A lifelong Ambition

[Guest]

OK I'm going to tell you a story. I've had a pretty hectic day so I thought I would relax and share with you something that I find particularly interesting and you may get something out of it as well.

In my tender teenage years I managed to double my paper round money by getting a Saturday job in my local cycles, toy and model shop which happened to be Howarth's of Sale Moor. I loved that job as I could get to play with the pushbikes as they arrived and needed preparing for delivery as well as testing all the new toys at lunchtime and getting my hands on the latest models as they arrived in the shop. To get all this all day Saturday and double my income was beyond dreams and I enjoyed every minute. The other staff were also great and the shop was an absolute warren of interesting places where bikes were stored in the cellers and sold on the ground floor and toys and models were sold on the first floor. Model and toy stocks were kept in the attic.

One day I was having a browse at the series one bagged Airfix kits and I noticed a realy strange aircraft. It was like nothing I had seen before or even heard of and I had to go and ask the boss Michael Howarth. What on earth it was. I couldn't even see how it was supposed to fly! He told me it was the latest experimental vertical take off aircraft and he explained how it was supposed to operate. That was my first ever sight of the P.1127 Kestrel, which was, of course, to become the Harrier.

I thought to myself I have to make one of those and find out a bit more about it. Anyway the strange thing is that I never did, possibly as I always knew it was there so there was never a hurry to buy one. Then, of course the bagged kits were discontinued and the boxed offerrings came and went and so the newer boxed ones lost that original magic for some reason or other. Then as the years rolled on my interests varied but I always remember that time when I first saw the Kestrel.

Anyway roll on about thirty years and I was having a browse through an Airfix sellers web site and I noticed a Kestrel in a bag but it had been reserved for another buyer. I exchanged a few e-mails and eventually the other buyer purchased the kit so I felt a bit dissapointed but my interest was back as I realised that these kits still existed.

The next point of interest was when I purchased the new hardback Airfix book, which I found absolutely fascinating and amazed to realise just how many of them i had made through my younger years. I then noticed one of the appendices listed the all time rarest and most expensive kits and I was dismayed to see that the Kestrel was in the list as an expected price in 1999 was 100.00 pounds!!!

So that was quite firmly written off as a possibility and my memory of the kit would satisfy and urges in that direction from now on.

A couple of weeks ago I was having my usual browse through Ebay and, lo and behold, there is a bagged Kestrel, bright as day and sat there for 20.00 pounds. Not much chance of it staying at that thinks me but I am going to keep an eye on it anyway. So the auction progresses and approaches the end and no-one else has placed a bid. This is exactly the same time that Nigel tells us all he is bidding for his Sea Fury and to leave it alone. Nigel, you crack me up, a herd of wildebeasts couldn't have dragged it out of me that I was interested in the Kestrel.

So as the auction approaches the end the age old dilema rears its head. Do I place a bid and generate interest or do I go for the last few seconds and hope that I don't miss the end or it gets withdrawn by the seller when he thinks there is no interest.

So I do what I advocate and put on a substantial bid, about 40.00 pounds is what I decide i am preparred to pay and then I ignore Ebay until it has finished. I won it, and not onkly won it but I won it for 20.00!!!! Absolutley over the moon with it, but I still haven't declared my interest to anyone until it was safely tucked away in my pile of goodies at home.

Then the question is do I make it or not? It is probably over thirty years old and worth a lot more than I paid for it. Built it would be worthless but it is not the value that holds me back it is the fact that the kit has remained unopened for all that time it would be such a shame to open it now.

So the final chapter of the story is this. I also found on Ebay a guy selling the instructions from a number of old bagged Airfix kits, and amongst them is a Kestrel. I am going to put the bagged model in a box frame and next to it I am going to put the opened up instructions from the other one. In front of this frame I am going to put another made up boxed example of the Kestrel that I also purchased for about 2.50 a few days ago.

You have no idea how much enjoyment I am going to get out of doing that, especially as when I last drove past Howarths during only my last leave I noticed that it is now a betting shop. I still feel very sad when I think of it!

[Guest]

what a great story Richard!

i think deep down you would love to make that model, but what you have decided to do with it will make a lovely display model and as this is the only state you ever saw the model (in its bag hanging on a rack) presenting it in this way will keep this wonderful memory alive!

thanks for sharing that with us Richard.

[John]

personally price wouldn't come it to it, if it's something you want to do then go for it, looking forward to seeing the finished model

[Guest]

Great story Bunker,

Descisions, descisions.:thinking:

Now I am not gonna try to tell you what to do, but..........(here it comes lol),if it were me I would probably hold onto it in the bag, as is, get a set of instructions to go with it and put it away in a safe place. If I had the airfix book noting the price in 1999, I would put the book with the model.

Someday, it will be worth alot more than the £100 that was quoted in 1999. The book will also be worth something in the future too, especially if it is part of any deal I might would make in the future with the model and instructions.

I would even go so far as to wait a few years and then contact airfix and have them give you an estimate of value...for that matter, that can be done now. Sometimes companies will purchase back merchandise that is in "mint" condition at a much higher price or other considerations, just to have a copy of the merchandise themselves.

Another idea would be to take it to model shows or international scale modelers conventions and see what I were offered for it.

And last but not least, and I know I have been of absolutely no help with your dilema, I could build the model and put it in a "place of honor" in my home.

Now that is all of what I might do if it were mine.

It all boils down to you doing what you want to do. Dont let anyone tell you what to do with that piece of your childhood......its probably the only tangible piece you have currently that you remember so vividly.

have a good day and congratulations,

greg

[Guest]

Thanks Greg, as John says the sentimental value is far more to me than the monetary value.

I will enjoy making the much newer, but exactly the same kit, to display along side the unopened bagged one. My intention is not to make any modifications whatsoever, just simply make it as per the instructions from the box.

It is a lot of years since I made a 1/72nd Airfix aircraft and I used to make one a week in the days of the bagged kits. In those days my pocket money would buy me one kit per week and every few weeks I would have to buy some more materials.

I remember when the cost went from 2/6 to 2/7 and my pocket money at the time was 2/6. The first week I was devastated but my Dad bought me a model anyway. That was a bagged Typhoon which I considered as quite a modern aircraft at the time.

[Guest]

Thats a great story Richard. I have a fireball xl5 which i will make and put it on its launch rail though its value as a collectors piece is humongous I too look at it as a childhood dream and the enjoyment il get from making it far outways any percieved monetary value

[Guest]

Baggies.......

O.K., now you did it! I just went and checked my stash of plastic kits in the garage and came up with two Airfix baggie kits - a Hurricane with a price of $.39 and a Defiant with a price of $.89 [American] ! I have sitting on a shelf in this room, the first two Airfix kits I built - ME-262 and a Spitfire, both made around 1954. I grew up in Salem, Massachusetts and we had this small, one person hobby shop that became my home away from home. He was the only place that I could get to [by bicycle] that had Airfix kits and between myself and a close friend, we kept his stock very active. Bunkerbarge, I can understand your dilemma and this is one reason that I now build Card models. You can scan the kit, build the scan and still have the original untouched model.

Good luck with your persuit.

Later,

Fred Z.

[Guest]

Try and get kits for that price now Fred lol....cant be done.

Have a good day and congrats on your stash too,

Greg

[wonwinglo]

Richard,what price nostalgia ? you were indeed very lucky here to get hold of a Kestral for £20,but at double you would never loose sight of the models rarity value.

When my father passed away I took over all of his old kits,there is virtually a complete run of Airfix bagged kits,now normally I am not someone who just hoards bags of styrene,models are to build in my opinion,however as I already have most of these kits made up into models the bagged kits have stayed just like that,in bags,another thing happened here on E-bay I managed to purchase four huge box fulls of ready mady plastic models,whoever built them must have done so in a darkened room and glued them blindfold,amongst them were many old original series Airfix models,that was over two years ago and at this moment I am still dismantling them,soaking in brake fluid and gradually rebuilding the whole lot,but what has evolved is a time warp of Airfix models,and once more the bagged kits can be left as such if not for historys sake,unbuilt Airfix series 1 & 2 kits are fast becoming very rare indeed,they do appear but rarely,most of the first ones can be identified by the colour of the plastic,yes it was pale blue ! the reason behind this was Airfix purchased a huge quantity of powdered pale blue styrene for use in their moulds,so much of it that it filled a huge warehouse at Haldane Place,London,their first and most famous of all factories,the Spitfire,Gladiator,Me.109 were all made in this colour,the galleons were mostly cream,the DH.88 Comet pinkish red,and the Bristol Fighter,Sopwith Camel silver.

So what were relatively crude models have now become a legend in themselves,one day like yourself I hope to display my own in some way befitting of their history,if I had the room then the answer would be a mockup Woolworth counter,with a glass piece overhead where the built up models were displayed and envied by all schoolboys rattling their pocket money,have you got the Lancaster Miss ? no it has been delayed,why ? well the moulds have broken,that was a true story which delayed the first Airfix Lancaster,now there are very few of them still around in their original boxes.

Its all about nostalgia,anything else build it up as it was intended,but Airfix is another quite different story,lets preserve part of the most important modelling period in recent history.

[Guest]

I think a lot of shops in those days used peg-board to display bagged kits.

Barry I could just imagine browsing your "Shop" through all those old bagged Airfix kits. What an absolutely superb colection to have and should be on display somewhere. Obviously a lot of space required but to see them laid out as in a "Woolies" counter would be briliant. Maybe with a few old Humbrol brushes, glue and paint next to them to finish it off and a very early Airfix catalogue.

You are right with such things though, monetary values aside they deserve to be kept in thier bags to be seen as they were seen by us all those years ago when we browsed through the selection with our few coppers in our hands.

[Guest]

about a year ago i threw away an airfix catolouge from 1966 :S would that have been worth anything? please so no my dad will kill me

[Guest]

1966, good grief Richard, that was the year of the paper shortage when there were very few printed. That catalogue was worth a fortune!!!

Just joking, probably not worth a great deal but well worth it to anyone who was interested in the range at that time.

I am sure that you would have got a few pounds for it but, more importantly, it would have provided memories for someone.

[Guest]

i remember it had adverts for toy guns and things in it as well.

[Guest]

Excellent Story Richard,

It's Nice to see a Happy ending, As you have 2 kits to play with build the newer one and keep the other in it's bag, as stated earlier there is a market out there for these things, I would prefer a proper auction though where they have a toy specialist on hand who could give you it's true value now...that is, if you want to sell it.

I can understand the sentimental value though as I am sure we have all seen something we have always wanted as a kid and have possibly gotten hold of it as we got older...those items will always be special...probably because of the childhood memories involved with them....usually the happiest ones too.

Nothing wrong with a little happiness in life.....getting something you always wanted is a dream come true and a positive achievement I reckon.

I like the display idea with the instructions too.

Regards.......Mark.

[Guest]

mark you have got me trying to remember/think of something i always wanted as a kid but never managed to get.

hmmm.

il let you know when i can think of something!