Enter keywords or a search phrase below:
Nostalgia hit in a big way after a couple months watching Max K on YouTube, and I took the plunge and bought 16 of the 20 WWI aircraft that Aurora issued between 1956 and 1964. These were some of the fist planes I built while in grade school, a half dozen or so, each an acquisiton using my allowance and making the trip to the small drugstore in our little town (no hobby store, dime store or toy store in that town). I hadn't built a static plastic model in 35 or so years, but it was time to begin again, and I figured it would be fun to start with some of the simple models from my childhood.
I began this project in August and I've completed 7 of the 16 planes. All parts are original Aurora except, in some cases, aftermarket resin pilot figures and, in all cases, aftermarket decals. Here the first 3 in the order in which I completed the models:
Fokker DVIII
Fokker DRI
Here are the next builds:
The Camel
SPAD XIII
And the Nieuport II "Bebe"
Neat!are you planning on doing the rigging?
Cool collection.
Thanks,
John
Nice! Super cool!
Your comments and questions are always welcome.
philo426 Neat!are you planning on doing the rigging?
I considered rigging for perhaps a minute or two when I began the project and prudently opted for 'virtual rigging' on all of the planes. I know my limitations ;)
Looks like fun, and nice looking models. I built all of those back then, too. Lots of neighborhood lawns got mowed, with a push mower.
To see build logs for my models: http://goldeneramodel.com/mymodels/mymodels.html
Thacts a very fine way to get back into this hobby! Very nice work on all these classic kits! They sure do bring back some memories. I can’t wait to see the next batch of your builds from this project.
F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!
U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!
N is for NO SURVIVORS...
- Plankton
LSM
On the Bench:
Revell 1/96 USS Constitution - rigging
Kinetic 1/48 YF-104A 5-2957
Trumpeter 1/350 USS Hornet CV-8
Revell 1/48 B-1B Lancer Prep & Reasearch
ShipwreckWell, BigSkyMark, that was a nice trip down memory lane. In my day they cost 69¢. BTW, they just would not be right if you rigged them!
My day as well. The price for vintage kits in mint condition certainly kept up with inflation, but I don't mind. The joy factor is worth it for me. Cheers.
jeaton01 Looks like fun, and nice looking models. I built all of those back then, too. Lots of neighborhood lawns got mowed, with a push mower.
Thanks! Yes, I supplemented my allowance by age 10 with lawn mowing, car washing and then a year or two later a paper route. I needed a bit more in funds when I was able to 'move up' to Revell and Monogram kits, but I always have had fond memories of the Aurora line. Cheers.
stikpusher Thacts a very fine way to get back into this hobby! Very nice work on all these classic kits! They sure do bring back some memories. I can’t wait to see the next batch of your builds from this project.
Thank you. Next up are the Sopwith Triplane and Albatros DIII. As I recall, and my memory isn't the best, the Albatros was either the first or second of the kits I bought back in the early 60s.. it was either that or the Fokker Eindekker (which is also in my stash now). Cheers.
For reference purposes (and perhaps with the thought that I'd move up to some more detaied kits once I got the hang of this) I've also assembled a squadron of 1/48 warbirds from Eduard, Roden and Revell (Germany). My goodness, these kits are gorgeous although the PEP (especially in the Eduard kits look intimidating...probably best left on the sprue.
I've already lifted decals from each of these kits for my Aurora planes, but most of these other kits have multiple liveries, so that won't be a problem when I start on them (2021!). I will rig those planes..or at least attempt to. Cheers.
I appreciate the support and feedback from all who have commented. Thank you. Rather than add a lot of reptitive pictures, here's the link to my gallery as of this morning. The planes featured above are already in this gallery of course, as WIP shots and some pictures of the vintage boxes as they arrived at my place. Cheers.
https://postimg.cc/gallery/bvQkTMs
Those are cool! Thanks for sharing with us!
"I dream in fire but work in clay." -Arthur Machen
These bring back a lot of memories! Thanks for sharing.
Great builds, Mark! I can't wait to see the rest of them!
The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.
Finished the Sopwith Triplane last night
BigskyMark Finished the Sopwith Triplane last night
Nice!
You're making those look like high dollar kits. Wow your paint and decals look super.
In the pattern: Scale Shipyard's 1/48 Balao Class Sub! leaning out the list...NOT! Ha, added to it again - Viper MkVii, 1/32 THUD & F-15J plus a weekend madness build!
TheMongoose You're making those look like high dollar kits. Wow your paint and decals look super.
Thanks! When I originally built a half dozen of these kits back in the early 60s, I used copious amounts of Testors Glue (in the tube of course) and almost no paint.. perhaps a dab or two of Testors enamels. How I ever managed to get the top wings secured on those kits is now a mystery to me. 55 years later: the kits haven't changed, but I have much better paint (almost exclusively AK Interactive acrylics for these models) an airbrush (!) and lovely thin Mr. Hobby liquid cement. The after market decals (a combination of Eduard, Revell and Roden) are really a necessity; while the plastic pieces in the Aurora kits were unchanged after decades in boxes, the same could not be said of the original decals.
I spent the better part of the afternoon fiddling with some extremely fragile HGW decals for the Albatros DIII. I made a bit of a hash on the plane, but I'm hoping that Abteilung 502 oil paint weathering will distract attention from the mistakes I made on the current build. More about that later. Cheers.
WOW!! Thanks for the ride in the wayback machine! Fond memories of Aurora kits when I was a young'n. Excellent work by the way. You ought to be ready to tackle those other kits!
Chris Christenson
The pace of the project slowed as I used oil paints for the first time on a model airplane in an attempt to simulate wood grain on the Albatros fuselage. I'm letting that dry for a couple of days (one more day to wait) before I add the landing gear, struts, top wing, machine guns and touch up a few spots. Here's the DIII as it awaits completion. I used the original pilot figure in this build.
Ohhhh, great job there on the Sopwith Tripe. The Albatros looks good- best of luck on the wood grain. The results look fine so far.
I finished the Albatros DIII this afternoon. I'll pretend that the nicks and smudges are patched bullet holes even if none of those marks were intentional! I did some decal mix and matching as the livery is (mostly) based on an Albatross DV flow by Ernst Udet in 1917, but the coat of arms comes from a Fokker DVII flown by.... (well someone not named Udet). I liked the look so I used the shield rather than have two planes with Lo on the fuselage. Next up is a Pflaz DIII.
Very nice builds. Keep up the good work and keep the pics coming.
Jim
Stay Safe.
Main WIP:
On the Bench: Artesania Latina (aka) Artists in the Latrine 1/75 Bluenose II
I keep hitting "escape", but I'm still here.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.