Kit Review - Airfix Prince Part 1 Box Open. Finding Airfix Rare Kits
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2024
- I had searched over many years for this kit then finally managed to snaffle a very rare original Airfix Price still in it's factory bag. It had suffered a little damage over the last 4 decades of storage but nothing I could not easily fix. The moulding is superb and the detail is just amazing.
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00:00 Intro and Waffle
09:53 The kit parts
17:37 The correct scale
24:15 Broken bits
31:52 Instructions
39:55 Summary 
Развлечения
I got the same kit for Christmas when I was a kid, about 40 years ago. I still remember the feeling when I opened the gift wrapping and saw that cover. 🤩
It is an impressive kit… thanks for commenting
I built HMS Prince in 1976 while on school holidays at my Grandparents place. I cannot remember if I got it as a birthday present or at Christmas the year before. I was 16 at the time so my painting skills weren't the best, but it was painted. Managed to talk my Grandfather into buying the paints to paint it. I didn't put sails on it and I rigged it with white cotton knocked off from my Grandmother's sewing kit. Fun times.
Those were good times... we knew nothing, but we built our kits with joy and abandonment.
I'm 61 now and when I was a kid living in Carrickfergus Nr Ireland at age ten,this was the first sailing ship model I bought with pocket money I had saved...I've been hooked ever since...thanks for the memories
Matt from Brisbane
I could never afford it as a kid... but now in my second childhood I can have my toys!
Love your sense of humor and your channel...Matt
Carrickfergus? I lived there for several years more recently. Was there a model shop there? In Belfast, many newsagents etc sold Airfix models well into the 1970s. Woolworths was heaven. I live in Bangor now (across the lough) where there was an actual model shop until a couple of years ago.
15 mins ago a managed to get a Red-stripe box of this one, for about 50 USD. Boy am I happy :)
You sir certainly got a bargain!
@@HarryHoudiniModels Shoukd I maybe keep it and try to find a white-box to bulid instead? Problem is those are almost ALEAYS from the US... Too expensive shipping for me.
A White box is always my preference, but as the Prince was very rare and did not have a continuous run, wearing out the moulds, like the Airfix Victory, your kit might not be bad. What is the plastic like? Does it have excessive flash?
I have a model kit of the HMS Prince from 1976. Never started building, bag still sealed.
It would be worth quite a lot now.. they are getting very rare
The painting alone would take me the year. As usual Harry you have found a true giant of a kit and I shall look forward to maybe seeing you start it late 2021 early 2022. Awesome detailing on everything.👍👍
Thanks Ratty hippy blue beer👍
What a lovely kit and quite substantial, this will keep you busy for a long time :) I appreciate your knowledge on the subject, like all the special terms for the components of the ship. Shows that you have experience with that stuff!
Thanks bit I got tongue tied and mixed up the bulwarks with bulkheads and beakheads! ooops
Captain H...Happy New Year from the USA...Superb walkabout the kit & ship history...Appears the build will require a man of "patience & superior intellect"...You're 50% there😉...LOL...Looking forward to future progress updates!👍
Agree, I'm pretty sure H.H. is patient LOL
hmmm Patience no.... Procrastination yes!
Well with an IQ of 140, I guess the Patience is missing?
G’day from Oz. Mine arrived today from the UK all sealed, and was I excited too! A couple of dead eyes loose but that was all. Brings me back to when I was a teenager and had it then. All the best.
I feel your joy! Enjoy mate.
Hi Harry, greetings and a happy new year from Scotland. Just found your channel and subscribed... great review. Looking forward to watching your progress and catching up on your earlier builds and reviews.
Welcome aboard! Hundreds of videos to watch. Enjoy
I remember that model from the late 70s. I was doing my HMS Victory at the time thinking it might be one Ill do later.
Hard to find now... much more detailed than Airfix’ Victory
Harry Happy New Year. An interesting review as always and it looks as if 2021 will be a busy one. Take care and I hope it gets out of the stash soon and we will see the detailed paint and rigging work. It is always a delight to witness your enthusiasm and knowledge and it will take us out of our Coronavirus lockdown fatigue. Best wishes and stay well.
Happy to share and love it if you get distracted from the grind for a while mate.
Happy New Year, Harry . Nice kit, looks like a fun build. Nice way to start the New Year.
Yes it is a beautiful kit and one I am very much looking forward to building this year
Just recently found one and bought it up so I plan to build her after I finish my 1/350 HMS Sheffield and USS Texas 1898 kits. Mainly as a gift for my grandma as she loves sailing warships. This video just made me more ready to start her
It’s a lovely kit.. enjoy
@@HarryHoudiniModels it looks like a great kit.
Love this kit and looking forward to seeing it built.
You and me both
Well done with the kit. I've seen the real model in London when I lived there and its a beauty - photos of it online will give you much reference as you'll know doubt have seen. I've got a very early Airfix Vasa kit, which I'm looking forward to doing. Since Airfix did the Vasa kit the research on the paint scheme used on the preserved ship has thrown up a much revised colours, especially on the rear galleries. This will take an age to paint, but is an absolute riot of colour and will make the model quite stunning to look at compared to what was known when Airfix did their kit.
Have a look at Alex Modeling Wasa. He did a super paint job. Rigging and sails however were not his strong point then. But he’s got better over the years.
This kit looks great! Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching! My pleasure
Nice review. Great score! It'll be nice to see what you do with it. Thanks HH.
Thanks 👍 On my list for later this year after the Napoleon
This is one of Airfix best ship models, I built this many years ago, and I still have it on my shelves 😎
As I suspected... I better do a good job then... do you have photos of your build?
i have built this kit 4 times over the last 50 years, it is superb and my fave kit of all time, look forward to seeing your progress
You pulled it apart and rebuilt it 3 times?
@@HarryHoudiniModels no, i just wanted to a better job than the previous time
Ah yes of course... silly me :)
I remember getting this kit as a kid, wayyy back in the 1970's as a Christmas present, along with a Hercules aircraft and a Hovercraft, also Airfix. It was the only sailing ship I've ever built, but I remember it being a great kit. Brings back happy childhood memories mate !!
I’m glad it gave you some nostalgia Simon… Airfix always does that for me
What a great find Harry. Considering it's age I think it is in pretty decent shape. A build to look forward too.
Absolutely it will be the highlight of my model ship building
Happy new year
That’s a very nice looking Tall ship , always loved the Sailing ships
Happy new year! Yes they have a charm about them...
Great review Harry,
Built this ship back in the late sixties. The kit cost less than 1 pound sterling back then.
All those Airfix sailing ships were fun to build and mums sewing box was always being raided for cotton thread and the thicker thread used for sewing on buttons.
Quite a few sites mention the quality of the plastic back then. Maybe the oil crises of 1973 caused cost cutting that led to the deterioration of the plastic? I know it affected the quality of vinyl records around that time.
I think they just got lazy and use the soft plastic... Tamiya still uses the harder plastic to this day.
Harry I can’t wait till you do this kit. I have one that I want to do up well and look forward to your treatment. I’ve been opening up all the gun ports for starters. My big question is how to do the shrouds and ratlines and the correct colors for the hull to make it look like an admiralty model. Love your channel and all the waffling!
If you have a look back at my Revell Bounty build playlist I show my wood effect-techniques and have many videos on rigging and ratlines. I will do all of that again on the Prince build starting hopefully next month.
ruclips.net/p/PLNv64WC6Itdy9i2sbO8e8sugpnDSXD_PW
This kit has always been my favourite Airfix ship kit and I looked at it on Ebay at the same time as you (your comment on the model without the hull dated it) I look forward to seeing your build.
ha! so there you go.... who would buy the kit without hull halves? Unless you wanted spare 1:138 parts?
@@HarryHoudiniModels not a modeler but in these modern times if you have the hull could you have it scanned and 3d printed? Then use the other parts from the part kit. Look forward to seeing the build.
Hi Harry. Another great video. The dockyard you mentioned where it was constructed (Chat-ham, not Cha-tham BTW) is a brilliant museum now. If you ever find yourself in England I'd happily treat you to a day out there (serious offer!) 🙂
Cheers from Mat in England 🇬🇧
A free lunch! yippee! ... and yes my Aussie tongue finds it hard to enunciate your limey words hehe
Wow! Super detailed! That’s going to take some painting! 😳
I have invested in more gold paint, gold pencils and will order a gold Molotow pen
Gold pencils , gold paint and gold pens . You should put a sign over the door to your workroom that says "El
Dorado".
Just call me mista Midas!
Found a shop in Melbourne who stock not only the Molotow metallic gold pens, but a full range of colours. We can draw the detail on our models!
I viewed your BOUNTY Model...Quite nice for the scale, sir. It would be interesting to view how you will address PRINCE. I had lost my first one 40 years ago and have had the good fortune of a rebuild this past Fall -purchasing it on ebay...And you're correct about 'time and chance'. These are not easily attainable.
I will be working on my version of PRINCE in the hopes of completing it this Spring. I plan to have it fully-rigged and complimented with custom sails. Again, I look forward to viewing your build. thanks for sharing!
We are but some of the lucky few...
great review arry ,, good info about the mouldings ,, will keep a eye out for this one now ,, looks good ,, wonder why airfix hasnt re released it ?? ,, may be one day !!.
I wonder if they lost the moulds? You can still get the Wasa, Cutty Sark and Victory
hi there. you are lucky to get this kit, since Hornby have taken over us ship modellers have been forgoten. its ok if you like planes ! we were lucky to get the endeavour that came out last year, i have not seen the Royal Sovereign for many years, all down to the circus clowns at hornby.who even made a circus train the other year.so that says it all, happy new year from us in england
I can’t recall an new sailing ship kits in years, except those pretty basic ones from Zvezda. The fictional Archeron, and maybe that Brig. I think the 1:72 Black Pearl is just a rework of an old IMAI Spanish Galleon?
Ah that chocolate brown plastic. Brings back memories 😍
It just looks so delicious Basil ;)
Have you seen the UPC HMS Prince kit? It's hull is done Admiralty style (bottom unplanked). However, only the hull is Prince. Masts and deck is HMS Victory. As to the lanterns, I have chopped the middle out, replaced the side supports with wire or sprue, and used Mikro Krystal Klear to represent the glass to good effect. You could add a small bulb with little trouble. Easy peasy.
Thanks, great idea for the lanterns
My first Airfix ship model i ever made back in 76!
Wow a big project for your first ship model.
@@HarryHoudiniModels
We have to start somewhere! Didint came up to good any way,but it got better there after.
This ship looks like a floating wedding cake. :D
Would taste a bit crunchy
very nice harry video builld would be good ?.happy new year to you and bask
Yep full build video planned... won’t be much scratch needed on this one, just some additions to the deck.
Ahoy marinari 😮
Ahoy there matey
harry, when do you think you will start the build? very much looking forward to it!!
Should get started next month. I have been very unwell this year, as I have talked about in my videos, but am getting better now. Just need to get a few WIP off my bench then I will make a start on the Prince.
Looking forward!
Coming soon... I have an Airfix St Louis rescue project on the boil right now.. not planned just happened out of the blue.
I am happy with Louis too :)
Just had a recent ebay delivery of one of these. Like you I've been trying to get one for a while at a decent price. The box is pretty smashed up so I was terrified to look inside. What a relief, considering it was rattling about loose, all is ok and everything there. Just a few bits had been glued onto the deck but nothing to worry about. The instructions are the delightful early ones, with each part described properly. So I'm delighted, the early mouldings are as crisp as can be.
I used to live in London and examined the original model in the Science Museum many times and can confirm the accuracy of this Airfix kit. The only things missing are the woodworm holes! Such a shame the company didn't produce more sailing ship kits after that first flush in the 60's. The Bounty is a bigger scale and is delightful. I've got a rare survivor in my stash, the St Louis. You are right about the original plastic quality which is so superior to modern rubbish. Considering this is over 40 years old, it is just as good now as it was then. Incredible!
Great pick up... these kits are getting very few and far between now.
Prince had a remarkably long career, having been launched as a 100-gun ship in 1670. In 1692, she was rebuilt and renamed Royal William, and served with distinction in the War of Spanish Succession. She was again rebuilt in 1714, and laid up in ordinary. In 1756, she was recommissioned and cut down to an 84-gun 2-deck ship, and again served with distinction throughout the Seven Years War. At the war's end, she was again laid up in ordinary, and served as a receiving ship, until she was finally broken up in 1813, after a career of some 143 years.
Because of her long life, the model raises the question of whether and how it could be modified to show her later in her career, either as a 100-gun ship ca.1692 or 1714. The more adventurous might consider building her as an 84-gun 2-decker. The basic problem, though, is I have never been able to find plans or even a detailed picture of her in these later iterations. Has anyone else ever done this, or considered giving it a shot?
Thanks for the history
So you're the guy that outbid me!
The quick and the dead mate... hehe
Gorgeous Ship there y'auld salty sea dog, wouldn't mind keeping an eye out for this one myself, I did the Old Style Box Airfix 1/180 H.M.S. Victory that's a beautiful kit too. Just a thought, if you want to do a video review of a kit that has dark plastic and is not easy to show, maybe cut video after opening the kit, and then take the kit outside and spray the whole sprues with a grey auto primer before showing them on video, they should show up well on camera after that !. Can't wait to see this one finished, especially with all the gilding.
So paint the sprues before doing a review? Kind of defeats the porpoise..... just ask Flipper! You will see the sprue parts photographed clearly at the end of the video, also as I paint and build the model.
Also if you use auto primer... you will lose most of the fine detail. For goodness sake man. Buy some Stynylrez!
@@HarryHoudiniModels Never heard of it, besides I have used grey auto primer on every single model I have ever built with no loss of detail whatsoever..........I live in Denmark and there are simply no model shops at all here, so have never seen or heard of "Stynylrez".
Here... this will change your life! www.super-hobby.dk/products/SNR-203-Stynylrez-Primer-Black.html
@@HarryHoudiniModels Cheers for that mate ! I have been buying stuff through Super-Hobby for about a year now as it's really cheap and the stuff actually comes from Poland, strange that I have never heard of this stuff but will happily give it a go. Thanks for that Harry !
So , when you cut open the bag with the hull parts , did that 1980's Heller air smell like a French cathouse? Looks like a nicely done kit .
Sadly that hole in the bag had let out all the Parisian odour many years ago. But the box does have a strange smell.. probably DDT to kill any bugs in transit.
Interesting info about the flags. Looked like the Union flag only included England and Scotland.
Being a French produced kit, I was surprised that it didn’t come with a white flag as well! 😬
Now, now... it is a Royal Navy vessel. Their captains go down with the ship.
Oh wonderfull waffler! If i remember right, the original ship was the first english warship with three complete gundecks, built by one of the Phineas Petts [check with Drachinifel! yes i will, ahah!] and the Airfix kit is excellent for it's day- But so many people opened it and said 'Oh my, so much fiddly bits!", is why so many of the old kits are still around-Great review!
Thanks
Harry was the colour of the flag used denoted by the sea rank and status of the admiral in charge by then ? (ie Red, White and Blue ensigns ? from the Napoleonic war ?).
For this period the Royal Navy used the Red Ensign exclusively. The plain red flag denotes the fleet group/squadron. This page explains all the meanings for you: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_command_flags_of_the_Royal_Navy
hi Harry, well done for getting the Prince ,the royal sovereign is also hard to get.the made in china models are useless the moulds are shot and the plastic is different, have been doing these since the early 60s. when they were made in england in Wansworth haldane place.anyway greetins from england
I have the White box Airfix Royal Sovereign, Revenge, Cutty Sark and Wasa. Yep, the plastic is so much better.
The only problem I have with the sailing ship kits is that the scales are all over the place. When displayed together, it gives a distorted impression.
Generally there are plastic sailing ship kits around 1:100, 1:150 & 1:200. If you really need a realistic comparison then you will have to limit your builds to one of those three scale ranges.
Not necessarily so (relative to Airfix)...Three ships are the same scale, but only a hairline off in various areas of build. The three that are actually at 1:180 scale are: Royal Sovereign, HMS Prince and HMS Victory. The pitfall in each build can be the upper cannon lengths, boats, capstans; and to a degree -anchors.
I've modified Royal Sovereign (Sovereign of the Seas) and am currently modifying HMS Prince. There is great detail to be found when doing this and everything will match the 1:180 scale when finished...classicshipmodelminiatures.blogspot.com/2021/02/hms-prince-c1670-art-of.html
Fairwinds!
I am sure you know this already. But, your model I think comes from the first production runs, because of the instruction sheet. HMS Prince was almost the last sailing ship model produced by Airfix and I think it was first on sail in 1971 because I did make it before I stopped modelling back then. their release before Prince was Royal Sovereign, commissioned about 20 years before the real Prince, replace the plastic sails with silk, add wood veneer and apply gold leaf it would become hard to spot the difference with the original admiralty model. The cannon are mostly similar to HMS Victory and I am sure one could source mini metal cannon, some fettling and the lower deck cannon and fine metal pipping the results would be spectacular. There was never any supplied thread for rigging, the rigging instructions are not detailed, but then as you know full rigging would add hundreds of hours.
Yes I know it already :) It was listed in Airfix 1968 Catalogue but my edition is the 1983 moulding from the Meccano factory, Calais, France.
www.vintage-airfix.com/airfix/large-scale-classic-ships/hms-prince-p-313.html
Hi Harry great review, as I said to you on Fb I have this kit too in my stash, like you will probably be later on in the year before I get round to her, she is truly a mouthwatering kit.
Like you I will probably replace all the deadeyes and as you say the painting in itself could take up to 2 months maybe longer depending on how much time you can spend on it.
Will definitely be watching your build of this when it happens keep up the great work.
Let me know how you progress with your build. I am thinking of getting a Molotow Gold pen to do all the gilding. If it is as good as their chrome pens it should look fab.
@@HarryHoudiniModels Will do Harry, have a few other projects on the go atm.
I have never used the Molotow pens before, are they that good? Is their a certain type I need to use?
I guess I always thought of using pens and airbrushes as being slightly lazy or cheating, always just used normal paint brushes no matter the scale or model.
The Chrome pen is brilliant when you work on model cars or bikes. Seamless brilliant chrome. Only works on small areas like touching up sprue cuts. Alex Modelling uses their pens a lot on his ship models with superb results
@@HarryHoudiniModels What size of pen would you recommend, I see on ebay they range from 2mm upwards.
Ship of the line, when I was a kid, these would be under a fiver to buy, the worse thing was always the deck being glued to both hull sides, then the other decking. Such a long time ago
You might be thinking of the 1/350 kits… this one is a tad bigger and I know when it came out I could not even save enough pocket money to afford one
Maybe you can cast the lanterns? Obviously Milliput might not be the right material...;-) Or maybe some aftermarket brass parts?
hmmmmm cast them in PVA glue... they will dry clear! Genius!
@@HarryHoudiniModels Might be too much shrinkage, but worth a try. I used epoxy resin a lot in the old days; but you can get bubbles. Maybe commercial resin to cast water will do...
Sadly the original admiralty model is no longer on display at the Science Museum (South Kensington). A good few years ago the entire model ship collection was crated up and is in storage (At Greenwich if I remember correctly).
Instead that area is now a big open space with a few interactive touch screens spattered with kiddy boogers and sticky finger prints. They call it progress.
Well that sucks
Yep, don't know why they still call it the Science Museum - play school would be more appropriate.
Removing the ship collection is a national scandal. Most are in storage at Chatham, with only a few on display. Greenwich Maritime Museum did the same about the same time. Unbelievable.
Not bad for being stuck i a box for forty years !
Ha ha yes it survived relatively in tact... I can make it ship shape.
By any chance, do you know how much this kit weighs Harry? I ordered this kit a while back and the shipping company I'm using is making me pay for the price of a 3.93 kg parcel, which is heavier than Heller's 1/100 Victory and that thing is huuuuge. Even if we take into account the packaging for transport it still seems a bit too heavy.
Just thought I'd ask cus I'd like some perspective from someone who owns it.
It certainly is a sprue filled box and cost me $90 CAD postage from Canada to Australia, but it’s no where near as heavy, and half the box size of the Heller Victory. I will weigh the box later just out of curiosity.
Here we have The Prince something to test our feline claws on😊 😮 Get your very fingers on The Prince It will tourned out to be from a pardon my French from a " Dauphine "to a King 😊
Mais bien sûr mon ami, de pauvre à empereur. wallah!
Modele reduite would translate in Sweden as down under as a shrinked version of the same real deal Keep the bubble wraps as a treat to any Bask feline H 😂❤
Thanks for the translation Mike. I still like “model redo it” LOL
@@HarryHoudiniModels As you qoute It is an impression of the real thing in scale and there is where yours truly enters the stage
At least a Frog watched... ^^
Lovely... here’s a snail :)
@@HarryHoudiniModels IWell, thank you for your gift, alas I never could eat snails, but I always appreciated frogs' legs sauteed in butter with parsley and garlic.
We have lots of Cane Toads here... I will send you a bag. Bon appetite!
Hi Harry, can I check if you have built this kit? I have just bought this kit off ebay and my it cost a bomb, USD 165 and its the special edition that came out in the 1990s; the latest issue of this kit; it is not that crisp and some of the details is not that fine.
As luck would have it Fook, the build starts this week after a healthy bribe from one of my subs, to encourage me to get on with it. She will be a slow build as I have other jobs pegged for completion this year. Sounds like you got that awful plastic from Heller when Airfix was in trouble in the late 90’s. Still it should come up well enough with some patience and fettling.
Hi Harry, many thanks for your swift reply. Glad that you will be start building the kit and I look forward to watching your build. I am sure I will pick up many tips from watching your videos especially in painting of the kit. My hand painting and air brushing skills are very rudimentary. @@HarryHoudiniModels
My skills are just rude LOL
@@HarryHoudiniModels Looking forward to that! I managed to find an MPC reboxing of this a couple of weeks ago after having seen this video yonks ago. A few bits missing but nothing huge that I can't replicate. I was thinking of drilling out the windows and lighting it. Is that blasphemy?
Not blasphemy at all… go for it… it’s all scale modelling
So do you have any pictures of your hms victory from heller
I do on my Facebook page
@@HarryHoudiniModels okay thank you very much
What is your name on Facebook
Harry Houdini Models
the link is at the bottom of the description of everyone on my videos
facebook.com/HHModels
Haven’t built it yet... but in the Bounty album should be a photo comparing the hull sizes
the HMS prince is in the Assassin's Creed Black Flag
Good to know
And its called the ghost ship
Набор напоминает Виктори от той же фирмы , исполнение и делали похожи .
Yes it is
I get the feeling I lost to you bidding on this one with my Scomo money 🤣
The quick and the dead mate... another will come up... only took me 3 years to find this one :) Anyway you can enjoy my build vicariously.
@@HarryHoudiniModels I settled for the Royal Soveriegn after losing this one. I am glad it went to another Aussie, not many of us that I've found who make the old sailing ships
We are a strange breed of string loopers and hull scrapers.
@@HarryHoudiniModels purchased mine today!!
brilliant!
As if! Just finished the napoleon vid and now this! Spoilt!
I build build the Nappy first, as promised. Prince later or next year