Your first model kit?

[100SRV]

I can remember building an Airfix Banshee and Thunderstreak at my Grandparents house when I was young, I suppose I must have been about eight. The silver paint on the Thunderstreak "looked funny" having a clear and a silver part. Obviously didn't mix it properly ??

The Thunderstreak puzzled me because it had the jet inlet at the front, want that draughty for the pilot? Also the German markings..."hadn't they lost the war, why would they have the same aeroplane as the Americans? ??

The Banshee I remember seeing in a film not long after but I'm pretty sure the film was the Bridge at Toko Ri and I think that features a different "blue US jet".

Anyone else have similar memories?

I'm sure they Dr GN would talk me out of a trip down memory lane by buying these kits now...

Edited because Android thought it was a "Thunderstruck".

Edited by 100SRV on Friday 20th October 22:09

Edited by 100SRV on Friday 20th October 22:09

[Simpo Two]

My first kit was a tiny Airfix ship model, either Cutty Sark or Revenge, while staying with an aunt in Sidcup. They came in a small polybag with a card top from a local toyshop. I was just about 8, and whilst I enjoyed gluing the bits together, it never crossed my mind to paint them so they stayed white. The other kit I made that week was the inevitable Spitfire

[dr_gn]

100SRV said:

I can remember building an Airfix Banshee and Thunderstreak at my Grandparents house when I was young, I suppose I must have been about eight. The silver paint on the Thunderstreak "looked funny" having a clear and a silver part. Obviously didn't mix it properly ??

The Thunderstreak puzzled me because it had the jet inlet at the front, want that draughty for the pilot? Also the German markings..."hadn't they lost the war, why would they have the same aeroplane as the Americans? ??

The Banshee I remember seeing in a film not long after but I'm pretty sure the film was the Bridge at Toko Ri and I think that features a different "blue US jet".

Anyone else have similar memories?

I'm sure they Dr GN would talk me out of a trip down memory lane by buying these kits now...

Edited because Android thought it was a "Thunderstruck".

Edited by 100SRV on Friday 20th October 22:09

Edited by 100SRV on Friday 20th October 22:09

Mine was a Revell SE.5a.

I never built the Airfix Banshee or Thunderstreak, although oddly enough, a real version of the latter did crash into a local hospital at one point in the distant past. That must have been quite a story at the time.

[gruffgriff]

Novo boxed Frog Typhoon when I was ten. Tube glue gaps, gloss enamels from my dad's tray inc wonky invasion stripes. ..haven't stopped in the 43 years, tons of plastic though little improvement since. Original lost but I have a Frog Typhoon to build. I should probably get the no 48 gloss blue ready for the build!

[sidewinder500]

Airfix Super Constellation when I was about 10ish.

Was a present from my aunt, no idea why it wasn't a car model, as I was very into cars. Guess it's like that with non considerate ppl.

Kit was awful, painting a mess, got crash tested a lot and ended up a burned out blob of plastic.

Since then only cars and bikes.
Still building, albeit very slow.

[Regbuser]

Used to spend pocket money on the boxes of soldiers, so first kits were I think, a Sherman, then a Panzer, then def an 88mm.

[lufbramatt]

Matchbox Meteor nightfighter. Have always preferred the look of the long nose Meteors ever since. Remember very proudly taking it to school for show and tell when I was 7.

Might have a look out for that kit on the second hand stalls at Telford for a nostalgia build!

As an aside I’ve always thought that Roy Huxleys box art illustrations for Matchbox were better than Roy Cross, more exciting with wonderful lighting.

Edited by lufbramatt on Saturday 21st October 09:44

[Simpo Two]

sidewinder500 said:

Kit was awful, painting a mess, got crash tested a lot and ended up a burned out blob of plastic.

I turned a surplus Avro Lancaster model into a control line glider, and by setting fire to the nose and whizzing it round got some fine effects. All my early models have gone; I think the only ones left are a Harrier and a Matchbox Hurricane. IIRC Matchbox were a bit better than Airfix.

[Perseverant]

Airfix MIG 15. I'd have been about 8, I think. I also remember doing a Revell Triumph TR3 and a Vauxhall Cresta. The latter was a real challenge as it came with a flat sheet of thin plastic and templates for the windows. There was a fair bit of glue overlap but it turned out all right to my eyes at least (probably high on fumes) and I was pleased to have worked out that sticky tape could be used to hold bits while the glue set.

[Eric Mc]

Mine was the Airfix Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter - in Iranian markings. Bought from Woolworths, of course.
Would have been in a bag - like this.



I was 8 years old at the time (1966) so was happy with the result. I tried building one again more recently and gave up.

As for the Airfix Banshee, I built one not long after the kit first came out - which was around 1980s. It's quite a good kit (unlike the F-5A).

The Banshee does feature in the James Michener novel, "The Bridges at Toko Ri". When the movie was made, they used Grumman F9F Panthers.

Book



Movie

[IJWS15]

I remember a Frog Martin Marauder together with finishing a HMS Revenge probably in 1966/7. My father had bought them many years before and started the Revenge.

I would be about 6.

[generationx]

Pretty sure it was an Airfix Spitfire when I was about 6. Also I remember a freebie, tiny, oil rig that came from a cereal box…?

[essayer]

Mine was the Airfix F-14A kit. With working swing wings. (Working in that they moved, they didn’t generate lift, as I discovered to my cost one day)

[Milkyway]

Batman is long gone... but I think that I still have his missing ‘batarang’ in my drawer...

Edited by Milkyway on Saturday 21st October 14:14

[SlimJim16v]

I remember some Airfix planes, but mainly the Universal monsters, Dracula Werewolf, Mummy and Frankenstein's creation, with some glow in the dark bits.

[Milkyway]

SlimJim16v said:

I remember some Airfix planes, but mainly the Universal monsters, Dracula Werewolf, Mummy and Frankenstein's creation, with some glow in the dark bits.

That’s what Batman replaced... Used to scare the living daylights out of me in the middle of the night.
(Just saying to Milkyway Sr... it was a ghoul of some kind)

I was more into cars than the hanging the planes from the ceiling scene... my neighbour was into all that.

Edited by Milkyway on Saturday 21st October 15:11

[bristolracer]

HMS Cossack for me, just at the time of decimalisation,think it cost me 2/6 of saved pocket money.
The next one was the Airfix Panther tank which my older brother had to build as it had so many wheels and for a small kit was quite challenging for a 7 year old

[Simpo Two]

I just climbed out of a wormhole and found this for Eric: https://modelpaintsol.com/builds/the-roden-de-havi...

[dontlookdown]

bristolracer said:

HMS Cossack for me, just at the time of decimalisation,think it cost me 2/6 of saved pocket money.
The next one was the Airfix Panther tank which my older brother had to build as it had so many wheels and for a small kit was quite challenging for a 7 year old

I was at school with a boy whose grandad was on Cossack at the time of the Altmark incident. He had a 78 record of Winston Churchill basically saying 'thanks' which was apparently issued to all of the crew. He certainly won Show and Tell the Friday he brought that in..!

[944 Man]

Fairey Swordfish.