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

Let's see, I think that the first kit I did when I was a kid was the 1/48 Monogram P-40.  Coincidentally, I'm working on that kit for the Monogram Mafia GB.  When I got back into the hobby I came back with an Accurate Miniatures A-36.  

I do believe my first kit was one of the Monogram Iowas.I also recall watching my grandfather build a Huey Cobra nd an El Camino.Both by Monogram as well I believe.He used the Testors non-toxic glue that smelled like orange peels.

Mine was the Aurora "Famous Fighters" F-107A when I was 5yo in 1969. My Dad had an entire case of Aurora aircraft kits in the garage, and would break them out for my brothers and I on rainy days. I can remember the F-104 and F9F also. Come to think of it, I think there may still be some of those kits left in his garage loft!

Monogram T-28B circa 1956, the box looked like this:

I recall that the wheels were attached by (my mother) pressing a hot knife against the axles.

The first model my dad built for me was AHM's YF-12A, around 1969 or so.  He used some kind of stinky yelow glue (contact cement?), which oozed all around the joints of the black model.  I still thought it was the most awesome looking model that I had ever seen.  I was kind of sad that the ventral fin had to be glued in the folded position for the gear to be down.

My first model that I built without any supervision was Revell's USS Pittsburgh, back in 1970.  My mom bought it for me to keep me quiet for an afternoon.  I remember painting it with Testors Chrome Silver and Flat Black, because I didn't have any greys or red.  I built and painted the model on the dining room floor in one shot.  Of course mom made me conduct my mayhem on some old newspaper!  When I showed my dad the finished model that evening, he told me the story about the real ship losing its bow in a typhoon, but not sinking.  I thought that was really cool.  I kept the model for years and years until my folks let me play with firecrackers.

Ah the memories...

Great topic!

Neal

Mine was a 1/144 F-4 Phantom, as a fairly young child about 25 years ago.  My mum helped (read pretty much did) all of it for me using some cheap form of super glue.

Can't remember the brand, but seem to recall it came in a plastic blister pack.

I can actually still remember that night and playing with it after it was built - obviously it wasn't painted and we didn't worry about landing gear.

Phantoms have a special place in my heart ever since.

Chris.

TomZ2

Monogram T-28B circa 1956, the box looked like this:

I recall that the wheels were attached by (my mother) pressing a hot knife against the axles.

Ya know... I think that's the ONE Monogram kit I have NEVER built! 

This question is really going to date me. I made by first model kit about 65 years ago.I was 8 years old at the time. It was a Strombeck-Becker solid wood kit of a Piper Cub. I painted it bright red. I can remember that because I still have the model. It's packed up with some of my early plastic model airplanes. I think the kit cost 69 or 79 cents back then. They sold them at the local  5 and 10 cent store. For you youngsters a 5 and 10 was a variety store. The one in my town was owned by William Bailey who I went  to work for when I was in high school.. It was open until about five years ago. 

Bought most of my childhood kits at local drug store or 5 & 10.

Gordon, there was a set of "world books" in our house. Kind of a non-sequential encyclo... Mom had inherited them from her grandparents, which made them truly Victorian. In each volume there was a set of plans for a building in something called Model Town.

Of course they had to be traced from the book. I think I made a couple or three. To this day I really like and occasionally (not often) make a model in paper.

My first major hobby push was model railroading. makes the plastic pale next to all the stuff I made for years in plaster, paper, wood, styro and whatever else.

I never made a model out of a bar of soap, but certainly have out of wax.

I think plaster is an underated material. I have made many a one piece railroad car in a mold out of plaster and the detail is as good, frankly better than resin.

It's too bad FSM forums ignore railroad modeling. I knew many great modelers, including John Allen, who could do things that the rest of us can only try for. But we are real modelers too.

My first kit was the AMT 1970 Dodge Charger.

My first was this gem:

<<note: not my kit>>

Built it in less than an hour, used nail clippers to trim the sprue after I twisted the part off. Got some silver paint to do the wheels(and tires ) then put oil on them to help the wheels spin faster.

Herc, that F4 was the first plane I built. That was a cool kit.

 I remember watching my Dad and brother working together on a (1/350???) Enterprise carrier. Jealous for some "Dad time", this 5 year old was. I begged for a model to work on with Dad. I ended up with a TINY snap fit carrier, maybe 8" long. We put it together in one evening. I was so sad, my brothers took days, and had paint, decals and planes. My birthday wasn't far off, I was sure to get a few bucks. I took my couple bucks, risking grounding, and snuck off to the P.X. by myself. I wasn't old enough to have an I.D. card yet, so I couldn't make the purchase myself. I found an Army man, and he agreed to pass my money along to the cashier. I got Monograms 1/48 F-4(w/ playboy bunny on the tail) for a measly $3-ish. That one took days!!! My Dad even used pins, so the wheels would turn, how awesome!!!

My Dad got me going around 1962 with a 1/48 Monogram Hellcat.  He was a great assembler and built a toy that I had a ton of fun with.  My friends all had 1/48 stuff from that era and we spent hours and days bombing Japs and Germans, making carrier landings on the ping pong table, Enterprise.  The Monograms were especially coveted because of the operating features.  Almost 50 years ago, where has the time gone?   Rick

My first kit(s) were monogram's 55, 56, and 57 Chevy hot rods.  I found them in my stepdad's closet and build them all for him as a surprise.  All were build on the same day, 30 years ago.

He was not surprised nor was he happy.  

IIRC, mine was the Aurora (?) P-38.  My dad picked it up on a whim one day and while we built it together, he told me stories of the British airmen training at Falcon Field here in Mesa, AZ, and of seeing P-38's flying around the valley. (Possibly from Luke, Thunderbird,l Williams?)  Thats what started my interest in WWII aviation which has continued on to this day.  I believe I was about 10 yrs old at the time.  That was followed by, I think, the Aurora Tarzan and lion, some sort of Green Beret type model, and then a B-58 Hustler. My dad would pick up whatever was cheap at the local drugstore for us to build.  Great memories! Dads been gone for about 9 years now, but I'll always be thankful for those memories he left me with and getting me started on a life long hobby.

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