Model Kits that you remember

[mjm1963]

Some classics from Tamiya. The SDKFZ 222 was my first 1/35 kit. Good days!

[mjm1963]

My last project, An Israeli M60A1 from 1973

[karloschaos]

I remember getting an Airfix Concorde kit at Christmas when I was about 9 or 10. I was in such a rush to get it made that I didn't read the instructions as well as I should have done & glued the little perspex window strips on the outside of the fuselage. Doh!!!!

[lothian]

My first kit was the Airfix Sopwith Camel assembled by my dad and painted bright red !, and the last one I did many years later was the Italeri Sd.kfz 234/1 which I airbrushed in a three colour camo scheme.

[mxyptlk]

I built HUNDREDS of those plastic model kits when I was younger. Basement in our house had open beams and at one point I had over 100 model airplanes hung from the ceiling. Generally all 1/72nd scale WWII aircraft. Also built a lot of model ships and armored vehicles. Those Tamiya kits were great! Never got into cars and trucks much but did build some.

That was about 40 years ago. I still have some of the models. A very detailed King Tiger in (I think 1/24th scale), a 1/72nd Lancaster and several WWII fighters...

More recently I've built several 'Star Trek' models and have some I'll get around to finishing one of these days...

[Eric Cartman]

Man what a cool thread!!

I just bought a model of the Mach 5 from the Speed Racer TV cartoon show at a chain store known as Big Lots. As a kid I would ride my bike home as fast as possible to watch Speed Racer after school each day on Club House 22. I found the whole series on Hulu recently and am in the process of watching every episode!

If you are unfamiliar with it here is a taste of what the show was like.

[otokonomidori]

The biggest model I built was a Consolidated B36 bomber. I think it was designed to fly all the way from the USA to Moscow to bomb those damned Commies.

Huge thing it was with 6 piston engines and 4 turbojets - it had more turrets than Edinburgh Castle.

[Staffsyeoman]

Originally Posted by mjm1963

Some classics from Tamiya. The SDKFZ 222 was my first 1/35 kit. Good days!

This one brought a tear to the eye. In his last years, my father was in poor health (but never went on about it). He still got around, but his mobility wasn't great in terms of endurance, and he was stuck at home more than he would have liked. I've mentioned in earlier posts how he and I built kits together when I was a nipper. So, in 1995, when my bank balance was finally a little more than worrying about the rent, I went out and bought the two kits he had always said he wanted to build - the Tamiya 1:35 88mm Gun and the SdKfz 7 tractor - for Christmas. He was very pleased. And then he passed away suddenly in February, with the kits unbuilt. They are still in a wardrobe at my mother's house, and I haven't the heart to start them.

[KissArmy]

Two of my first models too...

[Greenman]

Ah Airfix. I well remember getting a fair few kits to do during the school holidays and then spending money on the paints-HUMBROL I think it was, which I still have somewhere which may well have long dried up. I would spend ages cutting the bits of plastic with a craft knife my Dad gave me and then reading the instructions(unfortunately Tamiya ones were only in Japanese) to make sure you knew where the tiniest bit of kit went properly.

I seem to recall building a Flying Fortress with moving undercarriage but it wasn't painted and a Battleship that I sailed in the bath but it kept sinking!! Later I moved onto tanks(one of which became part of my military tableau model for Cubs and towards my Bronze Arrow) and the Spitfire, which is still my favourite aircraft. I also remember building a Super Huey Helicopter and a GR Tornado with swingback wings. I wonder sometimes whether kids today would do better to build things out of plastic and Lego rather than just sit and play computer games all day. Happy Days!!

James Mays recent programme(James Mays' Toy Stories) about going back to the toys of his youth and supersizing them like a house and contents made entirely of Lego, glazed over when he saw the Airfix kits of his youth and it was gratifying to see kids not only building tanks but using them to make a film complete with special effects and not wanting to blow them up later-moving onto the world's biggest Spitfire kit later.