Ah yes, Beagle, another stroll down memory lane. I never got the chance to pick up an N.A 39, but you're right. They were our pride and joy. I had a large collection of unputtied 1/72nd scale aircraft, mostly unpainted, and those that were painted had no relation at all to reality!
It so happened that my parents had company over one day, friends of my aunt and unknown to us. The conversation flagged, and finally, in a desperate attempt to break the impasse, mon pere announced "Well, Peter builds models! Show them your collection, son!"
I proudly took them and showed them my collection of misaligned aerodynes, some bearing dabs of paint under the cockpit denoting successfully completed operations against the cat or even other plastic models. (I had an Airfix FW-190D that spent most of its "flying time" being shot down, mostly by my Airfix Mossie.)
The woman maternally trilled about how wonderful it was, whilst the man exhibited his very best "Damn, I wish I was golfing!" look.
Peaceful, more innocent times. I hadn't thought about that incident until this morning, reading this thread.