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A NOSTALGIC TRIBUTE TO FROG MODEL KITS


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I totally appreciate the nostalgia and also the great kits

 

I don't want to take this off course by any means but I never saw a FROG kit in my childhood in Adelaide Australia.

 

Disappointed somewhat because they look fabulous!

 

We only had a few kits at a local shop and although some exposure to Airfix and Revell  the main staple were the new Matchbox kits during the mid to late 1970's

 

I got the bug though no doubt and I would love a crack at some of those old Frog kits...great subjects some you don't see today!

 

However a recent build of an old Airfix Sturmovic wasn't the great nostalgic experience I was hoping for LOL:shocked: 

 

Great Post ...thanks

 

Bruce

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Winenut said:

I totally appreciate the nostalgia and also the great kits

 

I don't want to take this off course by any means but I never saw a FROG kit in my childhood in Adelaide Australia.

 

Disappointed somewhat because they look fabulous!

 

We only had a few kits at a local shop and although some exposure to Airfix and Revell  the main staple were the new Matchbox kits during the mid to late 1970's

 

I got the bug though no doubt and I would love a crack at some of those old Frog kits...great subjects some you don't see today!

 

However a recent build of an old Airfix Sturmovic wasn't the great nostalgic experience I was hoping for LOL:shocked: 

 

Great Post ...thanks

 

Bruce

 

 

 

Thanks Bruce

 

I love the operational look you achieved on your Airfix Stormovik..............in fact I personally loved your build but then I just love old kits that remind me of happy times.........I remember building the Airfix Stormovik for my brother back in 1973 after one of our Saturday morning walks into Whitby town to the model shops.

 

It was a fun model to play with after an enjoyable build..............

 

FROG kits were so different from Airfix kits. FROG kits were unclutterred by operating flaps and heavy rivet detail ( Shackleton excepted........), but interiors were sparse compared to Airfix models and the pilots were poor by comparison but FROG surface detail was smooth and they seemed to get the overall scale look right compared to some of the clunky looking Airfix kits. The FROG decals were superb too.

 

And of course the subjects that FROG released were unusual too.

 

best wishes,  Adrian

Edited by adey m
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Wonderful thread, exactly up my alley!

 

Let me direct attention to the wonderful skybase that Frog included with some of the kits. I still remember a LHS around 1990 that had a garishly decorated shop window featuring - above all - a huge remote controlled Stuka, on the floor the Revell ATB Stealth bomber and on one wall a built Frog Do 335 attached with the Skybase. I could stand there for minutes and marvel at that stuff.

 

dsc04353.jpg

Edited by Cheezburger
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In my youthful building period, say 1968 to going to uni in '81, I built hundreds of kits.  As well as the usual Airfix, and later Matchbox, I built all sorts of genres in kits from cars to LS pistols, from Revell, Italiaeri, Tamiya, Nitto, Nichimo, Lifelike, AMT and Monogram as well as others.

 

I only ever saw one Frog kit, that a friend was given for his birthday.  I never, ever,  ever saw a Frog kit in any of the toy, model shop or newsagents in those days, and I visited quite a lot.  No wonder there's so many of them being flogged off at Model Shows, they forgot to put them on sale back in the day!  No wonder Frog / Triang went to the wall...

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42 minutes ago, malpaso said:

In my youthful building period, say 1968 to going to uni in '81, I built hundreds of kits.  As well as the usual Airfix, and later Matchbox, I built all sorts of genres in kits from cars to LS pistols, from Revell, Italiaeri, Tamiya, Nitto, Nichimo, Lifelike, AMT and Monogram as well as others.

 

I only ever saw one Frog kit, that a friend was given for his birthday.  I never, ever,  ever saw a Frog kit in any of the toy, model shop or newsagents in those days, and I visited quite a lot.  No wonder there's so many of them being flogged off at Model Shows, they forgot to put them on sale back in the day!  No wonder Frog / Triang went to the wall...

 

crappy marketing dept???

 

:winkgrin:

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4 hours ago, malpaso said:

In my youthful building period, say 1968 to going to uni in '81, I built hundreds of kits.  As well as the usual Airfix, and later Matchbox, I built all sorts of genres in kits from cars to LS pistols, from Revell, Italiaeri, Tamiya, Nitto, Nichimo, Lifelike, AMT and Monogram as well as others.

 

I only ever saw one Frog kit, that a friend was given for his birthday.  I never, ever,  ever saw a Frog kit in any of the toy, model shop or newsagents in those days, and I visited quite a lot.  No wonder there's so many of them being flogged off at Model Shows, they forgot to put them on sale back in the day!  No wonder Frog / Triang went to the wall...

 

Hi malpaso

 

the trouble with FROG I suppose was that they were not sold in Woolworths. FROG kits tended to be sold in all sorts of unexpected places like Post Offices, newsagents, corner shops, gift shops, hardware shops and sometimes if you were lucky in smaller model shops.

 

I remember a summer gift shop in Whitby with a solitary FROG Handley Page Herald on a shelf.

 

Another time was a small gift shop in Scarborough with a solitary FROG Whitley amongst all the other stuff.

 

And then a little gift shop in Robin Hoods Bay with a solitary faded FROG Ta 152 in the window.

 

maybe winenut is right and the marketing department were pants...................or maybe they were just too pricey.

 

regards, Adrian

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You certainly started something here Adey , got me thinking what might be in the old stash in the back bedroom .

Lo and behold ! , the Meteor 8 from the 50s , with just half a pilots head in each fuselage half .Having recently

built the HK / Fisher Meteor 7 , comparing the two is like something modern to something from the middle ages .

but those old Frog kits certainly played their part ! .

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FROG Tupolev SB-2 Katyuska  ( first appeared in 1969 )

 

Image result for FROG tupolev SB2

 

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I was ten years old and saw this kit with its exciting box art in the village Post Office window while we were passing on our way home from school.

When I arrived home I found that my dad was home instead of working a shift at RAF Bawdsey. I asked him if I could go and buy the model that I had just seen and he surprisingly just said yes and gave me the money. I ran as fast as I could down the lane to the village and made it to the Post Office just in time before it closed at five.

 

The model was built that evening after tea. I built it with the skis and it sat on my mother's sewing machine in the living room. I excitedly took the box to school the next day to show my friends and so I could admire it during the break times.

 

The artwork was by my favourite FROG artist Eric Carless. What he missed on the technical side he more than made up for in the action and atmosphere of the scene.

I am not sure as to who is shooting who in the picture as the tanks also appear to be Russian or is this close air support ?................

 

Anyway this is surely what kit boxes should be, full of excitement and fuel for the imagination..........The bomber that served with six nations through four wars !

 

Build it with skis or wheels !....Wow.....and the fantastic full colour painting guide with interesting information on the back of the box.

 

It became one of the first models that I painted.....I did it in a glossy dark green and glossy blue that someone gave me.

 

It also survived our move up to Whitby in Yorkshire where it then received another more accurate paint job, more transfers courtesy of the FROG missing parts department at Margate and a change from skis to wheels.

 

A few years ago I was able to buy another one of this exact kit at a model show and I look forward one day to reliving the fun of all those years ago.............

 

Image result for FROG tupolev SB2

 

Image result for FROG tupolev SB2

 

 

Image result for FROG tupolev SB2

Image result for FROG tupolev SB2

 

Image result for FROG tupolev SB2

 

 

Related image

 

 

 

Image result for FROG tupolev SB2

 

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Edited by adey m
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This thread certainly brings back memories, I was 59 yesterday. Mine are of when I was around 11 years old in 1969 I discovered that in an old toy department in a local hardware shop - R.P Lennox in Chaddesden Derby there was a stash of very old Revell and FROG kits. I wasn't on a lot of pocket money in those days so had to start off by buying the small ones like the "Book Box" kit of the Gannet (I've still got that amazing cut away section box somewhere. I also bought the P1B, DH110 and then HP Victor which I still have in the shed. I painted her up as a K1 Tanker in 1973, in fact I suppose it was my first ever conversion.

 

1%2096%20Frog%20Victor%201972.jpg

 

A few years later after I joined the RAF in 1975, one of my Cpls at Scampton gave a carrier bag with the FROG Valiant in it that was in bits. I had just bought my first airbrush and after a bit of restoration this was the first model I ever camouflage painted with the airbrush.

1%2096%20Frog%20Valiant%201976.jpg

 

I remembered being dead pleased with it at the time.

 

Last summer at the NEC Toy Fair there was a bloke who had a table selling loads of pristine FROG kits in really nice boxes.  He had my Holy Grail the FROG Vulcan ( I actually swapped a pile of Lion comics for a badly built one when I was about 8yo and ended up throwing it around the garden aaaarrrgggh).  The bloke had it for sale for about £80, I was tempted one end of the box was torn and some one had written 10/6d in biro on the front. So I knocked him down to about £50. Then I asked to check the contents of the box, there was the tube of glue in a little section of the box and the decals and the lovely shiny black plastic stand - but one of the little semi circular stand tops was missing, so I knocked him down another tenner. Then I counted up the white plastic bogey wheels and there were about half a dozen missing! We haggled again and in the end he gave it to me for £10! Yes £10 I couldn't believe it, The box with the un-built kit in it and some replacement 1/144 scale B-1B wheels in the the box has pride of place on the display shelf in my shed. But what do I do with it (I airbrushed out the 10/6d writing by the way) would I ever dare build it? I don't  know but I would have to find that bit of black stand top that is missing first, does anyone have one in a spares box somewhere I wonder?

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Great memories Radar of the FROG 1/96 V Bombers.

 

You have done very well to have all three of the V Bombers and the Victor and Valiant both look great in camouflage.

 

I have a 1/96 Lindberg Vulcan B1 painted silver and I converted a 1/96 Lindberg Victor into a B1 in White finish.

 

I do also have an unbuilt FROG 1/96 Valiant...............but do I build it ?

 

I would have left the 10/6 on the box, it's part of the history of that kit.

 

all the best

 

Adrian

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Hi Adrian,

I'm here looking at your stuff. As you already know, we have both exchanged views on old Frog kits, the box art, the subject matter, its availability (then)

Hope to catch up with you soon probably at Sword and Lance at Darlington.

Cheers,

Kevin

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9 hours ago, Cheezburger said:

Wonderful thread, exactly up my alley!

 

Let me direct attention to the wonderful skybase that Frog included with some of the kits. I still remember a LHS around 1990 that had a garishly decorated shop window featuring - above all - a huge remote controlled Stuka, on the floor the Revell ATB Stealth bomber and on one wall a built Frog Do 335 attached with the Skybase. I could stand there for minutes and marvel at that stuff.

 

dsc04353.jpg

 

thanks Cheezburger,  your FROG Gannet looks superb in German markings

 

best wishes,  Adrian

Edited by adey m
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21 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Just looking at King Kit's quite large Frog selection,What's the significance of gold token boxings they seem to fetch a great deal

more than standard ones?

 

Hi Steve

 

In my FROG Model Aircraft history book it says that the Gold Token scheme only ran from mid 1964 to December 1965. In the Gold Token kits Gold Tokens were printed on the instruction sheets and once enough had been collected they could be exchanged for gliders or a booklet.

 

During the transition period when the Tokens were withdrawn some kits still came in Gold Token boxes but with a GOLD TOKEN SCHEME NOW DISCONTINUED sticker on the box front. 

 

I suppose anything short-run or out of the ordinary can command a higher price.

 

regards, Adrian

Edited by adey m
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Thank's Adey,this thread has me edging toward's ordering a couple of kit's I always liked the Skua and the Mitchell look's a gudun!

1 hour ago, Samuraiwarrior said:

Hi Adrian,

I'm here looking at your stuff. As you already know, we have both exchanged views on old Frog kits, the box art, the subject matter, its availability (then)

Hope to catch up with you soon probably at Sword and Lance at Darlington.

Cheers,

Kevin

Kevin when is Sword and lance I've never been and would love to go only twenty minutes down the road from me.

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FROG Model Aircraft 1932-1976 The Complete History Of The Flying Aircraft & Plastic Kits

 

by Richard Lines and Leif Hellstrom

 

published by New Cavendish Books in 1989    ISBN 0 904568 63 6

 

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FROG Penguin Short Singapore plastic kit from 1938.

 

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A restored FROG Penguin Short Singapore from 1938.

 

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FROG Penguin Vickers Wellesley from 1939.

 

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Don't be bored by the bombing and the blackout..............build a FROG Penguin model...................

 

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FROG Tri-ang Supermarine Scimitar from 1957.

 

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1977 NOVO kits promotion

 

A selection of pages from my copy of the FROG Model Aircraft 1932-1976 book.

 

Adrian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by adey m
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1 hour ago, Samuraiwarrior said:

Hi Adrian,

I'm here looking at your stuff. As you already know, we have both exchanged views on old Frog kits, the box art, the subject matter, its availability (then)

Hope to catch up with you soon probably at Sword and Lance at Darlington.

Cheers,

Kevin

 

Welcome aboard matey............

 

cheers, Adrian

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10 minutes ago, stevej60 said:

Thank's Adey,this thread has me edging toward's ordering a couple of kit's I always liked the Skua and the Mitchell look's a gudun!

Kevin when is Sword and lance I've never been and would love to go only twenty minutes down the road from me.

 

Hi Steve

 

Sword and Lance is on Saturday 8th April in the foyer of the new Darlington College, Haughton Road, Darlington, DL1 1DR.

 

A friendly, well lit show with lots of models and a number of traders and good food...............see you there

 

regards,  Adrian

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Way back in the late 60's to the late 70's, I also built the following FROG kits.

 

Hawker Typhoon ( bubbletop )

Hawker Tempest

Fairey Barracuda

Fairey Firefly

Junkers Ju87G

Bristol Beaufort

Bristol Beaufighter

Me109F

North American Mitchell

Fokker D.XXI

Lockheed P-38

Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley

Martin Maryland

Grumman Hellcat

Heinkel He219

Macchi MC.202

Tupolev SB.2

 

 

Chris

 

 

Edited by dogsbody
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On 03/03/2017 at 1:59 PM, gamevender said:

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. 

Hi ,yes it is a nice museum .The size of the Saunders Roe SR A/1 is unexpected .

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14 hours ago, Winenut said:

I don't want to take this off course by any means but I never saw a FROG kit in my childhood in Adelaide Australia.

That's where I'm from and they certainly had them at the newsagent in Salisbury!

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12 hours ago, Cheezburger said:

Let me direct attention to the wonderful skybase that Frog included with some of the kits.

Yeah, they were so much better than Airfix's - completely pose-able and seemed to be much steadier than the Airfix type, too.

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Fantastic thread this one. Must be as its at 4 pages since Friday!

 

I agree with many of the post that Frog were less available but tended to be found in the newsagents rather than the big stores. This meant most newsagents and general stores were potential model shops and gave us something to look for when being trailed round the town as kids. The models came and went but I did buy a big pack of old Frog decals from an Airshow after they went bust and these formed the basis of my decal  bank for years. My heritage stash contains a couple of Jags, a Ventura and a Canbera.

 

I am very impressed with the models posted on here Adrian, especially the Shackleton on page 1. Are these your originals? If so then you have done a great job not only in building them but to preserve them for so many years.

 

Colin W

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