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


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Oh my sainted aunt... ! 😲     Tony, you've just hauled up my entire childhood with this thread.  What a wonderful sight in the first few photos, way back in post #1.  I certainly remember model shops like you recreated, way back in the day.  In random order, the Argyle Model Dockyard in Glasgow, in the Argyle Arcade - now all expensive jewellery shops.  The Arcade is 'L' shaped and at the junction of both corridors sat the model shop.  It was stacked to the rafters with kits and I bought my first Airfix He111H-20 kit there in, oh... 1969, thereabouts.  When we moved out of Glasgow, the model shop in the town we went to provided me with the Do217, and the model shop in Irvine, Ayrshire, had its windows stuffed with kits, and what seemed like a million-fold more inside!

 

Now, sadly, when I put 'model shops' into the browser on my PC, it's model railways that feeds back.  Such a shame there are fewer and fewer actual models shops to go and visit... I'm showing my age but who cares.  The internet is great because you can source things from all round the world if you want, but I still have a hankering to visit an old-fashioned style model shop with plastic kits on every shelf.  

 

I remember the 1/24 scale kits when they came out... I went to London on holiday with my folks when I was 12 and spent all my pocket money on the second day buying the Bf109 kit... much to the annoyance of my dad!  I also remember buying the Ju87 when it came out... £12.50 it cost me... a fortune then.  I now have two at £60 each... ouch!  And the Dogfight-Doubles... the Fw190 and Stormovik.  Shortly after decimalisation, that kit cost 30p; I had to ask my folks quickly because in old money, that was 6 shillings and I knew that would sound too expensive for them to say yes!  And the sight of those old-style Airfix paint bottles - vaguely pyramidic in presentation... haven't seen those in years!

 

Hope you've all had good memories as myself this evening.  Only looking back do I remember all the excitement of being a youngster.  I'm pleased to say my hobby is one things that has been constant through my life and I still get excited when I received a model kit in the post, or better still, buy something unusual in a shop.  Long may that last.

 

Hope you get a move on with the new shed, Tony... it won't build itself and we all need to see the finished article... 😉.

 

Regards,

 

Paul

Edited by obdl3945
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Thanks Paul.

I did wonder how my collectors take on modelling would be received here, what with Britmodeller being primarily a builder forum. I shouldn't have worried. The response to my posting has been astonishing and very much appreciated.

The forum has given my modelling a huge boost in return. Taking part in a few Group Builds here has seen me building more models in a short space of time than in the previous decade! I'm enjoying this place immensely.

The building work on the Model Shop Shed is progressing, a bit too slowly for my liking, but getting there. Once there's something to see,I'll post up a few pictures. I'm currently putting the roof on the building and racing the onset of winter.

 

Tony.

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Time for another thread top up...

 

The 1980 issue Lancaster, sat next to some earlier modelling aids...

 

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... and the 1963 Airfix Starfighter, done in the first issue markings. The box here is also the first issue. The Canadian flag got changes quite early on in the kits life. The drop tanks got fitted when I found that the Canadians didn't carry missiles. I'll be needing another build as per the box now!

 

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And while we are on early sixties Airfix issues, here's the first T3 Hunter boxing...

 

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And here's the origin of the species, the first issue Spitfire and Me109. At least that's what it says on the bags. Accuracy came later to Airfix.

The two models are restorations from rather beat up built models.

 

airfix1743.jpg

 

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

The Golden Years of Airfix Group Build is nearly finished now. It's been nothing but modelling joy from start to finish for me. Here's a couple of my builds that fit this thread as well. Talk about Nostalgia Overload!! 

 

 

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There is some fantastic stuff here, taking me way back to my building of kits in the late 60s and 70s. Most nostaglic for me are the Airfix paint bottles :). I now remember! :). Thanks everything. 

 

Martin

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On 8/26/2018 at 2:29 PM, TonyW said:

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. 

 

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My first ever kit,  bought in Woolworths in Henry Street in Dublin. I was too young to build it so Dad sat at the kitchen table and did the job with me hovering around excitedly. He put on the RN transfers because I thought they were the most colourful. I can still smell the glue.

Later I decided to use the US transfers so rubbed off the originals. Because Daddy wasn't around and I couldn't remember how to use the transfers. So I cut them off the sheet and glued them on!

The 1/24th Spitfire is another memory. I saved up the £2.75 and caught the bus into town to go to 'Banba' in Capel Street which I'm sure many Dubliners remember. It was a toy shop with a good stock of kits. It felt huge carrying it home on the bus.

Like in Britain kits were sold everywhere, corner shops, newsagents, souvenir shops and toy shops but there were no specialised model shops in Dublin. In later years when I started working you could still find kits in more old fashioned shops often with more esoteric subjects. I just bought them impulsively.

 

In reference to the Commando comics. I had lots of them. My favourites were the holiday specials. 

I don't know if many of you realise but they're still selling reprints. Actually my eleven year old cannot pass one on a shelf without begging me to buy one. He has quite the collection. Like Father like son. Indeed I have difficulty in passing one myself. Actually you can subscribe should you wish.

Nostalgia sometimes is what it used to be.

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  • 2 months later...

I've shown a few pictures of the Airfix B17 here before, but the thing can stand a couple of repeats without getting stale. The B17 Group Build on this forum has thrown up a few threads and pictures that fit in here, so here we go! 

 

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Maybe a bridge too far for here, but I've backdated an Airfix B17 to copy fairly closely the box top illustration from a 1943 or so issue paint set, just because it's a good idea! All the glass areas have been filled in and the airframe smoothed right out. The colour scheme will give a purist fits, but it works for me.

 

Here you go, see what you think....

 

IMG-6780.jpg

Edited by TonyW
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  • 2 months later...

Nothing added since Christmas, a shameful state of affairs! Must try harder.

 

How about a couple of shots of the first issue Airfix C47 Dakota then?

A beautiful box, very clean and simple yet very effective at the same time. As a kid, I would have dismissed the civil option out of hand and gone for the gung ho paratrooper version. These days I think I prefer the Silver City paintjob.

Both were built box stock, nothing added.

 

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Edited by TonyW
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WOW. Talk about tripping down memory lane. My brother on leave bought me home that Dak in its original boxing as a present Christmas '62 or early in the new year '63 as I recall. One of my very early/first model kits, and certainly my first big box. He had received his Para wings and posting to that regiment the previous year, subsequently selected and graduating SAS couple of years later. I wasn't quite so enthusiastic as he was about the C-47, disappointed it wasn't a B-17, B-24 or Lanc kit my imagination would have much preferred to play with. That Wildcat and Roy Cross' artwork. Irresistible when I spotted it and had the 3/6d saved up from pocket money. 

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Wow! What a brilliant project! I'm surprised I've missed it all this time, but will be checking in from time to time. Love the nostalgia, obviously, and the nicely defined aesthetic you bring to the whole enterprise. Those bagged Wildcats take me straight back to HE Figgures on Lymington High Street.

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The photo of your display hit me like an electric shock! It took me straight back 50 years.  

My Dad owned a newsagents right throughout my childhood and he sold the entire range of Airfix kits. It was my job to open the boxes when the kits were delivered and I hung the series one bags on the peg board. The big kits  in boxes were on the top shelf. I had to pay for every kit I had from the wage I earned from my newspaper round.  I made every kit in the late 60’s catalogue even the historical figures and Stevenson’s Rocket.  

Up in my bedroom kit completed by Saturday evening dripping paint smudged gluey canopies.  Ham hock and peas for tea.  

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The original Airfix catalogues can bring back a few memories. I missed out on the first four back in the day, the Collector in me has rectified that situation though. The fifth and sixth versions take me right back. I would spend ages just staring at the bigger, out of pocket money, kits like the Stirling and B29.

 

Here's the first seven full catalogues...

 

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Opening up the sixth edition see's this lot greet you on the first page. Pure heaven!

 

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Edited by TonyW
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I had the B-17, B-29, Stirling and Ark Royal out of that collection, built during the 1970's and 80's. The B-29 and possibly others were big and expensive enough to have been birthday/Christmas presents. Pocket money would probably only stretch to series one and two. More recently I've built the Comet, Mosquito and Chipmunk from the original moulds. They take a bit of work, but still make a presentable model.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This pair are going way back in time.

 

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I'm a mere kid at 62 years old now, and these two are way beyond what I can remember as a nipper. 

Shown here are two versions of the first issue Airfix Gladiator. There are subtle differences to the headers. One says 'scale model kit' the other, '1.72 scale model kit'. Guess which one came first? One's blue, the other silver grey. All important details for those who care.

Not a lot to get worked up about if you are a builder, the devil is in the details for us anorak collector types though.

The built kit alongside the original kits shows the three bladed prop that denotes a first release kit. Two blades ran from the Type two bags onward. The model also sits on the first issue Airfix rectangular stand, shamelessly stolen from the Aurora original.

 

I like the really early stuff. I could go even further back, to the pre -plastic wooden origins of modelling. Any interest here in going down that route?

 

Edited by TonyW
Punctuation. Again.
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Lovely bit of nostalgia there Tony.

 

I'm a bit older than you and don't remember that style Airfix kit. My first ones were the two colour header with the stripe down the middle. A Westland Lysander and Panther tank.

 

I'm a big fan of memorabilia and that is lovely stuff Tone. 

 

What year would your Gladiators be from?

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The first issue Gladiator was shown in the first Airfix flyer and that was issued in 1957 so the kit dates from a bit before that. They got their moneys worth from the mould!

 

Going even further back in time, how about a Chingford Model Airodrome (CMA) Fairey Battle in 1.48 scale. A pre plastic kit, from about 1941. Made of wood and needing a ton of work to get anything like a Battle out of it. You got a decent blueprint to work from, waterslide transfers and a vac formed canopy to work with. Paints were included with the kit. Pre and early war, you got bottles of paint. Once wartime rationing kicked off things started to get scarce. Paint was then supplied in powder form in little envelopes that have a habit of leaking. They stain like crazy.

 

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Much like the plastic end of my collection, I enjoy setting things up for a picture or two. These two pictures were shot earlier today. Everything in shot is 1940's correct, other than the Mosquito. That one is a 1.48 scale Monogram one, backdated to a forties Identification model.

 

Here's another shot with the colour taken out of it.

 

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The early days of the hobby fascinate me. It's getting harder and harder to find stuff though. Turning up new items is always good news. A couple of recent finds have been part started so I'll be having a crack at finishing them at some point.

 

 

 

 

Edited by TonyW
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Loved seeing all these . Weldtite  glue! I recall that was one of the Woolies (FW Woolworths)items. I remember using that stuff a lot and the bottle paints. As for the catalogues I have everyone of those in the photo But the top centre one and top right one ones in my collection are not as 'pristine' unfortunately being  abit tatty and scribbled on.  The white one at top left is though... saved it from going on a bonfire at my old ATC  hut move..

 

 

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The age of innocence. We have lost a lot of the fun.

 

I remember one Saturday morning having cycled over to Arnold (Nottinghamshire) Woolworth's and buying the Blue plastic Gladiator so it had to be 1956. My brother bought the Spitfire and we thought them fantastic compared to the wooden models I'd carved out of Balsa.  Can you imagine one of our modern "it's fatally flawed,, it's got the wrong tyre tread" modellers if faced with one of these early kits.

 

I can remember a visit to London with an early girlfriend and all I can really remember is finding the HE 111 in the local 'Woolies' . such were priorities of youth.  I first met the late Joe Chubbock in the 1980's and he did the pattern for the very same kit.

 

The origin of the species..

 

John

 

Joe was also the driving force behind the patterns for Formaplane and a dozen other small vac companies.

 

 

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Let me throw in another "recollection of the past". Way, way back when I was a young lad in the early days of Airfix, my dad took it into his head to build a Spit himself. He took ages to get the wings dead level with no dihedral. It hurt me badly to tell him he'd given himself a load of grief in order to get it wrong! Even worse when you consider he was in the RAF during the war, but he was a radio techie, spent the war in Egypt, Kenya and Palestine and worked with Kittihawks/Tomahawks and Baltimores, so maybe an excuse.

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