A Story of a Broken Widow

 This was on one afternoon; long ago..... a very distant memory, while I was watching the "Lone Ranger" on television (and looking out the window) waiting for Dad to get home.

    Classic memories.....

 My Dad worked in management at Boeing aircraft in Wichita, Kansas back in the 50's and was mainly involved with the B-52.

My first model (as best as I can remember) was brought home and placed on the kitchen table at suppertime by my dad in 1956. I can still see it on the display stand. It was an unpainted gloss white, pre-assembled with six clear plastic propeller discs. I'm pretty sure it was one of those display samples used for promotional purposes. Dad was always bringing home something interesting. I can't remember for sure but I believe I had a B-47 Stratofortress in the same configuration also.

 I think my first model I actually built was the Aurora 1/48 scale ‘classic’ Zero kit in yellow plastic. That was a very common kit in the 1950s so to be at 5 or 6 years old you can imagine how that went.

 So, that's what got me into models and I've been at it ever since. We moved around a lot after Dad's time there and somehow they all eventually disappeared.

My first plastic kit (a few stick and tissue before that) was the 1/72 Revell Fokker Eindecker sometime around 1965/6. That got me hooked on the OTS and I never looked back, except for the occasional large towline glider.

Cool and it makes me think about the very first kit I had a hand in building but more of a hand in destroying as a kid. It was a P-47, manufacturer unknown, bubble top or razorback unknown. I watched my Dad put it together at the kitchen table. He was showing me how to do it. It was molded in green and no paint was applied, but I did get to put the decals on, right on the plastic. It eventually went down in my backyard in a blaze of firecracker glory but I'd sure love to be able to see it again.