Can you remember your first kit? Can you remember where and when it came to you, and what it was that drew you to the hobby in the first place?
I was five years old the first time I saw plastic kits and understood them for what they were. Airfix Series 1 bagged kits, in a window display at the newsagent at the end of my street. I remember my dad taking me to the shop on a Sunday morning and buying me an Airfix Tiger Moth. He built it for me as I watched, rapt, and by the end of the day there was a bright yellow (it was molded in trainer yellow in those days) biplane for me. I was fascinated, and wanted more!
The following week was the same pattern, and the Airfix Bristol Fighter joined the Tiger Moth. And in the weeks after, each Sunday morning brought a new shape in plastic: the Westland Whirlwind was one, the Gloster Gladiator another, and the F-5A was the first jet in the collection, as well as the first kit where I was sufficiently inspired to try my own hand and help out on the building. I think the Me 262 was one of them also.
A child’s nimble brain is way ahead of his or her dexterity in relating the shapes and how they go together, and there is always a lot of frustration in getting from A to B—A being the fresh kit and an idea in mind of what the product should look like, and B being the actual result. But I do remember my family never stinting their praise for my efforts, no matter how far I had to go to perfect the skills involved. As a child I was more interested in quantity than quality, and production-lined models through at an amazing speed, without giving a thought to accuracy or moving beyond the limitations of the kit, but these things developed automatically as the years went by.
I still have a fondness for that so-simple Airfix Tiger Moth, and Roy Cross’s classic box art. I have it in my stash (that's the box top of the current issue above), and one day I’ll do the best job on it I possibly can, including rigging and maybe score out the control surfaces and reposition them. There’s only so much you can do with 25 parts, but as with the generation of RAF pilots who began their flying career in De Havilland’s classic trainer, this aircraft, and this particular kit, will always mean the beginning of the road to me.
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I don't recall my first kit. I was only three at the time. I do remember in the first couple of years building a 1/48 scale Aurora Churchill tank, and getting a 1/72 scale P-47 Razorback. I don't recall the brand.
My father would only let me use liquid glue. I'm not sure why, it was probably more dangerous for a 3 year old to use than the thicker stuff in the tubes. I remember flicking some into my eye by accident and running into the bathroom to wash it out.
I do remember my first 1/32 scale aircraft clearly though. The was the scale my father built and it getting a 1/32 scale kit was graduating to the big leagues. My older sister was building kits with my father too and had a fair collection.
One day when I was 5, my sister and father were building 1/32 scale Revell Zeros together and I was moping around feeling left out. My father went out to the garage and came back with one for me.
I was elated to be able to build a big person's kit. I later found out that a close out store called Pik N'Save had a number of Revell kits on close out for $0.98. Over the years I got some good bargains on kits there. Pik N'Save was a Los Angeles based store, so that's where Revell dumped their excess merchandise.
That old Zero had great fit to the parts for a 1960s kit, but it wasn't all that accurate if you stack it up against even the old Hasegawa Zero.
The old 1/32 Revell Me-109 was the same way. It was released as a G and an F. The G having cowling bumps added. If you compare it to accurate drawings, it's tough to figure out what version it was supposed to be. The parts did fit together well and it had recessed panel lines and no glaring rivet detail at a time when you could use many aircraft kits for sandpaper.
Bill
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