I bought a Gypsy Moth model last week. I found a date on the box-1976. On the 1 sheet instruction it said about the airfix club every week in "Buster" comic. I used to get that when I was a kid. The model had so much flash I think airfix could have made another kit from it. I finally got it all clean and it's been primed. Waiting till I can start building it and reliving my childhood with a 70s kit. Thankfully all the modern kits I have built recently have been cleaner.
Nostalgia.....
- Thread starter Peej
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i find its always fun to tackle a really old kit, i like the challenge as well as the memories
I know what you mean about the challenge. Some of the pieces seem to be a bit brittle. Not broke any yet. Touch wood.
Nostalgia for sure. I like seeing old kits built and have built a few myself. Yes, the detail isn't up to modern standards in most cases, but the old ones do take you back. Old Matchbox models seem to do it for me.
My routine was probably similar for many. Get your hands on a kit Saturday morning and it would be finished by Sunday night. Interior not painted, canopy not painted, seams visible every where. Absolute brilliant fun.
My routine was probably similar for many. Get your hands on a kit Saturday morning and it would be finished by Sunday night. Interior not painted, canopy not painted, seams visible every where. Absolute brilliant fun.
Dont forget the pilot Colin , we always had one in didnt we ! Modern kits rarely include any . Like paul above (x2) and yourself I love the nostalgia and challenge of doing an old kit , theres just such a satisfying feeling getting a half decent result out of something pretty basic and unloved/forgotten. With the latest engineering masterpieces we have at our disposal today its sometimes good to remember how it all started ,or maybe its just a masochistic streak !! Im off now to look for an old dog of a kit to bash together!!
I used to get half a dozen at Christmas. Me & Dad would sit at the table twisting bits of the sprue and sanding the bits of with the sandpaper on a matchbox. The painting would leave a bit to desire. Oil based paints slapped on so thick you couldn't see any detail. Then the decals would go on (in a fashion).
The Gypsy Moth I bought cost me £4.
The Gypsy Moth I bought cost me £4.
Yes, indeed, where it all started. And I had forgotten about the pilots, of course always present in a kit. But also, didn't all the old kits come with a stand for posing aircraft in flight ?
G
Yes indeed, for Airfix at least. Absolutely essential, because then you could build them with the undercarriage up, making for more realistic hand-held dogfights.
Personally, I miss the old text-based instructions, 'Cement engine cowling to fuselage', etc. That's the way I learned what the parts of an aircraft were called. I also miss the heavy type 'DO NOT CEMENT' for propellers etc. which were meant to move.
G
Every time I see a ford capri come up on ebay it always takes me back to when I was younger! My grandparents would come up for the evening and we would all watch minder together 
, good times.
, good times.
......a bit off subject, but when I see a Ford Capri, it reminds me of the beautiful Capri 'Laser' I had when our first son was 16. My wife and I went away for a w / end's camping in our V.W. camper. leaving him on his own......"Behave yourself". We came home to find the car missing. My son had 'borrowed' it, took a diversion through a stone wall and wrote the car off.
He, and his friends were knocked about, but O.K......A mild telling off followed, I was just so glad all were still alive and in one piece, such was the state of the car.
He, and his friends were knocked about, but O.K......A mild telling off followed, I was just so glad all were still alive and in one piece, such was the state of the car.
Airfix, Frog and Matchbox certainly did Colin but as i recall Revell ,Monogram and some of the more exotic (then) names like Tamiya or Hasegawa didnt . Maybe it was a british thing? one of my favourites was the old Airfix 'Dogfight doubles' kits with two opposing aircraft in the box and a big A shaped stand with two sticks to mount the aircraft on , trouble was they were about a scale 6 foot apart most of the time , meaning the action pose always looked like a suicidal ramming maneuvre!!!! Some of the pairings were a bit iffy too , i remember even then thinking that the MiG 21 vs the Cessna 02 was a bit one sided!! ,Great artwork though , the Mirage and mig 15 boxtop was a perfect example of Roy Cross sublime skills
G
That's no good Ron! A beautiful Capri gone forever
True, but it could have been a beautiful son gone forever too. How can you lay into someone you could so easily have lost?
G
I remember the old stringy glue that took forever to dry. My poor old Dad would come home to find the sticky tiny 1/32 scale Triumph TR4 waiting for him to "help" me with every night. I'd like to build that one again.
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