Airfix James May's Toy Stories

So you think computer games are more exciting than old-fashioned toys?

Maybe you should think again.

With the help of the Great British public, it's time to liberate them

from the toy cupboard, super-size them, and unleash their true potential.

This week, Airfix.

I take a bunch of unruly teenagers...

-Was he what?

-Was he mental?

-No, he wasn't mental!

..and show them the joy of model-making.

It's a bit more for older people, not really for kids.

Is it?

I also realise a childhood dream.

There's England, upside down!

And I have some work done on my face.

I prove that I'm still down with the kids...

-Who's Beyonce?

-You don't know who Beyonce... You're actually joking me?

..all with the aim of building the biggest model aeroplane the world has ever seen.

Do you think it would be possible to replicate the simplest Spitfire kit, but on a scale of 1:1?

No.

If I had to identify the most important influences on my young life,

then, well, my mum and dad would be in first place, obviously.

And then a few outstanding teachers.

And there was a girl called Jane... who developed quite quickly.

But in fourth place, in all seriousness,

would be Airfix.

This is a Hawker Hunter.

I know without having to look at the plaque behind it.

If you're my age, you probably know that as well, because you made the model.

It was always very difficult to get near real aeroplanes.

But by making models, you could have a whole air force from all over the world,

and it all fitted on a tabletop.

It was brilliant.

You might think Airfix is just a cheap pastime,

designed to keep kids off the street and stop them knocking a policeman's helmet off with a catapult.

But it's so much more than that.

It was actually designed to be educational.

I mean, look at the things you can't help learning about if you make models -

aviation, military history,

automotive engineering, space flight,

railway architecture and rolling stock.

Human anatomy, the Industrial Revolution,

lives of the saints and even - if you were a bit soft...

..blue tits.

I think Airfix is good, character-building stuff for young people.

After all, look how well I turned out.

But since the mid '80s, sales of plastic kits have plummeted,

which is why GCSEs have to be made easier these days.

Airfix was the brainchild of Hungarian businessman, Nicholas Kove,

who established the company in 1939,

initially making air-filled toys,

hence the "air" in Airfix.

In 1947, Airfix moved into kits, using the new science

of plastic injection moulding.

Assembling a model from accurate scale parts beat the pants off

carving something vague out of wood.

By the '60s, Airfix was producing over a million kits a month

at its South London factory.

But this was to prove its heyday.

The emergence of computer games soon shot model-making down in flames.

Today, most of the people making Airfix kits are as old as me.

In this scene, filmed secretly in a London model shop, we have obscured their faces

to protect their identities and spare their families.

All of this makes it doubly difficult to get young people interested in Airfix modelling.

Because let's be honest, they've grown up with some pretty remarkable things -

video games, an entire record collection that goes in a little box in your back pocket,

and is never scratched.

All I can offer them is a pile of plastic parts and an old hobby populated by old men.

I want to see Airfix reclaimed by the young.

So I've come to the Thomas Telford School - near Telford - to recruit some 13-year-olds for my campaign.

Airfix demands patience, and the ability to sit still

-for more than five minutes.

-In my spare time,

I'm more of a sporty person, doing Tae Kwon Do and cheerleading.

Normally when I get home, I would either go on the computer or play on the Xbox.

I like to play hockey, I swim,

and I sail at Chelmarsh Sailing Club.

When I was 13, doing Airfix at school

would have been almost as good as a day off because the boilers had broken.

Things may have moved on.

I've got a project which I want you to have a go at.

It is an Airfix model.

This is the very first Airfix model ever made,

the first kit they did from 1952.

It's the Golden Hinde warship.

When that model came out, people about your age and a bit younger went absolutely mad for it.

They thought it was the best thing ever created -

a ship you could build yourself - and they sold hundreds of thousands.

'The 13 year-olds went mad with excitement.

'And, as if I needed to, I offered them a further incentive to get stuck into Airfix.'

And if you do like it, I've got some other Airfix-related stunts and activities lined up

that you can come and help me with. But only if you like it.

If you turn out to be absolutely useless at it, I'll have to go to a school in Yorkshire or something.

When I was a lad, Airfix was a joy,

but a joy tempered with deep frustration.

In this age of shallow fads and swift gratification, it seems that it still is.

And that's good.

No!

-What's happened?

-I just stuck it, and it now it fell, and now they've come loose!

Did you break that in a rage?

-Maybe.

-Maybe. You did, didn't you?

It's fun, it's just really frustrating.

I keep gluing it, but it keeps falling apart.

I think James was interested in this because it was the fashion.

And it was the only thing to do. And it was basically what all boys did.

What don't you like about it?

I think it's a bit more for older people, not really for kids.

-Is it?

-I think so, yeah.

'What I'd forgotten in the last 40 years,

'is that the Golden Hinde is a pretty tricky little kit.'

I can't do it!

This is really difficult now.

'And it's a bit of a boring old boat.'

I think my best chance of reaching the hearts and minds

of today's young people through Airfix

is to ask them to make the greatest, the most popular,

the most iconic Airfix model of all time.

And that is, of course, the Supermarine Spitfire.

Here's one I made earlier.

1975, I think.

'But this won't be a normal Airfix kit.

'I've got something more inspirational in mind.'

Here's my plan. Eventually I want my chosen young people

to join together in making an Airfix Spitfire.

Just one. And for that reason,

the original Airfix Spitfire kit is not really good enough.

I thought they should have something a bit bigger.

And after a bit of thought, I've settled on an Airfix Spitfire kit

on the scale of 1:1.

Full size. As big as the real aeroplane,

but made up from the same parts as the original kit.

I'm not actually sure how to do this. But it can't be impossible.

In fact, I'm amazed it hasn't been done before.

I decide to start at Airfix's HQ, now part of the Hornby empire in Margate.

Here, I intend to feign interest, and then, when no-one's looking,

nick the plans for the original kit.

But Trevor Snowden has worked for Airfix since I had glue on my face,

and he easily sidetracks me on to a visit to Airfix's spare parts store.

First thing we have here, of course, is the spares department,

where if you lose the part, damage it,

then we do in fact supply a replacement part.

If you haven't got the part, you can't complete the model,

and it's one of the things that Airfix pride themselves in,

-that we will replace them.

-This is like the Ark of the Covenant.

In kit form. With comprehensive instructions.

Walking through it is like shining a light into some neglected corner of childhood.

I'd save up for ages to buy one fairly small model,

and then I'd be slightly sad when I'd finished it,

because I'd have to save up again to buy another.

I never had the luxury of thinking,

"I've got too many models to make, I'd better put some in the loft."

-It's madness.

-But you must have some in the loft now.

-I do!

-THEY LAUGH

When I got a bit older, people still bought them for me for my birthday,

but I had discovered beer and ladies by then, so they ended up in the loft, and they're still there.

'Finally, we make our way to the ancient archives.

'Somewhere in here are the plans for a Spitfire.

'Some of these drawings are as old as me.

'And even more fragile.'

Oh, yes!

April 1976. Mark 5.

But it doesn't take much of a leap of the imagination

to see that if you make these bits bigger,

you'd have a kit that would give you a full-sized Spitfire.

-If you see where I'm coming from?

-Yes, sure.

You might want a very big moulding machine!

We can probably get round that.

'After slipping the priceless Spitfire drawings up my shirt,

'I visit one of the factories where Airfix kits are made, with its MD, Paul Blackmore.

'It's a fascinating process.

'These two plates come together to form the mould.

'Hot liquid plastic is injected, allowed to cool,

and there you have it. A piece of cake. Or a Spitfire.'

Do you think it would be possible to replicate

the simplest Spitfire kit, in this form,

on a sprue, but to the scale of 1:1?

So those fuselage halves are as big as a real Spitfire?

-No.

-Why not?

Because of the size and the weight of the tool,

you would not be able to create the physical size of the tool to go on the machine.

'I thought he might say that.

'I have to find another way.

'That's why I "borrowed" the drawing.'

Now, whenever you drive past a historic RAF station -

this is High Wycombe - you will see a Spitfire on a stick.

And I hate to shatter your illusions now, but they're not real.

They used to be in the olden days, but they were far too valuable to leave outside -

they're worth millions of pounds.

So people worked out a way of making replicas, which is what that is.

That's actually a glass-fibre Spitfire.

It is, in a way, already a giant Airfix model.

So whoever made that should be able to help me make my massive Airfix kit.

Down in Cornwall, a company called Gateguards makes these glass-fibre Spitfire lollipops. Job done?

It isn't quite that simple.

Now, some of you will be watching this and thinking,

"These people already make something like a giant aeroplane kit, so what is the problem?"

Well, there are several. One of them is that...

it doesn't actually go together like an Airfix kit does.

Ow.

This is just the fibreglass shell, and this is already fairly weighty.

But because it has to live outside, on a stick,

and it's expected to last for 50 years,

they also add the bit you can see in this one they're restoring.

It's actually built around this massive...steel frame.

And in fact, this replica Spitfire weighs almost as much as a real one, which is nearly two tonnes.

I couldn't lift that.

'Time to meet displaced Brummie refugee, Dave Hobson.

'Can he make me a giant Airfix kit that's strong enough to stand up,

'but light enough for children to handle?'

What I want to know is,

can you make this, like that, in a scale of 1:1?

So that it looks like this, it's on the plastic runners,

and kids and their mums and dads can build it, paint it,

put the transfers on, in a public place,

have a giant community Airfix modelling experience?

But I need a massive kit.

Ooh... Do you actually realise the size of that?

Do you have any idea how big...?

-Is it OK to open this?

-Yeah, fire away.

There's only something like 20 components in it.

To actually build something that size, we'd have to strengthen it up.

If you want it exactly like that...

This isn't the sort of talk that won the Battle of Britain.

HE LAUGHS I'm not being defeatist, we can certainly have a go at it.

It's not that big.

'I know this isn't going to be simple.

'And I know how big a real Spitfire is. But Dave shows me, anyway.'

That's the whole width of the wing that you're asking us to build.

You want me to make that in one structure?

Well, top and bottom halves.

-DAVE LAUGHS

-What?

Make it light, make it strong.

-It's a big structure.

-I know it is, but, you know, I didn't ask you to make a Lancaster bomber, did I?

-But this is totally alien to what we normally do.

-I know it is.

We build structures, like real aircraft,

and you're asking us to build a hollow structure.

It's like that first man who ever went on TV.

He says he didn't know what he was doing, but it's OK,

because no-one had ever been on TV, so nobody knew what they were doing.

No-one's ever done this. You are a pioneer.

You are the Wright Brothers of giant Airfix models.

Their main concern is that if they make it light enough

for my purposes,

it will be too floppy and too weak, and it won't stand up.

Which is why they're getting all worked up about this unsupported wing nonsense.

And admittedly, it's not the sort of materials and methods they're used to.

But they are the nearest we have to a giant kit maker.

So I think they'll do it, actually.

Well, they'll have to do it, otherwise I'll be fired.

I've decided to keep the giant Spitfire as a complete surprise to my Airfix disciples.

They still need more kit practice anyway.

But the question is, should I break them in gently, or make them suffer?

This is a Chieftain tank.

It's a massive great hulk of metal parts, it weighs around 50 tonnes.

But as an Airfix model, which is about that big,

it drives you absolutely up the wall, because all these wheels and tracks

are tiny, little, impossibly fiddly bits.

It really is utterly frustrating.

And, actually, hardly worth the bother.

'I send the package to the headmaster.'

"Dear class, please find enclosed some tanks to make.

"These are quite fiddly, so please be patient and take your time.

"There are two boxes of tanks.

"Chieftain tanks and T62 tanks."

I'm effectively asking modern children to spend a few evenings in the 1960s.

I'd have them eating Spam fritters as well, to get the full effect.

You've got to find that bit, 2A. They're normally numbered.

But here's something I hadn't reckoned with - the dads.

I played with Airfixes when I was a kid all the time.

I had Phantoms, I had tanks, I had everything.

I had aircraft carriers, the whole lot. I'm still reliving my childhood, to be honest.

-Yeah, he's a big kid!

-SHE CHUCKLES

Putting things together, manufacturing something, getting an end result.

-Getting them perfect.

-Trying to get them perfect, paint them,

make them as good as possible.

So the dads get it. But their children are still tolerating me with bemused indifference.

I think Airfix is really evil because of all the little parts, and sticking it together,

and then it falls apart on you when you've worked so hard.

It's a school day, so I've decided we should have a school trip on a bus.

In my day, we'd have amused ourselves by making rude gestures at the lorry drivers.

Do you normally play with mobile phones and iPods on bus trips?

-Yeah.

-Is that all you ever do?

-Yeah!

But let's wait until they see what I've lined up for them.

This will make those long hours at the table getting a thick ear

for putting paint on the carpet seem worthwhile.

The chance to experience for real the thing they made in miniature.

THEY CHEER

Not only is this much better than the field day at the sustainability farming project,

it will help reveal the relevance of Airfix.

Look, the whole point of making models when I was a kid

is that they were supposed to be educational.

The bloke who ran the Airfix models factory was a mad historian.

He was absolutely obsessed with it.

And he thought everybody else should be.

That's why he put on the instruction leaflets little bits of potted history of whatever you were making.

It didn't matter if it was a tank or the model of the human skeleton,

you got the history, you got the story behind it.

That way, you learned stuff. That's what he wanted.

So you must know something about tanks. Was he what?

-Was he mental?

-No, he wasn't mental!

I change tack and try a bribe instead - tank driving with Major Nick.

But even at 13, that part of a woman's brain

that only thinks about shoes is already fully developed.

Oh, my God, I've got my shoes really muddy.

Oh, my God, that's SO not good.

-They're not really tank driving shoes, are they?

-No.

-Can we get our wellies on?

-In a minute!

It only goes down to your skin.

We've come to a museum full of real tanks, and you're worried about shoes and mobile phones!

Pull yourselves together!

And even the boys are holding back.

Don't be soft!

-You don't want to drive the tank?

-No.

-Why not?

-Because I'll crash it.

It's a tank, you idiot! It doesn't matter if you crash it.

Eventually, I order Dan to give it a go.

More power. More power.

More power. lovely!

And a little bit of lift. Well done. OK, off you go!

He doesn't realise it yet, but this is doing him good.

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Pretty cool!

-Dan the man!

We're impressed with that.

Give them a salute. Go on, put your head out and give them a salute.

-Well done.

-Congratulations, Dan.

I'll do anything to persuade this lot that tanks are cool,

and that making models of them must therefore be cool, too.

This next bit's from a low-priced DVD.

-OK.

-Right.

-Give it a bit more.

-That's it, right there.

-About right.

Keep the power up. Plenty of power.

Yeah, flat out, go on.

Oh, yes, I love that noise.

Keep going, keep going, keep going. Keep going, keep going

and there you are.

You'll be all right.

Now, between you and me, viewers, I don't really approve of running over cars with tanks.

It's a bit of a cheap stunt, to be honest, I've seen it hundreds of times,

and it's not exactly sporting, is it?

But 13-year-old kids seem to like smashing things up,

so if that what it takes to get them onside, so be it.

But as impressive as some of this footage might be,

it is now possible, using readily available technology,

to produce something even better using the models.

This is the idea.

When I was about your age, we used to build these tanks all the time,

and the thing we would have wanted to do, more than anything in the world,

is make them into a small film, so we're going to do that with your tanks.

It's going to be the Chieftain tanks versus the T62 tanks.

Now we've got something we used to do when I was a kid, small amounts of gunpowder out of fireworks,

that you put in the tank, that will make the odd one explode with some sparks, which we will film.

-Happy to blow your tanks up?

-ALL: Yeah.

Who said "no?"

You don't want to blow your tank up? Well, that's OK, yours can survive.

-I admire that.

-The lone survivor.

Anybody can blow things up, it takes skill to make something.

I'm going to set it up on its tripod here.

We'll get the shot lined up, and then you can start moving tanks and taking pictures.

After just a few hours on one of the smallest action film sets

in the world, a masterpiece is born.

Right, rolling...

-And moving...

-Wow!

EXPLOSION

-That must have looked quite good.

-HE LAUGHS

This is like Sam Peckinpah's Cross Of Iron,

only a bit jerky in places, and not quite as long.

But it was done with a conventional stills camera and a simple computer program.

The impressive bit is actually the model making.

Blowing your newly-completed Airfix model up with firework gunpowder,

or shooting at it with air rifles was perfectly normal,

it was a rite of passage, but, interestingly,

there was one boy there who didn't want to do it -

the quiet lad, Tom.

He didn't want to shoot at it or blow it up, he wanted to keep his tank that he'd made.

His tank that he'd made particularly well.

Tom will go far, I think.

Tom is not completely alone.

There are signs that the Airfix resistance is cracking.

Airfix is really fiddly and annoying,

but once you've done it, you get a really good feeling.

Like, "Wow, I just did that."

And it's worth it. It's worth all the little...

"Argh" like when you're making it and all that. It's worth all that.

It looks as though I might win this battle after all.

My team of young people have a great deal of what I think is called "promise."

And I wish I could say the same about Dave,

the bloke who's putting the giant Spitfire kit together,

because he's been on the telephone moaning about my requirement

that it should be light enough for young people to handle.

So I'm going to go down and see him, and show him that making it lightly is easy.

But for Dave and his company, this is completely new territory.

They're experimenting with thin layers of fibreglass.

Right, here we go.

Let me do this, first piece of full size scale 1:1 Airfix Spitfire.

While Dave looks on with defeat in his eyes,

I rejoice as the first piece of Spitfire springs from the mould.

Oh, yes!

Look at that! Rivets, screw heads...

Come on, that looks like a piece of Airfix.

Yeah, it does, but you've got so much flex in that.

-But does it matter?

-It may do when you start putting it all together.

Yes, but when you put the other half of it on to make one piece - these are one part in the kit -

then it'll be twice as stiff.

That'll... That'll hold that.

I'm very sceptical.

Well, what if you make it a bit thicker in the key places,

-like at the root...?

-Mm-hmm.

And what if we fill it with polystyrene, make a sandwich,

-that'll give it stiffness without adding any weight.

-You can try that.

My plan is to add polystyrene ribs attached with canoe makers' resin,

rather than the metal bars Dave normally uses.

This should add rigidity without adding unnecessary weight.

We experiment on a test piece.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

As far as I know, this has never been done before,

but nothing here has really been done before.

Now what we'll do is put resin over the top of that.

I'll just resin it first.

Even now, Dave is determined to find fault with my thinking.

And there we have a slight problem,

because we are having a chemical reaction with the polystyrene,

and the resining is melting it, as you can see.

-So that isn't going to work.

-Oh, yeah.

-That's actually disappearing.

-Yeah.

-As we look at it.

-Absolutely.

Oh, yeah, look. That's no good at all, we can't use that.

I'll lose this now before it...

We've at least arrived at a handy household hint -

if you're troubled by unwanted polystyrene packing pieces,

simply dissolve them in canoe makers' resin.

I told Dave that wouldn't work! He will now have to think harder,

and come up with a better idea, and fast.

Despite the problems, I still think the Spitfire is my best option

for inspiring the Telford kids.

After all, they live in true Spitfire country.

Over half of all Spitfires were built in nearby Castle Bromwich,

and that's around 12,000 aeroplanes.

The Spitfire was already a legend at the end of World War Two,

which is why it was the first aircraft model Airfix produced.

It was an incredible success when it was released in 1953.

What's amazing, though, that even in 2009,

the Spitfire remains the most popular Airfix kit.

Why is this? Why are we totally transfixed by an aeroplane

that is chronologically closer to the Wright Brothers than it is to aircraft of today?

It's a very good question. And in order to answer it,

I've decided to indulge myself in some gratuitous Spitfire history.

The Spitfire was the work of the short-lived RJ Mitchell,

and first flew in 1936. It is, as we all know,

the aeroplane that saved the world during the Battle of Britain.

With its rival, the Messerschmitt 109, it ushered in a new era of fighter design -

fast, strong, deadly, but most of all, in the Spitfire's case,

incredibly beautiful.

This replaced a load of clunky old biplanes made out of bedlinen.

Carolyn Grace is the owner of this rare two-seater.

She has flown and loved it for over 20 years.

What is it about Spitfires in particular...? I mean, of all the aeroplanes from that era,

this one is... it just endures in a strange way.

The Spitfire is... It fulfils all your senses.

It sounds wonderful, it looks beautiful,

and it is just superb to fly, and they knew that in the War.

And I think because it's a British design, at its very best,

-I think it covers everything.

-Did you ever make an Airfix Spitfire?

My son did. SHE LAUGHS

-Did he? Did he make a good job of it?

-Richard did.

Well, he never painted them, so he always ended up shooting them or burning them!

Yes, we should point out that Carolyn's son looks after real aeroplanes these days.

Including mine, actually. I might find someone else.

Time to get suited up.

And as with all military clothing, one size is designed to fit no-one.

It's a bit short in the leg, but I'll take it.

-Are you ready to go?

-Ready to go.

Right, here we go, take-off in a Vickers Supermarine Spitfire.

This is the beginning of the ultimate male fantasy.

God, what a racket!

We're flying.

Nice.

Bloody marvellous.

Just have a look at this fantastic and immortal shape, everybody.

But everything was this way for very good aerodynamic reasons.

The slim fuselage is more streamlined, but it's strong.

The elliptical wing, just have a look at them.

They're absolutely fabulous.

-Just pulling up.

-Here we go!

Yeah!

There's England, upside down!

Whoa!

HE CHUCKLES

Aah!

-Oh, it feels like victory to me.

-CAROLYN LAUGHS

Lovely.

Carolyn then fulfils a lifelong ambition for me

with the immortal words, "You have control."

Red section, tally-ho.

-MAKES MACHINE GUN NOISE:

-Tacka-tacka-tacka-tacka!

Sorry, that's a bit childish, but I had to do it.

I don't really want to say anything about that

except that this is a Supermarine Spitfire and I was flying it.

That's enough gadding about as Ginger.

It was time to come down to earth in Cornwall

to see if Dave had cracked the problems with the kit version.

It's now just ten days before my chosen young people assemble the giant Airfix Spitfire kit.

Unfortunately, it's also nearly three weeks

since I heard anything from Dave, who's making the giant Spitfire kit.

For some reason he won't answer the telephone,

he doesn't respond to emails.

I have no idea if he still lives here, even.

I've had to come 300 miles all the way to ruddy Cornwall just to find out what he's up to.

So what you're about to see is a piece of genuine reality television.

He doesn't know I'm here.

I don't know if he is, actually.

Morning, dog.

Why don't you answer the bloody telephone?

-I do!

-You don't.

-Too busy working.

And you don't answer your emails.

-Yes, we do.

-You don't!

-Yes, we do.

You've no idea how nervous I've been about this.

You've no idea how nervous I've been about it, either.

I don't even know that you're doing it.

I'm just sitting 300 miles away thinking,

"Is he making my Spitfire, or has he buggered off to Australia?"

We've been doing test pieces.

'Look at that.

'Big Dave has found a combination of glue and glass fibre

'that keeps the polystyrene supports in place.

'Strength and lightness together.'

So that's, what, half the thickness if it would be

in one of your real aeroplanes?

-Yeah.

-Can I feel the weight?

-Yeah.

I can lift that and I'm feeble.

It's a result! Dave and his team can now forge ahead,

although we've yet to see if this technique is good enough

for the big wing section.

But there's one job I'm not entrusting to Dave -

making the pilot, a critical component.

I'd like it to be a full-size likeness of me

and as the job involves laying hands on me,

I've rejected the big Brummie,

and instead I'm going to visit someone called Poppy

in her Chessington studio... or shed.

-You've heard about this?

-Yes, we have been told.

-Airfix Spitfire.

-Right.

I need to be represented as the pilot,

but I want it to have my face, he's there, I've taken him off.

-He's tiny.

-He is tiny.

So it needs to be in that position - he's holding the joystick and his feet go down into the rudder.

You've got quite a lot of hair, we'll have to get rid of that first.

-You can't take it off.

-We won't be that mean, we'll use a bald cap.

-OK.

-So you can see what it feels like to have no hair!

Then we'll start doing your face first and work our way down the body.

-Right!

-So, are you ready?

Including the joystick?

-Erm, hmm... That might have to be not done.

-OK.

What's the weirdest request you've ever had?

I have been asked about a gentleman who wanted to make his own doorbell

and he said he'd like to use a certain part of his body

as the door pull. We do get the odd people

wanting their bottoms, breasts and things like that.

-Let's just do my head.

-Brilliant!

We'll make sure your nose is still free.

The hessian goes on. OK?

This takes 45 minutes to dry and because I can't see

I don't realise that everyone else has gone for a pint.

I think it's slightly stuck to me.

-That's it, it's gone.

-Yeah.

-Mmm.

-Adjusting your eyes slightly. There you have it!

-Wow!

That's the actual shape... That's pretty good.

Those are the bags under my eyes there, captured for all time.

Several hours later, my resin head is ready to be released from the mould, and appropriately attired.

Good evening. I'm James May, and this is my partner, James May.

No, partner's not right, is it? That makes him sound like a gay lover.

I'm not entirely sure about your eyes, you know, mate.

How do you feel about being part of the world's largest Airfix Spitfire?

You do realise that once you're stuck inside that fuselage,

you're going to be in there pretty much forever,

or at least until someone shoots at you with a giant airgun,

or blows you up with the gunpowder from some giant bangers?

This is turning into a giant project in all senses.

Solo Airfix assembly work at the kitchen table is out.

My modelling apprentices now need to learn to work as a team,

and I know the perfect training location -

the Jaguar factory at Castle Bromwich.

A lot of cars have been made in this factory over the years,

ever since the 1950s.

But the factory wasn't actually built to make cars at all.

What was it built for, does anybody know?

-To build Spitfires.

-It was, made to build Spitfires.

At the height of World War II,

this was the largest aircraft factory in Britain,

covering 345 acres, and employing more than 15,000 people.

Over 300 Spitfires were produced here each month.

The Luftwaffe became so determined to destroy it

that by the end of the war, it had been hit by over 200 bombs.

So, today, we're going to build Spitfires.

And what's more, we're going to make this kit, OK,

but we're going to do it in an organised way, exactly like in this factory.

-Make sense?

-Yeah.

-Can you do it?

-Yeah.

Arrange yourselves around the table.

What I tried to do here was break the making of that Spitfire model

down into very specific tasks.

And then we'd be able to make consistent Spitfires very quickly.

Doing all this whilst watching the cars going past

being made is an inspiration.

-Do you prefer making them like this or individually?

-I prefer this.

-This is more fun, isn't it?

-Yeah.

I used to dream of this when I was a kid.

If you could buy 50 Spitfires at once,

I could get all my mates round, and we could make a production line.

We could make them all in a day, it would be fantastic.

-You don't look very convinced.

-What would you do with them?

Give them away to a museum, or something.

'Or shoot at them, as usual.

'But look at this - they're making Airfix without any bullying from me.

'Although I have said they can't eat until they've made at least six Spitfires.'

Conor, let's just finish our jobs

before we start assembling the cockpit.

-I've only got one more of these to do.

-I'm starting to see evidence of systematic working.

Maybe it happens naturally when you put people together.

But look, there's a propeller assembly line going on there.

There's some instrument panels being made in series there.

And most impressively, come and see this...

This man clearly has the right sort of mind for this.

Look at that. He's ahead. 'Within two hours,

'Spitfires are rolling out of Castle Bromwich once more.'

It's a fantastic effort, because I said this was an easy kit.

It's actually extremely tricky.

It's got very difficult stuff inside the cockpit

and the flaps under the wings. And they've done it excellently.

I'm quite moved by it. I think they're ready.

Well, they might be in the Midlands, but down in Cornwall,

Dave is still not sure that the polystyrene bracing system will be good enough for the bigger bits.

That's the bottom wing.

Now, that across there is 34ft.

And with the wing tips on,

the tips on that side of the wing there,

that then becomes 36ft, because that's the wingspan of a Spitfire.

But they wanted that in one piece.

And then we tried the top wing on, exactly the way it's cut out.

And as soon as we did that, and we put the top wing on it,

it went like that. And that's exactly what we said it would do.

So I don't have any idea if it's going to work tomorrow.

Erm... This is what's taken 16 hours extra to do.

Everybody's so tired now that we're on,

erm, we're past adrenalin.

We've gone past 48 hours of no sleep.

While James is probably tucked up somewhere in bed, fast asleep.

It's the big day. The giant kit has arrived at RAF Cosford.

This is where new Spitfires were fitted out and flight-tested.

Today is also a day of testing.

We're testing the giant kit to see if it will stand up.

Year Eight are being tested to see if they've been listening.

And perhaps most importantly, we're testing Airfix,

to see if the joy this simple hobby gave me as a child can be passed on.

If you just put that one bar across the middle,

that's reminiscent of what this bar would probably look like

across the middle of the aircraft.

'Before the builders arrive, I discover there's a rather pressing issue in the hangar.'

We have a small problem here already.

This is the biggest part of the kit. It's the bottom half of the wings.

It comes in one piece. It is also the part around which

the rest of the aeroplane will be built.

Made the way we decided,

with the thin fibreglass and honeycomb, it's too floppy.

So it has to be strengthened with steel pieces.

Which sort of means Dave was right all along.

But we can edit that out.

The Telford prodigies arrive, still oblivious of the enormity of the Airfix task that lies before them.

Right, gather round, everybody.

-Happy?

-ALL: Yeah!

Good. This is a very important day

for me, personally

cos we're going to do some Airfix.

This is an ambition that I've harboured since I was about five or six years old.

-That's a long time.

-It is a long time.

It's the previous century.

And it's an opportunity for you lot to be a part of history.

ALL: Yay!

-But only the history of Airfix.

-Oh.

But that's pretty good. Cue the doors, sir.

There's the box lid art work.

It's a Spitfire.

When I saw the kit, I was like,

"Oh, my God, we're never going to be able to do this."

Cos it was absolutely massive.

I was really shocked that it was actually that big. I was like,

"How are we going to stick this together with glue like that?"

-It's him.

-That's James!

It's creepily life-like!

This is the biggest Airfix model in the world.

There has never been one this big before.

This is where you have to apply everything that we've learned

about making Airfix models over the past few weeks.

-Still up for it?

-Yeah.

-Right, good.

'The first job is to remove all the pieces from the sprue.

'That's the frame holding them together,

'for those of you who don't know Airfix and are therefore incomplete.'

-Lift.

-'Ellie and Caitlin land the plummiest job in the hangar -

'painting me.'

That's one of the harnesses, isn't it, so that'll need to be black.

Yeah, this will be yellow cos it's the life jacket.

Yeah, and they can be black as well cos they're little toggle things.

But it's not long before we hit a problem.

The steel reinforcements have, after all,

made that big wing piece a bit weighty.

Right, in order to lift that main bottom wing section

and turn it up the other way and put it on the trestles,

we need more people. Cos that really is too heavy for you to lift.

So if you could all go and find one other person.

There's Air Force Cadets,

there's a fat bloke from Birmingham over there.

Some of you have got mums and dads and things here.

Can you help us, please?

Can you help us to lift the wings in there, please?

Yeah, that's fine. To your duties, fall out.

'Luckily, my father has turned up to help.

'Only right, really, because this is all his fault.'

I have to confess, I initiated him with a Spitfire.

That was his first Airfix model.

And we did it together.

It was a gift for him from the local newsagent's shop,

a little Airfix kit.

And then he became a regular visitor to the local newsagent's,

and he saved up enough money to buy the next kit,

and the next kit, and so on.

And now, the lifting of the bottom wing.

I feel a bit for the youths - they have an Airfix model to build

and, not for the first time, dads have taken over.

Keep going.

Mind your backs.

Shall we try that?

That's fine. Happy?

Success.

The biggest piece is in position.

And perhaps more surprisingly, still one piece.

Now, youth's exuberance can be added to the mix, gluing together the two halves of the fuselage.

This is tricky when they're five inches long.

These ones are almost 30ft.

Concentrate on the top edge, and then get it up and get the bottom edge lined up afterwards, I think.

Cos the chances of getting both edges lined up

when they're that floppy are nil, aren't they?

Well, close to, I would think.

-Good thinking, Dad. Let's do that.

-JAMES' DAD LAUGHS

That's my boy!

I've told them 100 times not to use too much glue.

But of course, they don't listen.

And I'm beginning to think they shouldn't.

-Right.

-Yes, boss.

-Are you ready?

Three, two, one...

Glue!

It's not together.

'Superb! The fuselage is now one piece.

'That is set aside to dry while we add the top halves of the wings.'

Three, two, one...

Gently up. Careful.

This way.

Wow!

That's fantastic.

Hee-hee!

I know this is going to sound a bit nerdy and sentimental for a 46-year-old man,

but this is actually something I dreamt about

when I was about six or seven years old -

could you make an Airfix model the size of a real aeroplane?

And there it is, look.

There are the wings of the giant Airfix.

There are the wings of the original kit.

There's the giant Airfix fuselage.

There's the original Airfix fuselage.

I never thought that would actually happen.

And there it is.

That's excellent.

With the aeroplane coming together,

I wonder if Ellie and Caitlin are doing my body double justice.

-You've got a lot of paint on your hand.

-Yeah, we didn't have gloves.

I wouldn't bother cleaning it, you're bound to get more on.

Can you have your lunch quickly and get back...?

We've got to go. That's why we're cleaning our hands.

-Go where?

-Go to see Beyonce.

-Who's Beyonce?

-You don't know who Beyonce...?

You're actually joking me.

You must know who Beyonce is.

You know, American singer?

-What, you're going to a concert?

-Yeah.

So you're saying you're going to go and see "Bee-ons" rather than...

-Beyon-cey.

-Beyon-cey.

You'd rather do that than stay here and paint a big plastic model of me?

-Er, y...

-Erm, we tried to do both.

-Well, you haven't done very well.

You've done the boots, and you've got brown paint on the boots.

-Ellie, that was your...

-Caitlin, that was your half!

-That was your boot, that was my half.

-No, it wasn't.

-Bye.

-Bye.

-Bye!

Honestly, young people, they don't know anything.

With two recruits going AWOL,

and the others more interested in mucking around than doing Airfix,

even I can tell that I'm not winning these kids over.

I think James is like a perfectionist here. So...

He wants everything perfect. It's really annoying.

You're 13, you should be able to do that.

I think James is quite bossy because he is a perfectionist.

-He wants it to be perfect.

-He's a little bit fussy, with the painting,

and how careful you do everything.

OK. Time to change tack.

Time to let the kids do it their way, however much it hurts.

-So you've kept me with my eyes closed.

-Yeah.

How do I see where I'm going?

-Erm...

-Or am I just having a bad moment on approach?

-I think you've just sneezed.

-Just sneezed, OK.

I'm not convinced that he really wanted to let anybody else play with this, other than himself.

You've put a few hairs up my nose as well.

Yeah, we try to make it as realistic as possible.

All right, all right, all right.

He's doing very well not to shoo them all away,

and roll his own sleeves up, and do it all himself, I think.

'I allowed Conor to replace me as foreman. I taught him well.'

There's little bits of blue here and there -

if you want to give it maybe another coat.

You've been a bit messy with that painting there.

You splattered it all over the floor.

-I need someone for a very dangerous job.

-I'll do it.

-I'll do it. I'm dangerous.

-You do everything.

-No, I don't.

'Hoisting the fuselage on to the wings is a top job for any Airfix fanatic.

'But I graciously allowed Tom to be the main man here.'

-You've got to go there and pull that chain.

-What chain?

The chain that lifts the Spitfire up into the air to go on to the wings.

Oh!

No pressure, Tom(!)

-If it breaks, it's your fault.

-If it breaks, everyone'll hate you.

'It's a tense moment.

'If my polystyrene ribbing is not strong enough,

'the fuselage will now break up in midair.'

'The fuselage takes the strain.

'But there is a small problem.'

It doesn't line up, does it?

We didn't think carefully enough about where we positioned this

before we started putting the fuselage on the things.

'We try some adjustments.'

Good.

Hang on, whoa! Hold!

'But even then, we have to resort to a power saw.'

Decent Airfix modellers will know that you sometimes have to trim

the parts very slightly in order to make them fit together properly.

That's exactly what we're doing here.

It looks like a huge amount being cut away,

but that's only because it's a very huge model.

My plane - I mean the kids' plane - is almost complete.

And to show that it really is theirs,

I abandoned the wonderful paint scheme I'd dreamt up,

and let them come up with their own winning design.

Right, they're all pretty good, actually. You've got the idea right.

I think my favourite...

is that one.

The team is working excellently and efficiently together,

largely because I've been made redundant.

Extend the, erm...

the brown spot out by, like... A bit further.

Make it the same shape, though.

Does that make sense?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-I think so.

I begin to think that we - or they -

might actually get this model finished,

and that the young people might even enjoy it.

Oh, look at that!

That's looking like a real Spitfire.

Put it a bit more to the left.

-Conor, are you reaching OK?

-Yep, I'm reaching OK.

Lift it a bit...

'The Spitfire is progressing well, but we're almost out of time.

'And what the workers don't know is that I've arranged for their model

'to be revealed not just to their families,

'but to people who actually flew these planes in the war.'

What sort of quality, or what it's made of, I haven't the faintest idea.

How they're going to build up a right-sized model of a Spitfire,

I think will be extraordinary.

I'm looking forward very much to seeing it, I think it's brilliant.

I expect it to be of a very high standard.

But there is one last, critical job to be done.

Everything that has been achieved up until this moment

is effectively pointless.

Because the true test of this Spitfire is whether or not

it will stand on its own wheels

when the trestles and the props are taken away.

And it's not only the Spitfire that has to rest on those wheels,

it's the reputation of Big Dave from Cornwall.

In the next 10 or 15 seconds, he could be a broken man.

'The wheels are put on.

'And the aeroplane must be winched down

'to see whether it will support itself or fall to pieces

'when the kit and legs take the full strain.'

-It's so close to breaking.

-Yeah.

-Is that officially down?

-It's officially down.

-Congratulations. Good work.

-APPLAUSE

'We've done it.

'The world's biggest Airfix model is complete.'

'And our VIP guests have been waiting long enough.

'It's time to reveal it.'

Be gentle. Be gentle.

Gentle.

'For the first time in more than 60 years,

'the hangar doors of RAF Cosford open to reveal

-'a brand new Spitfire.'

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

But as ours is only a model, we're not sure it will make this next bit.

'Simply crossing the hangar threshold

'is a mighty undertaking for this Spitfire.'

Gently.

Yes!

CHEERING

And again.

Bit more.

And...stop.

Bravo. Well done.

Excellent work. God, that's made me feel quite emotional.

Fantastic.

I don't know what to say.

I know you've done it already, ladies and gentlemen,

but this lot built it and painted it and were very patient.

Give them another round of applause, please.

Absolutely superb. Thank you, everyone.

I didn't expect it to be that big, actually.

I thought it would be a little Airfix model!

So, yeah, I was quite shocked.

All that hard work - end result, brilliant.

-Absolutely brilliant.

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

It was much better than I expected, with all the smoke.

-It made us really proud to see it being pulled out.

-It did.

It was fabulous. Really good.

Beside my dad, my mum has also come along for the unveiling.

What did you think of that, then?

I never doubted for a moment that you and the team

would achieve what you set out to do.

That's a very motherly thing to say, Mother.

I've been practising!

But what did real Spitfire pilots make of our model?

Was it up to scratch?

Ha-ha-ha! I must say, the paint job's good.

They've got the colours right.

Absolutely terrific, it looks just like them. Really very clever.

I can't think how you did it. They were beautiful to fly.

-Congratulations, it's wonderful what you've done.

-Thank you.

I think you can be really proud of yourself.

We must have done a good job,

because we earned the approval of none other than the general manager

of the RAF Museum at Cosford, Alex Medhurst.

-I'd put it in our exhibition.

-You would?

-Oh, yeah. Definitely.

-Will you?

-Yes, I will.

-We haven't got a home for it.

-I will.

-Excellent. There you go. It's got a home.

THEY CHEER

I've got a bit of a lump in my throat. I might have to go away.

But the real test for me is, did a new generation enjoy it?

Or have I put them off Airfix for ever?

I do feel proud of what we've achieved.

We've made a whole life-sized Spitfire out of Airfix.

I think that because of doing that,

I probably will actually do a lot more Airfix in the future.

Yeah, there might be more Airfix in the future. Hopefully big ones.

I think some of the boys will probably carry on building Airfix models.

Whether the girls will or not, I don't know.

But my house is now full of Spitfires, so thank you very much!

So, you see, it's just possible

that this great old hobby still has something going for it.

And our Spitfire can stand as a monument to what it's all about.

One day, these children will be as old as me.

But maybe they'll bring their children to this museum,

and they'll look at the Spitfire that they built,

and they'll say, "That's what it was all about.

"That is the spirit of Airfix."

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