A NOSTALGIC TRIBUTE TO FROG MODEL KITS

[KevinK]

And a few of the earlier military kits:

 

[adey m]

3 hours ago, Colin W said:

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

 

Welcome Colin and thank you for your comments.

 

My Shackleton and my Whitley are most certainly the originals and both of them have had reworks and repaints done on them over the years since 1973.

 

My Shackleton has appeared at about 26 model shows over 26 years.

 

They both have a dedicated box for storing and transporting them.

 

best wishes, Adrian

 

[adey m]

10 hours 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.

 

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!

 

blimey Steve you make it sound as though you are about to fall off a cliff...........................

 

[polo1112]

What a fantastic documentation!!!

I can see my youth revive.

By the way, could anybody explain how much money is 5'- in the sixties or seventies in today's money (in £ or €)

Thanks in advance. Polo.

(This thread is really fantastic).

[stevej60]

1 hour ago, adey m 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!

 

blimey Steve you make it sound as though you are about to fall off a cliff...........................

 

Well we've spent a week down at Reighton sands for the last twelve year's Adey so it's quite possible,I never tell the missus

the highlight is my annual pilgrimage to Cropper's in Bridlington i remember when it was stuffed to the ceiling about ten years

ago even with Matchbox kit's years after their demise!

[viscount806x]

1 hour ago, polo1112 said:

What a fantastic documentation!!!

I can see my youth revive.

By the way, could anybody explain how much money is 5'- in the sixties or seventies in today's money (in £ or €)

Thanks in advance. Polo.

(This thread is really fantastic).

Hi Polo,

5/- (5 shillings) is a quarter of a pound (£) which became 25p (pence) after decimalisation.

 Now I have a trusty easy formula which takes me directly back to 1970 monetary values which is to divide today's money by 20. Or, alternatively, multiply the 1970 figure by 20. This way, 5/- in 1970 becomes 100/- today which is £5 (there were 20 old shillings to a £ before decimalisation in 1971).

Regarding pennies or 'pence', there were 240 old pence in a pound whereas there are now 100 New Pence in the pound today.

Hope this helps.

[Ray S]

On 3/3/2017 at 5:11 PM, adey m said:

 

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

 

Hello Adey! Yes we do know each other! I am now considering going for psychotherapy now I have been told I have built a Starfix kit! I blame my yoof and the lack of internet in 1970 to prevent such things happening!

 

Oh yes, it is quite alright if you tell people I built a Dornier with a brick red interior too! I remember how colourful some of my Spitfires used to be - allbeit with nearly the correct shades.

 

I had a wonderful time in Alderton, but I was only there for about 9 months before we ended up at Leuchars and lived on a road that was almost under the point where Lightnings went vertical when they took off. And then there was the curious wailing that Starfighters (or their pilots?) made when they were on approach.

 

Way way before though, I was in a model shop in Tring when Dad said I could choose a model to buy. There was a large display of Frog kits. At this time I had never knowingly built one, and I had a choice:- 3 smaller ones or the Canberra. I went for the Canberra, then wished later I had gone for the smaller ones as I built it so quickly. My reasoning was that I would still have others to make!

 

In your PM to me you mentioned my brother - you were spot on with the name!

 

Thanks for bringing this thread to us all, it is really good!

 

All the best, 

 

Ray Hanginghisheadinshamecoshehasbuiltastarfix!

[aircraftkit]

What a wonderful thread !

 

The comments on here certainly bring back the memories - good memories - and my experiences of the venerable Frog kits seem to mirror the recollections of others, no doubt of similar age.....

 

Frog models were to me always a bit more "exotic" than the likes of Airfix and Revell, and usually harder to find. Their choice of subject was at times questionable (from a commercial standpoint) but always interesting, and definitely worthwhile if you were a fan of British-built aircraft.  The quality and breakdown of the kits' design was always well thought-out, the instructions clear and concise and the box (or header card) artwork was invariably colourful and action packed, giving plenty of scope for the creative minds of young modellers. I especially liked the full-colour painting instructions.

 

Finding Frog kits was not always that easy, the company did not enjoy the same marketing arrangement with major retailers that others such as Airfix secured with Woolworths, so their network of retail outlets definitely suffered by comparison. Frog kits were often found being sold in the most unlikely of places - hardware stores, corner shops or local Post Offices.  The last time I saw any Frog kit displayed for sale (other than at a Specialist Collectors' event) was in 1975 or 1976, it was a Frog Whitley and it was in the window of a small Grocer's shop in a twilight part of town, the dramatic artwork of the Whitley's box contrasting sharply with the tins of beans and packets of Cornflakes that surrounded it in the window display (there was only the Whitley displayed, and in all probability it was possibly the only model in the whole shop).

 

My own introduction to Frog models came about in the summer of 1969, and at the time I didn't even realise the kit was a Frog product - it didn't have the name "Frog" anywhere on the packaging, not even Tri-ang, Rovex or "Airlines" or any of the other names associated with the Frog brand.

Up to that point I'd had one or two "bagged" Airfix kits with the original header cards, together with larger boxed models received for birthdays and Christmas and which ordinary pocket-money wouldn't normally have afforded.  In 1969 my family moved offshore from the UK and my Dad explained how the move meant it wasn't really practical to allow me to take any of my collection of (unpainted) and crudely-built models with me to our new home.  However, as part of the deal to give up these models he promised that me and my brother would each be bought a new, unmade kit of our choice when we reached our new home. Sure enough, a few weeks later the three of us found ourselves looking around a well-stocked, dedicated model shop. (Remarkably, this shop is still in business 48 years later, and still run by the very same owner, albeit that the exact location of the shop changed around 30 years ago).

 

That day in 1969 my brother chose a 1/144 Airfix BOAC VC10 to replace his "lost" models.  I, meanwhile, found a 1/72 "Troop Dropping Herald" in a large transparent bag with header card lying on one of the model shop's shelves - that would be my choice, not least because as a family we'd travelled on a BUIA Dart Herald a few weeks earlier. 

Nowhere did the kit's packaging state that this was a Frog product, the price extension label simply had a "W31" code - I believe the "W" may have stood for "wholesale", although someone here will no doubt correct me if this is wrong. The Herald kit itself was actually rather in the style of Airfix more than Frog - suffering lots of rivet detail and separate rudder and flying control surfaces.  Although supposedly depicting a transport aircraft of the Royal Malaysian Air Force, this edition of the kit still came with an airline Stewardess figure, a Steward, loading stairs and two smartly dressed pilot figures with peaked caps !  In fact I believe this kit, when originally released by Frog circa 1962, was their first aircraft to feature pilot figures (again, I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong). 

 

Frog originally released the Handley Page Dart Herald kit with "Jersey Airlines" markings, the first airline customer for the popular -200 series aircraft.  The Frog kit came in a box only marginally capable of holding the kit sprues and large decal (unlike some of the kit boxes today, which seem to be excessively large for the size of kit inside).  The box even had a couple of separate compartments to house the small tube of glue and paint phials which were included. As usual in those days, the instructions included details about the full-size aircraft and the airline depicted by the model. A later version of the kit, released in the mid 1960s, featured the then new "British United" livery, and this edition is now highly prized as comparatively few were ever produced by Frog.  The "Troop Dropping Herald" version appeared in 1968 although the plastic wasn't entirely accurate for that version - the kit lacked the "thimble" radar nose and the rearmost blanked cabin windows of the Malaysian machines.  Remarkably, these Troop Dropping Heralds are still readily available for sale on internet auction sites......... at a price.  Of course the same plastic was later available from the likes of Novo and Maquette when produced in the former Soviet Union, decal options including BIA and Channel Express.  VHF Supplies of West London even made bagged versions of the kit available with British Midland decals, featuring aircraft G-BAVX. 

 

Frog made several other airliner kits too, but usually in 1/96 (Viscount, Britannia, Caravelle, Comet, DC7C, etc) as well as an impressive rendition of the Super VC10 in 1/144 scale featuring flashing lights ! The latter was obviously a competitor to Airfix's Standard VC10 kit in the same scale, although it retailed at several times the price of the Airfix example.

Different editions of the same Frog models were sometimes produced for different national markets - the "Airlines" series for the USA, a New Zealand series, whilst some kits sold in France had "Tri-ang" on the kits' boxes - perhaps due to French sensitivities over the name "frog" !

 

Although Frog kits under that branding ceased production in the mid 70s we have been fortunate that many of their kits have continued to be made available under a succession of different names - Eastern Express, Ark Models, Novo etc.  A testament, perhaps, to their original quality and (on the whole) wise choice of subject matter. But who else would have had the character to produce kits such as the Dennis Ambulance in 1/16 scale, or 1/72 Bleriot (depicted on the attractive artwork flying over Dover Castle)  ?

 

As a youngster, I was always interested to compare Frog kits with their contemporaries from other manufacturers - whilst the Frog Gipsy Moth was on a par with Airfix's Tiger Moth, I always thought the Frog De Havilland 88 Comet Racer was much superior to the earlier Airfix version. I guess we're still comparing the respective merits of different kits even today (Hasegawa vs Tamiya, etc).

 

Of course there are the "what might-have-beens ?", too;  apparently Frog had firm plans to produce the BAC 1-11 jet airliner in 1/72 scale - as an airliner modeller I have to say that would have been nice !  It says something that several of the kit subjects which Frog were producing in the early 60s were not seen in other ranges until other manufacturers caught up with them decades later - the British "V" bomber trio, for instance.  And its only recently that Airfix have provided us with a state-of-the-art 1/72 Shackleton and Whitley - Frog were producing them half a century ago. 

 

Well done Frog, and thanks for the memories......and thanks Adey for starting this thread !

 

 

Don

[polo1112]

A great Thank you to Viscount 806x for his kind explanations about the old and new

British money system. I always thought when I saw the prices in Shillings and Pence that the models

were very cheap, but if you think in today's values they were almost quite expensive as nowadays, weren't they?

[Des]

Like many who started modelling in the 1960s finding FROG kits was a bit hit or a miss which as already mentioned was likely down to the marketing policy or lack thereof at the time.     Sometimes model shops, independent department stores and newsagent would have a few kits in stock but never anything like the whole range available at any time and from what I recall rarely multiples of the same kit.      In retrospect the impression I have is that individual shops in the area I lived at least might get a delivery of so many kits a couple of times a year which decreased gradually with boxtops fading in the window display until the next delivery months later.     Having said that in the early to mid-1970s there was a newsagent in the Camelon area of Falkirk who always seemed to have the latest releases as they came out which was the only shop where I ever saw this but on the other hand I do not seem to think they held much of a back stock of older kits.     Currently I still have the Sea Venom and Wyvern unbuilt , as well as Novo/Revell/Chematic and unidentified Russian re-boxes of the Gannet, Canberra, Shackleton and Javelin.

 

 

I bought my first 1/72 FROG McDonnell RF-101C Voodoo (F282) reboxing of the Hasegawa kit at an airshow at Turnhouse in the 1960s which coincided with the release of Humbrol’s Authentic Paint Set for the USAF in Vietnam.     I returned to the subject many years later with the by then very elderly Hasegawa kit but found the plastic used to be far softer and with far more flash than my first FROG experience.     So when a few years ago I decided to get round to using my long set aside Airwaves F-101A/C Conversion (SC7248) with  Microscale Decals (72-0223) to build an F-101C from the 81st. Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF Bentwaters sourcing a FROG example seemed the obvious way to go and surprisingly was not especially more expensive than a new Hasegawa kit would have been.

 

 

 

 

Box top along with the cleanly moulded hard plastic FROG fuselage and cockpit parts alongside the Airwaves conversion set.

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2017 by Des

[polo1112]

Bravo!!!

That Voodoo really looks fantastic.

Great work. 

 

[krow113]

Beauty's!!!!!!

Nothing to show my self , but these are some great nostalgic builds! I remember the kits vividly.

Excellent work.

[gengriz]

Excellent thread!  Like many others, in the 1970s I always saw FROG as a bit exotic (and expensive).  The local hardware shop "only" did Airfix (but to be fair he had LOTS of Airfix kits on sale) and Granny's had a big Woolworths next door, where of course Airfix dominated. Nevertheless, the FROG kits were relatively easy to find in the "serious" modelling shops in Edinburgh, and since my dad was a "serious" RC modeller, I saw plenty of them.

 

When I got back into modelling in the late 1990s, they (or more often their eastern european descendants) were the best source by far for Fleet Air Arm aircraft.  So I have lots, built and unbuilt, out the box and converted, original and re-pop.  Most of them are looking a little underwhelming these days in detail, finesse and accuracy terms, but for pure nostalgia and building fun, and as a canvas for modifications, they really can't be beaten.  Here are a few of the favourites from my collection:

 

Skua (Novo with spare MPM decals)

Firefly - Eastern Express issue with Falcon canopies:

Gannet (original FROG out the box - front wheels went missing so have been replaced):

Wildcat out the box (or rather, bag) (Photoshopped onto background)

Hornet - as a Sea Hornet

Swordfish - MPM/CoOperativa issue (with resin interior and non-standard decals)

Gannet (Hellcat) decal option 1

Hellcat (decal option 2)

Shark - FROG original out the box:

Barracuda 1 - Novo with Techmod decals

Barracuda 2 - FROG original with Techmod decals and other bits added:

Sea Vixen 2 - Photoshopped.  This is the oldest model in my collection, built in 1976, the week that FROG went bust.  I had heard this on the news, and was astonished to find them still on sale. Its been repainted and re-decalled twice since then. Goodness knows where (and when) the undercarriage went.

Sea Vixen 1 (Magna conversion to Mk1)

Sea Venom - 1 (Falcon canopy)

Sea Venom 2 (ModalArt decals)

Vampire as a rubber deck Sea Vampire (Winkle Brown tribute)

Mirage III O

Miles Master III

Baltimore (own decals)

Whitley (own decals):

Thunderbolt out the box (even left the cockpit empty):

Intruder (converted/after market decals)

Super Sabre

Macchi 202 Folgore

 

FredT

[RickL454]

Hey Ray Hanginghisheadinshamecoshehasbuiltastarfix

 

I  think the Starfix kits were mostly early Airfix molds except for the Badger which has to be Monogram.  They aren't  that bad.  If you want bad you should try a Palmer model car kit from the 60's.  Exporting those to the UK would truly be payback for the time those Red Coats  shot our guys in Boston - no, on second thought it would be worse.  The Palmer cars truly stunk.  I'm not advising you to get one from eBay just to see, trust me and save your money.   Compared to Palmer, Starfix kits were a pleasure to build  and own.

 

By the way, this really is a great thread.

 

Rick

[Paul J]

Lovely trip to the past. I used to quite like FROg as an alternative. Sadly I don't have any unbuilt left except for the DH 88 COMET Racer in the Gold Token box and a NOVO Proctor. And on the shelf of doom a Firely ! in progress but abandoned at the moment.  Looking through the pics I don't see one of the 1/96 Britannia I used to have the kit but sold it for £100 back in the mid 1980s!!!! 

BUt can I join in and show these FROG items I do have:

 

On the left is 1967 and on the right 1966.

Rear cover view of the two above. 66 on left 67 on  right

1968 on left a pamphlet fold out form.  On right 1970.

In single fold out sheet pamphlet form. A couple views showing contents.

What about those cars!!!  Vauxhall Victor and Morris1100 etc

 

 

 

 

On left 1975.

I also have somewhere a copy of a fold out catalogue from the 50's in an Orange colour showing all thos really early kits I'll post image when I find it.. Ialso have a fair number of Revell catalogues going back a long way plus Matchbox and a couple Monogram. As for Airfix I have every one form 1962 to date!!!

[stevej60]

5 hours ago, aircraftkit said:

who else would have had the character to produce kits such as the Dennis Ambulance in 1/16 scale

Now that has jogged my memory Don,I remember probably in the early seventies a friend having a then current Ambulance kit I was in awe of,

all I can remember was a night time scene on the box with the lights flashing etc,white ambulance!

[Pete in Lincs]

I really cannot remember seeing any of the car kits back then.

I'd like a few of those large scale ones now.

I have a vague memory that I had a large Wessex which I think had

a motor in it, and that it may well have been a FROG item.

In 1976 I joined the RAF and ended up working on the Wessex!

[stevej60]

Amazing what you can find on t'internet like a ghost from my past!

 

You know the more this thread runs the more I realise I must have built more Frog kits than I thought, I definitely built a Gannet

and a blunt nose Bleneim also a Sea Fury and Fairey Delta though I think that was Novo.

[adey m]

9 hours ago, polo1112 said:

What a fantastic documentation!!!

I can see my youth revive.

By the way, could anybody explain how much money is 5'- in the sixties or seventies in today's money (in £ or €)

Thanks in advance. Polo.

(This thread is really fantastic).

 

Hi Polo and thank you so very much for your kind comments.

 

In the early 1970s 5'- or Five Shillings became 25 Pence after the UK went decimal.

 

What I remember from my childhood model buying days was that in 1972 an AIRFIX Series 2 model cost 25 Pence or 5 Shillings.

 

The AIRFIX Stormovik was in Series 2 and cost 5 Shillings in 1972 and today the same model in the new AIRFIX HORNBY range costs about £ 12-00 .

 

It may not be absolutely accurate but in model buying terms it may give you an idea.

 

kind regards,

 

Adrian

[adey m]

Blimey guys what have I done..........Page 5 already and it only started on Friday ............but it is fantastic that there are so many of you out there who love the old FROG kits too.............I am really enjoying the fascinating and entertaining contributions from you lot...........and your superb FROG models too..........and I have made contact with a childhood fellow modeller I last saw in 1971 because of this...................

please keep them coming.............I still have lots to post too..................but when am I going to get some modelling done.............I have got a Stratojet on my table and Boeing are getting impatient with my slow progress.................and my wife Carol thinks that it is hilarious that I am now officially Obsessed.............she had been telling me this for weeks...................

 

thanks again guys

 

Adrian ( becoming very slightly very obsessed )

[KevinK]

I think that Frog wasn't alone in the issue of retail outlets.

 

It's hard for people who weren't there to realise just how dominant Woolworth's was as a retailer - every medium/large town had one and there was no similar competitor. Think of them as the Wal-Mart of the 1960's. To some extent, Airfix owed their premier UK position to the exclusive deal they had with Woolworth's - in exchange for an Airfix-only exclusivity, Woolworth's got every Airfix new issue weeks ahead of any other retailer, including the model shops.

 

I had Frog flying models (Interceptor, Witch II) before I discovered plastic kits, but my first plastics weren't Frog - they were Airfix & Kitmaster for railway accessories and Lincoln and Eagle for aircraft. OK we were living in Malaya at that time (1958-60) so distribution was possibly an issue, but we were getting most of the UK toy market stuff at White's or Robinson's department stores.

 

Anyway, after a dozen or so Airfix kits, in the early '60s we were in the UK, where I discovered Revell & Frog, again mostly in department stores. I had the big motorised Frog E-type Jag, which was in the same series as the Dennis Ambulance, but most of the Frog kits I made were the smaller ones.

 

My parents used to get "Which" magazine in the '60's but to a boy, the reviews of washing machines & irons were of no interest whatsoever. However, one month they reviewed PLASTIC KITS! Obviously, the Consumers' Association was starting to realise what was really important: this sort of thing should be encouraged, so I read it. They had a panel of various people: kids, adults and modelmakers build kits by Airfix, Frog & Revell. The results were interesting: the kids preferred Airfix, followed by Revell, based on moving parts and detailing - "play value" in effect. The modelmakers went for Frog, for much the same reasons Britmodellers do today: accuracy, subtle straight-line detailing.

 

Kevin

[TheBaron]

This is like stumbling into the model section of a really great toy shop you never knew existed in town, just before Christmas and the shelves are full. The box art and the kits themselves are just so incredibly evocative.

 

Great thread Adrian!

Tony

[adey m]

10 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Well we've spent a week down at Reighton sands for the last twelve year's Adey so it's quite possible,I never tell the missus

the highlight is my annual pilgrimage to Cropper's in Bridlington i remember when it was stuffed to the ceiling about ten years

ago even with Matchbox kit's years after their demise!

 

Funny you should mention Croppers Model Shop Steve..........it is still there and it is still crammed with models of all kinds................

 

Our Bridlington and Wolds model club used to display our models every year at the Leisure World complex which used to be / is opposite Lansdown Road where Croppers is.

 

Talking of Croppers and Model Shows.................this is a cartoon I made to sum up our model displays at Bridlington..................

 

 

cheers,   Adrian

Edited March 5, 2017 by adey m

[old thumper]

Sorry to lob in a negative comment here.

I built a few Novo kits back in the late seventies and earliy eighties (Royal Sovereign, Hunter and Vimy), my only real memory of them being the oily and dificult to glue plastic they were made from. I only ever bought them because they were so cheap, nearly 40 years later the utterly miserable trader at Wimborne market I got from is still there.

Off to start a genuine Frog Hornet build now, the plastic looks great on this kit, such a shame Frog like so many other household names was struck down by the British disease of totally inept management. 

[adey m]

1 hour ago, old thumper said:

Sorry to lob in a negative comment here.

I built a few Novo kits back in the late seventies and earliy eighties (Royal Sovereign, Hunter and Vimy), my only real memory of them being the oily and dificult to glue plastic they were made from. I only ever bought them because they were so cheap, nearly 40 years later the utterly miserable trader at Wimborne market I got from is still there.

Off to start a genuine Frog Hornet build now, the plastic looks great on this kit, such a shame Frog like so many other household names was struck down by the British disease of totally inept management. 

 

Ahh........the FROG DH Hornet was the very last original FROG model I bought from a model shop when FROG was still ( just ) about.  It was from a small model shop tucked away down Bar Street in Scarborough back in October 1976.

 

I converted it into a Royal Navy two seat radar fighter with a balsa extended nose and a observer's blister canopy from a FROG Beaufighter.

 

cheers, Adrian