Your first aircraft model ?

[Sabrejet]

Mine was Airfix and 1/72, but I can't recall exactly what. Either Roland Walfisch, Sea Hawk, Me-262, Scout or SR.53. I do recall it being pale blue plastic and I think that might narrow the field a bit. Sea Hawk seems to ring a bell more than the others.

[cherry268]

My first was the Airfix Vulcan in i think 1982 or1983

I went to Howes model shop in Oxford the first week it was released and was told they only had one left and it was on display in the window

I'll wait while you get it was my reply. 

I had no interest in aircraft until I went to Brize Norton Airshow and saw a vulcan being thrown around the sky by, I think, Joe L'Estrange, not 100% sure about that, in a stunning display

I was hooked and although I had no experience on aircraft models, only cars and bikes, I had to have one

Still got it and its rubbish but I loved it and had it on display for years

 

[bigbadbadge]

Crikey some fantastic memories listed here, not seen this thread previously.   

My first kit was a Kelloggs promotion SR71 built with the help of my Dad, I must have been 5 I think, then he came home with an Airfix Halifax and we built that.  I used to love it when he came home on leave as he would usually have a pressie.  Both kits were never seen again after moving house in 77 , gutted.

I thought they looked the bees knees but can imagine they probably had fingerprints in the canopy glazing and were not painted.

Still been into it ever since. 

Chris

 

[Johnha]

On 04/02/2021 at 23:30, alanbeeb said:

Think it was F-84 thunderstreak,  mid 1970s, no idea what make it was, maybe Revell.... 

I think I built one of those (probably Airfix), I remember it because the under-wing stores seemed to be all drop tanks (4 at least), when sat on it's wheels there was hardly any ground clearance.

[Wulfman]

I’m nearly sure it was the Airfix Bristol Fighter, which I painted in overall cream, I’d seen a picture of a post war Brisfit in a light colour which I wrongly interpreted as cream !

 

Wulfman

Edited February 18, 2021 by Wulfman

[Alan P]

So impressed any of you guys can remember, respect! 

[stevej60]

I can't pin down an actual kit but I remember about 1967/68 Christmas brought a boxed collection of about a half dozen Airfix bagged

kit's Spitfire MK ix,Stuka,Me109g and Fw190 with little glass tubes of paint and a tube of glue always have a smile when I see these kit's

at shows and often here on BM,Saturday morning's meant paper round money and a model from the local hardware store I have actually

been unable to sleep on a Friday night thinking of what to buy and we had no internet,magazine's etc so often the first time you were 

aware of a new release was when it was there one the shelf!

 

[Nachtwulf]

I used to get so excited about continuing a build the next day that I couldn't sleep! At that point all I had was tube glue and it took for ever to dry!

[Trenton guy]

1952, a Hawk P-51 Mustang. I think it had all of 10 parts. Coming up on 70 years.

 

[Blacktjet]

First kit built with my dad was an Airfix BEA Vanguard, we had just got back from Malta and had flown there and back on one. First kit I built on my own was the Airfix bagged Spitfire Mk IX.

[LaurieS]

25 minutes ago, Blacktjet said:

First kit built with my dad was an Airfix BEA Vanguard, we had just got back from Malta and had flown there and back on one. First kit I built on my own was the Airfix bagged Spitfire Mk IX.

Vanguard wow that was quite an aircraft Balckjet.

 

They came into Jersey. fascinating to see the Vanguard & Viscount standing side by side.

 

Laurie

 

[Doom3r]

Revell 1/48 F-14D set with glue and paints. Saw it in the toy shop however parents were bit skeptical about me being able to build it. When my father showed up in my room next morning to "help" me with the build he was surprised to see that I progressed quite far (I woke at about 6 and started the build) and did not need any help. Built it as VF-31, however painted nose in silver instead of black... But what would you expect from a 7 year old?

[rob Lyttle]

I can't think of the First specifically, probably the railway shed and footbridge for a Trix train set. 

I do remember my Dad coming to the rescue a couple of times though. One was with a Fokker Friendship on the retracting main gears, and also a fine scratch rescue job on the drive wheels of a Scammel tank transporter 

[KeithA]

For me it was the Airfix Typhoon. A friend brought a freshly built Defiant in to school to show the class and I badgered Mum to stop at the post office on the way home to get my own. I thought the Typhoon looked by far the meanest of the kits on display. I must have been about seven years old I think.

[Malc2]

This, in this boxing, thought the fin decoration was fantastic! I must have been 8 or 9.

Like @Sabrejet, the next one was an Airfix Roland C-11, followed by a Hannover with hand painted lozenges!

Malc.

[Coors54]

On a slightly different tack, do you remember when you first realised you didn't have to make it like the instructions told you to?

My local toy shop (Toytown in Leamington Spa) had a really good model section at the front of the shop and had a display case that contained made up models, the one that caught my eye was an Airfix 1/76 Sherman that the guy behind the counter had made into a Firefly and detailed with lifting eyes, stowage etc, maybe even a bit of weathering, this was in the late sixties so very cutting edge. It blew my mind! It looked so real compared with my feeble efforts.

I decided the following week to ask about it and got talking to said gentleman who introduced me to Airfix Magazine, edited by Alan Hall, mind blown again!!

Thus began my life long hobby, I wonder how many others that Sherman influenced?

 

Dave

Edited May 30, 2021 by Coors54

[Skodadriver]

On 5/29/2021 at 5:57 PM, Coors54 said:

On a slightly different tack, do you remember when you first realised you didn't have to make it like the instructions told you to?

My local toy shop (Toytown in Leamington Spa) had a really good model section at the front of the shop and had a display case that contained made up models, the one that caught my eye was an Airfix 1/76 Sherman that the guy behind the counter had made into a Firefly and detailed with lifting eyes, stowage etc, maybe even a bit of weathering. It blew my mind! It looked so real compared with my feeble efforts.

I decided the following week to ask about it and got talking to said gentleman who introduced me to Airfix Magazine, edited by Alan Hall, mind blown again!!

Thus began my life long hobby, I wonder how many others that Sherman influenced?

 

Dave

My first aircraft model was a bagged Airfix Supermarine S6B sometime in the early 1960s. I know I was still at primary school which places it before 1964.

 

Part of my annual birthday present was a subscription to the Airfix Magazine which often contained articles about conversions. In the mid-1960s these tended to involve substances like balsa wood, cellulose dope and talcum powder. Many were written by Alan W. Hall whose contribution to the hobby cannot be over-stated. Unfortunately on the single occasion when I met him he turned out to be one of the most obnoxious people I have ever met in my life but that is another story.

 

My early memories are of following the Airfix Magazine to convert AFVs rather than aircraft (I clearly remember converting an Airfix Panther to a Jagdpanther). I had an interlude with model railways from my teens until my late twenties and by the time I got back to plastic around 1982 things had moved on significantly. Plastic sheet was readily available, conversion kits were quite common and detailing products were coming on the market from companies like Aeroclub, Verlinden and Falcon, a far cry from balsa wood and talcum powder!

 

I have specialised in civil airliners for nearly 30 years and conversion is pretty routine - Boeing 767-200 from 767-300, Airbus A330-200 from A330-300 and so on. Fortunately companies like BraZ models offer resin parts for airliner conversions - the thought of trying to make the fin and rudder for a 1/144 A330-200 out of balsa wood, dope and talcum powder is "interesting"!

 

Dave G

[Mr T]

I remember buying my first Airfix Magazine from a very posh stall/kiosk in the Central Market in Nottingham in I think January 1967. It was an eye opener in those days with information about colours and the conversion article by Alan Hall. If anything it set me on a road of model building I am still on after 54 years. 

[2996 Victor]

My first kit build was a Matchbox 1/72 Westland Lysander, bought from my local corner shop, Palmer's on School Road, Monkton Heathfield, and I was about eight years old  

 

My Mum built the cockpit assembly really well then it was time to cook dinner so I carried on alone....who needs instructions?

 

Needless to say the result was a gluey mess the bore little resemblance to what Matchbox had intended! For instance, the winglets, instead of being mounted on the wheel spats were jammed into the joint with the spats and wing struts

 

I finished it in one evening, and the most amazing thing is it actually stayed in one piece....

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Bozothenutter]

My intro to scale modeling,  at a dinner party with my parents, the hosts teenage son showed me some of his models (only ones I remember are the Yamaha Crosser and some sort of custom chopper)

He was working on something military and allowed me to glue one if the figures.

A German officer type (Rommel?) and curiously I remember the figure being seperated by a diagonal cut at the knees. 

Still no idea what kit it was(Airfix Halftack?)

Edited May 30, 2021 by Bozothenutter

[dnl42]

Hm, this is a great thread! My first model would have been sometime back in the '60s, probably built under my uncle's tutelage. I suffer CRS (can't remember stuff) and have few specific recollections. I do recall some fire engine in red and chromed plastic that fed its shifter to the carpet monster. Funny the details one recalls. I also recall peeling tube model cement from my fingers--clearly there must have been quite a bit more on the models. The first kits came from the local stationery store or Woolworths. Then, wonder of wonders, a hobby shop opened up, complete with quite a few large slot car tracks.

 

The first kits I can remember were probably both 1/72, a Skyraider in white and orange and a Heller Amiot 143 in brown.

[Putty Animal]

My first was the Airfix Hawker Siddeley Trident, back in 1973 if I remember rightly.  I was going on 5 years old and my father decided it was something we could do together.  He quickly lost interest however when he discovered there was no glue in the box.  But I persevered and stuck the main assemblies together with chewing gum.  I found if I put the aeroplane in the freezer every half an hour, the chewing gum would harden up sufficiently to allow me to play with the model for nearly ten minutes before it thawed out.  

[Beauslx]

First one for me was a MPC 1/144 747-100 with American Airlines decals. Dad pick it out for me as he though it was a relatively easy build for 10 year old. I thought looked nice when it was done. Lots of silver paint...

Unfortunately it died later that year in the Sylmar earthquake.

[Malc2]

13 hours ago, Putty Animal said:

My first was the Airfix Hawker Siddeley Trident, back in 1973 if I remember rightly.  I was going on 5 years old and my father decided it was something we could do together.  He quickly lost interest however when he discovered there was no glue in the box.  But I persevered and stuck the main assemblies together with chewing gum.  I found if I put the aeroplane in the freezer every half an hour, the chewing gum would harden up sufficiently to allow me to play with the model for nearly ten minutes before it thawed out.  

Hilarious! I showed this to my wife and she laughed too!

[Sandeha Lynch]

Boulton-Paul Defiant, Dakota, Ju 52, and a Fairey Gannet were among the early ones, but I can only guess that an Airfix Hurricane was likely the first. 

 

And still a preferred shape compared to other similar aircraft (no names) of the period. There has been a very long gap, but I now have one in the queue.