.
The wartime tower is almost a copy of the Airfix one, although it appears to have had most of the top layer extended onto the balcony at some point.
RAF Odiham Control Towers
The main anomaly on the Airfix tower is that the balcony isn't cantilevered, but forms the roof of the lower level. It's the kind of thing that could easily have been misinterpreted on a front elevation drawing, but I can't believe that so many other references could have been ignored. I guess we'll never know the background to the design of the Airfix model. Still, becasue it's not modelled on a specific building, there's loads of scope for adding all sorts of general detail.The wartime tower is almost a copy of the Airfix one, although it appears to have had most of the top layer extended onto the balcony at some point.
RAF Odiham Control Towers
Im a bit of a control tower sad sack! restoring one and living in it remains my dream! trouble is the two around my way are owned by no. 1. a belligerent farmer happy to see it rot and no.2. a stay away owner who lives in france!
other than that, the airfix one looks a bit of a cock up in design style! ive never seen one resembling it in my many years of walking around the old airfields.
other than that, the airfix one looks a bit of a cock up in design style! ive never seen one resembling it in my many years of walking around the old airfields.
Yep it's not the greatest model in the world! But don't forget it was designed at a time when modelling was a very different hobby- they wanted something that fitted in the box to vaguely represent a control tower so that kids could turn their dining table into a battle of Britain airfield- not win first prize at Telford
lufbramatt said:
Yep it's not the greatest model in the world! But don't forget it was designed at a time when modelling was a very different hobby- they wanted something that fitted in the box to vaguely represent a control tower so that kids could turn their dining table into a battle of Britain airfield- not win first prize at Telford
I was one of those kids... Probably made mine in about 1977, and to me it was great.To be fair, it's often the modellers who seem to not "blend it in" with the diorama setting they have provided. Real buildings sit "in" the landscape rather than "on" it. The built Airfix control towers I've seen always look like they've been plonked down onto the scene rather than properly integrated into it.
lufbramatt said:
Yep it's not the greatest model in the world! But don't forget it was designed at a time when modelling was a very different hobby- they wanted something that fitted in the box to vaguely represent a control tower so that kids could turn their dining table into a battle of Britain airfield- not win first prize at Telford
I don’t think it’s that bad - control towers of that period were basically a box with a balcony, sometimes with a glazed hut stuck on top. The Airfix one is exactly that - I don’t see how it could be significantly improved apart from the addition of details such as gutters, glazing, and a bit more finesse in the top hut thing; nothing that can’t be added quite easily by scratch-building.This is mine that I built about 30 years ago:
It could very easily be converted to a cantilever type balcony by cutting the lower wall extensions and moving the front lower wall back:
...and maybe narrowing the balcony a bit.
Still not sure whether to build it as Airfix intended (with additional detail as I did with the refuelling set), or modify it slightly as above. Nice period film here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7_Xj6gPKLbQ
Eric Mc said:
This is the old tower at Farnborough
It was heavilly modified and extended over the years -
Ir was eventually demolished and this is the current tower -
The top photo was the early tower (N2 building) and was still there up until it was demolished with the old tower (N1 building) middle photo, in 2003. It stood behind the old tower.
From 1995 until 1999 the upper floor of N2 building was my office and workshop and then we moved into the the N1 tower ground floor until TAG built the present tower in 2002 where I'm now based.
It was heavilly modified and extended over the years -
Ir was eventually demolished and this is the current tower -
The top photo was the early tower (N2 building) and was still there up until it was demolished with the old tower (N1 building) middle photo, in 2003. It stood behind the old tower.
From 1995 until 1999 the upper floor of N2 building was my office and workshop and then we moved into the the N1 tower ground floor until TAG built the present tower in 2002 where I'm now based.
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