List your childhood model collection
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My schoolboy Dinky Toys included an Airspeed Envoy, 2 x Hawker Tempests, a Gloster Meteor and a BOAC Comet 1. No need to rely on my very old memory either: they are all sitting there, worn down to base metal maybe but still ready to scramble from the shelf above this laptop. Further down the flight line are more recent Corgi models of old props of my acquaintance - DC3, Connie, Brit and Viscount. And right at the end a small but immaculate VC10 CMk1, XR 808 in Air Support Command livery, spotted in a model shop in Sydney last year - a long way from home but then Shiny Ten usually were!
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Had loads of them hanging from the ceiling, including a B47 that I put electric motors in to power the props and a Concorde painted in Court Line orange(!).
I guess the Fairey Delta and Fairey Battle I had were a bit on the rare side, wish I'd kept hold of them.
I guess the Fairey Delta and Fairey Battle I had were a bit on the rare side, wish I'd kept hold of them.
My old Uncle Alf was a member of the Royal Observer Corps in 1939-42. He was 56 then. They had a post on a small hill at Cranbrook in Kent and as I was his 8 year old nephew I was allowed to help with spotting Jerry aircraft due to my good eye sight. At the Observer post we had binoculars and a .303 rifle with which my uncle would blast at low flying Jerries (well only a couple flew low enough to be shot at). One day my Uncle was seen carving an aeroplane out of wood but he told me it was very secret and not to open my mouth.
In fact it was a Mosquito - and aircraft that was just coming on line with the RAF as far as recall. It was a beautiful model made in one piece of wood. The only problem was that the model's fuselage was square and not oval shaped like the real thing. Then, when the Mosquito became more or less "official" with the Observer Corps (in other words silhouette identification cards), I was permitted to show it off at school. Meanwhile it was kept under cover until then.
In fact it was a Mosquito - and aircraft that was just coming on line with the RAF as far as recall. It was a beautiful model made in one piece of wood. The only problem was that the model's fuselage was square and not oval shaped like the real thing. Then, when the Mosquito became more or less "official" with the Observer Corps (in other words silhouette identification cards), I was permitted to show it off at school. Meanwhile it was kept under cover until then.
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Ok you big kids, all put your hands up if you managed your first ever kit without gluey fingerprints all over the outside and wings were you had been holding em.
My first ever was a small MIG(like the Korean war type) I had a doting set of Grandparents and Aunties who seemed to get these kits for me every weekend, kept me busy and quiet most dark evenings, then I discovered Humbrol paint with a tiny set of brushes I would paint the pilots and instrument panels and all sorts of other things before assembly. God this thread will have me admitting to raiding the neighbours orchard before too long!
Only stabbed myself once with the craft Knife, after that I kept the digits out of the way!!
Peter R-B
My first ever was a small MIG(like the Korean war type) I had a doting set of Grandparents and Aunties who seemed to get these kits for me every weekend, kept me busy and quiet most dark evenings, then I discovered Humbrol paint with a tiny set of brushes I would paint the pilots and instrument panels and all sorts of other things before assembly. God this thread will have me admitting to raiding the neighbours orchard before too long!
Only stabbed myself once with the craft Knife, after that I kept the digits out of the way!!
Peter R-B
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I used to fly a Dinky Javelin (or Hunter) to infants school, stopping to refuel on the way.
My first love, sorry model was a 1/72 Spirit of St.Louis. Part built, it had been thrown away. A friendly dustman gave it to me.
As a nipper I built Airfix's Lancaster and painted it in one day. Took much longer to get the paint off my hands.
I've got about fifteen years worth on my shelf, some of them built with the help of my kids.
Still have some catching up to do. Vulcan (of course) Victor, Harriers etc waiting in the wings. (pun intended)
My first love, sorry model was a 1/72 Spirit of St.Louis. Part built, it had been thrown away. A friendly dustman gave it to me.
As a nipper I built Airfix's Lancaster and painted it in one day. Took much longer to get the paint off my hands.
I've got about fifteen years worth on my shelf, some of them built with the help of my kids.
Still have some catching up to do. Vulcan (of course) Victor, Harriers etc waiting in the wings. (pun intended)
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Lots I can't remember! A lot of the Airfix range - Spit, Catalina, Bristol Freighter, Stuka, Tiger Moth, Whirlwind (aeroplane and helo), Comet (racer), Comet (4b), BAC1-11, 707, VC10, Trident, Wellington, Vanguard. Loads more.
Non-Airfix Vulcan, 617 Lanc, Saab Drakken, Viscount... etc
But, now, a lovely approx 1/72 varnished white metal Chipmunk on a wooden stand that sits on the telly; no idea where I got it but it's superb. Also 3 Airfix ones in the colours of 2 of the ones I've flown (G-BARS at Chester, G-BCSL that I part own), the later in original dark blue, and later red.
A couple of small Concorde models we got when we flew on G-BOAD in 1999.
A real gem - a 'Space Models' Concorde model. Big but lovely.... originally these cost £200 from BA, but I got one now the BA shop is selling them at less than £50! (Commemorative 'Union Flag' Model - 1:100 Scale - Buy cheaper online with BA High Life Shop). A superb model at a bargain price.
Corgi 'Falklands Vulcan', purchased at a 'G-VFWE' event at Abingdon and flown home in the Chippy.
A Cessna 150 in the livery of the one I first soloed in.
'Gemini Jets' Trident 3b G-AWZK and DC10-30 G-DMCA, aeroplanes (together with Concorde G-BOAC and the Avro RJX) I work on as a guide at Manchester (OK, the DC10 is now just a forward section - the real one, not the model!).
And that's just the aeroplanes!
SSD
Non-Airfix Vulcan, 617 Lanc, Saab Drakken, Viscount... etc
But, now, a lovely approx 1/72 varnished white metal Chipmunk on a wooden stand that sits on the telly; no idea where I got it but it's superb. Also 3 Airfix ones in the colours of 2 of the ones I've flown (G-BARS at Chester, G-BCSL that I part own), the later in original dark blue, and later red.
A couple of small Concorde models we got when we flew on G-BOAD in 1999.
A real gem - a 'Space Models' Concorde model. Big but lovely.... originally these cost £200 from BA, but I got one now the BA shop is selling them at less than £50! (Commemorative 'Union Flag' Model - 1:100 Scale - Buy cheaper online with BA High Life Shop). A superb model at a bargain price.
Corgi 'Falklands Vulcan', purchased at a 'G-VFWE' event at Abingdon and flown home in the Chippy.
A Cessna 150 in the livery of the one I first soloed in.
'Gemini Jets' Trident 3b G-AWZK and DC10-30 G-DMCA, aeroplanes (together with Concorde G-BOAC and the Avro RJX) I work on as a guide at Manchester (OK, the DC10 is now just a forward section - the real one, not the model!).
And that's just the aeroplanes!
SSD
Last edited by Shaggy Sheep Driver; 26th Jul 2008 at 22:08.
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Per BEagles Haldane Place comment - guilty !! The 2inch square little return slip. Ouch. I have a vision of a kindly person chuckling whilst collecting these from "repeat offenders" who were probably their best customers !
Whilst not making them now, I do confess that if I ever see a model shop it is very difficult for me not to go in and have a browse. Memsab just rolls her eyes and says "yes dear".
Don't see many of the old names now though. Only the Japanese brands.
I do have one left in storage that was given to me as a dubious trophy. A 1/72nd scale Pitts Special in correct colour scheme mounted on a plaque in suitable pose celebrating my first and hopefully last ground loop in 1993 !
Whilst not making them now, I do confess that if I ever see a model shop it is very difficult for me not to go in and have a browse. Memsab just rolls her eyes and says "yes dear".
Don't see many of the old names now though. Only the Japanese brands.
I do have one left in storage that was given to me as a dubious trophy. A 1/72nd scale Pitts Special in correct colour scheme mounted on a plaque in suitable pose celebrating my first and hopefully last ground loop in 1993 !
Last edited by kluge; 27th Jul 2008 at 03:47.
The joy of spending a wet afternoon, school holidays etc building Airfix, Frog, Revell, matchbox or Hasegawa models. Many a happy hour spent assembly the beloved kits to the best of one's ability.
Started with the might Airfix Series1 in the plastic bag and the fantastic Roy Cross artwork on the header cards, then progressed into the boxed kits of series 2 etc, then went over to the Frog kits, Revell likewise and then came the first of the flash new Matchbox kits and finally a few of the newly released Hasegawa kits.
In Australia in the mid 1970's Frog had a promotion, and if you took in three box lids from Frog to the local toy/hobby shop they gave you a free 1/32 scale kit of your choice, I got a Grumman Hellcat and was as flash as a rat with a gold tooth. It was the flashest kit a 10 year old could get his grubby little paint stained fingers on. Thankfully the old man came to the rescue and helped with assembly and painting.
Likewise in the early 1980's Matchbox run a modelling promotion, you had to buy and build a Matchbox kit and then the local newsagent/toy/hobby shop would judge it and give you a trophy and a kit of the HP/400 to go into the next stage of the competition. My sister had given me the 1/32nd scale Tiger Moth so I entered that and won and went through to the next stage and built the Handley Page 400 Bomber, but it got lost in tranist and that was the last we ever saw of it.
Airfix
Bristol Superfreighter
Britten Norman Islander
Corsair
Scottish Bulldog
Cessna 02-A
Cessna Bird Dog
C-47 Gunship
DH Chipmunk
DH Heron
DH Mosquito
DH Tiger Moth
Harvard converted into a Wirraway
HS125 Dominie
Lockheed Hudson
Me 262
Mig 21
Wellington
Widgeon Flying Boat
Frog
Bristol Beaughfighter
DH Comet Racer
DH Vampire
Fairy Delta
Fairy Gannet
Grumman Hellcat
P-61 Black Widow
Westland Wessex
Hasegawa
Japanese aircraft on floats
Matchbox
Lysander
1/32 Tiger Moth
Monogram
Cessna 180 Sportsman
Revell
Catalina Flying Boat
ME109
Hurricane
Spitfire
Mustang 1/72 and 1/48
Frog had some odd ball kits including a Westland Wapati and Fairey Delta.
Also had a model that BP produced of the Vickers Vimy and sold that through their service stations to celebrate 50th anniversary of the flight across the Atlantic.
And of course those might 1/24 Airfix superkits they were just so far out of pocket money range in those days, they were just a dream.
In Australia we seemed to miss out on a lot of the Airfix releases, and took years for some of the kits to be available here, but that didn't stop you looking through the outdated catalogues.
At one stage after purchasing the Hudson, I found one of the tailplane's missing, so we had to send off the little slip to England and wait and wait and wait, in the end dad painted and put on the decals while we waited for six weeks. A mail box has never opened and checked so many times in six weeks by one small boy!
Also became a member of the Airfix Modellers Club, I read about in the English comics and applied but they wouldn't enroll you as a member if you lived outside the UK. Club president Dick Emery sent a letter and gave me the official badge and few other bits and pieces.
Started with the might Airfix Series1 in the plastic bag and the fantastic Roy Cross artwork on the header cards, then progressed into the boxed kits of series 2 etc, then went over to the Frog kits, Revell likewise and then came the first of the flash new Matchbox kits and finally a few of the newly released Hasegawa kits.
In Australia in the mid 1970's Frog had a promotion, and if you took in three box lids from Frog to the local toy/hobby shop they gave you a free 1/32 scale kit of your choice, I got a Grumman Hellcat and was as flash as a rat with a gold tooth. It was the flashest kit a 10 year old could get his grubby little paint stained fingers on. Thankfully the old man came to the rescue and helped with assembly and painting.
Likewise in the early 1980's Matchbox run a modelling promotion, you had to buy and build a Matchbox kit and then the local newsagent/toy/hobby shop would judge it and give you a trophy and a kit of the HP/400 to go into the next stage of the competition. My sister had given me the 1/32nd scale Tiger Moth so I entered that and won and went through to the next stage and built the Handley Page 400 Bomber, but it got lost in tranist and that was the last we ever saw of it.
Airfix
Bristol Superfreighter
Britten Norman Islander
Corsair
Scottish Bulldog
Cessna 02-A
Cessna Bird Dog
C-47 Gunship
DH Chipmunk
DH Heron
DH Mosquito
DH Tiger Moth
Harvard converted into a Wirraway
HS125 Dominie
Lockheed Hudson
Me 262
Mig 21
Wellington
Widgeon Flying Boat
Frog
Bristol Beaughfighter
DH Comet Racer
DH Vampire
Fairy Delta
Fairy Gannet
Grumman Hellcat
P-61 Black Widow
Westland Wessex
Hasegawa
Japanese aircraft on floats
Matchbox
Lysander
1/32 Tiger Moth
Monogram
Cessna 180 Sportsman
Revell
Catalina Flying Boat
ME109
Hurricane
Spitfire
Mustang 1/72 and 1/48
Frog had some odd ball kits including a Westland Wapati and Fairey Delta.
Also had a model that BP produced of the Vickers Vimy and sold that through their service stations to celebrate 50th anniversary of the flight across the Atlantic.
And of course those might 1/24 Airfix superkits they were just so far out of pocket money range in those days, they were just a dream.
In Australia we seemed to miss out on a lot of the Airfix releases, and took years for some of the kits to be available here, but that didn't stop you looking through the outdated catalogues.
At one stage after purchasing the Hudson, I found one of the tailplane's missing, so we had to send off the little slip to England and wait and wait and wait, in the end dad painted and put on the decals while we waited for six weeks. A mail box has never opened and checked so many times in six weeks by one small boy!
Also became a member of the Airfix Modellers Club, I read about in the English comics and applied but they wouldn't enroll you as a member if you lived outside the UK. Club president Dick Emery sent a letter and gave me the official badge and few other bits and pieces.
A couple of more models from the past:
Matchbox
Spitfire
Gladiator
Dornier Skyservant
Hawker Fury
Airfix
Shorts Skyvan
Thunderstreak
Not to mention the beloved Dinky Toys including Beech Baron, Stuka, SeaKing Helicopter with astronaut module, Zero.
Matchbox
Spitfire
Gladiator
Dornier Skyservant
Hawker Fury
Airfix
Shorts Skyvan
Thunderstreak
Not to mention the beloved Dinky Toys including Beech Baron, Stuka, SeaKing Helicopter with astronaut module, Zero.
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Aaaaah- Airfix 1/72nd - many happy memories - I used to hang them from threads pinned to the roof of my bedroom - not many compared with some of the entries here - also quite a few Revell - that lovely Humbrol silver paint on e.g F100 - what a shape that was - then finishing off with the decals floating in a saucer of water - happy memories
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All this talk of the memories of the joys of modelling make me want to pop into the local town's model shop and buy/build a model for old times sake. Looks as though my second childhood is creeping up on me, even if my family claim that I have not left the first one behind yet.
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The plastic ones went into the bin, as I recall, when mum decided that no human being could any longer see them for dust.
Kept the Dinky ones though, like ARCHIE1, an Air France Viscount, two Gloster Javelins, two Hunters, a Swift (given much later to a boss who had flown them, and survived), a Meteor and a BOAC Comet 1.
Found a use for the latter, too: the Comet 1 fatigue test exhibit in the Farnborough Air Sciences Museum originally had next to it a totally inappropriate model (oval windows) of a Comet 4. It now has my Dinky Comet 1, complete with very square windows.
Never throw anything away...
Kept the Dinky ones though, like ARCHIE1, an Air France Viscount, two Gloster Javelins, two Hunters, a Swift (given much later to a boss who had flown them, and survived), a Meteor and a BOAC Comet 1.
Found a use for the latter, too: the Comet 1 fatigue test exhibit in the Farnborough Air Sciences Museum originally had next to it a totally inappropriate model (oval windows) of a Comet 4. It now has my Dinky Comet 1, complete with very square windows.
Never throw anything away...
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Centaurus....
No it WASN'T.It was an acetate [I think] model...which if you still have it, I will give you £100 for same..... worth God knows how much now.
I remember the Airfix Spitfire...with bombs
Lindberg Spit Mk8
Aurora "Pilot Figure"...striding across the Globe.
Eagle 1/96 scale Spits/Me[Bf]109s
Somebody did a 1/144 scale CV440, P149 etc
I still have [in boxes] a Frog Scimitar, Hunter, F84 Thunderjet, Fairey Gannet, VS Attacker, Gloster Meteor Mk4, DH Hornet etc.....
Me, grow up? Naaahhh
watp,iktch
My first model was a plastic FROG Miles Magister which I was given in 1940.
worth God knows how much now.I remember the Airfix Spitfire...with bombs
Lindberg Spit Mk8
Aurora "Pilot Figure"...striding across the Globe.
Eagle 1/96 scale Spits/Me[Bf]109s
Somebody did a 1/144 scale CV440, P149 etc
I still have [in boxes] a Frog Scimitar, Hunter, F84 Thunderjet, Fairey Gannet, VS Attacker, Gloster Meteor Mk4, DH Hornet etc.....
Me, grow up? Naaahhh
watp,iktch
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I had a B52 with a 5 foot wingspan, It was my pride and joy as a 12 year old. Not sure what make it was but I had painted it matt black undersides with 2 tone green on the top - Vietnam era style.
My dad strung it up from the ceiling and there it stood for 3 years until 1 sunday morning the wood gave out and it crashed and burned on my brothers head at 3am.
Oh the scream ! - I can hear it now.
My dad strung it up from the ceiling and there it stood for 3 years until 1 sunday morning the wood gave out and it crashed and burned on my brothers head at 3am.
Oh the scream ! - I can hear it now.
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Lemme 'ave a go. Can't resist the challenge. L To R
1st shelf:
Tiger Moth, PBY Catalina, Buccanear, Mosquito, Anson
2nd Shelf:
unknown behind (Hurricane possibly), Fiesler Storch, Scimitar, unknown infront, F18, F14, Gloster Whittle, Harvard, Phantom FGR2, Hawker Fury, unknown behind, Fokker D7, Meteor, Sopwith Camel, Eurofighter Typhoon.
3rd Shelf:
Hudson, ME262, Fairey Battle, Hurricane, Spit (possibly Mark IX), P51, JU87, P51, Tempest, DH Comet racer, FW190, P40, F16, Henschel HS123
4th Shelf:
C47, Wildcat, Halifax, Huey, F86, Lancaster, Tornado F3, unknown behind, HP400, Jaguar (partially assembled), Beaufighter, Sunderland.
1st shelf:
Tiger Moth, PBY Catalina, Buccanear, Mosquito, Anson
2nd Shelf:
unknown behind (Hurricane possibly), Fiesler Storch, Scimitar, unknown infront, F18, F14, Gloster Whittle, Harvard, Phantom FGR2, Hawker Fury, unknown behind, Fokker D7, Meteor, Sopwith Camel, Eurofighter Typhoon.
3rd Shelf:
Hudson, ME262, Fairey Battle, Hurricane, Spit (possibly Mark IX), P51, JU87, P51, Tempest, DH Comet racer, FW190, P40, F16, Henschel HS123
4th Shelf:
C47, Wildcat, Halifax, Huey, F86, Lancaster, Tornado F3, unknown behind, HP400, Jaguar (partially assembled), Beaufighter, Sunderland.
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Very fond memories of building Airfix 1/72 scale aircraft - Fairey Rotodyne anyone? The Airfix magazine and Profiles were essential for the pedantic kit builder. The Airfix company was resurrected after thier financial failure and can today be found at Plastic Scale Models The Official Airfix Website.
Confession- I still have forty or fifty kits in my loft for when I "retire" or am too decrepit to drive spam cans around.
Votes for favourite Airfix box art - mine's the HP Halifax circa 1968, second place the Junker Ju88 again circa 1968
Confession- I still have forty or fifty kits in my loft for when I "retire" or am too decrepit to drive spam cans around.
Votes for favourite Airfix box art - mine's the HP Halifax circa 1968, second place the Junker Ju88 again circa 1968
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Votes for favourite Airfix box art - mine's the HP Halifax circa 1968, second place the Junker Ju88 again circa 1968
My trouble was I was so keen to play with them ( I never left them on a shelf for display ) that I rushed the construction.
Perspex panels got the dreaded 'glue fingerprint' props and turrets got too much glue and stuck and too much glue sometimes 'melted' delicate undercarridge parts.- Happy days.
I purchased this book a few years ago, Airfix Celebrating 50 Years of the Greatest Plastic Kits in the World. Still available in some bookshops or e-bay, a very enjoyable read and certainly covers lots of Airfix history and what could have been etc.
Airfix were asked to tone down the artwork of Roy Cross by the politically correct nazi's, and they couldn't show people being shot, no Nazi decals etc
Likewise Airfix also considered producing a1/24th Mosquito and Gloster Gladiator in the mid 1970's. The 1/24th scale Mossie is going to be released late 2008.
Airfix were asked to tone down the artwork of Roy Cross by the politically correct nazi's, and they couldn't show people being shot, no Nazi decals etc
Likewise Airfix also considered producing a1/24th Mosquito and Gloster Gladiator in the mid 1970's. The 1/24th scale Mossie is going to be released late 2008.