A NOSTALGIC TRIBUTE TO FROG MODEL KITS

[dogsbody]

Have you seen this forum? Not much action there for awhile but there some interesting posts.
 

http://www.frogmodelaircraft.co.uk/phpBB3/index.php?sid=b2d22657f2892a34a957a83b19303a27

 

 

Chris

[dogsbody]

My FROG stash:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

Edited February 15, 2021 by dogsbody
Photobucket Can Suck It!

[dogsbody]

My FROG clones list from eastern Europe:

NOVO: SB.2
La-7
Hotspur
Firefly (2)
Vengeance
Swordfish (2)
Baltimore
Skua

Modelcraft: Shark

Encore: Beaufort

Intech: Wellington

Unknown Russian : Beaufort
Gloster Pioneer

Unknown Bagged Kits: Skua
Whitley (2)
Blenheim (3)
SB.2
Maryland

 

 

 I also have the following decal sets, that I bought in one lot, back in the late 80's.

Martin B-26 Marauder
Mitsubishi Zero-san
Messerschmitt Me262
Heinkel He219
Lockheed Ventura
Dornier Do17
Boeing B-17

Avro Lancaster

 

 

Edited March 4, 2017 by dogsbody

[adey m]

8 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Great topic Adey,I never built many Frog kits when I was  a kid we had a hardware store selling Airfix and a news agent selling Revell

Frog kits were only available in the model shop in Newcastle I do remember buying the Canberra and staring in awe at the Whitley

box art which still look's great today so who's going to propose a Frog GB? OK I will then anyone else interested?

 

Sounds like a great idea Steve.

[adey m]

22 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Just a thought,were some frog kits Hasegawa re-boxing's Bronco,Starfighter,Sabre,etc? I know the 1/32 109 and Hellcat were.

 

They certainly were Steve.

 

My sister bought me the FROG Grumman Mohawk for Christmas 1971 and it had a sticker on the box saying it was moulded in Japan.

 

Also I do not think the guys and girls at Margate would have decided to mould a olive drab aeroplane in WHITE plastic..................FROG usually moulded models in a plastic colour to suit the subject.

 

1/72 Hasegawa kits that appeared in FROG boxes included the Sabre, Starfighter, Lightning F6, Harrier, Skyhawk, Phantom, Vigilante, Bronco, Voodoo, Thunderchief, Delta Dagger, Super Sabre, Intruder, Nakajima Renzan, Kawanishi Emily, Lockheed Neptune and B-47 Stratojet.

 

And I remember my grand parents getting me the FROG 1/32 FW190 for Christmas which was the Hasegawa kit.

 

The Hasegawa kits which were repackaged by FROG had a different choice of colour schemes and markings to the Hasegawa ones, they had the excellent FROG decals and they also came in more exciting boxes with inspiring box art and a full colour painting guide on the back of the box.

 

regards,   Adrian

Edited March 3, 2017 by adey m

[Bangor Lad]

What a great topic!

Cheers

[Chris Royle]

It is said by some that the brand name FROG came from Flies Right Off the Ground....a reference to the pre WWII Frog rubber powered flying models. But Wiki makes no mention of that. This is an interesting site.

And no-one has mentioned the Frog Fairey FD2 yet.

Happy days!

Chris

[perdu]

This is a great thread Adey I have been a huge Frog fan ever since...

 

And ever since was a very long time ago...

 

The first model I built when I came back into the hobby after a thirty year hiatus was the Frog Typhoon I'd had saved when I did 'The Great Model Dump', I binned about thirty finished and a similar number of kits in a splurge of madness

 

The Typhoon does NOT have sky stripes over the upper wings, that was a yellow anti-FW190 stripe recognition measure, the Sky notation is for the prop spinner

 

My stash includes a few Frog/Hasegawa Lightnings, a F/H Phantom, Canberra BI8 and a Bucanneer to be built soon

 

Oh yes, yet another Frog Wessex coming along soon too

 

Novo did us a biggie when they took over the defunct, unwanted Frog moulds way back then

 

 

Did I mention great thread?

Edited March 3, 2017 by perdu

[viscount806x]

 

Here's a couple from me, the Wyvern built in late '70s and the Beaver, a part finished kit off ebay. I'm a bit older than you Adey but not as mature as Chris and Don. My brother and I built Frog kits bought near our home in Harrogate, Smarts on Montpellier Hill,two shops in Lower Market Hall and some from the little shop in Lowther Arcade. All of these are now long gone. Quite expensive in the '60s for us schoolboys, Airfix were cheaper and more accessible but Frog kits were definitely more esoteric weren't they.

Great thread Adey, thanks for sharing.

Nige B

[IanC]

Lovely stuff. That P-61 artwork looks great.

 

Can anyone post the P-40? It was the only one I remember building.

 

I grew up on Airfix and Matchbox instead.

[TonyTiger66]

Thanks Bill for the information on the wing top stripes for the Typhoon .

 

The box art is amazing for the Uhu! So much of this bax art is worth saving, after a model is made. I thought of cutting the tops out of built kits and keeping them in a folder with clear plastic sleeves. Some are certainly good enough for framing.

 

Not wanting this sentence to be quoted out of context, that is a very nice little Beaver.

 

Another vote here for a FROG group build, a very 'British Modelling' relevant subject.

 

Best regards

TonyT

[Dermo245]

And another vote here for a future FROG group build. 

 

I was limited to Airfix & Matchbox as a 'lad but remember seeing FROG kits when on a day trip to Holyhead........was like walking into Willy Wonka's factory....except it was Woolworths...you know what I mean! 

 

Cheers,

Dermot

[RidgeRunner]

I loved Frog. This is a great thread. My builds in my youth included the Whitley, Barracuda, F-100, A-7, F-86F (pretending to be a Sabre 6/CAC Avon Sabre, and many others. What attracted me most was the boxing, the colour profiles. These still do.

 

Martin

 

[cocky05d]

Hi ,didn't build a lot of Frog kits during the 60s/70s ,mainly Airfix .Most of the kits i bought were from a shop in Ironbridge ,used to walk there on a Saturday morning .

I did build the Frog He 219 a couple of years ago .And i remember my mate had the Avro Shackleton .

[cocky05d]

Just remembered i did build the Fairly Barracuda .

[gamevender]

Last year I visited the Solent Sky Museum in Southhampton and just inside the door is a large collection of FROG models, some assembled and some boxed. Interesting to see them all in one place. 

 

By the way, the museum is quite nice as well with what I think is the only Saunders Roe SR.A/1 on display. 

Edited March 3, 2017 by gamevender

[old thumper]

Being born in 1968 Frog kits were a little before my time, Matchbox and Airfix were more of my era.

But mind you I do like Frog kits and these days I have quite a number in my stash, like most old kits they still make nice models and are quite nice to build.

A Frog group build would be right up my street, if anyone is willing to host such a thing.

[RidgeRunner]

1 hour ago, cocky05d said:

Just remembered i did build the Fairly Barracuda .

 

what attracted me at the time I built it, was the SEAC decal set. I love the unusual in all things. At the time you didn't these very often and I was hooked. A bugger to build as I recall.

 

Martin

 

[Dave N]

Great thread. The Naafi shop in Berengaria only had a few Airfix kits, same with Woolies back in Blighty- I've never built a Frog kit, but I love your Shackleton Adey- it wouldn't look out of place in an episode of Thunderbirds.  Very impressive modelling.   Cheers, Dave

[Ray S]

Hello Adey, I came back from Singapore to Alderton in 1970, and used the same post office to get my kits. I got a few Frog ones, but I also remember getting some kits of Russian aircraft (big 4-engined jobs with swept wings). They were quite small, and covered in rivets. I thought it was great they could put that amount of detail into something like that.

I went back there last year, and sadly the post office has gone now, like so many.

 

It is a great thread, and lots of nostalgia.

 

All the best,

 

Ray

[adey m]

On 03/03/2017 at 08:36, Chris Royle said:

It is said by some that the brand name FROG came from Flies Right Off the Ground....a reference to the pre WWII Frog rubber powered flying models. But Wiki makes no mention of that. This is an interesting site.

And no-one has mentioned the Frog Fairey FD2 yet.

Happy days!

Chris

 Thanks Chris.

 

I built the NOVO Fairey FD2 Delta in 1978 when the NOVO kits were quite new and had replaced a lot of the FROG kits in the shops........in fact they were the FROG kits that had been moulded in Russia. They came in smart blue boxes which still had a FROG feel about them, they had the FROG artwork on the front and the FROG full colour painting guide on the back. They also had the same FROG decal choices...............except the decals were terrible and would disintegrate in the water.

 

The Fairey FD2 was a smashing model, it looked like a little Concorde, and like the Concorde it had a droopiing nose and cockpit which FROG faithfully reproduced on the kit and which worked.

 

cheers,  Adrian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by adey m

[adey m]

2 hours ago, Ray S said:

Hello Adey, I came back from Singapore to Alderton in 1970, and used the same post office to get my kits. I got a few Frog ones, but I also remember getting some kits of Russian aircraft (big 4-engined jobs with swept wings). They were quite small, and covered in rivets. I thought it was great they could put that amount of detail into something like that.

I went back there last year, and sadly the post office has gone now, like so many.

 

It is a great thread, and lots of nostalgia.

 

All the best,

 

Ray

 

Blimey I think we might know each other Raymond. We were still there in 1970, we did not leave Alderton until July 1971.

 

In fact we do know each other. You had a brother.

 

The other kits you refer to are the Starfix kits which the Post Office started selling in 1970. They looked like Airfix Series 1 bagged kits but were different scales to fit the bag. I bought and built a Skyhawk and Huey Cobra.

 

I remember you or your brother showing me the Starfix Tupolev Badger model that you had just built. It was a tiny scale and covered in massive rivets...........................

 

They say you should never go back.............I have been back too and what a quiet backwater it is now to what it was back then..........and what has happened to that smart RAF estate....................at least I still have lots of happy memories of the place.

 

Best wishes

 

Adrian

Edited March 3, 2017 by adey m

[Crossiant Oliver]

5 hours ago, IanC said:

Lovely stuff. That P-61 artwork looks great.

 

Can anyone post the P-40? It was the only one I remember building.

 

I grew up on Airfix and Matchbox instead.

Which P-40? The B or E model?

[jean]

18 hours ago, TonyTiger66 said:

 

The other one is the Hawker Typhoon, in very nice condition. I'm not sure if I should build this or keep it as it is:

 

 

 

All the best

TonyT

 

PS: Would the 56 sqn. aircraft really have 'sky' stripes on the upper wings? Great colour scheme if so!

Hi Tony,

 

this Frog Typhoon is one of the several Frog kits I have.

One thing Frog always had on its competitors were perfect decals. The colors were always spot on: look at the Typhoon's decals. The red is brick red and not bright, garish red like Airfix and others used to do, the blue is deep and dark and the yellow is just right, not to mention the Sky of the codes. They were years ahead in my eyes and they were British! Cue the "God saves the Queen"...

No rivets on this kit, almost as smooth as a baby's bum! Just these reinforcement plates at the back that are way overdone.

Nice!!!

JR

[adey m]

10 minutes ago, jean said:

Hi Tony,

 

this Frog Typhoon is one of the several Frog kits I have.

One thing Frog always had on its competitors were perfect decals. The colors were always spot on: look at the Typhoon's decals. The red is brick red and not bright, garish red like Airfix and others used to do, the blue is deep and dark and the yellow is just right, not to mention the Sky of the codes. They were years ahead in my eyes and they were British! Cue the "God saves the Queen"...

No rivets on this kit, almost as smooth as a baby's bum! Just these reinforcement plates at the back that are way overdone.

Nice!!!

JR

 

And the FROG decals were in register too..................just look at yours

 

cheers, Adrian