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


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Tony,

 

What a fantastic thread (and collection). Like so many others here, I'm lost in nostalgia!

I remember fondly many of the kits made (and lost) from my childhood.

 

Many thanks,

 

Charlie

 

:clap::goodjob:

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The FROG Group build is well under way now and the completed models are starting to appear in the Gallery. Here's a few of my Vintage FROG builds so far...

 

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You might be able to tell that I quite like Group Builds! 

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On ‎6‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 3:25 PM, TonyW said:

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

Wow!

If it were not for the old box, I'd be totally believing it was built from a much more recent kit!

That metal finish looks superb!

:worthy:

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Not sure if it's been mentioned here before. Has anyone else seen the excellent display of models in a 'work' bench' setting at the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum? Dozens of vintage kits displayed, some partly built, as if in a model makers work area. Scary thing to realise I have made so many of them. I must be old!

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A couple more from the FROG Group Build.

 

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Those two are by me. Check out some of the others appearing in the Gallery, there's some stunning builds getting posted now. 

 

 

 

 

Edited by TonyW
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13 minutes ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

Not what I now build, but I can really appreciate your efforts, Tony-- I feel like a young boy dreaming in the hobby shop.

 

Obtaining what we now call a "clean build" with a Frog kit and brushed Humbrol is no mean feat.

 

That Hunter was finished with a car paint rattle can Jackson.  There's a build thread here...

 

 

My modelling does not finish with the built kit, I like to pose a few period bits and bobs alongside the model and in this case a tin of Humbrol paint and a tube of FROG glue got called into shot.

I do find that old Humbrol enamels will still brush out to a very smooth gloss. Their current paints are not a patch on the sixties and seventies tins though.

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Now you've went an spoilt it for me! 😆

 

Brief trip down short term memory lane: I remember hobby shop displays with the models that were so much better'n I could make at the time.  No doubt spray cans, airbrushes, and other sinister instrumentalities were in play, but at the time I could afford a kit and a pot or two of paint and try to get there with my tatty aquarelle brushes-- got close once or twice.

 

I've returned to the fold with airbrushes and newfangled paints, figured they were mandatory.  But of late I've been very pleasantly surprised to see the results others have obtained with the most traditional methods.  And patience/skill/perseverance/bloody mindedness, etc.  And maybe a rattle can here and there.

 

You nostalgia displays make me want to go rummage in the back for an overlooked Jetex motor.

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  • 2 months later...

A couple more builds for the FROG Group Build, both getting on in years. One a real geriatric, the other is faking it a bit. Both fit well in a nostalgia thread.

 

First up, a restored original FROG penguin spitfire...

 

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... the plane has been restored from a complete but twisted original from 1939. It has been refinished using references available at the time, hence the loose interpretation of the colour scheme. I followed the colours on period cigarette cards!

 

There's a build thread here...

 

 

Then we have the imposter. This time it's an eastern block re-issue of the FROG Whittley. A gift from a fellow modeller, thanks Heather.

I've built it as a tribute to solid modelling. As with`the Spitfire, I used period references to assist construction.

The original kit needed so much work to bring it up to current standards, I wimped out and backdated it instead. The kit took a few different directions before this final version appeared but it was a very enjoyable journey.

 

Here's the result...

 

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And the build thread is here...

 

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Time for another thread top up!

 

This FROG Comet has seen a bit of threadspace on the forum recently, both in the FROG Group Build and the Ready for inspection thread, but it deserves a place in any nostalgia based thread, so please forgive the reposting.

 

Here it is, the 1958 issue of FROGs 1.96 scale Comet.

 

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A trip out to the Hamex Kit Swap on Sunday saw me topping up my  60's Revell UK collection. These were just a bit beyond my pocket money back in the day, 2/3d against 2/- for a bagged Airfix kit. I didn't get very many of them but have always had a soft spot for them and the memories they bring back. The Bf109 and its side hinged canopy, the removable engine panel on the Hayate and the sliding canopy on the P47 all seemed to be very advanced to my young eyes.

 

Here's a few memory jogging boxes to be getting on with, I'll add some built models once I manage to find the things.

 

My local model shop, Particks of Fulham, used to have an awe inspiring display of many of the Revell range that I spent hours gawping at as a kid. It's taken a while, but I'm finally getting some of the kits I wanted back then.

 

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The big box kits were but a dream to me when they came out. The Airfix big kits were quite a bit cheaper and even at birthday or Christmas time my parents went for something like an Airfix B17 and a P47 for the same money as one Revell kit. I didn't argue about that at all!

Nowadays I'm more than happy to pick up a kit or two as they turn up.

 

Tony.

 

 

Edited by TonyW
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.Here's the Revell Albatros, a nice looking kit and a fair bit more refined than the Airfix offering of the time. That extra couple of pence made all the difference though. Inside the box was a flyer for a Revell promotional booklet by Bruce Robertson. Sending off your box endpieces and sixpence got you the booklet shown. Inside that were pictures taken from the relevant boxtops along with a decent bit of information. The 2/11d shown dates the promotion to a bit later than the mid sixties I remember.

 

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Love seeing this stuff Tony. 😊

 

I remember Airfix being 2/- and  at the same time Revell being 2/11?

 

I recall buying the Revell Me 109, Kawasaki Hien and Tempest during that period from Norwood junction models.

 

I really wanted the Aurora Famous monsters of Filmland  models but they were eight bob!!

 

(I did get them later though.)

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30 minutes ago, Neil.C said:

Love seeing this stuff Tony. 😊

 

I remember Airfix being 2/- and  at the same time Revell being 2/11?

 

 

It's quite possible that memory is playing tricks with me here. I thought Revell kits were just a bit more than Airfix, I could well be wrong. Possible the Revell 2/11d might have been when Airfix went up a bit, to 2/3d I think. It's all a long time ago now. Looking at Revell kits in the window of Patricks or in the Earls Court WH Smiths are still fresh enough memories though.

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These bring memories flooding back.  I used to buy Airfix series 1 for 2/6 in the plastic bags and very occasionally an exotic Revell kit from a trip into town.  
I had my eye on the galleon The Revenge but at 19/- it was just a dream.  
Btw guess what I got given last month still with the price of 19/- on it?  

Edited by Bear Paw
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22 hours ago, Neil.C said:

Love seeing this stuff Tony. 😊

 

I remember Airfix being 2/- and  at the same time Revell being 2/11?

 

I recall buying the Revell Me 109, Kawasaki Hien and Tempest during that period from Norwood junction models.

 

I really wanted the Aurora Famous monsters of Filmland  models but they were eight bob!!

 

(I did get them later though.)

I'm surprised to hear of Norwood Junction Models for the first time here, long after they closed.  In all the years I lived in Croydon I was never aware of them.  I remember Modeltime on St George's Walk.  I  also recall there being model shops on the upper level of the Whitgift Centre and on Whitehorse Lane up to around the mid '80s.

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I have to admit that the art of Roy Cross and Roy Huxley attracted me to purchasing many Airfix and Matchbox kits, but who was the incredible artist for Revelll during this same time period? His Albatros D.III art, with the Zeppelin, was particularly impressive.

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58 minutes ago, Hobo said:

I have to admit that the art of Roy Cross and Roy Huxley attracted me to purchasing many Airfix and Matchbox kits

Same with me, though more the Airfix. Box art is still very important to me today.

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1 hour ago, Hobo said:

I have to admit that the art of Roy Cross and Roy Huxley attracted me to purchasing many Airfix and Matchbox kits, but who was the incredible artist for Revelll during this same time period? His Albatros D.III art, with the Zeppelin, was particularly impressive.

 

That's Brian Knight. He was the UK Revell artist. He also did a few boxes for Airfix, mainly the soldiers. 

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