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A kit you built as a kid GB Chat


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6 minutes ago, TonyW said:

55 I think. I've just added a Halifax. 😁

there's no stopping you Tony, keep it up 😉

1 hour ago, Ventora3300 said:

It's Day 3 of this GB and I see there are 54 Build Threads already! @DanskIt's going to be a 'Biggie'.....! (Not that I go mad about build stats or anything!)

It seems quite popular so far doesn't it. Let's see how it goes. Some builds are very fast almost blitz builds. 

15 hours ago, stevej60 said:

Hi Folk's as promised Airfix's old bill bus built a year or two ago.

20200427_194431

 

that is fanastic!

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In recent GBs I've revisited the first Matchbox and FROG kits I ever built. The Matchbox Zero:

 

mboxzero_zpsjpcewgov.jpg

 

Zero7_zpsiwh2kihp.jpg

 

Zero2_zpsqjhvlmlt.jpg

 

Zero26_zpsqnc2puld.jpg

 

And the FROG Macchi 202:

 

48170806177_a882785b5c_b.jpgMachi1 by John Walker, on Flickr

 

48931055718_a9bc7c3e12_b.jpgMachi14 by John Walker, on Flickr

 

...except the Macchi was in a bag.

 

Just about everything I built when I was a kid was either 1/72, 1/76 or 1/600. Then came a revelation and I got a 1/48th scale Monogram Wildcat - both the first 1/48th scale kit I'd ever seen and my first Monogram kit. White box boxing, probably this one:

 

https://www.scalemates.com/kits/monogram-6798-wildcat-f4f--1243732

 

The Wildcat went on to a glorious flying career before going out spectacularly in a shower of bits.  Since I already know I'm going to over-commit to this GB, maybe I should keep an eye out for one 🥺

 

John 

 

 

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1 hour ago, John said:

Then came a revelation and I got a 1/48th scale Monogram Wildcat - both the first 1/48th scale kit I'd ever seen and my first Monogram kit. White box boxing,

I remember my first encounter with Monogram 48th,  they seemed exotic,  that and the Hurricane and and Fw190 came with a mass of different variant options and decals. Summer 77.   I was hooked,  but there was not a huge amount of 1/48th out there then...

My first Monogram Hurricane does survive, mostly intact. But in which box :banghead:

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3 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

I remember my first encounter with Monogram 48th,  they seemed exotic,  that and the Hurricane and and Fw190 came with a mass of different variant options and decals. Summer 77.   I was hooked,  but there was not a huge amount of 1/48th out there then...

My first Monogram Hurricane does survive, mostly intact. But in which box :banghead:

Sounds like you need to build another one Troy, and here would be the perfect place and escuse.

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The Monogram Hurricane was my first ever 1.48 build back when the kit first came out. As a kid, I was completely blown away by the quality of the kit. I think it still builds well today and I built another for the Hawker GB a couple of years ago. I enjoyed every minute of it!

 

I would love to see more Monogram kits make an appearance here, go for it!

 

IMG-3938.jpg

Edited by TonyW
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8 hours ago, John said:

Then came a revelation and I got a 1/48th scale Monogram Wildcat - both the first 1/48th scale kit I'd ever seen and my first Monogram kit. White box boxing, probably this one:

 

 

5 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

I remember my first encounter with Monogram 48th,  they seemed exotic,  that and the Hurricane and and Fw190 came with a mass of different variant options and decals. Summer 77.   I was hooked,  but there was not a huge amount of 1/48th out there then...

My first Monogram Hurricane does survive, mostly intact.

 

2 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Sounds like you need to build another one Troy, and here would be the perfect place and escuse.

erm, no.  twice was enough.  Actually, I did get another,  and did start it, with the intention of upgrading it....  as an aside, the wing sweep is wrong, but, as I recently found out, the initial prototype has less sweep.... so maybe of use for that.   Except I cut one of the wings off to fix this.   

Don't worry, I have some candidates lined up though.   But If anyone does have a Monogram Hurricane spare they want to donate, I won't say no.

 

But, as this has been mentioned,  and @John has similar tale,   I have very few photos of old models, but these crops are from I think summer 78,  the full picture has me in terrible clothes and haircut, which I'm not sure I should inflict on you, or me for that matter.....

anyway, snapped in my old mans backyard,   he didn't approve of kits really, or my obsession with them,   but for some reason I had taken them over with me, and this photo is the result.  I was given a print a copy about 15 years ago.

 

Anyway, these were the Monogram kits I had by that point.  

 

49830658836_89736921ab_b.jpgKits 78 crop 1 by losethekibble, on Flickr

P-47 D

Purchased along with the Typhoon from the Toy and Model market in Brighton,  I was something like 10p short of both kits, and they let me off! (I was asking if I could leave a deposit for one though) 

Kit decals, which were those dreadful dot screen one Monogram used at one point. 

Current status.  In bits,  I think I took one wing upper to use to replace a missing bit in a Tamiya kit.

 

P-51B - Hmm. not sure.  Possibly bought in Cambridge when visiting some of my old man's relatives.

Kit decals.

Current status.  dissembled in an Airfix Spitfire Vb box.

Upper on both look like Airfix M17 dark Green, see below.

 

Hurricane. 

One of the first 48th kits purchased in summer 77, at Bratt and Dykes in Hanley, Stoke on Trent.   

On holiday, visiting relatives.  I know this trip also yielded the fw 190, and maybe the P-40? 

'converted' to a Mk.I,  Hand painted codes and serial as VY-Q, P3854, as I did with all Hurricanes, as I was obsessed with the 1/24th kit option.

Current status, In box 4 feet away,  broken off tailplanes and prop blades,  and missing UC legs, tailwheel and canopy....

Painted in Airfix M5 Dark Earth, M17 dark Green (way too dark ) and M8 Sky,  as I have just been examining the old beast.

 

Hurricane IIa,  (which is what the Monogram kit is, despite having parts for the IIC, IId and IV) 

Hand painted codes, as KW-M of 615 Sq.  From a profile in Hurricane- History and how to model them PSL book. 

Current status. Mostly missing.  I know the lower wing is about as I was using it to test out decal application on. 

 

49830961962_8d15c9f0be_b.jpgKits 78 crop 2 by losethekibble, on Flickr

 

Hawker Typhoon. see P-47

Kit decals, which were those dreadful dot screen one Monogram used at one point. 

Fate - was stripped of paint, disassembled,   I did start trying to use the fuselage to improve the ghastly AMT Tempest.

Current status.  stripped of paint and in box of Typhoon bits. 

 

Spitfire IX Purchased at Beatties in Holborn (as possibly was the P-51 thinking about it)  Codes are hand painted, and are the option that was in the matchbox IX kit.  No idea why these appealed over the kit option.

Fate -   Later had fuselage cut down to make a low back,  as was a common conversion at the time model guides, and the had the cu bits stuck back on. 

Current status. - Now dissembled in a box with two Airfix Spitfire Vb's, one a shelf of doom Seafire IIc conversion.

 

P-40 B. Kit decals, thought this was great.

Ironically, and by chance the use of M17 is closer the real colour actually applied to AVG P-40's.... discussed in a recent thread here.

Current status.  Disassembled in a box with the P-51B

 

Fw190 A

Stoke 77, was really impressed with the kit.

Fate,  got repainted in the correct greys later, was broken down, and started trying to use fusleage to 'improve' the underscale Fujimi Fw190D, I knoiw I added the fuselage extension.

Current status.  disassembled in a box.

 

Bf109 E - Another Beatties purchase IIRC( I suspect a birthday outing or xmas time visit) 

hand painted as Yellow 10 of JG 26, as you guessed it, this was the option in the 1/24th Airfix kit....

Fate - wings and nose were cut off and transplanted onto a Airfix bf 109F, in an attempt to make a accurate/better E than the Monogram kit,  as this, the Hurricane and Spitfire were all from the working features era with retractable undercarriages.

Current status

Wings and nose in box with other 109 bits... fuselage recently rediscovered in box of broken crud in shed,  now on kitchen window shelves.  I had tried making it a derelict, and has has the radio hatch cut out, but the paint work in pretty much intact. 

 

I think this maybe worth reposting in another thread.....

 

 

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Like Troy I always thought Monogram kits were a bit exotic. Nevertheless, despite being a bit puzzled at the time by this intermediate scale I did get a few most memorably the P-40B which I loved because of the sharkmouth. 

 

I have a few in the stash including the Tomahawk and the Me 262, which is still a favourite. 

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33 minutes ago, GREG DESTEC said:

including the Tomahawk

apparently not great shapewise according to the P-40 nuts, but I remember it a great kit, the flaps went up and down! 

I got another before the Airfix kit came out,  so I'll have to compare. 

As an aside, when I first took my daughter along with me to Hendon, age 3 and half,  the very first plane we saw  as we waked in was a P-40 with a sharkmouth, which scared her a bit,   bear in mid she never seen a real aeroplane close up so seeing the blinking great thing with big teeth could be quite intimidating.....

Quote

and the Me 262, which is still a favourite. 

Still a contender,  one chap on here @ABeck  in round up of 1/48th Me262 kits rated it as the best shapewise of the lot.  I do know this was done when the NASM restored their example,  and was also an era when Monogram were really good at getting shapes right (I think this was when Bill Koster worked for them) 

Even the raised panel lines re not that bad as 262 had the puttied and rubbed down...

 

PS EDIT - and the detail in the cockpit, UC legs etc is still pretty good.  I do remember it can needs care aligning parts, and the nose hatch is not a great fit.  this was before I had learned how care in dry fitting and adjusting before assembly could make for a much easier and neater build... 

 

but then Britmodeller wasn't there for us then....

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My son sent me this photo earlier today - lockdown build:

 

Grant

 

It's the Airfix Grant. He says it's the worst fitting Airfix kit he's ever seen, so he's done not bad 🙂

 

I've only ever built one, and that came in the Airfix El Alamein battlefront set with the 25-pdr and 8th Army on a vacform base. It had 4 little vials of paint and maybe a tube of glue. Wonderful! I think I got it while i was still at Primary School, so before June 1973:

 

https://www.vintage-airfix.com/airfix/ho-oo-battlefront-diorama-sets/el-alamein-allied-attack-forces-p-770.html

 

I liked the Grant and the 25-pdr as they were moulded in sand and the standard bagged ones were green 😀

 

John

 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, GREG DESTEC said:

including the Tomahawk

apparently not great shapewise according to the P-40 nuts, but I remember it a great kit, the flaps went up and down! 

I got another before the Airfix kit came out,  so I'll have to compare. 

As an aside, when I first took my daughter along with me to Hendon, age 3 and half,  the very first plane we saw  as we waked in was a P-40 with a sharkmouth, which scared her a bit,   bear in mid she never seen a real aeroplane close up so seeing the blinking great thing with big teeth could be quite intimidating.....

3 minutes ago, GREG DESTEC said:

and the Me 262, which is still a favourite. 

Still a contender,  one chap on here @ABeck  in round up of 1/48th Me262 kits rated it as the best shapewise of the lot.  I do know this was done when the NASM restored their example,  and was also an era when Monogram were really good at getting shapes right (I think this was when Bill Koster worked for them) 

Even the raised panel lines re not that bad as 262 had the puttied and rubbed down...

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More memories..........back around 71 as I was still in the toy soldier faze not for me the German's v British etc it was the Vietnam war played out on

a table in my  bedroom,I had a 3x3 base painted gloss green and blue for the river Airfix US marines were their modern counterparts and Japanese infantry

played the NVA,I bought a bag of that horrible rubbery lichen used by railway modellers and as there were models hung from the ceiling an extra long

loop of thread just above the board for my Airfix Vertol then on a trip into Newcastle and the treat of the model shop I stood in awe of a Huey on the

not often visited shelf of Hasegawa kits and despite it been way over priced(to me) it came home and was soon deployed in theatre.I wonder if I should track

one down? I remember also a school friend we used to visit who's Mum surprised myself and another of our friends with an Airfix A26 invader each one

Christmas which was great considering his Dad wasn't around and money must have been tight.

Edited by stevej60
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6 hours ago, stevej60 said:

I wonder if I should track

one down?

I would imagine you already have by now :) .

A Huey is always welcome Steve, an all time classic.

Talking of Vietnam era classics I remember trying to turn Airfix's A-26 Invader into an B-26K, at the time I thought it looked pretty good though no doubt now it would make me grimace.

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Completely off topic, but all this talk of bygone days has triggered an odd memory. Can anybody remember an early TV sitcom - almost certainly BBC, set in a French village with a large cast iron communal "Pissoir"in the square which was, as in "Allo Allo" the centrepice of many of the jokes. In fact in some ways it was similar to "Allo Allo" but without the war. It probably aired in the early 1960's.

 

Not important but one of those things that popped into my mind and is bugging me, sad individual that I am.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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1 hour ago, PeterB said:

Completely off topic, but all this talk of bygone days has triggered an odd memory. Can anybody remember an early TV sitcom - almost certainly BBC, set in a French village with a large cast iron communal "Pissoir"in the square..

Clochemerle, if memory serves

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Thanks guys - that was it.

 

 Wiki says later than I thought in 1972, just been before we joined the "Common Market" and nowadays it would no doubt be considered somewhat politically incorrect in the way it gently mocked the French attitude as I recall! Mind  you so did "Allo Allo" but that also took the p*ss out of the Brits and the French apparently liked it. Anyway it seems it was based on the writing of a Frenchman and set between the wars, at least in the book, so I guess they could not complain.

 

I can concentrate on modelling again now.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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I've been re-visiting my passion for these Airfix oldies which I built during my US navy phase in the seventies,built these since last September,still to

do the Vigilante,Skyray and Sea King.

20200409_121203

And hands up who's built this one!

20200418_161719

 

Edited by stevej60
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Yup, got me on the Spitfire Vb as well - the first kit I ever finished 'properly'.

 

No complaints with the type 3 Superfortress either!

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