As a young boy growing up in the 80s I remember dad building me model aircraft to hang from my bedroom ceiling with fishing line.
My first memory is of a matchbox Apache kit which was one of 2 kits I had built for me, these were built by dad over successive nights after I'd gone to bed so never saw any progress or even knew he was building them until i was presented with them.
As grandad was a Ground Technician for V Force dad spent the first 13 years of his life living on RAF bases in the UK and Malta, grandad served in the Far East and India as well but the family never travelled there. This influenced most of the models adorning my ceiling, usually all ones that grandad had worked on, these were mainly jet planes including
Victor, Vulcan, Vampire, Spitfire (for the Merlin engine) Meteor, Canberra and a B29 Superfortress which we have a photograph of my grandad and his ground crew stood in front of in the 50s.
I remember buying an Italeri BAE Harrier, and pleading with dad to build it for me, it had moving jet ducts to allow VTOL but it wasnt a GR3, the Harriers I knew and had fly over our house virtually every day so was disappointing really.
As I got into my very early teens I got a few kits for various gifts and for birthdays and christmases, all gone at like a bull in a china shop, badly built, rushed and with horrific paint jobs and badly applied decals. I attempted to build most small kits, Spitfires, Hurricanes, BAE Hawk with unthinned humbrol enamel, so thick no panel lines were left visible, Short Sunderland, Halifax bomber and a Mosquito are some of the most memorable. All ruined really by not taking my time, I think dad just gave up trying to get me to paint stuff still on the sprue and leaving sections overnight before doing more. The last kit I remember him building me was a RN SAR yellow Sea King, I still to this day have huge admiration for these fantastic machines and it's a crying shame their life is all but over. This had spinning rotors and a sliding side door, that sat on my bookshelf as it was too good to hide on the ceiling.
It was 2014 before I looked at an Airfix kit again, we still have 4 family members serving in the RAAF and 1 in Australian Secret Service. One cousin was a navigator on Nimrods and took 2 tours of Gulf 2 and 3 tours of Afghanistan before retiring to an easier life. Kev was heavily involved in the MOD upgrading of the Nimrod from MR2 to MRA4 and was in Kinloss on active service until the day the project was scrapped.
2014 I purchased an Airfix Nimrod kit and a set of Eduard brass detailing kit in order to make the very best MR2 I possibly could, she still hasn't been painted her hemp colour she needs to be.
One kit dad always wanted but during our time building them wasnt readily available was the Matchbox Victor, dad knew these in their B2 form as they were based at RAF Gaydon where grandad was stationed, as a kid between the ages of 8 and 13 growing up with those beautiful beasts tearing up the runway, dad was very lucky!!! He was at school with the 3 families who lost their dads when one crashed into woods at Combrook on its descent in fog to the runway, and good mates with one in particular.
One war that I have always been extremely interested in was The Falklands, over a year before I was born but one that aircraft I was bought up on, Vulcans, Victors and Harriers all played huge roles in the success supporting our wonderful boys on the ground, our family has always been RAF but we have huge admiration for all services and never believe one is superior to the other. It's something I have had more then a passing interest in and one that I will always read something about to try and educate myself further on the topic.
The Nimrod is to be painted Hemp and wear markings for the Falklands campaign, with the now Revell manufactured Victor K2 readily available at a mere £20 six of these now adorn the to build list (1 is in paint) this gave me the great idea to replicate the extremely crowded apron of Ascension Island of which the air strikes on the Falklands would not of been possible. So the list of kits to be built is quite extravagant, including
2x Nimrods
6x Victors
2x Vulcans
3x Harrier GR3
1x SeaKing
1x Chinook HC.1
3x Phantom F4s
1x C-130 Herc
And because they were so vital 3 Sea Harriers
The thing is even with 2 layouts under construction like everyone you need time away to find the love and desire to get bits pushed on, so while I'm waiting for bits for Clifton Wood I pick up a kit and do a bit and leave it for a few months before anything else happens.
The thing that still blows me away is the size of these things, I'm used to scrabbling around with tiny little N gauge then you pick this up and everything's massive, I'm hoping that the few skills I've learnt from N gauge allows me to produce some detailed aircraft for my small diorama of Ascension, I think it needs half the barn to get it all together ;D
oh yes....
parts in a plastic bag, with a printed header/instruction sheet, 2/- of my pocket money on each model.
IIRC the instructions didn't refer to part 23 and part 15, but part 23 [and what it actually was] etc, so you learned a bit as well.
can't remember my first kit, but probably Spit or Hurri.
tube glue, and tins of paint also out of my pocket money, but can't remember how much.
happy days :thumbsup:
Absolutely not. My Father worked in the Wolverton Carriage & Wagon works so from knee high to a grasshopper I was interested in railways. Kits didn't do it for me in the slightest as they didn't move. When they did, e.g. being thrown/dropped they tended not to last long. >:D
I used to walk up the road on a Saturday morning to the local model shop and buy those model aircraft Airfix kits , at first I did not paint them. I also made ships cars anything really, that is what started me off modeling, good memories.
Nope,got given 1 or 2 and tried to build them,but found they wouldn't fly when launched from my bedroom window,around the same time i discovered a bread bag dosn't make a good parachute for action man. Mechano and lego were my main modeling toys.
As a very young lad in the mid 60s I remember my dad assembled an extensive Triang railway layout (For me? hmmm, that's open to debate!) and he built all the Airfix lineside kits. As a young teen I went through the phase of making a few aircraft kits and hanging them from the ceiling but I wouldn't say they were a major part of my growing up, I was always more interested in model railways and went through a couple of OO layouts before downsizing to N.
anyone remember Keil-Kraft aircraft kits ?
balsa / tissue, dope [hey man open the window] and rubber band power ?
@class37025 (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=311) yep, dad built a couple of them and a glider, never saw any of them fly though, I had a spirit of St Louis and it crashed, somewhat deliberately and we took great pleasure in making sure it couldnt be repaired :-[
Quote from: class37025 on June 15, 2020, 05:23:02 PM
balsa / tissue, dope [hey man open the window] and rubber band power ?
I certainly remember making rubber-powered balsa aircraft kits. They usually self-destructed when I wound up the rubber band :o
Started with railways and planes about the same time.
Clockwork 0-4-0 North British shunter in red (Triang), then Playcraft HO set and then the Triang Holiday Express September 1965. (age 5 with Scarlet Fever that Christmas with layout on a white cotton sheet on the floor).
Dad made a Frog Airspeed Oxford (his wartime memories) and then we started doing both. I still have a Matchbox F2A Lightning painted in RAF Germany colours (my memories) and an Airfix Chipmunk T10 trainer (my aerobatic memories), plus a few others in a box in the attic.
Dad was a draughtsman at Portsmouth Aviation for 52 years in all, from an apprentice in the war until he was 65. He cycled to work every day, in a time when it was fashionable, even desirable, to have a car, and when he retired the firm gave him a new bike.
I did the cycling thing when it was not fashionable either, and cycled all around Wales to raise money for the BHF while I awaited my A level results in 1978. Raised over £1000 which wasn't a bad deal in those days and without Just Giving.
Got into N in 1970 when I was 10, and have been doing N for 50 years. Slightly better as a modeller now than I was then, but not by much!
Bob
I remember making FROG aircraft kits in the 70's. The pictures on the front of the box always looked better than those on the airfix kits so that's what I spent my pocket money on.
Quotemaking rubber-powered balsa aircraft kits
That's just reminded me of those styrofoam planes youd get for pennys.Assembly was pushing the wing through the body,elastic band from the prop to a cut out on the body,wind up the band ,release and throw.
Yes, I started with Airfix kits, bought at the local toy shop.
Mainly aircraft to start with, glue everywhere, frosted canopies and decals applied, but no paint.
Probably had a go at almost every range that Airfix produced, from the 1:24 Spitfire, through 1:72 planes, cars, Napoleonic soldiers, and tanks.
I mainly collected the HO/OO plastic figures of soldiers, and again had the Romans stuff, through the Napoleonic stuff, US Civil war and WW1 and WW2 figures.
My relatively wealthy Aunty fed my addiction, and I got quite a few of the diorama's as well like the Roman Fort and the gun emplacement, and maybe some others.
Eventually I concentrated on AFV's. That's also when I realised that there were other manufacturers.
Matchbox kits were great because you got a bit of a battle ground to display the vehicles on, and use in wargames. I also used to build Hasegawa stuff to go alongside the Airfix and Matchbox kits even though they were visibly bigger. Plus some Bandai 1:48 tanks and Tamiya 1:35 stuff as well.
I also used to buy the Airfix magazine.
Over the many years since I went to Uni, it has all been lost or thrown away, not necessarily by me!
John P
didn't Playcraft morph into Jouef, or was it the 'toy' arm of Jouef.
in the day the detail on Jouef compared to Hornby and Triang was amazing.
Quote from: class37025 on June 15, 2020, 05:23:02 PM
balsa / tissue, dope [hey man open the window] and rubber band power ?
Ooh, the colours, man 8)
Most definitely yes. Had just about every two bob kit there was, be it plane, ship, vintage car, or Coldstream Guard!
When I eventually got a Triang train set, I started on the lineside kits, and had just about all of those, including, of course, platform figures and accessories.
That got me and me mate into collecting the OO sized army figures and playing wargames with them.
Airfix figured big time in the young Bealman's life.
The last Airfix kit I built was the Apollo/Saturn V in 1971, which I still have. Unfortunately, it has lost it's place on top of the piano since I built the Lego version last year, and is now consigned to a shoe box.
Quote from: Bealman on June 15, 2020, 09:17:15 PM
The last Airfix kit I built was the Apollo/Saturn V in 1971, which I still have. Unfortunately, it has lost it's place on top of the piano since I built the Lego version last year, and is now consigned to a shoe box.
Good grief! What size shoes do you take? :o
Quote from: Bealman on June 15, 2020, 09:17:15 PM
Had just about every two bob kit there was
I have one of those every morning at 07.30.
Trouble is, I don't get up until 08.30 :worried:
regular as clockwork, then Mick, just not adjusted for BST :smiley-laughing:
Quote from: tutenkhamunsleeping on June 15, 2020, 09:27:08 PM
Quote from: Bealman on June 15, 2020, 09:17:15 PM
The last Airfix kit I built was the Apollo/Saturn V in 1971, which I still have. Unfortunately, it has lost it's place on top of the piano since I built the Lego version last year, and is now consigned to a shoe box.
Good grief! What size shoes do you take? :o
It does break down into it's separate stages ;)
The Lego version is not as good, by the way. It is certainly an impressive model, but due to the method of construction, it looks a bit 'fat.' It does not convey the slender look of the real thing, which the Airfix model does.
Quote from: Bealman on June 15, 2020, 09:41:04 PM
It does break down into it's separate stages ;)
I reckon my Missus has enough shoe boxes to store a real one :(
I can remember my first two Airfix kits, bought for me by my Nan in Woolies, West Bromwich. A Whirlwind Helicopter and a Tiger tank. No rhyming slang there please, Mick :-X
Can't think of any rhyming slang for 'Helicopter' :no: :angel:
Woolies :(
they of the uneven wooden floors ..
'best of' LPs and 'NOW xx'
and an abundance of everything from Airfix to Woolco :-\
staff seemed, IIRC, to be required to wear miniskirts and go-go boots, at least the females :hmmm:
happy days.
now, like so many British icons consigned to the scrapheap :'(
Well a bit of a thread divert but still worthy of a mention as it was 25years ago and the company is now defunct.
In 96 we as a family trekked out to Adelaide to a family Christmas, getting 7 people round the world for a month was no mean feat, my mum, gran and little sister went in November and spent 8 weeks there, me my other 2 sisters and dad were to fly out in December.
A new suitcase was bought for my mum to travel from a local Woolworths and the day before we were to go we went back to the same store for dad to buy another one to go with.
Typically on the shelf there wasnt a 36" suitcase so dad asked a member of staff and she disappeared into the lift to check the store room, she returned dragging this rather heavy 36" case and dad checked out, this was a beast suitcase and dad made a point of saying "if it weighs this much empty I'm going to be paying a hefty excess baggage cost".
We got home and opened this 36" case, to find a 34" case and then a 32", 30", 28" and 2 flight bags. So that was it, we all flew out with matching luggage and dad even had matching hand luggage, Adelaide airport closes at 10pm and due to about 500 people waiting for the plane to arrive they had to stay open, we were a good 8hrs late, upon arrival dad got an ear bending over buying 5 pieces of luggage when he was only meant to buy 1!!!
Yep. I just about remember my mum painting lead soldiers (the two inch tall Britains type of thing) on the kitchen table as piece work. She bought me an Airfix kit HMS Devonshire. I carried on making kits of all types until I went to Uni. Then many decades I later started railway modelling.
remember going to Wollies in Western rd Brighton in the 70's, paid for my purchases, and walked away from the till....
checked my change....
oops, she'd given me my change and the initial note I'd paid with ...
'excuse me, you made a mistake with my change '
'you should have checked it before you left the till'
'ok'
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Quote from: Bealman on June 15, 2020, 09:17:15 PM
Most definitely yes. Had just about every two bob kit there was, be it plane, ship, vintage car, or Coldstream Guard!
When I eventually got a Triang train set, I started on the lineside kits, and had just about all of those, including, of course, platform figures and accessories.
That got me and me mate into collecting the OO sized army figures and playing wargames with them.
Airfix figured big time in the young Bealman's life.
The last Airfix kit I built was the Apollo/Saturn V in 1971, which I still have. Unfortunately, it has lost it's place on top of the piano since I built the Lego version last year, and is now consigned to a shoe box.
did you have the exploding box car :-[
You mean the Triang one, no but me mate did. He had the 'Defender' train set.
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/90/255-060420010359-903461507.jpeg)
I remember the instructions :
"locate and cement"
:)
Oh yeah! Now you're taxing the brain cell!
Classic!
Like the fireworks of the day....
"Light blue touchpaper and retire"
So I'd always go to bed :D
I think Airfix and Railways arrived at roughly the same time for me in the mid 1960s, Unfortunately all the Built model kits got binned by my parents every time Dad got posted..
Once I started work, I built some of the Tamiya F1 racing car kits, they got left at my Parents when I got posted, I've never seen them again, I suspect my nephews and nieces destroyed them, like they did to a lot of my model railway layout..
The last aircraft kit I've partly built is the 1/32 Revell Tornado F2 , Heavily modified, into a parked F3 with nose open to display the radar I worked on..Still some mods to finish it though, it's sitting in the foam lined Tin case I brought it back from Saudi in, 20 yeas ago. It's waiting for me to finish the model rail shed, where there is a corner allocated for it currently under the stack of railway models and kits..
Oh I did build a Boat from Scratch out in Saudi, 1:1 scale 18ft long, that came back in it's own tin box.. an ISO container. I'm retoring that at the moment..
Started with Hornby 0 gauge clockwork, kits were for balsa and tissue sailplanes, late 50s Dublo and Triang for sons, N gauge after leaving RAF in '74, still going.
My brother and myself made plenty of the Airfix airplane kits when we were teenagers and hung them from our bedroom ceiling. Dad was always telling us to not rush the construction. A few of my kits had fingerprints etched into the clear canopies - not sure how that happened! One of my favourites was the English Electric Lightning, which I painted silver.
I think my first taste of modelling was getting cardboard boxes from the local Co-op and making them into cars, buses and boats for my toys.
From there I played with my Dad's OO layout and built a tunnel from a shoebox and paper-mache following a feature on Blue Peter.
I did manage to build a good number of Airfix kits along the way:
Red Arrow hawk
Sopwith pup (or was it a camel?)
Tiger Moth
Hurricane
Spitfire
Lancaster Bomber
Seaking
HMS Belfast
8mm Flack gun and tractor
Harrier
RAF Rescue Launch
Scorpion
Apart from the Harrier and HMS Belfast I think they were all to 1:72 scale. A large proportion came from my grandparents as birthday and Christmas presents over a few years. They were Dutch which explains the lack of German WW2 models...
Steven B.
I also remember getting a air gun Pistol and trying to shoot down one of the planes hanging on the ceiling. Not sure how I missed it was a Lancaster bomber, I also sunk a aircraft carrier with 1p bangers, you know those standard firework ones.
Quote from: exmouthcraig on June 15, 2020, 04:26:58 PM
....Kev was heavily involved in the MOD upgrading of the Nimrod from MR2 to MRA4 and was in Kinloss on active service until the day the project was scrapped.
2014 I purchased an Airfix Nimrod kit. . . .
I've just purchased a Revell Avro Shackleton kit because I spent a week as an RAF Cadet in Kinloss in 1957 and got a flight in one. Only just back into modelling so a bit hesitant about tackling it.
@OffshoreAlan (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=6273) I do believe @class37025 (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=311) has purchased one of these,
Alan you started building it yet??????
MR.3 still awaiting building,
AEW.2 in progress
plus Airfix
MR.2 in progress, plus a couple built
AEW.2 in progress plus one built
must have caught the bug at Ballykelly, well I was always told four screws was better than four blow jobs :-[
Nimrod still firmly in the stash, must actually finish more projects :'(
both the Airfix and new Revell Shacks are superb kits, far away from the ex-Frog MR.3s, and you can now choose to fit the Vipers in the outboard nacelles for the MR.3, or have without.
Yes, definitely. First kit was a FIAT G91 from the NAAFI shop in Münster (Dad was REME). I had loads of kits, mainly aircraft - living in West Wales as a teenager in the 1980s, there was nothing else to do on long winter nights or wet weekends.
I built a few kits with my son when he was growing up - he's now into Warhammer figures.
Quote from: class37025 on June 15, 2020, 07:10:24 PM
didn't Playcraft morph into Jouef, or was it the 'toy' arm of Jouef.
in the day the detail on Jouef compared to Hornby and Triang was amazing.
Yes it was the cheap starter stuff from Jouef. I had a Playcraft set from Woollies back in the 70s, a little 4 wheel diesel shunter and a couple of wagons. It ran quite well but the wheels were brass and tended to get dirty rapidly. Non-standard couplings too.
I'm afraid I've never rated Jouef particularly highly, not compared to Fleischmann and Trix anyway.
My first kit at age of 7 was a Revell P40 and I was hooked right away next weeks pocket money went on a F4U Corsair after that it depened on what the local toyshop/ tobacconists or Woolies had and how far I could stretch my pocket money.
Quote from: 37214 on June 16, 2020, 06:28:17 PM
Yes, definitely. First kit was a FIAT G91 from the NAAFI shop in Münster (Dad was REME). I had loads of kits, mainly aircraft - living in West Wales as a teenager in the 1980s, there was nothing else to do on long winter nights or wet weekends.
I built a few kits with my son when he was growing up - he's now into Warhammer figures.
Really? :goggleeyes: My father was also REME and we lived in Münster from 1973/4 to 1976. I was also a teenager in the 1980s (born in 1964). I remember some of my time in Münster very well, lived in Billerbeckweg and used to play football against the Germans regularly in 20-a-side matches.
I didn't make many Airfix kits at the time but did quite a few Airfix railway kits later on.
Quote from: exmouthcraig on June 16, 2020, 04:19:08 PMAlan you started building it yet??????
:no: No, not yet, still digesting the instructions. :read: Probably be done by Christmas.
Hi all,
Now I am really feeling my age!
My first ever kit was from Airfix - Churchill Tank!
My first railway kits were Faller and Vollmer buildings
My first 'proper' railway kits were Rosebud/Kitmaster mk1 coaaches.
Thanks
Phil H
One of the early kits I built was the Airfix HMS Belfast, a special project for me as I made it for my Grandfather who served on the Belfast. He kept it safe on a shelf until his death a few years ago and it has returned to me. Despite its dubious build quality, it now has a special place in my display case. I do have another of these kits to make one day but somehow, no matter how high a quality I could do it, I am not sure it will ever be as important to me as the old one!!
Best wishes
Simon
Quote from: Trainfish on June 16, 2020, 09:56:55 PM
Quote from: 37214 on June 16, 2020, 06:28:17 PM
Yes, definitely. First kit was a FIAT G91 from the NAAFI shop in Münster (Dad was REME). I had loads of kits, mainly aircraft - living in West Wales as a teenager in the 1980s, there was nothing else to do on long winter nights or wet weekends.
I built a few kits with my son when he was growing up - he's now into Warhammer figures.
Really? :goggleeyes: My father was also REME and we lived in Münster from 1973/4 to 1976. I was also a teenager in the 1980s (born in 1964). I remember some of my time in Münster very well, lived in Billerbeckweg and used to play football against the Germans regularly in 20-a-side matches.
I didn't make many Airfix kits at the time but did quite a few Airfix railway kits later on.
Hi @Trainfish (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=262)
Yes, we lived in a street called Zum Erlenbusch, it was a small Army estate surrounded by private German housing. Our garden backed onto a garden of a German house but I don't recall that we interacted with any of the locals at all other than shopping in a couple of the local food shops.
I used to get the bus to the Army school on the nearby barracks, I'm 1965 vintage 😊
Our family left there early in 1976 and we moved to Borden in Hampshire, I preferred living in Germany actually.
I went back to visit Münster in 1986/7 when I was stationed at RAF Gütersloh, a lot was the same as I remembered but everything looked smaller.
Over the last 7 years I have been able to go out to Germany for several meetings with work and in 2014, I had a 3 month secondment in Karlsrühe; very enjoyable.
Quote from: 37214 on June 17, 2020, 11:43:51 AM
Quote from: Trainfish on June 16, 2020, 09:56:55 PM
Quote from: 37214 on June 16, 2020, 06:28:17 PM
Yes, definitely. First kit was a FIAT G91 from the NAAFI shop in Münster (Dad was REME). I had loads of kits, mainly aircraft - living in West Wales as a teenager in the 1980s, there was nothing else to do on long winter nights or wet weekends.
I built a few kits with my son when he was growing up - he's now into Warhammer figures.
Really? :goggleeyes: My father was also REME and we lived in Münster from 1973/4 to 1976. I was also a teenager in the 1980s (born in 1964). I remember some of my time in Münster very well, lived in Billerbeckweg and used to play football against the Germans regularly in 20-a-side matches.
I didn't make many Airfix kits at the time but did quite a few Airfix railway kits later on.
Hi @Trainfish (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=262)
Yes, we lived in a street called Zum Erlenbusch, it was a small Army estate surrounded by private German housing. Our garden backed onto a garden of a German house but I don't recall that we interacted with any of the locals at all other than shopping in a couple of the local food shops.
I used to get the bus to the Army school on the nearby barracks, I'm 1965 vintage 😊
Our family left there early in 1976 and we moved to Borden in Hampshire, I preferred living in Germany actually.
I went back to visit Münster in 1986/7 when I was stationed at RAF Gütersloh, a lot was the same as I remembered but everything looked smaller.
Over the last 7 years I have been able to go out to Germany for several meetings with work and in 2014, I had a 3 month secondment in Karlsrühe; very enjoyable.
I've sent you @37214 (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=6081) a PM on this :thumbsup:
I certainly made an awful lot of Airfix kits - planes and trains mainly but some military stuff too. I always tried to build them to the instructions and was proud of my work when doors opened, wheels and valve gear rotated as it should. Most of mine got destroyed when we discovered putting fireworks in any available opening caused wonderful destruction. A Hercules with opening rear door was the best as it had the biggest opening.....
I also made a lots of Keilkraft stuff as the factory was local to us. I made a MiG 15 with Jetex motor that for some reason had a banana shape to the fuselage when viewed from above. It flew for about 20 yards then veered off into a tree and that was the end of that!
Railways have always been my first love and Woolies always had Lone Star while my Triang stuff was sourced from Bermans the local toy shop. I got quite a collection before going off to N when I was 15. Most of that was sourced locally or at Chuffs in the City, a great place to get all that was new or a bit unusual. I've had a couple of times when I've sold up and then started again a few years later but I've always kept up with the Railway Modeller. I've also got a large scale Corsair to build for some reason, maybe that will happen one day when the layout is finished. I can't bring myself to put a lot of time into something that won't last long if it goes into the air!
Jetex motor !
I'd forgotten about them, IIRC blocks of fuel and a length of fuse, light fuse and stand well clear.
could be reused over and over again in cars, planes or boats.
days of our youth.
Born in 1967 and heavily influenced in the early 1970s by my older cousin Steven, who was always building Airfix military, naval and aircraft kits.
I remember visiting their house (without my brother, for some reason) in about 1974, and I remember playing a naval "wargame" with him, using his Airfix ships (a bit awkward, since they weren't waterline models). I'd always been fascinated by his model of HMS Fearless with its landing craft dock, so of course this was the first ship I chose for my fleet ... whilst he chose Bismark. Needless to say, this encounter was a little one-sided!
When they moved to a big country house with its own lake, the stories came in thick and fast. Bismark and Rodney had bolts inserted into the bottom of their hulls to give them stability, and were carefully waterproofed before being launched on the lake. He and a friend then fought a naval battle which involved them both firing at their opponent's ship with air rifles, which ended with both ships sinking to the bottom of the lake. Another time he and his friend fought a destroyer action on the lawn, lining up their ships and then throwing pieces of chalk at the opposing battle line. Every time a hit was scored, a lighted match was held against the chalk mark, and the owner was allowed one attempt to blow the flames out every ten seconds. Quite a destructive game ... but enormous fun, I imagine.
My own first attempt at building an Airfix kit was the Bristol Blenheim, and all together I think I had 3 of these, but they never went together properly for some reason. The wing upper and wing lower never seemed to mate adequately.
Other kits followed ... tanks and other other aeroplanes. I remember my mother having kittens when I put drawing pins into my bedroom ceiling to hang a stuka and ME110. None of my models were ever painted.
Interest in railways had always been latent from my early days. I have a friend who had a train set (Lima OO class 31 and three blue/grey coaches) and I really wanted one too ... but diesels never did it for me. I wanted steam. (Blame the Rev W Wadry for that one ... )
I remember going to the closing down sale of the Cambridge department store Laurie & McConnell in about 1976 or 1977, and seeing the "Rural Rambler" train set in the toy department. I really really REALLY wanted on ... but didn't get it!
My father was always adamant that if you were going to have a model railway, you should always choose the smallest scale on the market, in order that you could be as ambitious as possible in the space available ... and this was N. He bought a variety of catalogues and I spent hours poring over them and planning hopelessly unrealistic layouts before, in 1979, he agreed to buy me a model railway for my 12th birthday. And so, during our summer holiday in Cornwall, we went to a big toy shop in Helston, which had a model railway department upstairs, and I became the proud owner of a Graham Farish "General Purpose" 0-6-0T in LMS black no 7313, six assorted Peco PO trucks, a Peco LMS brake van, an H&M Clipper controller and enough track to have a decent-sized oval for it to run round. Over time a Lima 4F and a Farish 4P (both in LMS black) and a number of LMS passenger vehicles were added. And the rest, as they say, is history ...
Strange, that. I began designing hopelessly unrealistic layouts in 1979 too, but at age when I should have known better :-[
My earliest memory of Airfix kits was the Golden Hind that my father made for me and I started building Airfix kits at an early age 8, my first kit? the Spitfire in 1/72. by the time I was 10 (1966) I was showing a cousin of about the same age how to apply the transfers. the biggest kit I built was the 1/24th Spitfire which hung from my bedroom ceiling, propeller turning when I had visitors!
Regards,
Alex
Quote from: class37025 on June 15, 2020, 04:35:16 PM
oh yes....
parts in a plastic bag, with a printed header/instruction sheet, 2/- of my pocket money on each model.
happy days :thumbsup:
Two bob for a series 1 kit, you were robbed, the toy shop I brought mine from charged 1s/11d.
Yes, I am still building.
I used to buy my kits from Woolies in Reading.
They also had a great postage stamp section, which was one of my other hobbies.
I also remember buying kits from a hardware shop on, I think, the Shinfield road.
For railways there was Eames, with their fantastic display layout, and then Hills (or was it Heels) for Britains 1/32 scale soldiers.
Happy memories !
Joe
@Trainfish (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=262) :pmsign: but didn't tag you, did you see it?
Quote from: 37214 on July 02, 2020, 06:10:49 PM
@Trainfish (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=262) :pmsign: but didn't tag you, did you see it?
I did indeed @37214 (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=6081) , thanks. I'm just waiting for confirmation but 2nd Royal Tank Regiment definitely rings a bell, I'm pretty sure he was attached to them :thumbsup: