Hi. I had one of these when I was a kid in the 70's. Seeing your Scalemates page I can see that it was the dog fight double kit of 1973 and it had the Me 109 with it. This brings back some memories for me. Thankyou.
When I was younger I was in air cadets. My fondest memories was being a flight seargent (like a drill instructor) for a summer camp. I taught aviation to younger cadets. The group I was in charge of was called beaufighter flight. There were 3 flights in the squadron. Mosquito. Defiant. And beaufighter. I have kits of the other two aircraft. But not of the beaufighter. That airplane has a special place in my heart!
I remember this kit, when a child. If you look at the torpedo, it has a cut-out for the stand, as, if mounted, it is directly below the fuselage cut-out
Hi matt nice video I have a revell kit of the same model in 1/48 found at the dump so thought I would restore it but I'm leaving that for a wet Wet day lol
Built one of these in the 80s. I well recall the absence of interior detail and the high distortion canopies. But, my sense at the time was that fit and shape accuracy were pretty good. You didn't show us the engines, but I seem to recall them looking pretty good for the time. It was the only plane on my shelf with the EDSG over Sky camo and invasion stripes, with is a super pretty color scheme on anything.
I glossed over the engines but they are there - moulded into the cowlings. One of them was off the sprue near the beginning and I took a quick look at them, but there wasn't really a lot to see
I had that kit when I was a kid in the late '90s! I loved it. The painting was terrible, and the decals not properly applied, but it looked great to me. I still love the Beaufighter to this day because of that kit.
I built one in the late sixties. The artwork showed a darker scheme of the plane pulling up from a torpedo drop over the ship it targeted. Im pretty sure it was boxed at the time.
Yes, this would seem to correct - Charles Oates designed the box art up to 1967 at which point Roy Cross took over. More recent artwork is quite often created by Adam Tooby but I am aware of some kits which have used different artists
As mentioned in the video, i was at a toy fair/swap meet kind of event a few years back and was able to pick it up then :) I'm sure some online sellers might have a few examples second hand though
i can't say i have much of an opinion on it - looks like a big plastic tray with slots to put stuff in. Could be handy for a while but personally it wouldn't be much use on my workbench
To be fair, it's really not a bad kit for 1958. Didn't build this one back in the day, instead building the Matchbox TF.X, and considering that was tooled 15 years after the Airfix kit it had pretty much the same level of detail. Do try the new tool Airfix Beaufighter. It's a wonderful model. In fact, a video comparing the old and new Airfix kits would be quite interesting.
Another nice review Matt, shame about the missing wheel half, though it does make for a nice reason to do it wheels up. I was thinking, maybe you could tackle, after the Hellcat, the Tamiya Mustang you showed us before 2024's end. Literally a kit that builds itself. Get yourself a stronger than Microsol decal softener though, since Tamiya decals are thicker than Cartograf.
@@ModelMinutes sorry for not answering before, YT doesn't alert me about pending comments. Yes, use that one. I've used it on a Tamiya P-47, and the decal that goes over the aileron rail conformed almost instantly to the raised detail. It may take some minutes for the softener to act and start affecting the decal, so let it dry before adding a new coat.
you can get a variety of different paint sets from lots of different manufacturers. Not only they come in a choice of enamel or acrylic, but also whether you are hand painting or airbrushing. I'm going to assume that you are hand painting, so the Vallejo model color sets that they make (they do some in military specific colours or in generic sets) are a good option. Humbrol and Revell also make acrylic paint sets with specific themes such as RAF or Luftwaffe WW2 colours. It would be worth trying to decide what you want to build and then kind of work backwards from that for the colours you might need. I have heard that ICM sell their entire range of acrylic paints in a box set of like 60 or 70 colours, so if you can't pick and can afford it, that could be a good entry point because then you might have something suitable for most needs. Whilst they don't have a colour that matches every particular paint in a model kit that you might want, you could always mix some as you have quite a large selection
Hi Matt. I had one of these in about 67 as part of the dogfight double with the me109. I don't remeber there being alternate schemes and in my ignorance I fitted both rockets and torpedo. The transfers then didn't have "d-day" stripes. On the box art the tail planes don't look to have the right dihedral.
In my youth I would have stuck everything onto the model. Bombs, rockets, torpedoes - didn't matter to me as long as it looked like it was doing something exciting :)
Airfix kits are good!!!!!!! Just use your skills to weed out whatever flaws you encounter during the build. How about a review of that new 1/48 Lysander?
I believe i have one of these in a dog fight double kit. i bought it from the big on line shop that has the same name as a south American river. my kit is missing one of the pineapple exhausts and one of the wheels has by the look of it been glued together with filler.
The Box might be from 1997, and the decals, but that model is from 1958. That's 67 years old, and it shows. The original was a series 2 bagged kit, as sold in Woolworths.
That moulding has been retired, now. It was a nice, if very basic model. Gun ports need drilling out, on the wings and fuselage, and there's zero detail in the cockpit, which is a fun thing to rectify.
@ModelMinutes - You will. It's a surprisingly nice little kit, of an aircraft type which still looks shockingly modern. I've built several, and enjoyed all of them. The slightly more modern Matchbox one is a fun, basic kit, too.
The modern Airfix could learn from that box. Much more informative, for instance telling the purchaser what the skill levels mean. Some of the info is in the box on the instruction sheet, but as far as I know the skill level isn't explained to a purchaser who may no different. Ooh they spoilt us in those days.. TWO crew figures. These days it's one if you're lucky.
Some good points. I think that the Airfix kits these days have a good balance of information on the box, but yes, perhaps a brief explanation of the skill system could help - or at the very least a QR code to a webpage which would hold it. Whilst there are quite a few modern Airfix kits that don't come with figures, if I remember correctly, subjects like the Defiant still come with 2. More typical for a 1/72 scale kit than a larger scale one though
i seriously doubt Airfix would re-release this version of the Beaufighter as there was a new tooling released in 2015. No point manufacturing this ancient one and a modern one in the range, would only cause confusion
As far as I was aware, anything can have a vintage. According to various online dictionaries its just from a time period. So this would be "90's Vintage" as it doesn't reflect something that is still currently the case
@@ModelMinutes In the antiquing hobby, "vintage" is used to describe any piece 20 years to 100 years. There's a sub category of "true vintage" (whhhhy????) that is 50-100 years old. And then anything over 100 is antique.
I'm not sure what you mean by glitching? I do need to look at the white balance a little but as it was a premiere when you left your comment it is possible that because it acts as a stream there was a communication issue causing problems. Also, as a premiere, it is only available in a reduced quality, whilst after the premiere it is available up to 4K edit - you could be referring to the autofocus changing aspect, but it will do that because otherwise everything would be blurry
@ Thanks. According to Airfix MW so does the new 1/48 Jaguar. Mind you, the pilot figures in my Airfix 1/72 starter set Spitfire V and Tomahawk are vastly different sizes, a quick ruler measuring them as akin to an 8 stone weakling and a 20 stone Gladiator. I love those in the Airfix Short Stirlings I have, such as the gunners with rings for hands, as they are so reminiscent of my youth.
It's pronounced "Boo-Fig-Ha-Ter" Bristol Boofighater... It would be cruel to put this next to the more modern tool one, but if it builds up nicely then it was worth a fiver
The closer to a vintage plastic models creation date, the more crisp the model is. As time goes by , through the years the plastic molds loss thier quality resulting in poor building qualities.
I personally don't see the appeal of buying, all be it very cheaply, an old tool, vastly inferior kit when better ones are available, in this case by the same manufacturer! It seems to be some kind of horrible, masochistic torture. I grew up building Airfix kits in the early seventies and boy, what a relief it was when the likes of Tamiya, Hasegawa and Eduard entered my world. Why anyone would want to waste their time building the old, nasty stuff is beyond me. I realise the newer stuff is more expensive but you are saved a whole lot of pain by the superior standards of modern kit manufacturing, nostalgia be damned!
I bought it because I did one in my youth and i wanted to rekindle that feeling of modelling wonder I had at the time. I don't think this will be a build I put my heart and soul into, it will hopefully be just a bit of fun
@@ModelMinutes I don't know about 'rekindle', it'll probably douse any prospects of tackling these 'should-be-buried' horrors for good! I understand the nostalgia thing but really, it's like pulling teeth going back to these old fuds . . .
1958! Why are they still putting this stuff out? Looking at those horrible one-piece engines is giving me the shivers! It's just not worth the bother, surely you have better things to do with your modelling time?
@@ModelMinutes Oh yes they are still putting this stuff out - what I was referring too was the 'classic' range of kits which this falls into, they were all well and good for the fifties/sixties but are way beyond there use by date now. They only serve as a reference for how far the industry has come and how blessed we are to have the high quality toolings of the 21st century.
I don't think the Airfix Vintage Classics range is necessarily a bad thing. They aren't in the normal box style from airfix so they are clearly "something else" to the casual observer. The boxes are also very clearly labeled with the tooling and release datse on them so anyone who cares to take a look at the box before buying will know that it is not a "modern" kit and should potentially be looked at with some nostalgia. I would be very surprised if the costs of producing the VC range is as high as new toolings - what with the moulds presumably having their manufacture cost returned a few times over by now. So a relatively low-risk product for the company, which can then use the proceeds to fund further development of newer, more high-quality modern kits. That is, at least, the way I see it
The separate red dots on the RAF roundels are not for registration reasons! It's because the RAF has copyrighted the roundel and this way Airfix etc dont have to pay to replicate it! Ludicrous.
To the best of my knowledge, that is not entirely true. I can find evidence that they tried to trademark it in 2004 - so much later than this kit was manufactured - and as a result take royalties from sales of branded clothing which features it, but that was overturned. Whilst they hold copyright of the roundel etc, the question can be asked, does that extend to a historical representation? I don't pretend to know all the nuances etc of this, nor the full information, but if a historic vehicle from a collection is modelled, do they have to pay a license to the RAF for use of the insignia, a license to the manufacturer/designer company of the aircraft and a fee to the specific owner of the specific machine that they have represented in the model? If this were the case I imagine that all scale modelling design would become prohibitively expensive and no accurate representations of real machines would ever exist. Whilst it is possible that companies apply to the RAF/MOD for permission to use the insignia for their model kits, given that about 90% of model kits that I have seen manufactured in the past 20 years do not have seperate red dots would lead me to beleive that they were included as seperate decals due to poor registration, and as the technology improved that was no longer required. . .
Hi. I had one of these when I was a kid in the 70's. Seeing your Scalemates page I can see that it was the dog fight double kit of 1973 and it had the Me 109 with it. This brings back some memories for me. Thankyou.
I think the example I built in my youth might have been a dogfight doubles, but I can't remember for sure
Hi Mat,guess what i heard through the grapevine about a new release from Airfix this year?@ModelMinutes
When I was younger I was in air cadets. My fondest memories was being a flight seargent (like a drill instructor) for a summer camp. I taught aviation to younger cadets. The group I was in charge of was called beaufighter flight. There were 3 flights in the squadron. Mosquito. Defiant. And beaufighter. I have kits of the other two aircraft. But not of the beaufighter. That airplane has a special place in my heart!
There are a good number of examples of beaufighters in different variants from some manufacturers if you did want to add one to your collection
@ModelMinutes I see many online. Local hobby shop just hasn't stocked yet!!!
they might be able to put an order in for you
@@ModelMinutes oh true....I shall ask! Thanks a ton love your videos!
I remember this kit, when a child. If you look at the torpedo, it has a cut-out for the stand, as, if mounted, it is directly below the fuselage cut-out
yes, that is correct. The fuselage cutout is for use with the rocket carrying version whilst the torpedo has a cutout for that version
The beaufighter was so powerful and also the night fighter.
One of the strongest ww ii planes.☝🏻
Hi matt nice video I have a revell kit of the same model in 1/48 found at the dump so thought I would restore it but I'm leaving that for a wet Wet day lol
Sounds great!
Built one of these in the 80s. I well recall the absence of interior detail and the high distortion canopies. But, my sense at the time was that fit and shape accuracy were pretty good. You didn't show us the engines, but I seem to recall them looking pretty good for the time. It was the only plane on my shelf with the EDSG over Sky camo and invasion stripes, with is a super pretty color scheme on anything.
I glossed over the engines but they are there - moulded into the cowlings. One of them was off the sprue near the beginning and I took a quick look at them, but there wasn't really a lot to see
Definitely a beautiful box art from Airfix, one of my favourites
Totally agree!
100% agree too. Roy Cross- who only passed away recently- was responsible for some of Airfix's best box art.
This brings back memories for me also as it was one of my favourite kits that I built in about the mid-1990s.
Ive got 2 of the original releases from back in the day . Will build it one day .
I hope you enjoy!
Thanks again for a brilliant video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
superior box art
I do like these styles - its good that when Airfix do a vintage classic they use this kind
I had that kit when I was a kid in the late '90s! I loved it. The painting was terrible, and the decals not properly applied, but it looked great to me. I still love the Beaufighter to this day because of that kit.
sounds like a lot of my early models
Good in box review of a vintage kit. Hope to see it built. Happy Hobby.
Bill
Thanks! I hope it doesn't give me too many headaches lol
I built one in the late sixties. The artwork showed a darker scheme of the plane pulling up from a torpedo drop over the ship it targeted. Im pretty sure it was boxed at the time.
nice!
Me too. I think that artwork was done by Charles Oates, the artist who Airfix used before Roy Cross.
Yes, this would seem to correct - Charles Oates designed the box art up to 1967 at which point Roy Cross took over. More recent artwork is quite often created by Adam Tooby but I am aware of some kits which have used different artists
@ModelMinutes Thanks for that. Roy's name is the only one I recognise.
Very nice video 😊
Thanks 😊
Amazing video great kit I wonder where you get them from
As mentioned in the video, i was at a toy fair/swap meet kind of event a few years back and was able to pick it up then :)
I'm sure some online sellers might have a few examples second hand though
@@ModelMinutes its hard to find kits like these but thanks for the reply
Hi i was looking a the revell working station, what do you think of it?
i can't say i have much of an opinion on it - looks like a big plastic tray with slots to put stuff in. Could be handy for a while but personally it wouldn't be much use on my workbench
@ModelMinutes Do you use anything like it or just a plain old desk?
i use a desk, i need more space when creating content than one of those workstations can provide
To be fair, it's really not a bad kit for 1958. Didn't build this one back in the day, instead building the Matchbox TF.X, and considering that was tooled 15 years after the Airfix kit it had pretty much the same level of detail. Do try the new tool Airfix Beaufighter. It's a wonderful model. In fact, a video comparing the old and new Airfix kits would be quite interesting.
I'm not sure I would be able to do a direct comparison if I have already built this one by then, but would keep that in mind
@@ModelMinutes If you keep the footage for this one around, you could use that for comparison material.
yeah, that is possible, i tend to archive it though
I remember making that back about 1971 but I stuck both the torpedo on it as well as adding cannons in the nose
Very cool! I probably would have just glued all the options on my planes in my youth, because why no!
Another nice review Matt, shame about the missing wheel half, though it does make for a nice reason to do it wheels up. I was thinking, maybe you could tackle, after the Hellcat, the Tamiya Mustang you showed us before 2024's end. Literally a kit that builds itself. Get yourself a stronger than Microsol decal softener though, since Tamiya decals are thicker than Cartograf.
Would the mr hobby decal solutions be a good idea?
@@ModelMinutes sorry for not answering before, YT doesn't alert me about pending comments. Yes, use that one. I've used it on a Tamiya P-47, and the decal that goes over the aileron rail conformed almost instantly to the raised detail. It may take some minutes for the softener to act and start affecting the decal, so let it dry before adding a new coat.
Hi again i was looking at buying som paint sets, is there any you could recommend for a beginner?
you can get a variety of different paint sets from lots of different manufacturers. Not only they come in a choice of enamel or acrylic, but also whether you are hand painting or airbrushing.
I'm going to assume that you are hand painting, so the Vallejo model color sets that they make (they do some in military specific colours or in generic sets) are a good option. Humbrol and Revell also make acrylic paint sets with specific themes such as RAF or Luftwaffe WW2 colours.
It would be worth trying to decide what you want to build and then kind of work backwards from that for the colours you might need.
I have heard that ICM sell their entire range of acrylic paints in a box set of like 60 or 70 colours, so if you can't pick and can afford it, that could be a good entry point because then you might have something suitable for most needs. Whilst they don't have a colour that matches every particular paint in a model kit that you might want, you could always mix some as you have quite a large selection
@ModelMinutes thank you so much
Hi Matt. I had one of these in about 67 as part of the dogfight double with the me109. I don't remeber there being alternate schemes and in my ignorance I fitted both rockets and torpedo.
The transfers then didn't have "d-day" stripes.
On the box art the tail planes don't look to have the right dihedral.
In my youth I would have stuck everything onto the model. Bombs, rockets, torpedoes - didn't matter to me as long as it looked like it was doing something exciting :)
Airfix kits are good!!!!!!! Just use your skills to weed out whatever flaws you encounter during the build. How about a review of that new 1/48 Lysander?
I think the 1/48 Lysander is a kit I would like to try! But i am not sure i have space in the stash at the moment
@ModelMinutes Sounds familiar!!!!!!! 😂
Built several. Still have one. "Bowfighter"
I believe i have one of these in a dog fight double kit.
i bought it from the big on line shop that has the same name as a south American river.
my kit is missing one of the pineapple exhausts and one of the wheels has by the look of it been glued together with filler.
sounds like it needs a bit of rescuing
Presently working on one now, very vintage.
Best of luck!
Built this in the mid-1960s. I don’t remember the box art. The kit wasn’t a torpedo carrying version.
ah, you went for the rocket version
@ Ha, ha! I wish I could remember!
I had a old kit that my dad never built and it was missing a heap of parts and had no decals
Sounds like something that could have been a bit of a kit bash
The Box might be from 1997, and the decals, but that model is from 1958. That's 67 years old, and it shows. The original was a series 2 bagged kit, as sold in Woolworths.
Yes, the full age is discussed in the video
That moulding has been retired, now. It was a nice, if very basic model. Gun ports need drilling out, on the wings and fuselage, and there's zero detail in the cockpit, which is a fun thing to rectify.
Yes, I imagine the newer tooling is great, but I hope I still have fun building this one
@ModelMinutes - You will. It's a surprisingly nice little kit, of an aircraft type which still looks shockingly modern.
I've built several, and enjoyed all of them.
The slightly more modern Matchbox one is a fun, basic kit, too.
The modern Airfix could learn from that box. Much more informative, for instance telling the purchaser what the skill levels mean. Some of the info is in the box on the instruction sheet, but as far as I know the skill level isn't explained to a purchaser who may no different.
Ooh they spoilt us in those days.. TWO crew figures. These days it's one if you're lucky.
Some good points. I think that the Airfix kits these days have a good balance of information on the box, but yes, perhaps a brief explanation of the skill system could help - or at the very least a QR code to a webpage which would hold it.
Whilst there are quite a few modern Airfix kits that don't come with figures, if I remember correctly, subjects like the Defiant still come with 2. More typical for a 1/72 scale kit than a larger scale one though
Matt is that being recrelised
i seriously doubt Airfix would re-release this version of the Beaufighter as there was a new tooling released in 2015. No point manufacturing this ancient one and a modern one in the range, would only cause confusion
@ ok mate thwnk you
@ thank ment sorry
just think , when this came out , it was as good as it got .
Amazing how far the hobby has come
Late 90s? I always thought this sort of artwork is from like at least the 80s
The artwork itself is older, but the boxing version is from the 90s. I do think that in the 80s the built model featured on the box for a bit
👍👍
Since myT.I.A. I prefer building these older basic kits as my hands are not up to fiddly parts.
good to hear that these kits still have a place :)
Where is the pilot, you have the rear gunner but no pilot??
I can see the pilot now, sorry
The Gunner was off the sprue at 07:14 whilst the pilot is still on the sprue 07:30
I know that is a vintage tooling kit, but there is no name for kits from 1990 to 2010. Maybe should we name them?
As far as I was aware, anything can have a vintage. According to various online dictionaries its just from a time period. So this would be "90's Vintage" as it doesn't reflect something that is still currently the case
@@ModelMinutes In the antiquing hobby, "vintage" is used to describe any piece 20 years to 100 years. There's a sub category of "true vintage" (whhhhy????) that is 50-100 years old. And then anything over 100 is antique.
What is going on with the camera as you are glitching out and it's hard on the eyes to watch?
It's probably as its a premier the normal video is probably fine
I'm not sure what you mean by glitching? I do need to look at the white balance a little but as it was a premiere when you left your comment it is possible that because it acts as a stream there was a communication issue causing problems. Also, as a premiere, it is only available in a reduced quality, whilst after the premiere it is available up to 4K
edit - you could be referring to the autofocus changing aspect, but it will do that because otherwise everything would be blurry
@ModelMinutes that makes sense about the autofocus chaning aspect as that most likely was the reason the video looked so glitchy.
It comes with aircrew. Yeehah! So disappointing that modern models generally don’t have them.
It can be a bit hit and miss. A recent model that does have them is the 1/48 Airfix Lysander though, which is cool
@ Thanks. According to Airfix MW so does the new 1/48 Jaguar. Mind you, the pilot figures in my Airfix 1/72 starter set Spitfire V and Tomahawk are vastly different sizes, a quick ruler measuring them as akin to an 8 stone weakling and a 20 stone Gladiator. I love those in the Airfix Short Stirlings I have, such as the gunners with rings for hands, as they are so reminiscent of my youth.
Yes, the "new" 1/72 scale figure is underscale - not sure how they managed it but it is much smaller than the older style one
It's pronounced "Boo-Fig-Ha-Ter" Bristol Boofighater...
It would be cruel to put this next to the more modern tool one, but if it builds up nicely then it was worth a fiver
lol :P
The closer to a vintage plastic models creation date, the more crisp the model is. As time goes by , through the years the plastic molds loss thier quality resulting in poor building qualities.
I personally don't see the appeal of buying, all be it very cheaply, an old tool, vastly inferior kit when better ones are available, in this case by the same manufacturer! It seems to be some kind of horrible, masochistic torture. I grew up building Airfix kits in the early seventies and boy, what a relief it was when the likes of Tamiya, Hasegawa and Eduard entered my world. Why anyone would want to waste their time building the old, nasty stuff is beyond me. I realise the newer stuff is more expensive but you are saved a whole lot of pain by the superior standards of modern kit manufacturing, nostalgia be damned!
I bought it because I did one in my youth and i wanted to rekindle that feeling of modelling wonder I had at the time. I don't think this will be a build I put my heart and soul into, it will hopefully be just a bit of fun
@@ModelMinutes I don't know about 'rekindle', it'll probably douse any prospects of tackling these 'should-be-buried' horrors for good! I understand the nostalgia thing but really, it's like pulling teeth going back to these old fuds . . .
1958! Why are they still putting this stuff out? Looking at those horrible one-piece engines is giving me the shivers! It's just not worth the bother, surely you have better things to do with your modelling time?
they aren't still putting this out though . . as mentioned this kit is from the 90's and was replaced by a new tool in 2015
@@ModelMinutes Oh yes they are still putting this stuff out - what I was referring too was the 'classic' range of kits which this falls into, they were all well and good for the fifties/sixties but are way beyond there use by date now. They only serve as a reference for how far the industry has come and how blessed we are to have the high quality toolings of the 21st century.
I don't think the Airfix Vintage Classics range is necessarily a bad thing. They aren't in the normal box style from airfix so they are clearly "something else" to the casual observer. The boxes are also very clearly labeled with the tooling and release datse on them so anyone who cares to take a look at the box before buying will know that it is not a "modern" kit and should potentially be looked at with some nostalgia.
I would be very surprised if the costs of producing the VC range is as high as new toolings - what with the moulds presumably having their manufacture cost returned a few times over by now. So a relatively low-risk product for the company, which can then use the proceeds to fund further development of newer, more high-quality modern kits.
That is, at least, the way I see it
The separate red dots on the RAF roundels are not for registration reasons! It's because the RAF has copyrighted the roundel and this way Airfix etc dont have to pay to replicate it! Ludicrous.
The RAF will be filthy rich then as I've so many kits where the RAF roundels are in red white and blue.
To the best of my knowledge, that is not entirely true. I can find evidence that they tried to trademark it in 2004 - so much later than this kit was manufactured - and as a result take royalties from sales of branded clothing which features it, but that was overturned.
Whilst they hold copyright of the roundel etc, the question can be asked, does that extend to a historical representation? I don't pretend to know all the nuances etc of this, nor the full information, but if a historic vehicle from a collection is modelled, do they have to pay a license to the RAF for use of the insignia, a license to the manufacturer/designer company of the aircraft and a fee to the specific owner of the specific machine that they have represented in the model?
If this were the case I imagine that all scale modelling design would become prohibitively expensive and no accurate representations of real machines would ever exist.
Whilst it is possible that companies apply to the RAF/MOD for permission to use the insignia for their model kits, given that about 90% of model kits that I have seen manufactured in the past 20 years do not have seperate red dots would lead me to beleive that they were included as seperate decals due to poor registration, and as the technology improved that was no longer required. . .