Airfix Control Tower - Info?

[dr_gn]

I've got this old favourite in the stash (along with all the old Airfix RAF vehicle sets) to finally build to a good standard rather than my childhood efforts:



I was wondering if anyone (Lufbramatt?) knew if it was based upon a specific tower, or was it - as I suspect - generic of the type?

Also, does anyone know of any online references, or books about WW2 control towers that show the subtle detail of these buildings? I'm looking for references for what was in the watch tower at the top, and things like anemometer/meteorology/singalling equipment.

Ta.

[dr_gn]

Ok thanks for that. Coincidence that I'm perusing "Classic Kits" by Arthur Ward at the moment. Sad, but true.

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.

Not sure if the one at Finmere is still there IIRC it was delapidated in the 80's. Also not sure if Silverstone's tower has survived the chavvish destruction of the old circuit.

[dr_gn]

If it's a generic design, how can you judge what scale it is? The combination of real building tolerances and the quality of the mouldings on "standard" items like drainpipes and doors mean that it's pretty much irrelevant.

[dr_gn]

ninja-lewis said:

http://www.airfieldinformationexchange.org/communi...

looks an interesting thread, but no images on mine.

[dr_gn]

100SRV said:

What are the numbers "25" for?

Runway number I think.

[dr_gn]

It's unlikely they'd constantly change the numbers to match wind direction - a wind sock would cover that.

Changing the numbers to indicate which direction the runway was used is more likely - especially if radio silence was being observed. The numbers on the Farnborough tower match the runway direction (pretty much), and appear to be changeable.

The Airfix tower is typical of the design used for bomber stations, which would have had runways.

Edited by dr_gn on Saturday 5th December 18:10

[dr_gn]

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

The Airfix 'Watch Office' does not accurately represent any wartime building whatsoever but is more a 'generic impression' of such.

As I am sure you are aware, wartime airfield buildings were built to a series of standard designs which had been laid down in the 'Post 1934 Expansion Scheme'. Indeed the glass structure atop the bulding is totally spurious for a wartime Watch Office.

Your best bet is to trawl the Airfield Information Exchange fora for photos.

WRT the number boards these do infact give the runway in use ie runway QDM [magnetic heading of the centreline +/- 5 degrees) but these are USAAF style.

RAF airfields had a 'signal square' to the front of the Watch Office with a 'T' marker indicating runway QDM (ie the head of the T), an arrow showing circuit direction, as well as a 2 letter code showing the airfield designator (this is still done today eg CW = Cranwell, BK Barkston Heath). Adjacent to the signal square would be the main windsock (usually a 25 kt design - that is to say that when the sock is horizontal there is 25 kts of wind).

If you really want an accurate WW2 Watch Office then check out the Flightpath range by David Parkins.

Hope this helps.

Yes thanks, I've seen the Flightpath version, and their interior set. They are - understandably - expensive. TBH I don't particularly want a 100% accurate structure: I wanted to keep the original generic Airfix design (simply because it's a bit of a classic), and add some equally generic details.

ETA there are - according to Google - quite a few WW2 images of control towers with the square structure on top, e.g. the ones of Framlingham and Debden.

Edited by dr_gn on Saturday 5th December 20:33

[dr_gn]

EskimoArapaho said:

dr_gn said:

I've got this old favourite in the stash (along with all the old Airfix RAF vehicle sets) to finally build to a good standard rather than my childhood efforts:



I was wondering if anyone (Lufbramatt?) knew if it was based upon a specific tower, or was it - as I suspect - generic of the type?

Also, does anyone know of any online references, or books about WW2 control towers that show the subtle detail of these buildings? I'm looking for references for what was in the watch tower at the top, and things like anemometer/meteorology/singalling equipment.

Ta.

My first thought was that it looked like a slightly smaller version of the one at Martlesham Heath (Suffolk): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Martlesham_Heath...

True, but it has a balcony thing, the Airfix version doesn't.

[dr_gn]

EskimoArapaho said:

dr_gn said:

True, but it has a balcony thing, the Airfix version doesn't.

Yes, it was the window spacing and design that instantly reminded me. Crittal or similar?

As for the balcony, is it a modular design. It looks as if the bottom storey on the Airfix has a wall brought out to the edge of what would have been its balcony.

On the Airfix version, it's almost as if someone mis-interpreted a drawing elevation, and made the 'front' lower wall flush with the edge of the balcony instead of with the wall above. Under the circumstances (WW2), adding a balcony to a square block would probably be more practical to build than stepping the wall out like that, and having to support/reinforce a short flat bit of roof.

Whatever...for the sake of this exercise, it looks OK to me.

[dr_gn]

perdu said:

The tower (watch office) I mentioned at Halfpenny Green has a similar layout to the kit G

The upper 'balcony' is used as the terrace for the cafe and does have a similar roof structure ISTR, but like a good little civvy I didn't try getting my Meccano knees up the iron ladder to watch this

Which was taken from the 'balcony'

The upper storey is about six feet less all round than the lower section so the Airfix one is as different from it as the others but the upper has railings round three sides

I should have taken pictures of the tower it seems

Sorry

I would use the Airfix doors and windows and adjust the rest to suit

Slaters make a good selection of Polycard

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.

[dr_gn]

TJS10 said:

what about Seething ?


http://www.seethingtower.org

Fairly close - the Airfix version would still need the front wall moving back, and an extended roof and sides though.

[dr_gn]

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/

[dr_gn]

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.

[dr_gn]

The_Jackal said:

So did this ever get built?

Nope.

[dr_gn]

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

[dr_gn]

towser44 said:

Looks like the Tower at Sleap Airfield in Shropshire

Looks like the standard pattern structure, but with a container under the balcony.

[dr_gn]

Spumfry said:

My dad's got 15 volumes of the 'County Airfields in the Second World War' series - if I can skim through one book per visit I should be able to give you a definitive answer on whether or not this is based on a real tower in about a year or so.

Thank you - that timescale seems fine, given current modelling progress.

[dr_gn]

Radish said:

As someone who has spent a fair chunk of his working life in these things I can recommend the ultimate nerds book: Control Towers - The Development of the Control Tower on RAF Stations in the UK by Paul Francis and published by Airfield Research Publishing. It is almost certainly to be long out of print but there must be the odd second hand copy available (not mine!).

Thanks - a bit steep at £27 used on Amazon, but I'll keep looking.

[dr_gn]

GliderRider said:

kurt535 said:

...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.

Given that the original was intended as an accessory for model railway layouts, perhaps the large open balcony was a bit of artistic licence, intended to give more opportunities to have figures in 'action' poses?

The other possibilty is that the original design of these towers had an open balcony, and then, with the rapidly increasing use of ground to air radio communication, it was more important to have controllers inside talking to the pilots, than outside watching and firing flares at them, so the towers were either modified after building, or built from scratch to the modified design. If the model designer was aware of this, he may have chosen the original version for the reason above.

How would a cantilever balcony be more suitable for action poses than the kit version?

[dr_gn]

Evangelion said:

If you want a control tower, you could do worse than grab one of these:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW2-RAF-Airfield-Contro...

(They do it in other scales, plus hangars etc.)

While on eBay, I also discovered this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-PRO-MODS-1-72-PMPC...

The first one looks like a direct copy of the Airfix version (but worse).

The second one looks nice, but the idea was to stick with Airfix and update it a bit, as I’ve been doing with their RAF vehicle sets.