The humble begginings... our first kits

My first kit was a Guillows balsa bi-plane that I helped my Dad build way back in the early sixties. That kinda dates me doesn't it? I'll never forget the day it was all done and we took it out for it's maiden flight . It took off beautifully and soared up into a unintentional barrel roll and came crashing straight into the ground and was completely destroyed. Oh, well. Nothing is permanent is it?

Never did models as a kid, so my start was very recent, just this year (i am 45 by the way) and my first model was a Tamiya T-34/85. How did I live so long without this hobby in my life I have no idea!

I started making replicas of trucks as toys out of wood and tin can since I was a kid, so I guess that can be considered my first kits (scratch-built?). But my first real kit was an Academy 1/72 Warthog I bought when I was in college. It was the first ever kit that I was able to buy from my allowance. Acrylic paint for models was out of the question (because I can't afford them) so I used ordinary enamel for painting. I though it was very good at that time (of course, I wouldn't say the same about it now) and I gave it to my nephew as a gift. He still keeps it until now. It really feels good everytime I see that one.

Ah..memories......the first kit I bought for myself was a 1/72 Hasagawa F-15C. I had never seen one of these kits before and the photo on the side of the box, convinced me that "I could do that!" I bought four pots of paint and a brush and rushed home to complete my masterpiece. It was finished in two evenings complete with brushmarks, figerprints and silvered decals!
At the time, I thought it was an excellent piece of work, now I look at it and smile........I don't know why I thought it was so special, except that it was my first finished model and my dad looked at it and told me it was"very good." I guess I felt very proud at the time.

Later,

Darren

I think mine was a Comet Models Piper J-3 Cub out of balsa and tissue.
It cost a whole 10 cents. Guess that REALLY dates me...it was around
1955.
Ray

I remember my first kit very well.

It was the early 80s sometime and I'd been bugging my mom for a model, I'd seen some of my friends building models and it looked like fun.

One day in a toy shop, I saw a 1/72 Monogram Snap-Tite F-4 Phantom and I just had to have it, my mom gave in and I had it together within 10 minutes of opening the box. I flew it around the house for a week when I figured it would be better painted.

After painting and decaling, I hung it from my bedroom ceiling, within a year it was joined by a Revell/Crown 1/144 B-52 and Revell 1/48 F-16.

My early models are all gone now but the memories and the model bug remain.

HEY,
I started about 2 or 3 years ago with a 69 camaro convertable. I did awful on it..... the engine was all silver, the body was black, chassis black, and interior black. It lasted about six months and fell apart. I am building the same car now and i hope i will last about a year before it falls apart. [:-)]

Randy

My very first was a snap-together Stuka some 20-odd years ago. But I then went into a 10 year hiatus....and 8 years ago started again with I believe Monogram's Me-109....that was about 30 models ago ;)

Some of my earliest memories of kit building date back to the early 60s. I was apparently too young at the time to remember what my first kit was. I recall a company called "Pyro." Anyone else remember them ? Pix.

A 1963 split-window Corvette. It had metal axles, 2 screws to hold the body onto the chassis, and a pretty good engine for the time. That's all it took.
Gip Winecoff

1968...Airfix...Q.E.2. never looked back..

Mine was a original issue AMT Star Trek USS Enterprise. The one with the lights made in 1968. Guess that dates me a little doesn't it?LOL
Lee

I believe my first model was Fujimis 1/48 Dauntless which I glued the prop so it wouldn't spin and fingerprints all over the fusalage. It was a nice kit until I got a hold of it.

Twas 35 or 36 years ago - my mom's boyfriend (my folks were divorced when I was little) gave me a boxed set of the Nina, Pinta and the Santa Maria - they were tiny, as I recall - probably about only 4 or 5 inches long each. I think he gave them to me to keep me out of their hair - fair enough, I guess.
I got bit by the bug and hammered mum for more models.
The very next ones were a 4 plane set of the Blue Angels (probably 1/72 or smaller) being whatever plane they were flying in 1967, and then a 1/24 or 1/25 scale Jaguar XKE fixed head coupe. Spent absolutely hours, days and weeks playing with them - I was so excited, cuz I'd made them myself, with help from no one. What a blast.
Cheers,
LeeTree

Mine was the space shuttle Columbia. I have no idea who made it, and I was just a little kid when I built it, but I remember it being great fun. I was always a space nut, and it was perfect, especially after having visited Johnson Space Center time and again and seeing the real rockets and engines and such. The white of the real shuttle didn't cut it for me though, I painted it gold.


madda

in 1969 i builed my first model it was a 1/32 NAVY TBF avenger. 34 years later i am still going. My wife says one day i will grow up, i told her to leave me a lone or i am going to tell my mommy.