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


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Speed and Power was a good comic, no doubt about that.

 

Commando Comics were a good source of reference material as well. Full colour images to provide you with an authentic colour scheme for your latest masterpiece...

 

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... Without the Comic to go by, how would you know where to put the bullet holes?

 

The Zero is a recent build (How about last night!) for the Golden Years of Airfix Group Build.

 

There's no end of comics that can provide ideas for a different model for your shelves...

 

IMG_5285.jpg

 

 

Edited by TonyW
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This thread just gets better and better. A fantastic trip down memory lane. I had completely forgotten about those Airfix paint bottles. I'd also forgotten just how many kits I had built when I was in that 6(ish) to 18 year period. Thanks everyone for making an oldish boy more than happy.

 

My first kit, as I recall, was the Airfix F-104, built and then decalled without painting. Then it was a mix of planes and AFVs, and even a ship or two. I vaguely remember the HMS Hood, a galleon of some kind, a Sherman tank, and many, mNy more planes. Great memories that this thread has brought flooding back. Thank you, Tony.

 

Martin

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Tony,

 

More Nostalgia overload with those Air Ace/Commando comic photos !. Acquiring one, two or more of these great comics was another part of my Saturday morning ritual as a 9-11 year old living in Singapore. Fortunately the Singaporeans and sizeable number of British military personnel then based on the Island were avid readers of these publications and there was a thriving second hand market. We had two or three Indian Vendors in the village that traded in all of these comics, which also included 'War' and 'Battle'. One of the vendors also sold the aforementioned Frog kits so we became popular customers in his shop. The vendors operated a "two for one" trade system on the comics or they could be purchased outright with a price based on condition and popularity. I do recall the Commando comics, my personal favorite, commanding a slightly higher price (by which I mean 5-10 cents = 1-2p !). I had also forgotten about that masterstroke of marketing - the Holiday and Summer Specials - with 4-6 stories in one edition - a real treat during extended school holidays. I recall holding on to most of my Commando comics but gladly trading the others every week. By necessity, my consumption rates for these comics were reduced when we returned to Europe and the Mediterranean in 1971 and I lost access to the secondhand market but I still managed to read Commando well into the mid 1970s since the various military welfare facilities still stocked them for the younger sailors, soldiers and airmen based overseas.

 

Great, great thread as I have said before     

 

BTW.....love the themed yellow Zero....real inspiration and imagination    

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The stuff of Christmas and Birthday dreams, Airfix Superkits!

 

 Way out of pocket money reach, these things were something special. Here's the first of the range, Supermarines Spitfire, along with the little electric motor to power the prop (available separately) and the build guide book, released in 1971.

 

IMG_5315.jpg

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On 8/17/2018 at 5:14 PM, TonyW said:

Speed and Power was a good comic, no doubt about that.

 

Commando Comics were a good source of reference material as well. Full colour images to provide you with an authentic colour scheme for your latest masterpiece...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

... Without the Comic to go by, how would you know where to put the bullet holes

 

The Zero is a recent build (How about last night!) for the Golden Years of Airfix Group Build.

 

There's no end of comics that can provide ideas for a different model for your shelves...

 

 

 

I think I used to have that Battler Britton one.  I seem to remember that the Battler Britton issues were re-releases with the main protagonist's name changed.

 

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On ‎8‎/‎17‎/‎2018 at 5:14 PM, TonyW said:

Comic to go by

I had all those War comics ( Rock Ape AP's) Forgot all about the one with the Westland Whirlwind on the cover .The artwork on the covers was my favourite bit . The one I really loved was Battle Order . Its like the sequence of the John Mills Dunkirk film when they were trapped in a farmhouse . I had so many given to me by cousins and bought at least one a day on holidays . I found 4 or 5 the other day . I also used to buy the American comics ,usually about the Korean War and BLAAAAAM and Rat atat tatta ! all over the pictures ..What Roy Lichtenstein was copying in his BLAAAAAM ! series of paintings

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Happy days.

 

I used to get my models at a toy shop called Patricks in Fulham. It's still there today. Just along the parade from Patricks was a Plus Books shop, where I got all my Battle, War, Air Ace etc. They also stocked piles of DC and Marvel comics, all cheap, all swappable for half price the following week.  I also got my first copy of Hot Rod Magazine there and life was never quite the same again!

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1 hour ago, TonyW said:

Hot Rod Magazine there and life was never quite the same again!

It was another world and Ed Roths creations , In the 70s John Baldachino with Fordson Van "Hot N Bothered" . Jag IRS (all the best British Rods ones had it) Supercharged Rover V8 ( Ditto) .Stood next to HnB was an un started Fordson Van called Can't be Bothered at 76 Custom Car Show at Olympia . Followed by his "Small Fry"  Austin Seven Rover V8, 3" prop shaft and driver sits on the back seat .

The other major guy was Nick Butler with the awesome (by definition) T Bucket Andromeda  , Chrysler 426 Hemi . But the car of the 70s was his 800 BHP Model T C Cab Revenge , Roger dean inspired airbrushing and usual Supercharged V* and Jag IRS . Sublime.

Most of the top Custom Cars Airbrushed by Mumford . His French Connection and Bullitt  Mustang paint jobs for other people's cars would take some beating 40 years later. worth a Google .

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Hi Tony, I home in on this thread and Adey's Frog one as soon as I log on. In my imagination a relatively carefree time of getting a new kit from Woolworths, Air Ace war mag from the local newsagents and reading about Braddocks latest exploits in the comic and ( a special treat- his book 'I Flew with Braddock'

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Big thanks to all of you who posted comments and photos of "Battle Picture Library", "Air Ace Picture Library" and "Commando" comics.

It's not too much of an exaggeration to say my childhood reading skills were honed on War Comics (as we called them at the time).

They (along with Airfix, Speed & Power, etc.) were a foundation for my ongoing fascinations with wheeled and winged vehicles; and scale models of them.

:thanks: 

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Here's a pair of Wildcats I've just finished for the Golden Years of Airfix group Build.. The models are finished in the two schemes provided by Airfix in the bag. 

 

IMG_5453.jpg

Edited by TonyW
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  • 2 weeks later...

Continuing the comic book cover theme, here's another pair I'm building over on the Golden Years of Airfix Group Build...

 

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The chances of me not doing a few more of these are a bit slim, just a quick browse on ebay brings up a ton of likely looking covers!

These beauties are all destined to have built models to accompany then as soon as I can get around to it, two down, four to go!

 

IMG_5525.jpg

 

 

Edited by TonyW
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On 8/18/2018 at 1:40 PM, TonyW said:

The stuff of Christmas and Birthday dreams, Airfix Superkits!

 

 Way out of pocket money reach, these things were something special. Here's the first of the range, Supermarines Spitfire, along with the little electric motor to power the prop (available separately) and the build guide book, released in 1971.

 

IMG_5315.jpg

 

Now that is exactly what I wanted for Christmas for as many years as I can remember. That big Spit was all I wanted (except the one I was lusting after was in the late 70s type 5 box) I begged, nagged, pleaded every year to my folks and even Santa a couple of times. Nothing, year after year. I really wanted the Bf-109E as well, the ultimate dogfight double, but I didn't ask for that as I didn't want to push my luck. I had to wait until I was sixteen, got my first full time job, and with my first pay packet, I finally bought it for myself. Unfortunately, by then the kit was in that crumby Humbrol era photo box. At least the kit inside the box was the same (and still white plastic). Probably explains why I have about 15 of these kits in the stash now. Yeah! Thanks Mum and Dad for the childhood deprivation!

Edited by fightersweep
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Here's a few catalogue pages showing the 1.24 scale range as it unfolded. The company itself was unfolding at the time, so there was going to be a bit of a wait for the next 1.24 scale aircraft to appear after the Ju87

 

. The current Mosquito and Typhoon were worth waiting for though.  The Spitfire, Hurricane and P51 still soldier along, with a modified Harrier to keep them company

 

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At 66, I find that I have been wallowing in nostalgia for a few years now.. modeling and aviation hobbywise at least, if I could share one of those "moments"...

I was 17-ish, mad keen on aviation and regularly posted letters to aircraft manufacturers requesting pictures. Those were the days I got loads of the stuff, all of it gone in all my moves through life..except one, this one I kept all these years:
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Then much later, I learnt how to make my own decals and for years then sought the rare and long out of production Aurora kit (it came in two scales this is the larger one about 1/60 from memory). I then found a kit but also managed to get a "junker" a veritable glue bomb that had been put together using military grade nuclear cement, my attempts to dismantle for a rebuild were almost terminal but I persisted on and off for a couple of years.

Now this rebuild is very ordinary, full of flaws and scars, the only modelling of any merit maybe are the home made decals but nevertheless, I still like it, it sit in my cabinet proud as punch
I excuse all it's faults it is special to me
26163857449_0a0ff4ad50_h.jpg for those that are interested the model was modified with a new nose and repositioned maingear to get this trigear super H18 version.
I did this one as "proof of concept" besides wanting to resurrect the old junker.. I may now do the same conversion on my "mint" kit, scratch building an undercarriage for a wheels down model...maybe, maybe not

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On ‎9‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 9:47 PM, TonyW said:

These beauties

I remember buying most of those ( not the WW1 Dog Fight Dixon though) in Barry around 65 or 66 or Barry 68 .  In 65 or 66  we went past the Saint Athan Scrap yard full of grounded Valliants . Slow down dad  !

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