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


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24 minutes ago, John Aero said:

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

Never a truer word said. 

 

I still love buying kits and so on but now it’s just not quite the same. I look for accuracy and read reviews. How much more fun it was to walk into a shop with cash and no idea what I was going to take home. Then the Saturday night through Sunday to finish and hang from the ceiling.  A million times less well finished, accurate and completed maybe but a trillion times more fun

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Sage words by the two Johns.

 

Those old days of model buying and making were magical to me.

 

However I still build models like the nine year old me! 

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Reading these, one theme seems to be "why are we so anal now?". My thoughts...it's our own fault! Just look at the number of posts on here talking about intricate details, and why do we have them? Because of the internet, Google and this site. I know because during my anguished fight (and I mean that most sincerely, folks) with the Revell ADV, I have had several recourses to the walkarounds, just to work out how the actual plane went together, not to mention hours trying to work out what the h*** shades of grey to use. None of that was in any way possible back in the early 60's, when we would have been as likely to build a plastic bag Airfix Spit and just leave it blue, but we've got it now and we use it.

BTY, just remembered another bit about my dad's Spit attempt - he had no idea how to apply decals, so very carefully cut round the roundels and stuck them on the wings with ordinary paste; not a good look. He was very good with old valve radios, but model aircraft were not his thing.

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Tonights instalment visits the Eastern Front.

 

Watching Hogans Hero's, with Shultz always in a panic about being sent to the Russian Front, was one of the reasons I spent pocket money on this one. I wanted a Red Airforce plane to strafe my Airfix  German AFV's! This was the only game in town, at least until the Pe2 was issued.

 

IMG-7101.jpg

 

If I had access to the Profile shown here, I would probably have been confused by the differences between kit and Profile. As it was, I just built the kit and was more than happy with the result. My Germans less so.

 

When the Tamiya kit was released I thought the wings far to broad!

 

 

Edited by TonyW
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This is fantastic stuff. I vividly remember 19p series one baggies, and we had 2 dedicated hobby shops in High Wycombe, Child's (very aptly named), and Keen's (also aptly named!). My first memory of Keen's was when the shop backed into a cleared area, later to become a car park. They then moved into the Octagon, a brand new shopping mall, probably around 1970. 

 I used to stop in Keen's most afternoons on the way home from school and if I close my eyes can still see the floor to ceiling boxes of kits. My "Christmas list" was always comprised entirely of items from the Airfix catalogue, to the point that relatives often asked if I would like anything other than models. The answer was always no! 

 

Keep it up!

 

Ian

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17 hours ago, MR2Don said:

Reading these, one theme seems to be "why are we so anal now?". My thoughts...it's our own fault! Just look at the number of posts on here talking about intricate details, and why do we have them?

I hear you loud and clear there - and believe me, I'm just as guilty of this "adult modeller's affliction" as anyone else here. 

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I think it is important that we try not to scare away new modellers (kids in particular) with our "detail and accuracy" attitudes.

The best thing about this thread is it reveals that my start in the hobby (late 60's) was much the same as most everyone else's. 

Essentially, I went from watching my Dad build the kit for me, to doing it myself and eventually (perhaps as many as 15 to 20 kits later) starting to paint them myself.  

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4 hours ago, Alan P said:

This could be the best thread on the whole site. An hour well spent catching up. 

 

..thanks for posting Alan - it alerted me to this thread which I'd managed to miss up until now!

 

'..model the model '  ..what a great idea/concept/light-bulb moment !

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On 31/03/2019 at 14:57, MR2Don said:

............"why are we so anal now?".................Just look at the number of posts on here talking about intricate details.....................not to mention hours trying to work out what the h*** shades of grey to use.

It does amuse me that so many modellers spend so much on after-market parts and get wound up by colours, when at heart, just about every plastic model is out of scale, simply due to the practicality of moulding something, even at the larger scales. Even a 0.5mm vac-formed canopy at 1/24th scale would still be half an inch thick at fullsize, so spending hundreds on after-market parts to make it more accurate isn't really doing that. 

However, if doing so and spending all the time chopping and changing makes you happy, who am I to argue. It is a hobby, and its about relaxing and enjoying yourself. Sometimes of course, the more effort you put into something, the more you get out of it, but I just think that all too often, modellers are striving for the impossible at the expense of simply enjoying modelling.

A wander through this thread should remind so many of the simple joys of building in our youth. I've bought a few old Airfix and Matchbox kits myself recently, just to enjoy those simpler times and relive my youth - now lost in the fog of overspray and resin dust!!

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Perhaps we should put nostalgic modelling versus the modern clamor for detail into perspective. I called the early days "the age of innocence" which indeed they were, Fokker Triplanes were all Red, Spitfires were Green and Brown and Duck Egg Blue. A fact that now, due to various researchers, we know they were anything but. 

 

Aurora, Airfix Frog, Revell, Merit, Lindberg Monogram, Busch, et al.  " All the right names but not necessarily in the right order", came to the party.

 

Photos in books and magazines were Black and White (Oops Grayscale).  As was television. So unless you were a modeller it never occurred to worry.  Then came  better printing techniques and our world suddenly became technicolour.   The colour three views started to appear in the RAF Flying Review. Now you knew Mustangs had Red fuselages and it was confirmed on the Revell box art.   Aviation had very little historical photographic colour reference to draw on. More questions = more answers.

 

It has also been the same for the technical bits. I loved getting my monthly RAF Flying Review with it's Any Questions pages. Questions such as "My dad took this in Italy what plane is it?).  Air Pictorial was bliss for the growing spotter (Nerd). Flight and Aeroplane just wanted to go to Space, Just too grown up. Aeromodeller thought Plastic kits "a little demeaning to the name modeller", but they did have detailed plans. 

 

Then came Airfix magazine, with modelling authors and others who saw the exciting link between Plastic and Balsa. Profile publications arrived in the 60's and more erudite magazines elbowed in, the search for knowledge was going exponential along with the hobby.  Others such as Gordon Stevens (Rareplanes) Gordon Sutcliffe  (Contrail) and the likes of Joe Chubbock, who taught vacform pattern making, started the Cottage Industries. Dickie Decal (Richard L Ward), gave us options.  I revived white metal.  Harry Woodman and Tim Perry brought us Etch brass. The famous Czech Glass industry also used etch brass inlay techniques so along came Eduard. . Again in the old Communist states some modellers saw the interesting side of the emerging Resin technologies.

 

The Web has changed everything. You can plagiarist anything if you are so inclined. Learn something today and bingo, tomorrow it's you're the new authority on a different website. You can ask a question, in the hope that someone will take the trouble to answer you.

 

Yes we have moved on. But only in so much that the innovators and originators still make b...... all and the entrepreneurs make Billions.

 

John

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There's just something about seeing the old Airfix coloured plastic that makes me smile,I remember the Stormovik in the slightly later boxing.

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Here's another couple of memory jerkers. One for the seniors amongst us, from the late fifties. A box scale FROG DeHavilland Rapide. It looks the part to me, despite being a bit smaller than 1.72. One of a series of FROG box scale kits, all with equally attractive boxes.

The Humbrol paint set dates to around the kit release and would have been a possible way to finish the plane. The paint bulbs are a bit dried up to think about using them now.

 

IMG-7135.jpg

 

Moving a bit more up to date with this reproduction Airfix Store Display Rack,  early to mid seventies, holding a fair selection of the then new blister pack kits. A few paints and slightly later tube of Airfix glue fill the gaps around the display box.

Apologies for the slightly ragged editing on this one, it was done in a bit of a rush.

 

IMG-7141.jpg

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That FROG DH Rapide is lovely Tony but I have never seen those Humbrol paint bulbs before (I started early '60's) - how interesting.

 

Love this thread and always look forward to new content. 

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I built this boxing of the Lancaster kit in the late 1970's - see my black & white picture below.

On 17/03/2018 at 21:45, TonyW said:

 

IMG_3829.jpg

 

I think this dates from around 1977, but can't be 100% sure. I wasn't up to painting canopy frames at that point.

1970lancaster.jpg

 

On Friday, I was up in the loft, looking for some stuff, and came across this Boeing P-12E from my childhood; missing its wheels. Again, I don't recall the year it was built, but it is unpainted. It was my first attempt at using stretched sprue for rigging - now long gone. I recently bought another from Ebay to re-live my childhood.

p12e.jpg

 

Along with the P-12E was this Airfix, "dockyard rivet edition", dH Chipmunk, I think from a blister pack. I suspect I got this around 1983 after an Air Cadet flight in one from RAF Leeming that year.

chipmunk.jpg

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There's a few interesting comments being generated about the subject of detailing a model to more accurate standards. Viva La Difference is my view.

Here's a couple of pictures that give a clue as to how my own take on modelling has developed over time.

 

IMG-7107.jpg

IMG-7108.jpg

 

Back in 1972 I was a mere sixteen years old and had just bought an Airfix Hs129 to add to my collection, much like the one in the picture above. The kit would have been bought either in the Clapham Junction Woolworth or from nearby Russ Models, both long gone. I also picked up a copy of a new magazine, Almarks Modelworld, issue one as well!

Thinking I was about to build my new kit to a higher level, thanks to a detailing article in the magazine, I was a bit deflated to find I would be needing a Lindberg copy of the kit to rob a few parts to make a more accurate model. My income at the time didn't allow for that! This was the beginings of a period of dissatisfaction with modelling due to ever increasing perceived need to get everything just right. I was aware of building inaccurate models prior to this, and would improve where I could. A balance proved very hard to find though and the poor old Hs129 was one of the tipping points.

It took a long time for me to find a build method that worked for me, and I'm now there and enjoying my modelling on my terms. I've given myself a very flexible way to approach the subject. I put myself in the position of being a model shop owner who enjoys his own bit of modelling on the side. This lets me collect kits as well as build them. I don't need my own permission to do this but somehow having a point of reference gives me my own justification for doing what I like.

I now build for my virtual shop displays, using what came in the box using period building materials. I can shift from 1940's original kits, built, boxed, displayed how I like, through to current kits done in exactly the same way or all singing, all dancing detailed builds . When I fancy building to a higher standard, I'm the same shop keeper, just doing a bit of after hours relaxation. I can chop and change to my hearts content. It works for me, although my local IPMS branch sometimes wonder what on earth I was thinking when I put some of my stuff on the table on club night. 😁 There are more smiles than frowns though, so all is right with the world.

 

Thanks for indulging me.

 

Tony.

 

 

 

Edited by TonyW
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On 4/1/2019 at 3:45 PM, Army_Air_Force said:

It is a hobby, and its about relaxing and enjoying yourself...
 

 But is it? My relaxing hobby goes something like this:

 

1.  Get stressed deciding which kit to drag out of the stash.

2.  Feel agitated that I haven't got the right decals, paint colours or canopy masks.

3.  Sense the rising guilt about spending more money on the above.

4.  Worry about the time I'm wasting building it when there are so many more jobs that need doing,

5.  Agonise about adding extra details - who will ever know or care?

6.  Suffer at the hands of the carpet monster and paint spilling demon.

7.  Curse at the endless masking - why can't it just be one colour?

8.  Fret about the gloss varnish not being glossy enough.

9.  Hate the decals for silvering despite the above.

10. Whittle about the weathering.

 

And then, fleetingly, enjoy the satisfaction of knowing you managed to finally finish one - even if everyone else's seems to be better!

 

Edited by IanC
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Aha!

IanC

1 - True

2 - True

3 - True

4 - True

5 - True

6 - Tamiya acrylic, IPA and Amtico flooring, wipes clean easily.

7 - True; and also what exactly is that shade of grey

8 - True

9 - True, sometimes even Microsol doesn't seem to work.

10 - True.

 

And then, after all that, go and get another one!

Such Fun!!

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I just want to chime and say that I've enjoyed reading through this thread, and have felt particularly intrigued by the conversations about what the "nostalgia" of it all actually entails. I only got back into modelling a couple years back, at nearly the age of 30, and began by building 1/72 WWII aircraft for a war game my family plays. I paint my models with the same brushes and thick acrylics I use to do my paint work on canvas and other craft mediums, and build my models right here on the desk in front of my computer screen with just a few little essential tools laying around.

 

Since starting up I've joined the forum. read many a review and critical analysis of this kit versus that kit, etc... Yet somehow I've managed to still collect a pile of rather dated kits which I have enjoyed putting together for the heck of it. I missed the era when many of these moulds were new, but I still appreciate the nostalgia aspect. I also collect, restore, and ride vintage road bicycles, as an example of one of too many crafts I engage in - and those bikes are often more expensive and less practical than buying a new one... 'Tis a similar story to the model kits in some ways!

 

I have no idea when or if I'll buy an airbrush kit and set up a proper little work bench, though reading this thread has honestly made me happy to think that I haven't yet. I'll hold on to what I've got for a while longer, because perhaps what I'm lacking in material is made up for in innocence! Cheers!

 

-Gregory

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  • 1 month later...

The Vintage FROG Models Group Build is up and away on the forum now, with a load of classic kits getting their chance for glory.

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/663-frog-squad-gb/

 

Here's my first completion, the 1959 original issue FROG P47 Thunderbolt. It's in 1.72 scale.

I think it scrubs up well for a sixty year old. 

 

IMG-7597.jpg

IMG-7599.jpg

 

 

And here's a shot of some more of the FROG box scale series. The box scale kits make for a very colourful collection.

 

IMG-7589.jpg

 

There were quite a few kits in that series, from a B52 to a Dragon Rapide, all in the same size box! It was early days for the kit industry and scales were yet to be sorted.  Aurora, Revell, Monogram etc all did box scale kits. Buyer preferences soon led to scales being standardised though.

Edited by TonyW
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13 hours ago, TonyW said:

The Vintage FROG Models Group Build is up and away on the forum now, with a load of classic kits getting their chance for glory.

 

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/663-frog-squad-gb/

 

Here's my first completion, the 1959 original issue FROG P47 Thunderbolt. It's in 1.72 scale.

I think it scrubs up well for a sixty year old.

You don't say!😍

This is a fantastic looking build, and one would never believe it's such an old kit in the first place.

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