SEARCH FINESCALE.COM

Enter keywords or a search phrase below:

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

8704 views
47 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    July 2011
  • From: Land of Oz
First Kit? Anyone Remember... Could be a long time back for some ;)
Posted by MilitaryAircraft101 on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 1:49 AM

Anyone remember the first kit they ever built? Mine was the Airfix Dh 82 and my dad did most (if not all) of the work!

  • Member since
    February 2010
  • From: Maine
Posted by Stage_Left on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 1:59 AM

Heh heh....yup, it was a long time ago, but with the effect this hobby's had on my life I don't see how I couldn't remember. It was a Lindberg SR-71 in 1/184 scale. The box info is wrong; it's actually a YF-12A, but to a seven-year old it's just a cool looking plane. 

  • Member since
    April 2008
  • From: Philadelphia PA
Posted by smeagol the vile on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 2:06 AM

that would be my very first

 

I watched the series when it first aired on cartoon network.  I was in middle school if I recall correctly.  The action figures for the series were upwards of 15$ which was a LOT of money for me and these were like 4.99$ at toys r us and they had a massive selection, like giant piles of them.  I grabbed this one, my favorite design.  After I built it I loved it and got ALL OF THEM in that series as well as a bunch from other gundam series.  After a while I stopped building, I never painted them or anything.  A few years later after my ex left me I was looking for something to do with my free time and came across a store selling only gundam kits online and I noticed they were gorgeous compared to the old kits I had.  I bought a few and built them and it evolved from there

 

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA
Posted by tigerman on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 2:25 AM

I can't recall with total conviction, but I think it was a helicopter or an Aurora tank like the IS-3. So many moons ago.

   http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/wing_nut_5o/PANZERJAGERGB.jpg

 Eric 

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Utereg
Posted by Borg R3-MC0 on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 2:54 AM

I vaguely remember building my first models together with my granddad, a 1/144 b-17, DC-9 and F-15.

The first model I have ever build was a 1/144 F-14, glue all over and no paint. I have build like that untill age 15, then I started painting.

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Hobart, Tasmania
Posted by Konigwolf13 on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 3:36 AM

1/72 P-40 Sharkmouth. Dont know the maker but it came in a plastic bag with cardboard top/seal(Mid '80s). Assembled twice, first time with sticky tape, second time (with a few less pieces) with glue. Neither time with paint.

First model I completed with paint and decals? 1/72 matchbox SB2C Helldiver

Andrew

  • Member since
    March 2010
Posted by shoot&scoot on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 6:15 AM

8 yrs. old, 1968.  Monogram 1/72 B-29 painted up like Bock's Car with a plutonium Fat Man made from a ping pong ball sticking out of the bomb bay.  Painted with rattlecan silver bike paint.

                                                                                            Pat.

(My Dad helped a little)

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Bent River, IA
Posted by Reasoned on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 6:38 AM

Wow, about 40yrs ago and not sure but it could have been a P-40.

Science is the pursiut of knowledge, faith is the pursuit of wisdom.  Peace be with you.

On the Tarmac: 1/48 Revell P-38

In the Hanger: A bunch of kits

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 6:49 AM

Hawk Spirit of St. Louis

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: San Antonio
Posted by MAJ Mike on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 6:54 AM

It was a Revell B-52 (scale unknown).  It was given to me as a reward for getting my polio shot.  This was in the mid-1950's and I was one of the first kids in my neighborhood to get the new Salk vaccine.

 

 

 "I'd "I'd rather be historically accurate than politically correct."

"Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc!"

  • Member since
    March 2010
Posted by stcat on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 6:56 AM

1/72nd scale P-51 & Me-109.  I was 8, and my older cousin took them on a visit and claimed they were his.  I must hunt him down one of these days...

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
Posted by Bish on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 6:59 AM

mine was an F-86, i am sure it was 72nd and think it was an Airfix kit. My dads next door neighbour got it and helped me build it. I know it was painted black for some reason.

That would have been 81 or 82, been hooked ever since.

I am a Norfolk man and i glory in being so

 

On the bench: Airfix 1/72nd Harrier GR.3/Fujimi 1/72nd Ju 87D-3

  • Member since
    June 2010
  • From: Austin, TX
Posted by DoogsATX on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 7:21 AM

1/72 P-51. Snap-Tite. Not sure if it was Revell, Monogram or maybe even Testors. I was around 8.

 

On the Bench: 1/32 Trumpeter P-47 | 1/32 Hasegawa Bf 109G | 1/144 Eduard MiG-21MF x2

On Deck:  1/350 HMS Dreadnought

Blog/Completed Builds: doogsmodels.com

 

  • Member since
    January 2010
  • From: Nebraska, USA
Posted by CallSignOWL on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 7:31 AM

my first kit was actually a set of them: a Thunderbirds heritage flight with an F-16, F-4 and an F-100, all in 1/72 scale. Dunno the maker, but I built them my freshman year in High School (age 14/15 I think). We hung them in formation from the ceiling of the AFJROTC room.

------------------------

Now that I'm here, where am I??

  • Member since
    March 2010
  • From: Democratic Peoples Republic of Illinois
Posted by Hercmech on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 7:41 AM

Mine was a SNAP-tite F-4 as a Christmas gift exchange in Middle School, a moon or two ago


13151015

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 7:52 AM

Too long ago,it could have been the original Aurora monster kit,Godzilla.I also did Frankenstein,Wolfman,King Kong,and Mummy.I just built them and played with them until they broke.

When I started as an adult in 1982,it was Tamiya King Tiger,T-34,and Panzer IV,those were fun kits.

  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Poland
Posted by Pawel on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 8:37 AM

My first kit was a plastic model of a glider... My uncle gave it to me and helped me build it. Don't know exactly which glider that was (some Polish type), but my family still curses that day 25 years later Big Smile. It sure changed my life!

Paweł

All comments and critique welcomed. Thanks for your honest opinions!

www.vietnam.net.pl

  • Member since
    February 2011
Posted by knox on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 8:38 AM

  It was a Sunderland, no paint, and I played with it until I blew it up with firecrackers.  I still love the look of that  plane.

  • Member since
    November 2008
  • From: Central Florida
Posted by plasticjunkie on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 8:47 AM

It was 1965, and think it was a Revell or Monogram DC-3 in Eastern or TWA markings, can't remember. My second one was the Aurora U505 that my brother bought for me at the corner drug store for a couple of bucks. I do remember leaving out the interior of the DC-3 rushing it to finish the outside to put on the decals!Bang Head

 GIFMaker.org_jy_Ayj_O

 

 

Too many models to build, not enough time in a lifetime!!

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 9:15 AM

I do remember the first kit I completed.  Relatives had given me kits that I couldn't build 'cause I was too young to read the instructions.  When I was about seven or eight I could read well enough that I completed a Guillows Aeronca.  This was a balsa stick and tissue model.  Plastic wasn't around yet.  There were non-flying scale models- they were called "solid" models.  And, during the war when balsa was a strategic material (used in life rafts) there were the cardboard solid scale models.  The fuselage was laminated from layers of about 3/16 thick cardboard cut to profile.  You varnished the stacked assembly and began to sand off the ridges.  When it got fuzzy you varnished it again and repeated.  Wings and empenage were pine.

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Denver
Posted by tankboy51 on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 9:18 AM

It was the Lindberg USS Ruderow  DE.  Scale unknown . I was probably 6 years old.  Did it myself.  This was something like 1957.  I didn't know about putting decals in water,  so I glued the hull number on. 

Doug

  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 12:36 PM

That 'un right thar... I remember it like it was yesterday..

1967, at eight years old...   had a choice between the Spitfire and another Hawk kit, a 1/72 Corsair...  Didn't pick the Corsair cuz the wings "looked funny"...  After I built it, I was hooked.. At .39 cents each, I could get all the 1/72 scale Hawk kits I wanted with my weekly allowance of .50 cents... Hade to save to get to the 1/48th scale stuff.. They cost .99 cents (plus tax), so it took me three weeks to get one..

The kits were either at the drug store (along with Testor's and Practa 'Namel paints @ .19 cents ea.) or the grocery store on a rack that spun around...

I got the above kit o Ebay.. When I saw it, I had to have it, lol.. Got it for 3 bucks and shipping, or something like that... Got the Corsair too, lol..

Ain't gonna build either one though... They're just for lookin' at...

 

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 12:40 PM

Hans von Hammer

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/spit002.jpg?t=1231960305

That 'un right thar... I remember it like it was yesterday..

1967, at eight years old...   had a choice between the Spitfire and another Hawk kit, a 1/72 Corsair...  Didn't pick the Corsair cuz the wings "looked funny"...

I had that Hawk Wildcat, Spitfire and Messerschmitt.

Very simple kits with 1960s era high detail  ( rivets ) and solid wings - liked the Wildcat and  purdy Spitfire lots more than the 109.for some reason

 

  • Member since
    October 2008
  • From: italy
Posted by bsyamato on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 1:05 PM

i'm not sure but probably a mig-25 in 1/144 scale that come with a military files encyclopedia about 1987-88 (the brand was not specified by the editor), i just glued it with a strange gummy glue Tongue Tied and not painted it.

before of it i had two snap kit from the died Atlantic italian brand, a b-17 full of rivets (probably 1/100 or less) and a hornet carrier probably 1/700. Very child at the time (about 9 yo) and the two kits was destroyed Crying actually are really rare kits

 

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Allentown, PA
Posted by BaBill212 on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 1:14 PM

Close to 50 years ago....    I built a lot of cars first starting out. Danged if I can remember the very first one though.    I am sure it was some sort of sports car.......

Enjoy the ride!

 

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Green Bay, WI USA
Posted by echolmberg on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 2:44 PM

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).  They were those red and white stripes that the tactical training squadrons used.

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

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Carmel, CA
Posted by bondoman on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 3:48 PM

Does Boy Scout pinewood derby count?

It was something I would have built with Dad. Possible subjects would be the TWA rocket from Tomorrowland which we picked up there, when I was about 5. Or the Aurora Viking Ship.

 

  • Member since
    September 2009
  • From: Miami, FL
Posted by Felix C. on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 5:06 PM

Well, I remember my first kit in that I helped my older brother build it. He was a Cousteau fanatic and of course, it was the Calypso. I was allowed to hold it on occasion during the construction process. I was 9 years of age.

 

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: Monster Island-but vacationing in So. Fla
Posted by carsanab on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 5:18 PM

Da Vinci's Catapult....although I never really built it....I assembled it....Whistling

Im pretty sure it was a Fokker DVII...not sure by who but it was around 1974....my dad and I built it ...

 Photobucket

  • Member since
    February 2011
  • From: Launceston, Australia
Posted by the real red baron on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 5:20 PM

this was my first kit, 1:72 hobby-boss P-40M warhawk. i made this when i was 10.

im not sure why the bottom of the plane is green, and why there is no landing gear.

the paint is cracked in some spots underneath

action shot

 

 

 

 

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

SEARCH FORUMS
FREE NEWSLETTER
By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. View our Privacy Policy.