With Christmas coming up fast, Modelzone is offering a hard pressed mums and dads a lifeline with a chance to win a delightful, all inclusive, Hornby Thomas the Tank Engine Train Set worth £50.00 that should satisfy the most demanding Young controller!

Thomas & Friends appeared in a series of children's books in the 1940s, and have delighted children and adults alike ever since. In 1984 Thomas & Friends appeared for the first time on British television and made an immediate hit. The Hornby range also includes many of Thomas' friends.

The complete Thomas the Tank Engine starter set gives you Thomas the Tank Engine himself, Annie and Clarabel coaches, an oval of track, R965 Train Controller and Wall Plug Transformer, R602 power Connecting Clip and an R9080 TrakMat. There are no fiddly bogies or trailing wheels to frustrate young engineers so Thomas and his coaches are easy to place on the simple snap together track.

This year there are new buildings to choose from, all of which add colour and excitement to the Hornby World of Thomas, and a range of new locomotives, coaches and wagons. You can recreate the railways of the Island of Sodor, where Thomas lives and works! Sodor is an island in the Irish Sea, bigger than the Isle of Man, and roughly diamond-shaped - about 62 miles wide and 51 miles long north to south. The ancient capital of Sodor is the 'city' of Suddery but Tidmouth has grown to be the largest town on the island. One of the more famous towns on Sodor is Ffarquhar, the terminus of Thomas the Tank Engine's Branch Line. Percy, Diesel, James and all Thomas’s friends are available to extend and recreate the magical world of Sodor from this delightful starter pack and of course it’s compatible with all the rest of Hornby’s scenery and trackside accessories.

To win the Thomas the Tank Engine Starter set, simply email us at competitions@modelzone.co.uk with your name, contact telephone number and postal address including post code - quoting “Thomas Competition” in the subject line. Using your knowledge or research skills, give us the answers to the following questions:

Q1. What was the name of the original author of the Thomas Books?
Q2. Which famous drummer did the voice over on the Thomas the Tank Engine TV series?

The winner will be selected at random on November 30th 2008 and notified by email immediately. No cash alternative to the prize is available.

Exclusively available through Model Zone, these superb 1/72 scale die cast models from Corgi are individually priced at £29.99 each for the Spitfire and Hurricane and £ 89.99 for the Lancaster. Liveried in BBMF colours, each comes in special packaging and a numbered certificate. Buy all three aircraft and you’ll receive a 10% “bulk” discount - saving £15.00.

Supermarine Spitfire MkII

Produced in greater numbers than any other British combat aircraft before or since, 20,400 Spitfires were built in 22 different variants (excluding the naval version – the Seafire) and the aircraft remained in production for 12 years.

The prototype's maiden flight took place on 5th March 1936 and Mk1 Spitfires entered RAF service (with 19(F) Squadron) in August 1938. The superb design and flexibility of the airframe allowed the Spitfire to maintain air superiority and keep pace with improvements in performance of enemy fighters throughout WWII. Spitfires fought in every operational theatre of the War and remained in RAF front-line service up to 1954.

At the end of its development the Spitfire carried an engine producing more than twice the power of the original, its maximum take-off weight and rate of climb had more than doubled, its firepower had increased by a factor of five and its maximum speed had been increased by a third - all in essentially what remained the same airframe. The Spitfire truly deserves its reputation as probably the most successful, and most glamorous, fighter design ever.

Hawker Hurricane

The Hurricane was at the forefront of Britain's defence in 1939/1940 and it played a major part in achieving victory in the Battle of Britain. The prototype made its maiden flight on 6th November 1935 and deliveries to the RAF commenced just before Christmas 1937 (to 111 Squadron at Northolt).

During the Battle of Britain RAF Fighter Command flew many more Hurricanes than the more famous Spitfire. Hurricanes achieved a greater proportion of combat kills than their more charismatic Spitfire stable mate. A remarkable total of 14,533 Hurricanes were built and the aircraft served operationally on every day throughout hostilities, in every operational theatre and in many roles.

Avro Lancaster

The Lancaster’s origins stem from a twin-engined bomber design – the Manchester. Superbly designed, but seriously underpowered, only 200 Manchesters were built and they were withdrawn from service in 1942. Avro's chief designer, Roy Chadwick, was already working on an improved design, designated Avro Type 683 Manchester III, using four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines on a larger wing. This was later re-named the Lancaster, which had its maiden flight on 9th January 1941.

The aircraft proved to one of the few warplanes in history to be 'right' from the start. The Lancaster was a mid-wing cantilever monoplane with an oval all-metal fuselage. The wing was constructed in five main sections, the fuselage in five sections. All wing and fuselage sections were built separately and fitted with all the required equipment before final assembly.

The BBMF aircraft modelled here is “Phantom of the Ruhr” - destined to become one of the most famous Lancasters in Bomber Command. It took part in raids on Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Essen, Nuremberg and on 17th August 1943 also took part in the famous Peenemunde Raid on the secret German V-2 rocket research establishment.