As Fast as an Arrow Airfix Kit review of an Arial Arrow Motorcycle rare kit from 1960s

[@ronaldbyrne3320]

Almost got swept away by the wave of nostalgia that just came out of the screen Harry. 🤣 What a great find. It is so worth it even if it did cost you a bomb. 😊

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Yes it is a link back to my past and many happy days spent in my bedroom making models.

[@eugenegilleno9344]

At 76, I can happily say I’ve bought and built several of these Ariel Arrow kits……not only that, I’ve actually owned an Arial Arrow Super Sports….ridden the pressed steel frame machine, heard the fantastic sound of a two stroke twin, and smelled that fantastic aroma of two stroke fumes coming out of tinkling exhaust. You’ve got to have one to appreciate it !😁👍🏼. PS: I cleaned the plugs each weekend.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Great story.. thanks for the feedback Ron

[@judebrad]

Nice memories of building this back in the 1980's

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

I bet you did Jude… thanks for watching

[@Rich77UK]

My dad has a BSA Bantam as a reminder of his youth. I bought a similar era to this kit Airfix BSA C15 (iirc). Beautiful box art. I didn't build it..I framed it in a box frame. I also did a same era kit of a Ford Mk1 Escort (I'm a Mk1 Escort nut) by Airfix that's on my wall. Again. Beautiful box art.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

The box art really draws you in and no doubt helped make many sales

[@PeterESmith-hn6ll]

Thanks Harry, always love a good FARK !

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Don’t we all Peter

[@BobbyG-bp9xr]

Gorgeous little kit Harry. It's like being a kid again when you open one of these old boxes! Love it! Happy birthday mate for next week. 👍 🎉 Take care Bobby

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Thanks Bobby. Bask and I are the same age now… if you account for cat years.

[@BobbyG-bp9xr]

@@HarryHoudiniModels 🤣🤣👌

[@leddyzee247]

Happy Birthday Harry

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Many thanks Leddy

[@davidjennings9128]

What a beautiful kit Harry

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

It is a lovely old find.. so happy I finally found one.

[@babylonsburning1]

Nice little kit. Shocked by how clear the windscreen and lights were. They don't make 'em like that these days. Good health sir.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

It is a classic

[@axelvanderminne2124]

Good one mate! Portugal is where I got mine last year too, but that was the Series 1 bag. Made me feel like that kid again in the model corner in shop selling household goods

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Good find Axel. My first model kit was an Airfix Spitfire in the bag.

[@garymarkham2165]

Haha, my earliest kit I think was the Airfix Jet Provost. Came in a plastic bag with cardboard header and cost 12 cents. I've since got 2 more, one interestingly, is made by Toltoys in NZ !

[@Lambonights]

My brother used to have an Ariel Square Four! Awful thing, was always overheating! I never even knew Airfix did the Arrow. Will look forward to when you start on it, Harry. 🙂 As for me, still fighting this Bounty here. Lots of bits missing, well it is a kit from the '50s, so I've been scratch, scratch and scratch again, building. 😀 And oh! Many happy returns to you and Bask on your birthdays! 🥳

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Bask says thanks

[@Lambonights]

@@HarryHoudiniModels 😸

[@VulcanDriver1]

I had that when it was first released. Just loved the design of the real thing

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

A very unusual motorcycle. Marmite bike. Love or hate it, still a great model

[@MichaelCampin]

I still have all my Airfix motorcycles from the late 1970s , they may be a tad dusty but you can see that they are proper kits.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Proper kits indeed Michael

[@brianartillery]

Nice old kit, originally made by Kitmaster/Rosebud - Airfix bought all their railway and lineside model tooling, and the Ariel Arrow was a bonus. I had an uncle who owned a real Ariel Arrow, and it was his pride and joy. I remember being told, when I was a kid, not to touch it. It really was a beautiful machine. How long ago? Well, Uncle George originally had one of those white cork crash hats, and later got a black 'piss-pot' skid lid, worn with old pilot type goggles.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Great story. Thanks Brian

[@onixfieroandscalemodelworks]

Pretty neat kit. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you build it.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Don’t hold your breath… lots on my bench to get through first

[@markgordon2260]

I have faint memories of building one of the Airfix motorcycles over 55 years ago... I cannot recall which one.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

My memory is getting like that too Mark

[@crisslastname9417]

Nice kit!

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Thanks Criss

[@musoseven8218]

Farking marvellous! 😲🤫🤭🤭 Happy birthday to both of you👍💜✌️🙏 That era of Ariels was weird but wonderful with the air-streaming (also to keep commuters clean from grease, oil, the weather in Blighty). It's going to be a fab build and model👍👍💜💜✌️✌️😊😊 Do people still just collect rare kits and not build them🤔🤔

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Thanks Muso… yes the 50s and 69s had some beautiful streamline vehicles

[@anthonylichfield3540]

Hello there Harry and bask the cat. yes it was originally made by rosebud kitmaster they made mostly railway engines. You can still buy them as the molds for the trains are now owned by dapol. I think airfix still have the airial arrow though. Happy birthday to you both and happy modeling everyone 🎉👍🍺🍺🐱

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Thanks Anthony… the original moulds may be long gone now after the purge the new owners did in the 80’s when they sent lots of old toolings to the dump.

[@cosmarendy8417]

A great find Harry. Enjoy.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Thanks Cos. Will do

[@rogerbowen5753]

Nice little kit. Wouldn't be beyond the realms to 3D print a new set of wheels with finer spokes.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

That would not be difficult at all…

[@russhodges8218]

If you do print some Harry I'd buy a set for mine. Mine cost £80 but as they say hard to find. You might want to check out an airfix kit called ton up Tony same bike but cartoon like rider .

[@michaelvalenzuela2528]

Vroooommm, vroommm , no more beans for me. Groovy review.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Well it was the sixties.. everything was Groooovy man!

[@michaelvalenzuela2528]

@@HarryHoudiniModels Except for my face, it wasn`t then but it is now, Happy Modeling.

[@george_364]

A rare thing indeed, the only motorcycle model I ever build.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Thanks for watching

[@CraigDavies.]

Lovely, I'm looking for this one just got the BSA c15 this week to add to my 2 BMW r69's and Honda cb450. Kit master originally made the Ariel and BMW. Interesting to note the early version of the BMW has injector pin marks on the outside of the frame where the later version does not.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

I never noticed when I made my BMW…. might have been an earlier kit

[@stuartwren5526]

Didn't know Airfix did motor cycles ! How many types were manufactured? Greatly video. 🇬🇧

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

4 larger scale ones and a tiny 1/72 for their Lancaster ground crew set www.scalemates.com/search.php?fkSECTION%5B%5D=Kits&q=Airfix+motorcycle

[@eugenedubey1758]

I like the 50's styling, a chick magnet no doubt. Nice kit, lots of worthy detail, and well moulded.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

I would ride one

[@sammy_dog]

FARK Harry you sure do know how to find em

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

I hang around sleazy bars…. oh you mean the kit?

[@sammy_dog]

@@HarryHoudiniModels yes Harry the kit lol

[@toniarudd8947]

My brother had a very early Airfix Arial arrow with a figure

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Good to know

[@CraigDavies.]

Ton up Tony. Very rare.

[@robertgrimsted877]

On your bike Harry ha ha I think it’s a great kit but spokes are bit crap but I reckon you can sort them out 😀

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Yes Robert that may be a job for CAD and 3D printing

[@shanewaterman4125]

When I was at junior school (68-72, age 7 to 11) one of the teachers used to ride to school on an Ariel Leader. It looked archaic then! Uber-retro now. Don't know whether it was us kids taking the pi** out of it relentlessly, but a couple of months before I left (July 72) he arrived on a spanking brand new Honda CB750!!! Needless to say his street cred rocketed....

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Quite a step up from a 250 two stroke scooter to the hairy chested 750cc Honda. Which one held its value more after all these years?

[@shanewaterman4125]

@@HarryHoudiniModels hard to say actually. Don't know if you get a programme called Bangers and Cash in Oz? It's about Mathewsons - a classic vehicle auctioneers in Yorkshire. They've had both bikes come through their sales and both make surprisingly good money (around £8k for the Honda and, i think, about £5 for the Ariel) Completely different buyer for each and, sadly, the prices on 50's bikes are now dropping because the buyers interested in them (as a memory of their teens) are dying off. The CB750 is my era, and blokes like me push the prices up. You'd never have believed a Ford Escort RS2000 from the late 70s would make £50k++ now, but they do. But it won't last. In a few years, something from the early 90s will be commanding big money.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Actually I do watch Bangers and Cash. I have the hots for Sarah, but love all the old cars. They cost a lot more over here where any vintage car is very rare.

[@timroberts69]

Are you going to re-spoke the wheels? It probably wouldn't be too difficult.

[@Rich77UK]

Silly question...why would you want too? Because they are thicker than scale? I kinda like these kits as is...but can see the benefits of re-spoking and stock build.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

It is a dilemma. Leave the spokes as is for nostalgia or 3D print some new ones.

[@williamsmith3892]

Yo Harry Love the FRAK. The bike looks good WHO was the first man to own a motorcycle in the world. Well It was Moses .It says in the bible and the roar of Moses Triumph could be head through out the desert

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Haha.. I like a good biblical pun!

[@adm65260]

Will Airfix ever re-release all this good stuff ? Methinks the molds are history . Anyone want to scan the sprues of an old lost kit and 3D print it ? (Hint hint)

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Sadly so many of the early toolings were thrown away buy the new owners in the 80s and 90s. Such a shame and left us without the hope of ever getting new mouldings.

[@andrewjones1649]

I have a real a real 250cc Ariel Leader, which is the older brother to the Arrow. It has all the fairings and panniers and much else. One would never describe the Leader as fast, but the 250 Arrow can be a bit nippy within limits. Standard brakes are complete sh*te btw. Both have a completely enclosed chain.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

You lucky fellow.. thanks for the info Andrew

[@vk3zen-rfdesign980]

Houdinis Airfix Construction Kit Shit or Harrys Hacks for short.

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Special Houdini Airfix Talk!

[@fenman1954]

Strange that airfix made a model of possibly the worst British motorcycle ever made.

[@grahamwalker5693]

nothing up with the Arrow nice bike

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

Beauty is in the eye of the Bee Holder, or apiarist. It was a revolutionary idea for the time. Combine the ease of use of a scooter with a small 250cc 2 stroke learner legal motorcycle. I rather like its looks and would love to own a real one.

[@garymarkham2165]

NAH, the Noddy bike was the worst, the British Police were stuck with the wretched things for some years. The Arrow was a nice little machine to play with.

[@fenman1954]

@@HarryHoudiniModels weak under powered engine, woeful brakes, terrible suspension and a really crap frame

[@HarryHoudiniModels]

@ferman I won’t be riding it, just like I won’t be flying a Spitfire, or sailing a galleon. But I make models of them all because I like how they look.