For me it was Airfix...

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Cartus

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I'm inspired by reading the Lego thread on here. I loved Lego as a child, I just never 'took it up' as an adult. However, when my now nineteen year old son was about four or five I bought him an Airfix kit (1/72nd Spitfire Mk V!) for Christmas. Of course he couldn't build it so I had to do it for him....

I ended up buying all the kit and learning all the skills that were beyond me as a thirteen year old, but as an adult were achievable...hey! I spent a good number of hours and a few quid on the hobby of 'Scale Aviation (in my case) Modelling' as it had become known. I enjoyed doing it for maybe three years and have a handful of complete models displaying some competence. Trouble is I've nowhere to put them!

Has anybody done something similar?
 
I loved Airfix as a kid.

I used to build a plane as perfectly as I could but i'd fill the fuselage with crushed match heads packed in silver foil.

Then I'd hang it from a tree and shoot it with my air rifle. :)

All my pocket money and earnings from car cleaning and lawn mowing went on it.
 
I loved Airfix as a kid just as I did Scalextric.

Fast forward a good number of years and I went to a 'Scalextric club' which was a 150 foot track where race nights were manic! I ended up spending thousands on it, travelling all over the UK racing in different series both on plastic and wooden tracks!

Finally gave it up a couple of years ago - much to the other halves delight, although I still miss it!
 
Cartus said:
Trouble is I've nowhere to put them!
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I used to hang mine from the ceiling with drawing pins and thread :)
Drove my dad nuts especially after he had just emulsioned it :D
 
I too loved building Airfix models as a kid. It gave me a sense of achievement, even though I sometimes couldn't get ALL the free-moving parts glued perfectly (props/wheels etc....) & usually had cement/glue all over my fingers which I could pick off for days afterwards! :LOL: I also loved the fact that Mum & Dad trusted me with a small sharp knife to trim the parts. :cool:

I had many plane kits, but my favourite by far, as I'd progressed over a couple of years, was the Lancaster bomber. :cool: My Granddad worked @ AVRO & it was possibly he who bought it for me.

If I remember correctly I THINK my 1st attempts with Airfix models were with the Fab 4 :D Anyone else remember kits of John, Paul, George & Ringo? (must have been Circa 1965)

Happy memories. :ty:
 
wibbly said:
I loved Airfix as a kid just as I did Scalextric.

Fast forward a good number of years and I went to a 'Scalextric club' which was a 150 foot track where race nights were manic! I ended up spending thousands on it, travelling all over the UK racing in different series both on plastic and wooden tracks!

Finally gave it up a couple of years ago - much to the other halves delight, although I still miss it!
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Dave, ever visit http://www.pendleslotracingclub.co.uk/ ?
 
I know Nick & Neal Hirst & know they travel all over the country. Don't they also have an online business too?
(Boys & their toys! :cool: )
 
I used to love making the 1:72 scale planes.

At one point my ceiling was just about covered with suspended planes.
 
I still build the odd kit and have a couple sitting on a high shelf waiting for my attention but they're complicated models and will probably still be sitting there years from now :lol:
 
OldCarlos said:
I know Nick & Neal Hirst & know they travel all over the country. Don't they also have an online business too?
(Boys & their toys! :cool: )
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Yeah, a big slot car business, they're one of the biggest in the country.

I know Nick more than Neil, two real nice guys [emoji41]
 
My father ran a model shop in the 70s (NJM, if anyone knows of them) and so it was natural I'd acquire a lot of airfix models. I'd pretty much buy 2 every week, and could build carefully & well, but would never paint them. They would always end up being burnt in the garden as a result of being involved in a 'war', often being lit from a long trail of model diesel fuel (still have my original DC Merlin). My father both built & painted them well enough to display, and I just didn't have the patience or dexterity to finish them to that standard.

About 12 feet away is an un-built series 4 kit for the Fairey Rotodyne, probably 40 years old now.
 
I think I've decided what my Christmas present to myself will be this year.

:)

Now, Spitfire, Mustang or Blackbird. :thinking:
 
ancient_mariner said:
About 12 feet away is an un-built series 4 kit for the Fairey Rotodyne, probably 40 years old now.
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Now that is an unusual aircraft! I had to look it up.
 
Airfix 1:72 aircraft were the gateway kits that got me onto the harder stuff - Tamiya 1:35 German vehicles (which I used to build onto competition winning dioramas (the judges at prep school usually included ex soldiers who had memories of similar scenes from WWII )) then balsa kits, although I managed to keep off the really hard stuff (RC) mainly due to lack of cash ! Have several Airfix kits somewhere but lack the time to build them (and paint them.)
 
I'm sorry, you've lost me there?
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The moral is, think before you drink before you try to be comical.

Anyway, Airfix? I was certain to make a mess, but Matchbox plastic models usually looked oK.

However, I've seen some right states, a Phantom with the tail stabilizers on upside down, a Lightning with 1000lb bombs mounted on the missile pylons on the fuselage, the list is endless.

I stick to Corgi die cast now, the make almost every sort of lightning ever conceived, and they look mostly like they should straight out of the box.
 
My favourite models were artillery pieces made by a company called Brittains. They also made soldiers and rather bizarrely model gardens too.
 
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Matchbox kits came moulded in two or three different colours IIRC. As a youngster I would sit down and construct the plane in one sitting but to make them properly and apply weathering and additional details takes a bit longer. I've got a few Corgi die cast models as well, they're pretty good and they do cater for collectors I know.
 
Built many an airfix kit when younger too, still build plastic kits daily though railway orientated these days. (I also design and sell my own range of kits, but in etched brass with 3D printed plastic bits rather than injection moulded plastic kits). The smell of the glue still takes me back to my first spitfire...actually I think I'm still using the same acrylic paint that came with it today!
 
Loved Airfix( and its competitors)......built everything from aircraft to Spanish sailing boats, formula one cars to battle scenes.....absolutely loved the stuff
 
tijuana taxi said:
My favourite models were artillery pieces made by a company called Brittains. They also made soldiers and rather bizarrely model gardens too.
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I think Britains are still around, but I don't know if the artillery is available, and the garden sets are long gone. Anyone remember Swoppets? I'm going back to the 60s and there were WW2, knights and cowboy figures, but there were others too. There seems to be a collectors market for the older stuff now.
 
For those who remember Airfix kits from the past, it might be worthwhile just glancing at their website. There are some kits still available in the old configuration i.e. inaccurate, flash from worn moulds etc. But they are gradually re-tooling and releasing many of their older, popular kits (along with newer ones). The level of detail they are achieving compared with earlier kits is astonishing, and whilst rivet counters may argue over things like panel lines, the overall quality is to be commended. For example, take a look at the current Lancaster kits and you'll be amazed at the level of detail, compared to the older ones. In recent years they've produced some great 1/48 kits, with great details also.

Their 2015 release programme was announced last week. For those that have to room they are re-issuing their 1/24 DH Mosquito, which sold out a few years back. I'm a scale model "nut" and have a stash in the loft going back to the 1980's. The trouble is I can find little time to build, but I keep adding to the stash.
 
chadders said:
Their 2015 release programme was announced last week. For those that have to room they are re-issuing their 1/24 DH Mosquito, which sold out a few years back. I'm a scale model "nut" and have a stash in the loft going back to the 1980's. The trouble is I can find little time to build, but I keep adding to the stash.
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I've built the 1/24 scale MkII Spitfire, FW190 and the Bf109. I still have the Stuka in the loft. I remember seeing the 1/24 Mosquito on sale in Hobbycraft a couple of years ago. I seem to remember it was priced at £50. When I went back for it, it had been sold. :(

Where would you put such a huge model though?
 
Cartus said:
I've built the 1/24 scale MkII Spitfire, FW190 and the Bf109. I still have the Stuka in the loft. I remember seeing the 1/24 Mosquito on sale in Hobbycraft a couple of years ago. I seem to remember it was priced at £50. When I went back for it, it had been sold. :(

Where would you put such a huge model though?
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Yes the Mossie is enormous. The new version is over £100 now. The older version was selling for silly money on evil bay.
 
The first ever Airfix kit I made was [of course] the 1/72 Spitfire. I eagerly glued the two halves of the wings together by filling the whole internal cut-outs with glue and was quite surprised when the plastic melted into an aeroplane design that was RJ MItchell meets Salvador Dali! :rolleyes:

A year or so later, I can still remember my relief when I found out that Airfix class 1 kits had gone up from 2/- to 2/3d ... but since my dad had given me half a crown, I wasn't embarrassed by the lady behind the counter in Woolworths! :D

A few years later I'd graduated to those wonderful [and very expensive] Tamiya 1/12 racing cars where the suspension and steering all worked! Twenty years after that, I was running a young Japanese racing driver who explained that his only knowledge of racing car suspension came from Tamiya radio controlled models, and we realised it wasn't a bad place to start!

Yv has just said "Do you know I've never made an Airfix kit and I've always wanted to!" I'm going to have to search the attic for the unmade Airfix Vincent Black Shadow that's her surprise, late, special Christmas present!! :banana:
 
They made a range of very detailed farm machinery and equipment
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Oh yes, forgot about them and the Zoo range too

I think Britains are still around
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Not heard of them for years, their factory was in Blackhorse Lane, Walthamstow, but that went an awful long time ago

Anyone remember Swoppets? I'm going back to the 60s and there were WW2, knights and cowboy figures, but there were others too
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I do remember them, ended up with some very odd figures once the swapping had taken place
 
My first airfix was a spitfire starter that I got when I was 12. It came with acrylic paints that got over my t-shirt.

As with all models since then, i was great at building the kit but rubbish at painting. In fact, that first spitfire had decals that were cut out and glued on. I had no idea you were supposed to stick them into hot water. It was when I got a set of three racing cars to build did I realise what decals were and how they were applied.

Fastforward to about 7 years ago and I made an apache gunship. I enjoyed making it and my manual dexterity was a lot better than when i was a teenager.
 
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I was talking about the Airfix kits in another thread months ago, and just before Christmas, the OH asked me what I wanted for a present - we were passing Hobbycraft at the time. We went in, and they had the 1/24 scale Hurricane for £20, and well it would have been downright rude of me to ignore it at that price.
I got it home, and read through the instructions a few times, looking at the advised assembly procedure, and decided that because of the excellent moulding of the parts (very fine with no flash), it will deserve a bit of care and attention lavished on it. The plan is to assemble, improve the sub assemblies using whatever materials necessary - the cockpit for instance is good but could be made a lot more interesting, as could the pilot, undercarriage bay detail, and of couse a bit of "super detailing" for the Merlin engine.
I looked for some ideas on the net, and after a couple of searches came across these superb examples of modelling.

http://www.helmo.gr/gallery2/d/6640-1/03.jpg?g2_GALLERYSID=TMP_SESSION_ID_DI_NOISSES_PMT

http://www.helmo.gr/gallery2/d/6635-1/01.jpg?g2_GALLERYSID=TMP_SESSION_ID_DI_NOISSES_PMT

http://www.wings900.com/cms/images/25563/tallyho6.jpg

The last one is of course a real Hurricane cockpit (I think), but gives an idea of the detail required.
When I get started on it, I may post a few piccies - assuming that it goes well of course.
 
andy700 said:
I was talking about the Airfix kits in another thread months ago, and just before Christmas, the OH asked me what I wanted for a present - we were passing Hobbycraft at the time. We went in, and they had the 1/24 scale Hurricane for £20, and well it would have been downright rude of me to ignore it at that price.
I got it home, and read through the instructions a few times, looking at the advised assembly procedure, and decided that because of the excellent moulding of the parts (very fine with no flash), it will deserve a bit of care and attention lavished on it. The plan is to assemble, improve the sub assemblies using whatever materials necessary - the cockpit for instance is good but could be made a lot more interesting, as could the pilot, undercarriage bay detail, and of couse a bit of "super detailing" for the Merlin engine.
I looked for some ideas on the net, and after a couple of searches came across these superb examples of modelling.

http://www.helmo.gr/gallery2/d/6640-1/03.jpg?g2_GALLERYSID=TMP_SESSION_ID_DI_NOISSES_PMT

http://www.helmo.gr/gallery2/d/6635-1/01.jpg?g2_GALLERYSID=TMP_SESSION_ID_DI_NOISSES_PMT

http://www.wings900.com/cms/images/25563/tallyho6.jpg

The last one is of course a real Hurricane cockpit (I think), but gives an idea of the detail required.
When I get started on it, I may post a few piccies - assuming that it goes well of course.
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£20 what a bargain! I'm going back to Hobbycraft tomorrow just in case they're giving any more away. :rolleyes:

When I was making models in the late 90's it was pre-internet and I had to seek out books to give me ideas for detailing. I liked this series by Dan Patterson:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hurricane-R...89933&sr=8-1&keywords=dan+patterson+hurricane
 
Cartus said:
£20 what a bargain! I'm going back to Hobbycraft tomorrow just in case they're giving any more away. :rolleyes:

When I was making models in the late 90's it was pre-internet and I had to seek out books to give me ideas for detailing. I liked this series by Dan Patterson:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hurricane-RAF-Fighter-Living-Legend/dp/1840370491/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419789933&sr=8-1&keywords=dan patterson hurricane
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If you have no luck there try Debenhams…they'll do you one for thirty quid.

Alternatively you could wait 'til March for something a bit more manageable for display purposes.

http://www.airfix.com/catalog/product/view/id/8405/category/1213/
 
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