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


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2 hours ago, adey m said:

I will be back

I noted your absence Adey.... Report to NCO I/C Discip !

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I love this thread.

 

Tony - I daresay you have all the Airfix modelling guides? I used to get the first two, 'Plastic Modelling' by Gerald Scarborough and 'Aircraft Modelling' by Bryan Philpott, out of the library every couple of weeks. I loved them - fuzzy b&w photos and all.

 

I remember a shot of the Blenheim laid out ready for construction with all the necessary tools - Swan Morton knife, tube of glue and a few nail files. What else did you need in those days? 

 

Happy days indeed.

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1 hour ago, IanC said:

I love this thread.

 

Tony - I daresay you have all the Airfix modelling guides? I used to get the first two, 'Plastic Modelling' by Gerald Scarborough and 'Aircraft Modelling' by Bryan Philpott, out of the library every couple of weeks. I loved them - fuzzy b&w photos and all.

 

 

 

Happy days indeed.

 

I'll dig them out and add a few here.😁

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19 hours ago, TonyW said:

Remember the Annuals?

 

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Those annuals, were they just a collection of articles taken from the previous years Volume or was it new material?

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I'm pretty sure it was new material. I remember getting No.6 for my birthday. It taught me how to convert a 54mm Napoleonic Highlander into a Roman soldier...

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9 hours ago, bzn20 said:

I noted your absence Adey.... Report to NCO I/C Discip !

Cripes,  takes me back to RAF Swinderby in 1979 and a tanoy message going out in the NAAFI one evening that I was to report to the Guardroom.................

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On 09/03/2018 at 15:05, TonyW said:

 

That one had an action packed boxtop for sure. Roy Cross earned his money with that one.

I'll dig it out and add it here when I have a minute.

A Mig 21 and Skyhawk would have been more like it but the Airfix Skyhawk was a bit, er, basic, shall we say?

About twenty years ago my brother gave me an Airfix Mirage and MIG 15 Dogfight Double that he had found at a car boot sale. The box was rather worn and the decals were missing but the kits and instructions were complete.

I built the MIG 15 for his son and built the Mirage for myself as a French Air Force example. I did not use the kit's rocket-firing drop tanks or the strange centreline missile but made my own Matra R 530 missile.

 

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This is the box cover of my kit, a 1970s issue. Wonderful miniature box arts of the other Dogfight Doubles around the edges of the box.

 

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My Mirage under construction. I added some extra cockpit detail. I did not use the missile shown.

 

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The completed model. It was a delight to build, almost clicking together.

 

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With my scratchbuilt Matra R.530 missile.

 

adey

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, adey m said:

report to the Guardroom

That was a signal to get off camp for the rest of the night, come back and turn up.. Where you been ? Oxford . What you doing there then ? Cinema ...You've been drinking . Went to the pub . You were supposed to report here at  (whatever it was) I was in Oxford , no Tannoys  there . Just go back to your room ,too late now ! Or The hooter went of at 7 where were you ? Oxford . Doing what ?Pictures , Pictures ? Yeah Star Wars … You've been Drinking... Went to the pub. Got back and saw there was a TACEVAL.. You can't work , go on Tea bar .. ! X factor was 10p a day.

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2 hours ago, adey m said:

This is the box cover of my kit, a 1970s issue

Just one of his best ,so much movement and ….. Too much, brilliant ! Thanks for showng that box lid !

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Someone, possibly my brother again, once gave me a 1970s Airfix Beaufighter box containing something rattly.  When I opened it instead of a Beaufighter I found this ...............

 

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I must say I am tempted to finish off where someone started .....................

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resized_b5dcfedb-cab2-4c5a-b92a-cb756970

 

Header for the first issue of the original Airfix Beaufighter TF X released in 1958 which was packaged in a clear plastic bag like the Series One kits. Good jobby they changed the Number 2 Series classification later ..................

 

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The later Series 2 boxed edition from the 1960s.

 

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1970s revamp featuring what must be the fabulous art work of Roy Cross.

 

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Comic-book artwork on the American edition of the  Airfix Beaufighter, I wonder what the observer is firing at ...............

 

adey

 

 

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How did I miss this earlier?  Superb thread. Fair cheered me up!

 

It has me wanting to model a P51D Millie G in a red paint scheme 😁

 

I remember seeing a mock model shop set up at East Fortune Air Museum. Can't recall if it's still there on display.

 

 

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Tony,

 

Great, great post. I particularly liked your 'Type 3 - Circa 1968' photos since looking at these took me right back to my youth in Singapore, 50 years ago. My late father, re-enthused with our viewing of the 'Battle of Britain' and my interest in models, used to take me on a weekly visit to an amazing model shop on Orchard Road, which at that time was the main shopping thoroughfare in the City. The walls of this small shop were, quite literally, lined with model kits such that you could not actually see the wall !. The vast majority were Airfix kits and we regularly came away with one or two Series 1 or 2 kits. The vast majority of the bigger kits were outside of our financial reach although Dad's favorites, the Avro Lancaster, B-24 Liberator and Catalina did manage to find their way home from time to time. I remember being particularly enamored with the Blenheim IV and the Mirage III/MiG-15 Dogfight Double. One of our themes was to model all of the aircraft that had taken part in the Battle of Britain (the campaign, not just the film) and of course, in those days, we did not have the luxury of being able to get the actual variants for every type. Our bungalow, very conveniently, had a false ceiling made up of high density fibreboard tiles so once completed, all of the models were suspended with drawing pins and string above my bed and desk. Apart from the aforementioned Dogfight Double, I cannot remember any other jets in the collection - Dad favoured WWII types though I do remember him making the Douglas A-1 Skyraider and, some years later, a Beaver since he had flown in one of these into some of the jungle strips 'up country' in Malaysia. Airfix remained the dominant brand for several years but I do remember obtaining some of the smaller Frog kits from one of the village shops where we lived. Happy Days !

 

Like so many other co-respondents, thanks for the nostalgic trip down memory lane.                   

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6 minutes ago, Tiger331 said:

Tony,

 

 I do remember obtaining some of the smaller Frog kits from one of the village shops where we lived. Happy Days !

 

Like so many other co-respondents, thanks for the nostalgic trip down memory lane.                   

 

 

It's a pleasure for me to be adding to the thread, thanks for the kind words.

 

While on the subject of FROG models, have another shot of their first issue Hunter. The nose and canopy should really be modded a bit, but I built this one straight out the box.

The transfers are sat there for added detail to the picture, likewise the glue bulb. The box has an unbuilt model inside, fulfilling my ideal situation of having a mint unbuilt kit and a built one alongside it. Having your cake and eating it too, I believe it's called! 😁

 

IMG_5262.jpg

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12 hours ago, JohnT said:

How did I miss this earlier?  Superb thread. Fair cheered me up!

 

It has me wanting to model a P51D Millie G in a red paint scheme 😁

 

I remember seeing a mock model shop set up at East Fortune Air Museum. Can't recall if it's still there on display.

 

 

John,

 

Last time I visited the Museum of Flight at East Fortune, the model shop display was still there. It was, IMHO, an excellent attempt and very atmospheric, with a pretty good selection of old kits and modelling paraphernalia on display but nothing like the complexity of Tony's collection shown on this thread.    

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26 minutes ago, TonyW said:

 

 

It's a pleasure for me to be adding to the thread, thanks for the kind words.

 

While on the subject of FROG models, have another shot of their first issue Hunter. The nose and canopy should really be modded a bit, but I built this one straight out the box.

The transfers are sat there for added detail to the picture, likewise the glue bulb. The box has an unbuilt model inside, fulfilling my ideal situation of having a mint unbuilt kit and a built one alongside it. Having your cake and eating it too, I believe it's called! 😁

 

IMG_5262.jpg

 

Tony,

 

You are welcome. Having only looked through the first two pages before I posted my first response, I have now gone back and read the rest so have only just seen your other marvellous photos. The Israeli F-4E Phantom evokes memories of building this kit after we had moved to Cyprus in the 1970s. I really like the fact that I can trace memories of events and locations with kits (I suspect like so many others). We moved temporarily from Singapore back to the UK in 1971 and during that period, I acquired and built the Airfix SH-3 Sea King, my first helicopter model. We joined my father in Gibraltar during Easter of 1972 and I was presented, upon arrival, with a completed model of the Frog Avro Shackleton, almost certainly the most comprehensive aircraft model my Dad had built up to that time. My abiding modeling memories of Gibraltar were the arrival of Matchbox model kits on the scene (in 1973 IIRC ?) and the uncanny speed (for those days anyway) with which the Airfix SA.330 Puma arrived in our local model shop. It was, of course, in the days when surprise was still a major factor in our enjoyment of the hobby and I had had absolutely no inkling that Airfix were going to produce a kit of my then favorite helicopter. Over time, I purchased most of the first ten (or 12 ?) Matchbox kits that formed part of their initial issue; the BAC 167 Strikemaster was a firm favourite amongst that early batch. Again, IIRC, the state-of-the-art Airfix Dornier 17 'flying pencil' also arrived on The Rock before we moved Eastwards to Cyprus.

 

Turning back the clock, we also acquired a few of the Frog Trailblazers kits whilst we were in Singapore. The Whittle Jet, Bleriot Monoplane and Bristol 138 readily spring to mind !.                

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Matchbox kits were rubbished a bit when they first appeared. That kind on nonsense is way behind us now, with most modellers remembering them with affection.

 

If you have not already taken a look, check out the models in the recent Matchbox Group Build. The golden Years of Airfix GB is a bit good as well.

 

 https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/604-matchbox-gb-ii/ 

 

That GB really got the memories flowing on here. 

 

Robbie also posted details of the outstanding IPMS club stand display he was involved in. It's in Dutch but the fantastic pictures tell the story better than I can...

 

https://www.ipms.nl/regios/regio-zuid-holland/146-regio-zuid-holland-artiklelen/2615-regiotafel-zuid-holland-op-de-esm-2016

 

I had the beginings of a Matchbox collection started a while ago. They got moved on though. I realised that the collections I have on the go at the moment were hard enough to handle as it is, without adding to the task.

I of course now regret ever selling them!!!

 

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Ahh.....now I can recall the other favorites from that first tranche of Matchbox kits....

 

The Alpha Jet, AH-1G Cobra, F-5A Freedom Fighter and Westland Lysander.

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On ‎3‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 7:45 AM, TonyW said:

There's a bit of a time gap between the Airfix Roy Cross illustrated G for George Lancaster box and the comic cover, but I thought they looked good together so here they are!

 

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Thanks for posting the picture of "Speed & Power" magazine!!

I bought every issue right from their No.1 to their demise (when subsumed by "Look & Learn" magazine).

It was absolutely the magazine for a boy of around nine or ten years old (as I was then) who loved everything with wheels or wings at the time.

Sadly, that looks like one of the three or four issues I missed (as I don't recognise that cover).

I daresay sooner or later my parents threw my entire Speed & Power collection on the tip after I moved out of home.

But thanks for the memories!! 👍

 

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3 hours ago, kapam said:

"Look & Learn" magazine

I remember that magazine! My parents bought them for me when I was a nipper. I think they thought that they would make me intelligent.

 

It's probably a bit too late to get their money back now. 

:dunce:

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On 15/08/2018 at 22:36, JohnT said:

How did I miss this earlier?  Superb thread. Fair cheered me up!

 

It has me wanting to model a P51D Millie G in a red paint scheme 😁

 

I remember seeing a mock model shop set up at East Fortune Air Museum. Can't recall if it's still there on display.

 

 

How did I miss this earlier? 

 

You probably had your Height Finder 200 switched off ...........

Edited by adey m
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3 hours ago, kapam said:

Thanks for posting the picture of "Speed & Power" magazine!!

I bought every issue right from their No.1 to their demise (when subsumed by "Look & Learn" magazine).

It was absolutely the magazine for a boy of around nine or ten years old (as I was then) who loved everything with wheels or wings at the time.

Sadly, that looks like one of the three or four issues I missed (as I don't recognise that cover).

I daresay sooner or later my parents threw my entire Speed & Power collection on the tip after I moved out of home.

But thanks for the memories!! 👍

 

I too had the full set bar two I think.  It was bought for me but my older brother and my Dad used to swipe it and read it through. I lent the set to someone to read and they came back with poster pages missing, I think they ended up on their bedroom wall.  The magazines must have ended life a bin somewhere.  

 

Thanks for showing them...

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Thanks too for reminding me of 'Speed and Power' Magazine. I can remember getting the first couple of issues and being highly excited with the new format and subject matter - The publishers really seemed to capture the imagination of impressionable 12-15 year olds with this magazine. My subscription was sporadic since we moved around quite a bit over the period when the magazine was in its heyday but I did get quite a few and I think I may have even kept one or two of them. When we lived in Cyprus a Christian charitable organization ran a pretty comprehensive club shop adjacent to their welfare facility which stocked a large variety of magazines from the UK and getting a copy of S&P was certainly a highlight of the weekend. The highlight of the year, however, was the Christmas Toy Fair week in November when they ordered in additional Airfix kits, including all of the relatively new releases, which were eagerly snapped up by parents and stashed away for December 25th. I finally got my hands on the C-130K Hercules complete with Bloodhound Missile and finished it in the then standard Dark Brown/Sand/Black colour scheme having seen the real thing flying around the Island on a regular basis. By now, my Dad had moved on to Revell 1:32 scale kits, which he bought from a photographic shop in Larnaca (there were no dedicated model shops in town at that time). He was steadily working his way through the early collection (P-40E Warhawk, Spitfire, ME Bf-109, Hurricane, Mosquito etc) when the Turkish Invasion and War interrupted progress and we got shipped back out to Singapore at 10 days notice.

 

More Happy Days !           

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