discussion Revisiting kits we built in our youth......

[pjgtech]

One of the main reasons I got back into model making, apart from having the time now I'm retired, was to make the kits that I made as a kid, but better.

I did not know any better when I was a nipper, I'd get a few kits for Christmas or my Birthday and I'd literally throw them together, either didn't bother painting them, or slapped on some random paint in an approximation of camo!
Looking back now, they would have been bloody awful. But, at the time I enjoyed making them.

So now, I want to obtain those kits, the ones I remember anyway, and make them again, but do a good and proper job, paint them nicely, do some weathering, etc. Basically I want to do them justice.

I've already done a couple from my youth, eg: the Willy's jeep, Sherman and Tiger tanks, I wanted to do the German Eboat, but nearest I could find was the PT579 Patrol Torpedo boat. I also remember making a Lancaster bomber, several Spitfires (1:72 and larger) and HMS Fearless, so they are all on the list of models to get and build.

What are the models from your youth that you either want to build again, or that you have already built?

 

[flyjoe180]

I refurbished a few Peter, but to be honest most of the old kits I built would do my head in now

 

[Geoffers]

None to be honest

I have/will build the same subject in its modern new tooled form if available. I enjoyed them at the time but raised panel lines, lack of detail/wrong details etc does not appeal to me now.

I’m going to build one in the upcoming vintage Airfix GB but as a rule it’s not something I want to get into.

Geoff.

 

[Richard48]

A nice post Peter.Brings back nostalgic thoughts.Well for me it started when i was 8 or 9ish.Seem to recall going to Harlow and mum and dad getting me an Airfix Hurricane 1V in 72nd with rockets on.Im sure dad did a kit with my brother and mum did the Hurricane with me.Tube glue bought from local village shop.Then Duxford opened as a museum when i was still at primary school.I remember going with the school and the little shop was packed with kids trying to get a model.Even girls at school did kits then in 70s.It was all the rage and then our local newsagent started doing bagged airfix kits pinned to beams in shop.So pocket money went on them and wow then Matchbox kits appeared.I was drawn to the lovely box art and never painted them in the bright colours.I loved my aircraft models despite me making a mess of them with glue stringing everywhere.I remember my friend Adrian giving me an Airfix T34 kit for my 10th birthday and i thought id won the lottery.I dont know how i got so into my models then.Ive got a good memory but sadly i cant remember back to the mid 70s.Models were my life and we werent wealthy as a family so models were loved by me.Even having my latest kit next to my pillow in bed.
Little things pleased little minds back then.
Thanks for posting this.
Richard

 

[yak face]

Its very tempting to go back to a lot of the old kits I made as a kid but as joe says , a lot of them are just rubbish compared to what we are used to now . There are a few exceptions though - kits that were very good even back then and I have done a couple . The Monogram p61 black widow was a kit I never actually had as a kid but always wanted it , I built it a few years ago and with a little help ( pe seat belts ) it was a surprisingly detailed build and didnt look like a fifty year old tooling ! The Monogram airacobra is another good oldie I built years ago and would be tempted to again at the right price .

 

[HAWKERHUNTER]

Looking back now, they would have been bloody awful. But, at the time I enjoyed making them.

But what great fun we had building them. I remember as a kid making jet engine sounds as I put the kits together then hanging them on my bedroom ceiling when completed.

 

[PaulTRose]

I did similar a few years ago...sat down and thought hard....wrote down a list of what i could genuinly remember doing as a kid....about a dozen ....then went looking for them.......half were totally unobtainable......the other half were 'collectable' in other words very expensive lol

I grew up in a little village......post office sold airfix.....i can just remember airfix paint in the square glass bottles.......the newsagents always had a few revell kits......then started selling matchbox....loved them......bright colours and different subjects

Ones i do have vivid memories of an airfix belvedere that i couldnt get the rotor blades to stay on......a revell 1/32 hurricane in desert colours.......still have the first tamiya sas jeep i built which must have been very late 70s......think ive built it 4 times since and got it to again soon lol...great value kit

This is one reason i like old airfix kits......reliving childhood and the challange of doing a better job than 45+ years ago

Oh the memories

 

[pjgtech]

To clarify OP, I don't want to make exact period model kits, eg: from 70's etc, although I wouldn't turn down such a kit.
My aim's to make roughly the same kits today, I'm happy to make a modern version/kit.
Eg as per my OP, I made a German Eboat back then, but couldn't find it now, I found the PT579 boat, not same model as the eboat, but it was close enough. I also just found period HMS Fearless online, but if there was a newer version of that, I would happily have bought that too.

 

[Valeron]

Great post Peter.

One kit I remember building circa 1975 was rhe airfix RAF emergancy rescue kit and have often seen this for sale on line and been tempted to buy and build it again.

 

[pjgtech]

I also remember building a fairly large sea plane, maybe a Catalina of some sort, and also one of the US Flying Fortresses, but can't remember exact details, so I will be on the lookout for one of those at some point too, (new or old kits).

 

[pjgtech]

Go on, you know you want to.....

 

[Valeron]

I'm seriously thinking of building for the vintage airfix group build starting in April

 

[Ian M]

I think the nearest I get to that is If there is a SUBJECT that I built as a nipper, If something comes as a new version I could find myself buying one...That said some of the early Airfix kits are pretty good. Most though are total flash parties.
So my version is If it is a new version I might but the "Vintage" kits Airfix keep squeezing out... nope. Airfix asked on Facebook once which 'classic' would you like to see re released. I suggested they melted the forms down and used the good British Steel to make new moulds with!
(they were not amused).

 

[Ian M]

A new tool in 1/48 would be nice. Along with the refuelers and recovery sets

 

[Jim R]

One point worth mentioning is if you do decide to make a kit from your youth try to get an original, not a recent re-release. Sometimes the moulds are rather worn and you can get misalignment and flash. On my bench at the moment is an Italeri Waco CG-4A glider. Kit released in 1974, my version is !979. It has been re-released, with no new tooling, half a dozen times , the last in 2011. The moulds are probably getting worn out after 40 years

 

[rtfoe]

Very nostalgic. After accumulating some skills and age experience I have re-built a couple of Airfix, Matchbox and Monogram kits with a lot of cursing in between and questioning why did I do it. I like the challenge and really got it in the face for some. The wip's have been posted here before and are now too small to see so I'm posting one picture of each kit I have struggled to the finish starting with...

Airfix 1/24 Bf 109
Unrecognisable to the present one here.

Airfix 1/72 Handley Page Hampden
Mucked up the front nose glazing in my early kit.

Airfix 1/72 Defiant
I thought it was to look like that in my first kit with spindly legs and tiny nose...until

Airfix 1/72 Belvedere
Basically with no interior and SOB build for my first kit.

Airfix 1/144 Heracles
It became an experimental flying cracker when i couldn't put the wings together.

Airfix 1/72 RE8 or 'Harry Tate'
Had this kit all these years until I finally built it. Mold is older than me.

Airfix 1/72 Short Sterling
My first one actually got stolen. Who would take such a mess?

Matchbox 1/72 SBC4 Helldiver
This kit took a while to find again as it was eventually in Chinese molding.

Matchbox 1/72 Walrus
Would never had attempted the mods then.

Monogram 1/48 P-38 Lightning
Was another experimental flying cracker.

Monogram 1/48 P-51B Mustang
My Mustangs weren't painted then...my form of bare metal.

That is all I can recall that I have remade. Builds are all here in the forum but ala small images which defeats the purpose of showing how steps were taken to build them.
Thanks for posting this revisit Peter. Just don't get me started on armour.

Cheers,
Wabble

 

[Richard48]

Wow amazing builds Wabble.They are all eyectaching but love the Walrus and Stirling.Seem to remember having Stirling at Christmas and like the Wellington i recall in the shiny black plastic!!!!.
Richard

 

[Neil Merryweather]

Being a figure guy, when I got back into the hobby I started accumulating the Airfix 54mm collector's series I had loved in my teens. The intention was to make one of each out of the box, utilising my new skills.
I managed one, the French infantryman, but he became the central figure of my 'Last Stand of the 45th' diorama.
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The first one (95th Rifleman) got the super-detailing and anatomy tweaking treatment,
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and three more, Scots Grey, Black Watch Highlander and French Cuirassier were extensively converted and used in my 'Charge of the Scots Greys' diorama.
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I haven't given up on the idea, but I just can't help myself tweaking....
But I really am still getting great pleasure from these 50 year-old kits which I very much doubt Airfix will ever re-release.

 

[Ian M]

Me revisiting has been mostly the subjects. As a few examples as a youngster I recall having built the Airfix tank transporter in mini format. Also the RAF support kits, a Crocodile tank, and a german half-track with 88mm. The Matador with the howitzer was it 6inch? Must not forget the 25lb field gun, limber and tractor either. All of which have been re-visited in 1/35 (the RAF sets limited to the Ambulance and I have just to find the howitzer! Oh Bren carriers, can forget those.