First Kit? Anyone Remember... Could be a long time back for some ;)

I love thinking back to my first model kit.  It was a snap-tite F-15.  I can't be 100% sure of the manufacturer but I'm going to bet it was Monogram.  That was back in 1977 when I was 7 years old.  My dad also pretty much built it for me but I remember he let me put the stickers (yes sticker, not decals) on.  I tried so hard to do them right but I ended up putting them on backwards (stickers for the left wing ended up on the right, etc).

It was a small kit; possibly 1/72 but it could also have been some form of box scale.  Does anyone else remember this kit?

Eric

The only thing I remember about my first model is that it was a car of some kind.

The earliest model, although it was not the first, I have a specific memory of building was the "Snark". I wanted it because there was one on display at the entrance to the local air force base (1959ish) where school kids would take annual tours.

I also had an old "gangbusters" car that included figures and little weapons. Really cool stuff for a kid! I wanted it because the TV show "The Untouchables" was very popular.

OMG!!! this threads made me look up mine (well the first that I got interested in, my father and older brother made it and I watched on but the cycle was set!) That was like 30 years or more years ago!

FROG's 1/72 Avro Shackleton, cant believe this kits still available, was pretty epic though and by reading the below review I can see why this must of stood out in my young mind then.. no doubt a few frustrations where thrown about when they were making this hahaha :-/

http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/portland/971/Reviews/50s/shackleton.htm

The first real model (non snap tites) was the 3 foot long Cutty Sark from the 70's.  I know I sort of finished it but I wasn't allowed to use knives, or even to paint it, all i did was glue it together in my grand parents back yard, some time aroiund the age of 8 or 9.

wait, dont we have this thread already??

/forums/t/140748.aspx

first model ever, was the Monogram 1/32 snap-tite Fake Out Funnycar 

I've been hooked on styrene ever since 

My first was a Revell 1/570 DKM Bismarck from Walmart. I think I was 8, maybe 9. Dad helped me glue the hull. Other than that I think I did it all myself with nothing but a pocketknife and a tube of testors. That was about 1980

Aurora Nieuport 11

Tom T

First ever kit was a convertible I got in a Cub Scout Christmas party grab-bag when I was 5. (Mom was the pack's den-mother, so I got to take part even though i was officially too young to be a Cub.) Don't remember the make or model, but the fire-engine red plastic matched (sort of) the next-door neighbors' real convertible, so it was mega-cool. And, yes, Dad did most of the actual assembly; my job was to quickly discover the "working feature" of pop-off hubcaps.

First airplane model was the old Hawk "authentiplate" F-104. I did this one myself (though Dad "graciously" volunteered to paint the tail red for the Canadian markings---don't know why the idea of a five-year old and red paint gave anyone pause). I remember I left the pilot unglued to be able to "eject" after a particularly hairy dogfight (which seemed to happen frequently). I still actually had the badly-yellowed spare decals up until the last move, 5 or 6 years ago, when it seemed time to send them to decal heaven (since I knew they were unusable, and it never would have occured to me to try to sell them on you-know-what-bay.

Cheers

Greg

That's a tough one. I have foggy memories but would bet it was one of the following:

Revell 1/32 P-51B or F4U or even possibly the 1/32 P-40E

MPC(Airfix) 1/72 F-14

Testors 1/48 P-51D (the silver plated one with the blue nose)

Lastly, it could have been what I believe was a Monogram 1/72 B-25(J?)...

Well, those are my best guesses...

Could have also been that red white and blue Monogram F-16A... or the snap-tite F-15...

My brother and I built a Revell Corvette... wired the motor with sewing thread....He put it in the window of the hobby shop....I would walk by it on the way to school and then on day the shop was closed and the place cleaned out .... That was 1970-71....

I'm not sure which kit was the very first, but the first kits I remember making in the early 1960s were:

20 Mule Team (a mail-order promo from the makers of "20 Mule Team Borax")

Mercury Redstone (a premium from the Doubleday Science Program)

Lindberg's U.S. Space Station

Hawk's Supermarine S6B

Aurora's B-70 (not XB-70) Valkyrie

I stopped modeling about six years ago, and just started again a month ago. My first new project is the reissued Lindberg space station. It's a joy to build this model again after fifty years! I'll post pictures in the Space section when it's done.

Mine was a Porsche 928 of some brand or another, probably a Monogram. It was molded in silver.

The Aurora monster kits of 60's,Godzilla,Wolfman,Frankenstein,Creature,and so on.I built them,played with them until they broke.

As an adult modeler in the 80's it was Tamiya's King Tiger.Panzer IV,and T-34

I believe my first kit was an Canberry aircraft I remenber i glud the service ladder to a wing an thought it was neat. Must have been in the early 60's

Tough one...late 60's maybe 67 but it was either a Revell P38 in 1/48 as it was a big kit for a kids small hand or a Monogram Big Daddy Roth Beatnik Bandit I built while on vacation staying with family in the midwest. I'm pretty sure the P38 was first as it took me forever and I remember getting it covered in glue ...oh yeah Testors glue ...whats that they say about the sixties ...if you can remember it you weren't really there. Same for us kids ...not intentionally mind you but between the psychodelic glue and the VOC heavy enamel paints its a wonder any of us made it through school.

Spitfire, don't remember which model. My dad put it together for me. The first I put together was Boeing 707. It had 19 parts. Funny how I remember that, it was more then 30 years ago.

Tough one...late 60's maybe 67 but it was either a Revell P38 in 1/48 ..

Revell didn't make a 1/48 P-38 kit.. Mongram did, but Revell's offering was that monster in 1/32 scale.. That WAS a big model! Huge for a kid.. Had to have it then too, lol..  I'll probably finish it in a couple more weeks, lol..

The current 1/48 Revell Lightning is the former Mongram kit..

well, my first "kit" was the old revell/monogram Bigfoot snap tite monster truck. it was in a funny scale (1/32?) when i was about 7.

my first actual paint-glue-frustration kit was the revell/monogram spitfire kit........and my war with painting canopies began. but it is a war that has come to even terms over the years :) i think i was about 9 or 10. this was when wal mart still carried models and you could get the 1/48 revell/monogram fighter planes like the spitfire, mustang, and thunderbolt for between $13-$17......ahhhh the good old days.

The first build I can remember was Monogram's Grumman F3F-3.  I thought it was so cool that the landing gear retracted when you turned the prop. But heck, I was 6 at the time.

Hans von Hammer

 

Tough one...late 60's maybe 67 but it was either a Revell P38 in 1/48 ..

 

Revell didn't make a 1/48 P-38 kit.. Mongram did, but Revell's offering was that monster in 1/32 scale.. That WAS a big model! Huge for a kid.. Had to have it then too, lol..  I'll probably finish it in a couple more weeks, lol..

The current 1/48 Revell Lightning is the former Mongram kit..

It could have been any of those. I just remember it was big and the box cover showed a Lighting strafing a jungle scene. Funny how I can remember that after all these years.

Revell Cutty Sark,....the bigger one.

Richard

First kit I remember was a landing craft that came with a couple of crewmen wearing life jackets and helmets--and frogmen!  They had yellow airtanks that made them float in the bathtub water, and a little gizmo that could scoop one of them back up when you sailed by.  I think it was a Monogram kit, back in the 1960's.

Too many Day On The Green rock concerts back in the 70's/80's to remember beyond that.

I do remember working on Peterbilt and Kenworth tractor/trailers when I was around 10 with my dad. 

The Hasegawa 1/48 F-14a.  I'm surprised I continued building models.  I've only completed about 10 models since then.

Was this your kit?

http://www.baronvonplastic.com/servlet/the-1671/Ideal--fdsh--Glencoe-Frogmen,/Detail

Hi, Tom:

nope; I'm not familiar with that kit.  It was this one, apparently reissued by Revell at some point.

http://oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=12436&page=85

It was the late sixies,  67-69?  It was a Aurora TT-1 Pinto.   Can still remember sitting at the dining room table putting it together.  Nice yellow plastic.  I came across a unbuilt one a couple of years ago and I snapped it up, now it's in my stash.

John