The Airfix Generation

[Mjolnir]

To members of the Airfix Generation 
(see introduction of Bert)

Some of the boxes I still have in storage







This will be fun

[Sardoo]

Let me be the first to say, "By gum, that takes me back!" 

[Bugsda]

As soon as I saw those WW1 Germans I was back in Woolworths Rye Lane 1971, I could even smell the pies in Kennedy's next door, spooky   

 

[Alcidas]

Reminds me of the days when my kid brother and I would wonder about what exactly the difference between 00/H0 scale and H0/00 scale was?

[Vanvlak]

Is there a nostalgia smiley?
I got the second generation, I guess, and remember the days when there were two shops in Valletta where you could get Airfix models, and one more specialised shop in Rahal Gdid, four bus rides (= 1 afternoon) away. And then one in Floriana which I loved because it was rare for me to go there, so that was a special treat. A few toyshops stocked them too, and the occasional unexpected find was fun.

My first model was a Frog 1:72 Gloster Whittle jet which I nabbed from my dad. But the turning point for me came with Matchbox kits, which I loved, and then when Handkrafts (one of the Valletta shops - still exists, more into die cast models and toys, sadly) set up a wall of Tamiya 1:35 scale tank models... grand! And later the easier to store Esci 1:76 tanks.

Today there are two main retailers locally today, with another focussing solely on GW. And they don't quite have the same feel of the old days.

I remember the Airfix catalogue, and my favourite models - the RAF airfield vehicle sets, the LCT, and the Space 1999 Eagle.

[6milPhil]

Good stuff, have you got any more? I much prefer those old dynamic art on the boxes, rather than the more sterile modern packaging... really need the "dakka-dakka-dakka" element.

[Sterling Moose]

One of the anticipated events of the year was the release of the new Airfix catalogue, I remember drooling over the pages to see what goodies were coming out.  Also when the new German Inf box was released!!  Great poses, great detail WOW!!!!  It set a new standard, shame that the Russian Inf were never given the same treatment.

[quizmaster]

Well those were the days my friends.

But lets be real today we're spolied for choise.
In the soft (in fact rather hard) plastic Zvezda is a great manufacture, they only have sometimes problems with scale.
Ceasar  is also of high quality. And who remembers ESCI.
For the Warhammer ancients battles/Warlord Games I still use the 'softies' 76 mm Zvezda/ESI/Revell/Italeri/Hat/Caesar.
For Napoleonic I've changed from 76mm soft Hat/Zvezda/ESCI/Revell to 28mm hard and metal (Perry/Victrix/Front Rank/Warlord games).

When my wife has the time (yes!?!) I'll let her take some photos of the oldies and post it.

Cheers Bert

 

[Mjolnir]

Good stuff, have you got any more? I much prefer those old dynamic art on the boxes, rather than the more sterile modern packaging... really need the "dakka-dakka-dakka" element.

What do you think

Of course

I'll take pic's next weekend

But I've lost my Me109 box

[traveller]

Those were the days!

I do not miss the " yellow bayonet" disease though  

[Argonor]

I just dumped that Heinkel in the bin some months ago while clearing out my father's house (he died last june). It had been sitting on a shelf in my old room 30 odd years, had some damage to the landing gear and I never got around to putting the tranfers on it - but the box was a later version than the one shown here.

I probably could have used it for something, but my mind was somewhat clutitered by grief, financial trouble, etc., etc., so down it went...

[Rivera]

Wow - I've had both of those aircraft and the German infantry.  Reminds me of trips to the local model shop (Hannants) in town to check out the new releases.

My first ever model was an Airfix Stuka which I put together when I was laid up as a kid

[Mitch K]

I remember those kits. Trying to get the bits to fit was a bit like my signature line.

I remember the Airfix rivetter and his colleagues the Matchbox trench digger and the Frog vague moulder. It's a wonder any of us kids had the tenacity to stick to aircraft modelling long enough to discover kits from people where the parts fitted other than where they touched and surface detail that was getting closer to realistic!

If anyone's got those kits, the best of British luck to them. They'll need it

[Vanvlak]

I remember those kits. Trying to get the bits to fit was a bit like my signature line.

I remember the Airfix rivetter and his colleagues the Matchbox trench digger and the Frog vague moulder. It's a wonder any of us kids had the tenacity to stick to aircraft modelling long enough to discover kits from people where the parts fitted other than where they touched and surface detail that was getting closer to realistic!

If anyone's got those kits, the best of British luck to them. They'll need it

I remember the trench digger best of all! I used endless amounts of rubber bands and wooden pegs to try to keep fuselage halves together, and had no clue filler existed. But it was still good fun.

[Mitch K]

I remember the trench digger best of all! I used endless amounts of rubber bands and wooden pegs to try to keep fuselage halves together, and had no clue filler existed. But it was still good fun.

Lordy the Matchbox trench digger! If those panel lines were scaled up to full size the ground crew could have broken their ankles tripping in them - never mind all the 2lb hammers that would have got lost at the bottom of those chasms! At least Matchbox kits tended to fit, unlike Airfix where it often appeared the parts in your box might have come from a random selection of unrelated aircraft, and if they matched up it was pure coincidence