Weekend Topic 5 - Who bought you your first Airfix Kit?

[Sailorman]

In my case it would have been my parents. I know I built one or two when I was really young - early 1960's but the one I remember most was the Airfix Bismark which was a Christmas present. It was some time around 1965 so I would have been about 10 or 11 years old. After many a battle in the bath it ended up being converted to a tanker in 1969 and is long gone. Some parts are still in my spares box though!

[dogsbody]

For my 12th birthday, in the late 60's, someone, probably my Mum, gave me a Revell 1/72 Nieuport 17. That started it all!

Chris

[Kenneth ONeill]

My father; the previously discussed "Ark Royal".

[Captain Triggers]

Me mum

[Kerpert67]

My parents. It was the 1/24 Ferguson tractor given as a Christmas present somewhere about 1956/1957.

[Shaughan]

Bought it myself but didn’t know it was Airfix at the time. It was the Fireball XL5 kit via a Lyons Maid promotion. This got me into the hobby. Ye!!!

[Frederick Kullas]

An Uncle bought me two on the same day; the original Grumman Wildcat VI and Vought F4U-1D Corsair, back in 1967.

He also bought all the necessary Airfix paints and we built the kits whilst eating a big bowl of freshly cooked sea prawns.

After building the kits I painted them whilst he and my parents and some friends played cards at the same table.

I still have an affinity for the Grumman Wildcat. . . . . and freshly cooked sea prawns heart_eyes

[Kenneth ONeill]

I still have an affinity for the Grumman Wildcat. . . . . and freshly cooked sea prawns heart_eyes

Good taste sir, although I prefer freshly dived king scallops (by freshly I mean under 6 hours from sea to plates).

[ian_rutland]

My Dad bought me the Brand New HMS Victory for Christmas 1956.

Mum and Dad always included models in my Christmas and Birthday presents, and when we went shopping, as well, so by 1960 I had quite a collection.

Two of my cousins, Dave and John built Airfix kits and showed me how they did the tricky bits of painting. Dad showed me how to add motors. Mum showed me how to make scenic bases from all sorts of odds and ends that would usually end up in the bin, these days.

My cousin Kathleen bought me the original B-17G back when it was a new release. It has been battered by exposure to the kids, but it is now being rebuilt back to its original condition, apart from being sprayed this time. All my Airfix kits that came in silver plastic were just polished with DuraGlit before adding the decals. They looked nice that way. They also got a bit of weathering with oil paints and water colours. I saw how to do this in an old Tri-ang handbook from the 50's. The famous artist, Terrence Cuneo, showed how to make your models look weathered.

I'm still building Airfix today, and the family still buy me kits.

[Frederick Kullas]

I still have an affinity for the Grumman Wildcat. . . . . and freshly cooked sea prawns heart_eyes

Good taste sir, although I prefer freshly dived king scallops (by freshly I mean under 6 hours from sea to plates).

 

 

My Uncle used to go to one of the County Down fishing harbours and got the prawns right off the fishing boat. He used to time his journey so he arrived before the boats got in. Then he brought those prawns, and other sea food, straight up to us, for one of my sisters to cook it all. From fishing boat to cooking pot, maybe about 2.5 hours

We no longer have those fishing boats, disappointed_relieved

[Topcat_Ern]

Can't make out the date on the frank but 60s sometime. My Grandfather would have spent about 5 bob. Hope my painting was neater than my handwriting!

[inkpen]

it must have been when my mum bought me three airfix series one 'baggies' for my seventh birthday - the fokker dr1, the corsair and me262 in red, dark blue and light blue plastic as i recall.

she also got the right glue - that very smelly 'polystyrene cement' stuff.

she insisted that i glued them together on a newspaper covered table - just as well!

great.

next lot were four revell kits that i got when mum exchanged her green shield stamp books for them - p51d mustang; dh2; nakajima ki61 and the 'me'109.

happy days.

[graham_walker1]

+My Father back in 63

[anthony-703005]

That would have been mom and dad. around 1963 we used to go to our caravan in wales there was no electric so no tv and airfix kits used to keep me quiet happy days smiley

[Tanker58]

My Father used to have a Paraffin Heater and in the 1960s you could go to a Hardware shop and buy a Gallon of Parrafin. It was on one of these visits that i spotted a strange revolving apparatus (this is how i must have thought then) and on this were series 1 bagged Airfix kits, seeing my interest my Father purchased one which as i remember was a M4 Sherman. This is where my interest in Model making started and has continued to this day and has brought me literally thousands of hours of relaxation.

[geedubelyer]

Thread resurrection grinning

I bought the Airfix Chipmunk with pocket money when I was nine.

Bought in the morning, glued together unpainted within an hour, transfers applied straight onto the silver plastic, flying it in the street by lunchtimejoy

From then on I was hooked. As a youngster I must have bought a 1/72nd scale kit nearly every weekend. Went through all of the single engined WWII fighters before progressing on to the larger kits. I well remember painting an Airfix He-111 with one matt dark green and one gloss bogey green!sweat_smile (The shop I was using only carried a small range of paints.)

Eventually I could progress to the four engined heavies. The Lanc, B-17, Halifax, B-29. My favourite was the Short Stirling. Fantastic box art and all of theose yellow (gloss again in my case) bombs. The biggest challenge was keeping the props loose so that they turned in the wind as you ran down the street. Imagine a twelve year old carrying a SuperFortress at arms length with all the props turning. Happy days. wink

Cheers,

Guy

[Paulus66]

My uncle bought me the Airfix JSlll for my sixth birthday, due to him being on leave I ( & he ) got to build it earlier. I remember the wheels becoming more of a snail trail of glue, but I loved every minute. There's two family photos, one of this session and I'm grinning like a Cheshire cat and one later where I'm doing exactly the same, my little brother ( young old boy in my native tongue) sat next to me with a sour face because his Fw190 had floppy wing syndrome. Why I'm smiling in the second is beyond me as I'm building the Airfix Churchill which has been known to make grown men breakdown and cry and never recover from spontaneous whimpering in public.

Suffice to say I was and still am hooked.

I have decided to revisit the first two kits I built, the Churchill I found in a charity shop and I've just ordered the JSlll. Happy days.

[Adrian-352009]

My dad bought me the Airfix Lancaster, BF 109G and Westland Whirlwind Helicopter along with M3, M5 and Gloss Blue and Red of some description around about 1970. He built and painted them for me. My first attempt myself would have been either the Mustang, Corsair, Spitfire IX or Hurricane IV. To long ago to remember the order of them but I do recall them all being in the type 3 plastic bags.

[Simon OGorman]

My Dad bought me a buccaneer when I was about six and we made it together - he had flown in them briefly. Many years later I got him Sea [banned word apparently but it's a female fox and sounds like Fixen], which he had flown in a lot.

[Timothy Jones1707820179]

My first Airfix kit was the Bf 109G, which was bought for me by my dad when I was about 7, so late 60's. The first kit I was ever bought, however, was a Frog Bleriot XI, ideal for a beginner. grinning

[inkpen]

my mum bought me three airfix kits for my 6th birthday, as I recall they were the corsair, mustang and me 262. this was 1967 when kits were 'models' and considered 'toys' and 'one size fits all' no starter kits then!