Ain't this thread somethin'?
Lindberg 1/160ish SR-71. Actually a YF-12A, but I was 7 and thought the box art was so cool that I had to have what was inside. I got that you had to put it together, but my parents were skeptical. I convinced them, and the rest is history. Dad helped me with the first two kits (the other a Monogram 1/72 snap UH-1), and then I was on my own.