List your childhood model collection

[kluge]

Inspired by a sister thread here's an opportunity to excercise memory from childhood years.

My collection was (mostly airfix, matchbox, revel, frog) hanging from my bedroom ceiling or in a display cabinet in the cellar ! I started very young inspired by Finningley At Home Days and the ATC. I stopped making them at age 15 having discovered girls and motorcycles !

All now sadly donated by my Mum to the kids in the neighborhood - I was gutted.
Anyhow here goes:

1/72 scale

British:
Fury, Bulldog, Gladiator, Tiger Moth, Lancaster, Wellington, Halifax, Mosquito x 2, Spitfire, Hurricane, Defiant, Kittyhawk, Walrus, Beaufighter, Lysander, Blenheim, Sunderland, Tempest, Sea Fury x 2, Firefly, Meteor, Vampire, Hornet, EE Lightning, Buccanear, Vulcan, Jet Provost T3, Jaguar GR1 x 2, Hawk, Gnat, Harrier GR1, Phantom (FGR2), Tornado GR1, SHAR FRS1, Hunter x 3, C-130, Westland Whirlwind helicopter, Bloodhound missile.

US:
Ford trimotor, B29, B24, B17, P38, P40, P47, P51, Brewster Buffalo, Dauntless, Hellcat, Helldiver, P80, Starfire, Skyraider, Couger, Banshee, Vought Cutlass, A5, A7, F86, F5E, F104, F111, F15, F18. Sikorsky Skycrane.

German: Fokker Triplane, Dornier217, HE 111, JU87 x 2, JU88, JU188, Bf109, Bf110, ME163, ME262, FW189, FW190, Henschel Hs 123

Japanese:
Zero
Val

Italian:
Fiat G91

French:
SPAD
Dassault Super Mystere
Dassault Mirage IV

Russian:
I-16, Mig15, Mig21, Mig23, Mig25

1/48 Scale:
F104, Spitfire

1/32 Scale:
Mosquito (revel kit - wonderful)

1/24 Sale:
Bf 109

Ships:
Golden Hind
HMS Victory
HMS Cossack
HMS Warspite
HMS Devonshire
Bismark

Tanks:
US Betty amphib
Panzer
Sherman (1/48)
Churchill
RAF WW2 Ambulance
Stalin tank.

Other:
2001 Space Liner, Lunar lander, Space 1999 Hawk, Captain Scarlet Angel Interceptor

KeiKraft balsa flying models: DH Chipmunk, Sopwith Camel, Spitfire, Albatross DV, large span glider, self designed/built Bleriot XI using Chipmunk wings after winding up the prop too much and collapsing the Chippie fuselage !


Wow - I've amazed myself ! And I still had time to play sports, learn the trumpet, ride pushbikes, do a morning paper round, homework and the ATC.

Golden times pre internet and career !

[LowNSlow]

Ah memories

Mmmm time to look back 40 odd years.....
UK
Halifax (Airfix NP-C painted as NP-F Friday 13th cos my dad was flight engineer in both but F had better nose art)
Hurricane
Spitfire
Auster AOP9
Whitley
Wellington
Gnat
Lightning (English Electric)
Anson
Lancaster
Defiant
Beaufighter
Mosquito
Chipmunk
Sunderland

US
Catalina
Hercules (cos I went to Lyneham with the ATC)
Liberator
Fortress
Thunderbolt
Mustang
Lightning (Lockheed)
Airacobra
P-40B/D Warhawk/Tomahawk
Bronco


German
Me 109D/E/F/G
Me 110
Me 410
Me 262
Ju 52
Ju 87
Ju 88
Fw 190A/D
Fw 189
Feisler Storch

Italian
Cr42
SM73

Japanese
Zero
Emily
Betty

Russian
Yak 3
Yak 9
Ilyushin Il-2
Petlyakov Pe-2

Where did that memory burp come from? Oh no, I AM an anorak DILIGAF

[sillytwistedboy]

Models

Blimey! You blokes must have received a lot more pocket money than I did!

[denis555]

Happy days indeed!

I remember when our local Woolworths devoted at least half an aisle to Airfix models. I blame the artwork on the boxes for being so evocative and tempting my shiney shillings out of my hand for a Sunderland, JU 52 or whatever.

Unfortunatley I would make them up and play for a few weeks until the undercarridge got broken, then use them to zoom around my bedroom in endless dogfights and imaginary scrapes but after a month props, turrets tailplanes got broken off until they made their last landing in the dustbin.

I wish I had been tidy enough to string them from the ceiling ( but that would have made them a tempting target for my brothers catapult...

[Akrotiri bad boy]

Two major aircraft accidents in my back garden:

Air France Airbus hijacked in transit over shed; hole cut in fuselage; tissue stuffed inside and soaked in lighter fuel; aircraft crashed in flames narrowly missing a packed gnome school.

US Navy PB4Y Catalina, (with nose weights added so it stood up on its trike undercarriage), sank without trace whilst attempting a waterborne landing. Last known position approximately 16" from garage side of fish pond.

As for air dropping my brothers hamster from a C130: you'll never make it stick, it was in international airspace between gardens and a UK court will have no jurisdiction.

[Guest 112233]

Models from childhood

Planes (Airfix & Revell)

Spitfire, Defiant (bet there were not too many of them), Westland Whirlwind fighter (A rare one too ) Ciamproni fighter, Blackwidow , Beaufighter, German equiv Henshel with big cannon, P39,P40, Mustang, Corsair, Wildcat, Helcat, Dauntlas Dive bomber, Me262, He111, Pflatz flying pencil fighter, Phantom the F4U, Voodo , Mig 15, Il 28. and last but not least Fokker Triplane Tiny Model bright red.

Ships

Bismark, Prince Eugen, Gneisenau (only revell Model),Scharnhorst, Graf Spee , Tirpitz , HMS Hood , HMS Suffolk & HMS Ajax

Lots of those plastic soldiers too,

CAT III

[treadigraph]

Having entirely forgotten the models I made (and destroyed) in my formative years, I am afraid to report that I am now definitely experiencing a second childhood... It all began a few years ago with the purchase of a 1/48 Catalina (yes it is bloody big!) as a planned decoration hanging from the bathroom ceiling.

A few of my favourite prop fighters followed and somehow expanded into a stash of around 200 1/48 plastic, resin and white metal (ah, LDM!) kits ranging from a Fournier RF-4 to B-29 in size, with the odd foray into 1/72 (Connies, DC-6, KC-97, etc), 1/32 (gliders and a Tigger Moth).

What possessed me I don't know; at the current rate of production, I need around 150 years of continued existence on the planet. It is quite therapeutic though and an excellent antidote to mice and keyboards, DIY and the other usual spare time activities. I hope I am little more careful about building them these days - one thing though; I still manage to get the odd liquid poly fingerprint preserved in the plastic... Sandpaper is such a useful tool!

[LowNSlow]

Sillytwistedboy. I must have taken 3-4 years to build up the collection with donations from multiple aunties, uncles used to top up the pocket money and payments for fun jobs like whitewashing the house in summertime . I still had enough left over for the occasional pack of Woodbines or No.6 when I could afford them!!

Last nights excess has released a few more brain cells in the RAM:

Westland Whirlwind helicopter
Westland Whirlwind twin
Westland Scout
Tiger Moth
Camel
Pfalz
Albatross
Fokker DR1

Bismark
HMS Hood
HMS Victory
HMS Devonshire(?? County Class Destroyer anyway).

Most of my collection went like Dali's floppy clocks after they were used as a display in the ATC Open Day and were brought home in the boot of the Flt Liuetenant's Vauxhall Viva Mk1. It was August, it was hot, Airfix kits are not very heatproof...... They made great targets for my Webly Mk3 .22 air rifle though. My dad was picking bits of plastic out of rose beds for years afterwards! Much more fun than a PlayStation!!

[BEagle]

Ah - the days of popping in to Woolie's to see what the latest Airfix offering was. 4 weeks pocket money to buy a 2/- poly bag with a kit inside - then hoping that there was enough Britfix 77 and Humbrol enamel at home which hadn't gone off....

Trying to get the division between the camouflage and 'duck egg blue' underside just right with carefully applied sellotape.

Then trying to get the 'transfers' to slide into the right place...

And, own up everyone, who didn't send off one of those 'Nature of Complaints' slips to Haldane Place to blag some more pieces.....

We also had a 'real' hobby shop in Ilminster, 'Hurlstones'. An Aladdin's cave of Hornby Dublo, Dinky toys, Airfix, Frog, Revell, Aurora, Keil Kraft, Veron, Mercury....and bikes. All crammed into a shop which would doubtless cause the Health and Safety people to have palpitations these days - and we were sold dangerous chemicals (diesel fuel, cellulose dope etc) and Swann-Norton craft knives at the age of about 12 without anyone worrying about us killing eachother.....

Time for a lie down, I fear.....

[Mr_Grubby]

treaders.

You are not the only one to have had a second childhood.

A few years back I started to buy up old and rare kits to make when I retired.
Got about a hundred stashed away in the loft. Some goodies, Frog Shackleton, some Russian kits of Trident, B727, allsorts.

So I have been retired now for 6 years. How many have I built ?

None.

Too busy. Don't know how I fitted in work once.

Clint.

[RampTramp]

I'm impressed at the recall on this thread, all I can manage is that there were about 60 strung from my ceiling at one time, mostly Airfix but a couple of odd ones that do stick in the mind; Douglas SkyKnight & a 1/48 Spitfire with SAAF markings.

Also memories of the local bike/model shop with the pervading aroma of roll up tobacco that the brown overall coat wearing proprietor always smoked mixed with puncture repair glue and bike chain oil.

Ah, happy days.

I restarted a few years ago, concentrating on 1/48 thinking the bits would be bigger for these fading eyes & pudgy fingers, and then I discovered after market detailing accessories & that was when I bought the illuminated magnifying glass! Still can't do much about the half ham hands though.

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

Originally Posted by BEagle

And, own up everyone, who didn't send off one of those 'Nature of Complaints' slips to Haldane Place to blag some more pieces

Ah yes. My dad banned me from doing that. He said that the numbers on the complaint slip would identify the packer who would then get into trouble. Dad used to build real aeroplanes (well him and some other blokes), so he used to worry about such things.

[Akrotiri bad boy]

I've a nice little book here in Bad Boy House full of Airfix artwork and photo's of old kits. The book's title is "Airfix:Celebrating 50Years.......", by Arthur Ward (ISBN 0-00-716370-3); in a nutshell the book charts the fortunes of Airfix. One tale concerning box artwork and political correctness explains the removal of explosions, flames, and tracer bullets from the box lids. I suppose ultimately that's what led to the spate of artwork that depicted completed models sitting on sets of drawings.

Anyhow, it's a "topshelf" publication so to avoid embarrassment you might want to slip it inside another publication whilst you pay for it

[Centaurus]

My first model was a plastic FROG Miles Magister which I was given in 1940. . During the war years I played with small dinky toy Spits, Hurricanes and Tempests. Built mud hangars among the flowers in the back garden at Tonbridge in Kent and hid Spits there as my next door mate (we were both around 9 years old) "flew" his German types from the front garden along the adjoining walk way to the back garden where I picked up my mud streaked Spits and Hurris and we joined in mortal combat.

How my Spits could ever get airborne with mud caking the wings remains a mystery to this day. In 1939, my mother gave me a Dinky toy Maya and Mercury combination flying boat. Like a fool I took this wonderful aeroplane set to school to show off. Some bastard stole it. It meant a lot to me as my Mum died a few weeks after giving it to me while she lay in Lenham Sanitorium where TB got her. She was only 33 years old.

[S'land]

Like Ramp Tramp I am impressed with the recall on this thread. The best that I can manage is that I did prize my Kiel-Kraft Lysander, an Airfix spitfire, Lancaster and a couple flying boats. I also had a few ships, including a plastic Cutty Sark.

I also had some Matchbox and Corgi models. I remember the 4.5 Litre supercharged Bently, a Land Rover and a Sea Vixen.

I know that there were others, but cannot remember what they were.

[Lee Norberg]

Used to have a Lockheed "Connie" that had moving props when you ran the wheels on the floor accompanied by a high whine.

Lee Norberg
Oakdale, NY USA

[BEagle]

My first ever was a Frog 'Comet' series Douglas Skynight which my father built for me - it was midnite blue with US Marines markings.

Then came a Frog Venom FB5 whist we were on holiday in Cornwall near St Merryn - and by then the bug had really bitten!

My pride and joy was an Airfix Lancaster - it lasted several years and needed various repairs by the time it met its maker.....courtesy of a BSA Meteor .22, I regret to say.

I used to make several 'hybrids' - my 3-engined Anson with Stuka wheel spats had a Hunter pilot friend of my father somewhat confused at first. But he said I should send it to the Air Ministry as the 'Annie' always needed more power!

'Locate and cement'....those immortal Airfix words!

[sillytwistedboy]

I had a Frog model aeroplane which flew. I don't think it was based on any existing aircraft and it was rubber band powered. You held it in a fixture in the box in which came to wind the band and then flew it - briefly! Someone told me a long time ago that FROG was an acronym for "Flies Right Off the Ground". Don't know if it was true.

[jh5speed]

I'm just starting now, where my father started with me 35 years ago! My son is 7 and we have - just today - gone to get a kit 'for the holidays'. He (we) chose a P38 Lightning - I mentioned to him that one had recently been found on Harlech beach (any news anyone?) and he was immediately interested as we are familar with that part of Wales.

I think the first kit I made a reasonable job of, was the Airfix Draken. I then seemed to concentrate on German WW2 acft, until tackling the HP Hampden (which I still have in my loft) and the Short Stirling (which was heartlessly disposed of in a house move 10 years ago) - a very nice kit.

I still have several unmade kits from way back - but I'm reluctant to start them - they sort of deserve to stay unmade (does anyone else have this problem?)

A few years ago, in a modelling renaissance, I started a vac-form Airspeed Ambassador (Welsh Models). I've got so far but stalled. It 'only' needs painting and decals. Also, a Glencoe Viscount awaits - perhaps a Dad and Son job at the kitchen table ....

[folkyphil]

Slightly off-thread...

The LARGEST model I ever owned was a "helicopter" made for me by my father. It was actually a Triang tricycle with rotating blades shaft-driven from the rear sprocket!
On my inaugural "flight" down the garden path I decapitated all of the brussels sprouts growing on one side of the path. Suffice to say that by the following day the helicopter was back to being a trike once again!