He who would Valiant be (Or Not)

[wannsee]

Sitting here in my modelling den in Southern Poland, I was thinking what our hobby was like 50 plus years ago (yes I can remember) and my thoughts turned to a Frog 1/96 Valiant I have in my collection. It is as built by a boy in the late 50’s or early 60’s.

 

It has literally been thrown together, huge gaps, flash everywhere And the paint job is well I will let you decide! Even the decals, or transfers as we called them then are just thrown on and the stand decal is under the fuselage !

 

During that time before computers, play stations and mobile phones Plastic model kits were the in thing and a lot of pocket money was spent on them. I suspect a huge amount of them ended up like the Valiant I have.

 

Now my question is : Should I leave the Valiant as is as a part of our hobbies history or restore it to a better condition? After all it is 60 years old ! My personal preference is to put it on to it’s original stand and leave it as part of social history.

 

Your thoughts on this would be very welcome, I also have a Airfix BT-K in the same condition but he will be restored !

 

Martin

[Vesa Jussila]

Leave it as it is. Memory from past times.

[wannsee]

1 minute ago, Vesa Jussila said:

Leave it as it is. Memory from past times.

Thanks for that, lets see what other people say !

[canberra kid]

10 minutes ago, Vesa Jussila said:

Leave it as it is. Memory from past times.

 

8 minutes ago, wannsee said:

Thanks for that, lets see what other people say !

I agree with Vesa, if you had another one then you could do a 'proper' build, but it has more historic and sentimental value as it is

 

John

[JohnT]

I agree. Leave as is just so it brings back memories. Maybe try and get a new Airfix one to do as state of the current art to show just how things have changed perhaps?

 

Disclaimer - the above is advice from a silly old sentimental codger 

[JPuente54]

This looks just as bad as my old kits built when I was 13 years old. I wouldn't change anything other than cleaning the dust and dirt(gently, please) off the old model. Otherwise,@John T, @canberra kid, @Vesa Jussila, and the others advise; use it to bring back great memories. @John T's idea get a new Valiant from Airfix is a very good one.

[SAT69]

The old kits from our youth reflect the times and also our modeling "skills" such as they were. They serve as a reference point, showing how far model kits and our skills have come. I have a Monogram P-39 that I built when I finally, after 20 years away from the hobby, got back to model building and does it ever show; rough build to be sure. It's in my collection still, first to remind me that model building, even rough, still appeals and, second, to let me see how my skills have improved since that model was built. Building that kit was literally like starting over so being able to see that I've made progress helps. 

[Martian]

Re-build it says I That kit is so rare that it deserves a little TLC.

 

Martian 👽

[klubman01]

I'm impressed that a) it still exists and b) the undercarriage is still attached.

Give a gentle clean, and put it away for future reference/memories.

[bryanm]

The child who built it would have been very proud of his work and that he had painted it!  Perhaps leave this one as is and look for another to restore?

[John R]

Leave it as it is. It is an historical artifact and an example of its time. It would take an enormous amount of work only to produce an inferior example of a Valiant. I wish I had kept some examples of my earliest kits which were built to the same standard as that one and which I was very proud of at the time.

John

[wannsee]

1 hour ago, John R said:

Leave it as it is. It is an historical artifact and an example of its time. It would take an enormous amount of work only to produce an inferior example of a Valiant. I wish I had kept some examples of my earliest kits which were built to the same standard as that one and which I was very proud of at the time.

John

I am leaning towards, leaving it as is. Maybe just a quick wash and then mount it on its stand as a bit of social history. I will of course post photos. I also have a Airfix BT-K spitfire in a much worse state and it will need model strip then a re-build. I also have 2 halves of a Frog Vulcan which again would need a full restoration, including glazing which sadly is missing. Any thoughts anybody? Maybe I will have a "Home for retired Models" 😀

[wannsee]

Gentlemen,

 

Here is my very sad looking Vulcan and stable mate of the Valiant. Again it is a piece of modelling history, and a very rare kit. The mould to the best of my knowledge has been destroyed although I investigated it some time ago and I did get a clue it ended up in the Soviet Union from a Russian newspaper article. Various theories abound including the moulds being lost at sea, scrapped in New Zealand or Calais. The V Bombers, Rotodyne and most of the 1/96 scale models are missing. 

I have covered this on my web site frogmodelaircraft.co.uk which you may be familiar with. Of course if anybody else has any information I would be very pleased to receive it. I will cover it in more detail in my book Merton to Moscow that I am currently writing.

 

Back to the model, as you can see it has not had a good life, The cockpit glazing is missing, the wheel wells have be filled with what looks like polyfiller and both the nose and tail are damaged. My plan of action is to try and refill the wheel wells and re-scribe them. The nose and tail should be relatively easy to deal with using milliput. The glazing is a different matter and I would welcome any advice on that one. Trying to keep it original as possible I propose to spray it overall white and then mount it on a spare stand I have.

 

So over to you…….