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A NOSTALGIC TRIBUTE TO FROG MODEL KITS


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A FROG Kit that never became a FROG kit

 

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When I opened the box of this Revell Heinkel He115 at a model show a few years ago I was expecting to see the old Matchbox He115 mouldings.                                     Revell had already done this with a number of ex Matchbox kits before.

 

I had built the Matchbox He115 back in 1975 when it first appeared and I realised straight away that this was not the Matchbox kit.

 

It is in fact the FROG He115 that FROG had been well on with when the company folded in 1976.

 

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No trenches on this airframe, just lovely subtle panel lines.

 

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An obvious difference to the Matchbox kit is the provision of an extra cockpit and crew member. Also a choice of nose glazings for two versions.

 

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A new style of Frogmen............

 

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Nicely detailed engines.

 

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The instructions also have a FROG feel about them.

 

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Note the F418 number moulded on the glazing sprue............this would have been the FROG kit catalogue number for this He115.

 

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Choice of noses for two versions

 

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Related image

 

Here is a built one that I found on the web.

 

Image result for Revell He115

 

JWM's Revell ex FROG He115

 

Image result for Revell He115

 

This is the Matchbox one as a comparison, note the heavy moulded window frames and the more rounded cowlings.

 

A number of other kits were also being worked on when FROG closed down.

 

 

Edited by adey m
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Another FROG that never became a FROG

 

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Another kit that FROG were well on with in 1976 when they closed down was the Vickers Wellington Mk 1c.

 

This one was seen on the Bomber Command Special Interest Group table at a show.

 

A friend of mine and fellow FROG enthusiast Stuart saw ex FROG Wellingtons being advertised in a magazine about 30 years ago and he ordered two.

They arrived in just sealed plastic bags.

 

He kept one to build and he mounted the fuselage halves from the other one on a framed picture board to display on the wall.....................I told you he was a FROG enthusiast..............

 

A fault with the kit which you may notice in the photos and which was unusual for FROG is that the vertical tail is too small.

 

The FROG kit number for this Wellington would have been F214.

 

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Other kits under way when FROG closed in 1976 were the Twin Mustang, Mitsubishi Rufe, Lockheed Ventura, and Bell Airacobra

Edited by adey m
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Wow, that was a nostalgic trip there, I'd been modelling for a few years before I built my first FROG - it was the Canberra b (i)8.

 

I never remember seeing many frog kits in my local model shops in Worksop - but there was a toy shop called G.R. Nutbrown's who did. I couldn't afford them but remember him sell many of the larger kits.  Since that first one, I've built a few under various labels, but one thing impressed me was they produced quite a few rare beasties.

 

Thank you for sharing.

Regards Adrian 

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10 minutes ago, adey m said:

Other kits under way when FROG closed in 1976 were the Twin Mustang, Mitsubishi Rufe, Lockheed Ventura, and Bell Airacobra

 

I have a bagged Twin Mustang in blue plastic a mate gave me, I assumed it was a Russian Frogspawn,

a check at Scalemates reveals

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/171208-frog-f405-f-82f-twin-mustang

171208-12155-pristine.jpg

 

 

  though I read (in Scale Models IIRC) the the last 4 frog kits were Russian subjects,  Mig-3, LaGG-3,Yak-3 and Anatra DS-1, test runs were done in  77,  but I think they were first widely available as a set by Red Star

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/164208-red-star-rs-1-4-red-star-model-kits

164208-12213-pristine.jpg

 

also

https://www.scalemates.com/companies/company.php?id=1341

 

There  maybe something about this in the Frog book but that's buried away.

 

cheers

T

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1 minute ago, Troy Smith said:

 

I have a bagged Twin Mustang in blue plastic a mate gave me, I assumed it was a Russian Frogspawn,

a check at Scalemates reveals

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/171208-frog-f405-f-82f-twin-mustang

171208-12155-pristine.jpg

 

 

  though I read (in Scale Models IIRC) the the last 4 frog kits were Russian subjects,  Mig-3, LaGG-3,Yak-3 and Anatra DS-1, test runs were done in  77,  but I think they were first widely available as a set by Red Star

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/164208-red-star-rs-1-4-red-star-model-kits

164208-12213-pristine.jpg

 

also

https://www.scalemates.com/companies/company.php?id=1341

 

There  maybe something about this in the Frog book but that's buried away.

 

cheers

T

 

Hi Troy

 

Your Twin Mustang is FROG because the later FROGs were moulded in a dark blue plastic.

 

In late 1976 I saw ex FROG kits being advertised in a model magazine. I ordered a Lancaster and it arrived with all the parts, decals and instruction sheet sealed in a plastic bag. It was moulded in dark blue.

 

regards, Adrian

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8 minutes ago, adey m said:

 

Hi Troy

 

Your Twin Mustang is FROG because the later FROGs were moulded in a dark blue plastic.

 

In late 1976 I saw ex FROG kits being advertised in a model magazine. I ordered a Lancaster and it arrived with all the parts, decals and instruction sheet sealed in a plastic bag. It was moulded in dark blue.

 

regards, Adrian

sadly not, it's some bright baby blue,  not that classic Frog  'Oxford blue'  that most Frog kits I had were moulded in. 

I wonder where it is..... I was given to me before I seriously rekindled my interest in modelling.

cheers

T

 

 

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34 minutes ago, adey m said:

Other kits under way when FROG closed in 1976 were the Twin Mustang, Mitsubishi Rufe, Lockheed Ventura, and Bell Airacobra

Lockheed Ventura was then available as Novo. Rufe, as Japaneese was not in Novo. I do not know how it was with two another. 

Few weeks ago I did He 115 - this ex-Frog Revell converted to He 115 N

 

Cheers

J-W

Edited by JWM
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14 hours ago, adey m said:

 

 

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Here I am back on Christmas Day in 1973 in our RAF house in Whitby excitedly studying my new FROG Shackleton present from my father.

That is the look of utter satisfaction!

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3 hours ago, 71chally said:

That is the look of utter satisfaction!

and fear, maybe? She was a bugger to build I think? Great when completed :)

 

Martin

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Related image

 

1/72 FROG Supermarine Spitfire Mk 1a / Mk II / Mk 5a .

 

This kit first appeared in 1959 as a Mk II. From 1968 it became a Mk1a / Mk 5a.

 

Image result for FROG Spitfire 1aImage result for FROG Spitfire 1a

 

Image result for FROG Spitfire 1aImage result for FROG Spitfire II

 

 

This very basic kit is said to possibly be the highest selling FROG kit.

 

Here are some photos of a FROG Spitfire 1a which was given to me built by a friend who was having a clear out.

 

I have tidied it up a bit and added a few extra details.

 

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Note the flush moulded wheel wells and the wheel axles which have had the hot blade/screwdriver treatment to secure the revolving wheels.

 

 

 

Edited by adey m
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6 hours ago, RidgeRunner said:

and fear, maybe? She was a bugger to build I think? Great when completed :)

Martin

I always found it a fairly straightforward build, having built the recent Revell and Airfix ones the Frog one is far easier than those, I guess because it is a lower parts count maybe.

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I`ve dug out a few more of my surviving Frog/Novo models here;

Picture%20497_zpsmakou56p.jpg

swordfish%2072nd%20floats%201_zpsvdui7eb

DSCF7806_zps1dl3agct.jpg

DSCF9081_zpsu11ncmyf.jpg

DSCF9089_zpsc60k1dtq.jpg

 

Keep them all coming,.....this is a great thread,

Cheers

            Tony

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Beautiful and very interesting collection you have there Tony!

Looks absolutely fantastic.

I think I must be kind of stupid but I'm afraid I have forgotten the name of the first aircraft you show the picture of.

Would you be so kind and refresh my memory?

Thanks in advance. Polo.

PS, I DO love the Swordfish with floats.

:goodjob::worthy::wow:

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A number of years ago, I bought this P-61 kit and the gift shop in the Alberta Aviation Museum, in Edmonton.

Included in the kit was a small vial of cement. Does anybody here have one of these?

 

Kits1a-1.jpg

 

Kits3a.jpg

 

Glue.png

 

 

Chris

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Tony

 

I am almost in tears as I look at your wonderful old FROGs and remember the ones that are no longer with me...............destroyed in bad moments of the past when it seemed no one would ever be interested in seeing old FROGs again..........Oxford, Shark, Master, Magister, Sea Hornet, Fokker D21, MS406, Wessex, S6B, Southern Cross, Skua, Beaufort, Fairey Delta,  Attacker, Hurricane, Mustang, Lysander, Blenheim, Sea Fury, Dornier 17,  Me410, Me110, ............all gone in moments I now regret

 

It is a delight to see them coming back to life in the collections of you guys ...........keep them coming please

 

regards, Adrian

Edited by adey m
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At the risk of winding up SWMBO (who still has no concept of just how big the stash has become) here are the deepest darkest contents of the back wardrobe - those I have bought over the years with no intention of building, just to have and hold and look at. Some of the boxes remain sealed too!

 

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And just to prove that this really is an addiction, I've just remembered that this one was hidden behind the books on the shelves..... :)   And it definitely has never been opened.

 

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There might be some in the conservatory too. oops. There are definitely more in the garage, but I cant easily reach them, and most are "for building" duplicates of the above.

 

:)

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resized_c09c3a60-1226-4d1f-99f6-dfcbfede

 

Reworked FROG Whitley V belonging to my friend and fellow Club member Andy at a model show held at the Elvington Air Museum.

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2 hours ago, polo1112 said:

 

 I'm afraid I have forgotten the name of the first aircraft you show the picture of.

Would you be so kind and refresh my memory?

 

 

Hi Polo,

 

Hope Tony doesn't mind me jumping in, but it's a Vickers Vimy

 

Keith

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15 minutes ago, adey m said:

Image result for FROG Vigilante

 

 

Which Vigilante box art would inspire you most guys ?

The Frog one! Can just feel the wind across deck increasing as the Captain orders Full Steam Ahead & turns the carrier into wind ready for the launch!! And with that epic cloud of smoke, it's obviously not a nuclear powered carrier!

 

Both the Hasegawa artworks are pretty insipid by comparison!

 

Keith

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Not terribly good but this is the Mustang I I built sometime in the early 70's. I think I got the scheme from an article in Airfix Magazine on Army Co Operation aircraft.

 

Markings were from my then rather small spares box. 

 

I think it's about the oldest survivor of my builds!

 

B52ACFF1-FC74-4436-B2BB-DB4E641CDECF_zps

 

Trevor

 

 

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5 hours ago, adey m said:

Related image

 

1/72 FROG Supermarine Spirfire Mk 1a / Mk II / Mk 5a .

 

This kit first appeared in 1959 as a Mk II. From 1968 it became a Mk1a / Mk 5a.

 

Image result for FROG Spitfire 1aImage result for FROG Spitfire 1a

 

Image result for FROG Spitfire 1aImage result for FROG Spitfire II

 

 

 

This very basic kit is said to possibly be the highest selling FROG kit.

 

Here are some photos of a FROG Spitfire 1a which was given to me built by a friend who was having a clear out.

 

I have tidied it up a bit and added a few extra details.

 

resized_9bf2787f-00b1-46a4-81d5-3d73d147

 

resized_48cb3b44-29a6-4289-a186-236b7d7b

 

resized_51d1ca49-0f7c-4406-a321-c1ddcde2

 

resized_d637d597-b7ee-4aca-a882-bb75c440

 

resized_3ec5c04b-5516-481f-b10f-7a0bc2e0

 

resized_98f1d89d-9c4d-4451-9335-cf482d0c

 

resized_dce7350a-f6f6-4adf-9cff-c161c190

 

Note the flush moulded wheel wells and the wheel axles which have had the hot blade/screwdriver treatment to secure the revolving wheels.

 

 

 

Yes that was it. My first Frog kit. The Spitfire. I used the Douglas Bader decals, (transfers) not that I knew of him  at that point or frankly what a Spitfire was. I just loved the shape. This was Dublin remember there was no Battle of Britain tradition .  It cost me 3 bob, more to the point it cost my Mother the money. I also bought some paint and tried to replicate the camouflage scheme. That Spitfire lasted for years and even introduced me to a Spitfire pilot. 

Later years I bought the Novo retread of the kit. It surprised me how bad it was but that hardly mattered by then. The original already had done the damage.

I always remember bringing the Spit  to the seaside, perched on the parcel shelf of my neighbours car. We were too poor to have a car but our neighbour did. The only casualty was the radio antenna. But we brought back lots of shells. 

Ah nostalgia!

 

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On 3/7/2017 at 20:40, viscount806x said:

 

According to 'The Oracle' (Leif Hellstrom), Frog actually made their own moulds of the F4K/M and the Lightning F6, using the Hasegawa kits heavily for 'inspiration'. You can see slight differences in the plastic parts when comparing them. This is of course in addition to 'proper' Hase parts in Frog boxes.

 

That would explain why there are small differences between the (old) Hasegawa F-104 Starfighter and the FROG kit of same.  The undercarriage parts are slightly different (not different enough for the FROG kit to accurately represent an F-104G, alas).

 

 

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11 hours ago, polo1112 said:

Beautiful and very interesting collection you have there Tony!

Looks absolutely fantastic.

I think I must be kind of stupid but I'm afraid I have forgotten the name of the first aircraft you show the picture of.

Would you be so kind and refresh my memory?

Thanks in advance. Polo.

PS, I DO love the Swordfish with floats.

:goodjob::worthy::wow:

Hiya Polo, thanks for your kind words,.....the first model is a Vickers Vimy, this one in inter war service in the Middle East. The nose gun has been knocked over onto the cockpit by accident while moving it!

Cheers

           Tony

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Great topic! I never built a Frog kit in my youth, always loyal to Airfix, only I suspect because of availability. Now with my renewed interest a few have found there way onto my bench via eBay!

Whitley (with mods)

IMG_4189_zpsytubmaxp.jpg

 

Beaufighter

IMG_3519_zpsmvtfib17.jpg

 

Blenheim

IMG_1851_zpse6e986d5.jpg

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