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

[TonyW]

My name is Lightpainter, and I am a kitaholic...

[bigbadbadge]

Some lovely builds Tony, love the Connie and the Stirling particularly.

Great work and what an amazing collection. 

Chris

[2lefthands]

It's a shame that the small stores are closing down, but it's also understandable.

The online "world" has left deep marks in our consumer behavior.

 

The box art of yesteryear is unbeatable.

Wonderful collection and models!

[Wulfman]

On 16/04/2021 at 12:21, roginoz said:

Beautiful, the pair of them !

 

I remember Connies wearing both those liveries in my spotting days when the Queens Building observation deck was open......a lonnnnng time ago  :o{

 

Classic builds !

Rog

I pre-date the Queens Building deck, those were the days !

Wulfman

[wallyinoz]

On 4/16/2021 at 11:19 AM, kapam said:

Thanks for the extra pics, I think she's a real beauty!

I had the same kit and eventually decided to go with an aftermarket decal scheme and worked the engines into a more accurate config for the plane in question.

oh thats yummy!

[wallyinoz]

My Heller Connies

 

[kapam]

12 hours ago, wallyinoz said:

oh thats yummy!

Hey @wallyinoz, thanks for that.  Much appreciated.

It was a lot of work, let me tell you!

[Charles H]

Thank you, TonyW, for this fantastic thread, which I've read in its spectacular entirety today. I'm 61, just returned to the hobby after over 25 years "away." There's models here which make Michelangelo look like a beginner!

 

My dad built lots of models for me when I was a kid, and then I started making my own, but of course my pre-teenage efforts were impatient and sloppy. Made some more in my mid-20s of better standard, but nothing like the masterpieces shown here, NOT that it is a competition! That 1:72 Airfix B17G kit was probably the first model I made most of myself, but I threw out the damaged "remains" a few years ago... I'd love to find another kit to buy! Those days, I knew of nothing but Airfix kits and Humbrol enamel paint. I lived in a small town called Berri growing up, and there was one small but well-stocked shop which sold bikes and models, fishing gear etc.

 

I soon hope to restore some models my dad made back in the 50s, of planes he flew in the Fleet Air Arm, when I've finished my current build, which is only the second one since resuming modeling last year. Just have to wait until my currently agonising back pain is fixed up, whenever that is...

[TonyW]

Thanks Charles,

My modelling history pretty much follows yours, perhaps a few years before though as I've just hit 65. I can still remember receiving and building kits in the sixties just as well as those from a year or two ago. A hobby that my Mum thought I would grow out of has been a big part of my entire life. My Dad expected nothing less, he got me started in the first place.

 

We live in rather odd times at the moment and a bit of kit fuelled escapism really helps keep my head in order. Retreating into a bit of a modelling bubble takes the pressure right off for me.

 

I'll add more to the thread as the opportunity strikes.

 

Tony.

[Charles H]

It would be remiss of me not to send thanks and admiration for the Connie models - superb!

[Agent K]

On 9/13/2021 at 3:43 PM, wallyinoz said:

My Heller Connies.......

 

 

My word @wallyinoz what absolute beauties!

[TonyW]

The thread top ups seem to get further and further apart, Apologies for that, I'll have a word with myself about it.

 

Todays instalment see's an Airfix B26 Invader take centre stage. Not one of my builds, one of a recent collection I lucked into.

 

A very big part of my collecting and building revolves around the history of modelling. I'm a sucker for period builds done to the best of a modellers ability at the time. I've bought more than a few collections over the years to feed that interest,  Not every model made would win at next years IPMS event, but the builder would be so proud of the latest model completed. To record that kind of enthusiasm is what drives me to try to preserve some of these builds.

 

Enough waffle, check out the B26 instead. 

A very nicely applied bright silver finish. Possibly airbrushed, maybe a very good brush painted effort.

The canopy is not framed and a couple of decals are a bit wonky. I could correct these slight flaws but they are part of the builds history. I'll be leaving them alone.

The model itself shows typical 1960's Airfix rivets everywhere. Part of me wants to sand them off and make the model more authentic but that won't happen to this build. I could always build another kit in current fashion but I could never replace this one.

 

Here's baby...

 

 

The boxed kit alongside comes from another end of my collection and contains an unbuilt kit , tagged with an old Woolworths price tag. 65p no less. This kind of thing can get me almost welling up. I need therapy!

[Bear Paw]

Hello Tony, I have just popped back to this thread to get my hit of nostalgia and am pleased to see an original B26 Invader. 
That is the boxing I made back in time. Brush painted with humbrol silver of course. As I remember a difficult thing to do with the treacle like paint and a small stiff brush.   
I have recently bought a bagged series 1 Fiesler Storch for £6 and am making it as nostalgia build. I probably built it about 1969/1970 aged 11 or 12 priced 2/6d. 
The old me is finding the kit a surprisingly tricky little thing to build and I take my hat off to my younger self for doing it!  
So far I have had to clamp to warped fuselage halves together, sand out a massive step in the fuselage join, and replace the wing struts that were bent like bananas and were too brittle to react to hot water bending.  
The undercarriage legs and their supports have vague location points and attach directly on to the clear 3 part cockpit that has to support the not too insubstantial wings.  
I don't remember being phased by any of these problems before? 
I have paint on it now (airbrushed not brushed) but of course the 54 year old decals and shattered when dipped in water. I have sourced some more so it won't be in the original Airfix scheme but I will post it up here when complete. 
Regards, Andrew
 

[TonyW]

That all sounds so very familiar Andrew.

I'm currently giving myself sleepless nights trying to build an Airfix RE8 Biplane. I would have the thing built in one sitting as a kid. Glue everywhere and probably hopelessly out of alignment, but done.

This time around the wing struts are putting up a bit of a fight. The Bristol Fighter next in line looks even more daunting.

 

Regarding old Airfix decals, or transfers if you like, I always clear coat them these days as time hasn't been too kind to the things. The clear usually works although a ton of care is still needed to get them to work.

 

Tony.

[Bear Paw]

6 minutes ago, TonyW said:

That all sounds so very familiar Andrew.

I'm currently giving myself sleepless nights trying to build an Airfix RE8 Biplane. I would have the thing built in one sitting as a kid. Glue everywhere and probably hopelessly out of alignment, but done.

This time around the wing struts are putting up a bit of a fight. The Bristol Fighter next in line looks even more daunting.

 

Regarding old Airfix decals, or transfers if you like, I always clear coat them these days as time hasn't been too kind to the things. The clear usually works although a ton of care is still needed to get them to work.

 

Tony.

Ha! I made the DH4 a while back on this thread and yes fiddly is not the word!   
I went straight to water with the old decals so I won't be doing that again.  
I will post my Storch up this weekend after I have applied the decals.  
Andrew. 

[Uncle Pete]

On 10/22/2017 at 12:07 PM, TonyW said:

Desperate attempts at keeping it clean and tidy failed badly

A tidy workbench is the sign of a sick mind!

[Maginot]

Very nice concept and great project. The shop front looks fabulous.

[Army_Air_Force]

This is how my Airfix invader ended up...

 

[TonyW]

I've made my own bed all week now, and I took a cup of tea in for Mum and Dad last night. I hope they have forgotten about next doors window and that tiny bit of paint on the dining room table...

 

Please let it be a B17, just a B17, only a B17. I'll try to be better behaved next year honest I will. Just a B17. And a tin of silver paint....

 

 

Happy Christmas everyone.

 

Tony.

[Johnson]

Your post certainly brings back memories for me. Christmas 1965 (about), I got the big one in your super photo, the Airfix B 29!

 

Happy Christmas Tony and all. Hope you get the kits you've asked for.

 

Cheers!

[Neil.C]

Lovely montage Tony and indicative of how many of us would have felt around that time.

 

Happy Christmas to you and all.

[Yorkshire man]

Yes certainly brings back the memory of getting the Airfix pontoon bridge gift set and setting up battles on the living room floor,even if some of the tanks were not of the correct period.

 

[Army_Air_Force]

I had the pontoon set at one point and also got the B-29 one Christmas. Another year, I got the 1/24 scale Stuka.

 

[stevej60]

I remember Airfix's Stirling and Invader as a pair one Christmas the B-29 was on my wish list for year's finally got one about two years ago

from  a fellow member,it;sstill boxed as I know I'll mess up the silver finish so I've searched for ages for a set of decals to do an early OD scheme.

[stevej60]

Tony I love your presentation of photo's I'even copied the style a few times!