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Nostalgia, it's not what it used to be...


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Amazing post. I'm another one who's been given a glimpse back into childhood memories. 

The old box art was the thing that really used to grab my attention. Either seeing it in my Mum's catalogue or a shop window and wondering if you'd ever be able to have one of these kits yourself.

A lot of these models you're displaying ended up on either my or my sister's ceilings. Shining a torch on them and moving it about, made the shadows move and you could imagine them flying and dodging searchlights and stuff.

Nothing was as exciting as getting home with a small kit from Woolworths or 'Apex craft' as my local shop was called and putting it all together.

Happy days indeed.

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Simply breathtaking Tony.  An idea perfectly executed. 

For what it's worth, I found the Airfix exhibition at Hendon a bit 'tatty' and jumbled with too much emphasis on the hurriedly constructed stereotype.  Your displays are not only a different league but a whole different sport!

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Todays instalment brings yet another dose of memories...

 

If I had to have only one kit out of the whole lot, it would probably be the B17 Flying Fortress. Getting the Roy Cross artwork model for Christmas way back in time is one of those memories that just won't fade. I must have built the kit a dozen times over the years yet I could quite happily do another next week.

 

airfix_2108.jpg

 

When the Dogfight Doubles came out, I lost no time at all in getting them. A series one and series two kit in the same box got you a sensible discount on the price charged. That left a bit over for a tube of glue or some Humbrol paints. The A Frame stand that held the pair was a nice bonus as well. I have pictures of the series built up somewhere. I'll add them as and when I turn them up.

 

sellers681.jpg

 

Lastly, how about these two? Not built by me, they came with a collection I bought ages ago. Both built to a very high standard, without a drop of paint on the airframes! A bit of detail finishing here and there, but no more than that.  Modelling as it was back then.

There's so many different angles to this collecting malarky, I never get bored by it all.

 

IMG_7543_zpswlusrag3.jpg

 

 

Edited by TonyW
Picture upload failed, sorted now.
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2 hours ago, polo1112 said:

This thread is really a pleasure.

I'd certainly second that. It's certainly giving me the urge to dust off some of my eldest residents of my care home for aging plastic.

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4 hours ago, TonyW said:

Todays instalment brings yet another dose of memories...

 

If I had to have only one kit out of the whole lot, it would probably be the B17 Flying Fortress. Getting the Roy Cross artwork model for Christmas way back in time is one of those memories that just won't fade. I must have built the kit a dozen times over the years yet I could quite happily do another next week.

 

airfix_2108.jpg

 

When the Dogfight Doubles came out, I lost no time at all in getting them. A series one and series two kit in the same box got you a sensible discount on the price charged. That left a bit over for a tube of glue or some Humbrol paints. The A Frame stand that held the pair was a nice bonus as well. I have pictures of the series built up somewhere. I'll add them as and when I turn them up.

 

sellers681.jpg

 

Lastly, how about these two? Not built by me, they came with a collection I bought ages ago. Both built to a very high standard, without a drop of paint on the airframes! A bit of detail finishing here and there, but no more than that.  Modelling as it was back then.

There's so many different angles to this collecting malarky, I never get bored by it all.

 

IMG_7543_zpswlusrag3.jpg

 

 

"Dogfight Doubles" Me 262/Mosquito one of my all time best ever Christmas presents!!

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Lucky you guys grew up in the heyday of hobby kits and shops. I'm 15 and live right smack in Central Los Angeles and the closest hobby store is 4 miles away and is a 20 minute drive with all the traffic here. I expect that you guys walked to your hobby stores. 

Edited by Crossiant Oliver
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57 minutes ago, Crossiant Oliver said:

Lucky you guys grew up in the heyday of hobby kits and shops. I'm 15 and live right smack in Central Los Angeles and the closest hobby store is 4 miles away and is a 20 minute drive with all the traffic here. I expect that you guys walked to your hobby stores. 

We never even had to find a hobby store, most of the paper shops sold models back in the old days and a lot of them even sold the paints.

I don't know what you call paper shops in California, drug store? Anyway a paper shop in the U.K. is one of those small shops that sell sweets, cigarettes, pens and of course newspapers and magazines.   

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1 hour ago, old thumper said:

I don't know what you call paper shops in California, drug store? Anyway a paper shop in the U.K. is one of those small shops that sell sweets, cigarettes, pens and of course newspapers and magazines.   

Drug store (or pharmacy) in the 1980s and 1990s, certainly. Here in the midwest we call them CVSes or Walgreens now, after the two big chains that dominate the region.

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1 hour ago, old thumper said:

We never even had to find a hobby store, most of the paper shops sold models back in the old days and a lot of them even sold the paints.

I don't know what you call paper shops in California, drug store? Anyway a paper shop in the U.K. is one of those small shops that sell sweets, cigarettes, pens and of course newspapers and magazines.   

Yes, a drug store is the name. We also have craft stores that sell model kits: Michaels and Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby actually has a really good variety while Michael's sells those outdated USA kits. Even those are far away. My dad has told me how in boarding school there was a room just for Airfix kits. I wish I had that at my high school.

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I started buying kits with my own pocket money in the late 70s, but really got into the swing of the hobby in 81/82. It amazes me to think just how many shops it was possible to buy kits from back then...they were everywhere! I grew up in Southend on Sea, and there must have been at least ten dedicated model shops. Every toy shop sold them, and that was a lot of shops too, and every newsagent I can remember sold at least a few Matchbox or Airfix kits...and then there were the likes of Woolworths, other department stores, hardware stores and even the sea front gift shops had models....they really were everywhere. One of my favourites was the gift shop at the Historic Aircraft Museum. I particularly liked stumbling across those old school newagents that still had old dusty kits lurking high up on long forgotten shelves. I remember popping into one such shop in 1986, and finding the Airfix Boeing Vertol, SRN1 Hovercraft and Aerial Arrow...all in red stripe boxes. I bought all three and couldn't believe my luck! 

 

Even though I admittedly buy most of my kits online now, it just isn't the same. The buzz of spending a Saturday morning searching for my next kit will always be a fond memory. 

 

Croissant Oliver: It was a golden time, and it's a shame those days are gone....but I'm glad to hear that we still have new blood in the hobby! We might not have the shops we used to have, but product wise, the hobby has never been healthier. My only personal complaint, is that the hobby is so well served now, that I feel obliged to have to thoroughly research every build I start, throw a ton of after market at it and produce an exact as possible replica of the real thing, painted using all the up to date techniques. What I really want sometimes is to just throw an old Matchbox kit together, out of the box, and marvel at my finished creation after a Saturday afternoon's work. 

 

Best regards;

Steve (aged 48 going on 12)

Edited by fightersweep
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14 hours ago, Procopius said:

Drug store (or pharmacy) in the 1980s and 1990s, certainly. Here in the midwest we call them CVSes or Walgreens now, after the two big chains that dominate the region.

 Pretty much the same story here now, a lack of independent shops. There was a series on tv a few years back called Dave Gorman unchained, where a comedian took the challenge of driving across America without using any chain stores, motels, petrol stations or restaurants. With a lot of difficulty he just about managed it.

14 hours ago, Crossiant Oliver said:

My dad has told me how in boarding school there was a room just for Airfix kits. I wish I had that at my high school.

 

A room full of Airfix kits! that sounds like my sort of school.

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14 minutes ago, old thumper said:

 Pretty much the same story here now, a lack of independent shops. There was a series on tv a few years back called Dave Gorman unchained, where a comedian took the challenge of driving across America without using any chain stores, motels, petrol stations or restaurants. With a lot of difficulty he just about managed it.

That's been a lifelong dream of mine, to do that while following old Route 66 across the country.

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The picture files are starting to run low... guess I'll have to start making new pictures to keep the thread running.

 

Here's a few more old shots for now.

 

The first issue Airfix P51 Mustang, Fools Paradise, and the US Craftmaster take on the same thing. By todays standards both are a bit rubbish. As a kid in the sixties, they would take pride of place!

 

IMG_9390.jpg

 

Maybe a bit too far back here, a pair of FROG Penguins. Both factory built and fine examples of where the hobby started from.

 

IMG_9662_P.jpg

 

The last three pictures are positives for either the sixth or seventh Airfix catalogues. I bought these a few years back and it took me a while before I could get them computer ready. Technology moves on at a rapid rate.

 

 

Untitled-11_1.jpg

Untitled-14_1.jpg

Untitled-18_1.jpg

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This is probably the best post i have ever read. What nostalgia and it shows the magnificent efforts you have put in to simply show off your stash! As you say, why not make a feature of it all. It is made even better by the fact that you can chop and change it at will and that all the kits and bits are pure classics.

 

WONDERFUL idea and execution!

 

Andy

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I'll post pictures of my Frog Academy rebox P-40B in Charles Older's Hawk. Recently I found out that he graduated from my high school! Who knew the most recognizable Flying Tiger second to Chennault went to my school! Small world!

Edited by Crossiant Oliver
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Awesome photos - like a living museum to the hobby as it was in my childhood!

My involvement went from boyhood in the late 60's through to teenage years of the early 80's; whereupon I lost touch with the hobby for about 10 years (mostly getting a college education plus other misadventures). 

Great to see all these memories so well-preserved.

:thanks:

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Tony, I could gaze at your photos of the model displays all day - that's what a real model shop looks like although no kids sticky fingers please, no doubt. I fell into a model shop in Frome, of all places, which had this sort of level of concentration of kits.

I completely empathise with your 'build the model' view because that it really where I am at at the moment - trying to do much better than my original builds of 40+ years ago.

Also, the kits left in original plastic with just some 'detailing' in paints really seems like a good idea for an impatient modeller - get it finished then take time to enhance some details to make the model come alive - thought for the future.

Best of luck.

Mike

Edited by Ventora3300
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What a great thread - thanks Tony.

If you're ever near Southampton a visit to Solent Sky might be worth a diversion - they have a FROG model shop display there (number 12 on the exhibits list in that link)

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2 minutes ago, CedB said:

What a great thread - thanks Tony.

If you're ever near Southampton a visit to Solent Sky might be worth a diversion - they have a FROG model shop display there (number 12 on the exhibits list in that link)

Thanks for the link,

 

Solent Sky is on my 'To do' list when I'm down that way. The SARO floatplane fighter is a favourite of mine and I would love to take a good look at the real thing.

 

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Rolling rollin rolling, keep those dawgys rollin...

 

Sorry about that, had a bit of a Rawhide moment.

 

Anyway, here's yet more from the vaults...

 

T5 Airfix are getting a bit new for me, but there's no denying the attractiveness of the boxes.

 

 airfix_069.jpg

 

Also a T5 issue build, the Airfix Liberator. I've yet to do an earlier Charles Oats box top one. Maybe one for the Classic Airfix GB in the future?

 

airfix_1837.jpg

 

Then, to finish for today, a display of early Airfix that pre-dates the full on Hobby Room.  The room used to have sixties wooden display shelving along one wall. This was one of the glass fronted units. I could never get enough stuff on display, hence the big room build.

 

IMG_2790.jpg

 

Tony.

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