Anyone care to talk about their first model?

Well I suppose there were many firsts for me. In the late 70's I did various Star Wars, Battelstar Galactica and other random kits. I first got serious in the early 80's when dad used to tell me about A-10's and F-16's flying around Volk Field, WI (he drove by them on Interstate 90 a few times a week). He gradually built my interest and he and mom got me a couple of Monogram 1/48th scale kits (still great kits today for the most part). I started bulding them and I was hooked! I bult just about every 1/48th Monogram kit in the early 80s.

I built through most of the 80's right up to the time I was in college and than took a break. Woman and alchohol, than a real job. Modeling went by the wayside.

Than early this year the modeling bug hit me and I started again- my first kit, a Monogram 1/48 F-102. I felt like I was a kid again and have been really getting back into it this year.

I see the hobby's come a long way in the last 10 years. Photo-etched parts where just starting to become the range when I left in the early 90's. Now there is a mind-numbing count of aftermarket stuff, most notably resin stuff which I just tried for my first time on my Hasegawa 1/48th F-14A. I did this in the VF-84 Jolly Rogers scheme- my all time favorite. Turned out museum quality and I can't wait to do another one!

i was 10,and my dad started to play a game called WWII online,the tanks,airplanes,were so sweet,so i started liking WWII HISTORY,and about 3 weeks later,he found out of a hobby place,hobby werehouse,took us there.and i fell in love,with a hummer!i made so many mistakes,to much glue,its a mess,i still got it to,painted it two colors that dont match

I built my first model when I was 8 with my dad. My aunt bought me a 1/72 scale B-36. It was bigger than me at the time! So naturally my dad helped me build it. This kit is the BIG reason I still build models today. In fact, it still hangs menacingly over my bed. I'm just thankful it hasn't fallen after 13 years.

My first model was back in 1985, I was about 9-10 years old and got an Airfix F-5 Freedom Fighter from my cousin. I used some strange glue, ordinary household glue that was yellow and formed huge rubber-like blobs. It wasn't pretty, but the F-5 made an impression on me.
A few years later I picked up a Matchbox F-4 Phantom that I built and then painted with Revell and Humbrol enamels. It turned out OK but the sloped wings at the back where the fin is I put the other way so they pointed up instead, like a "V"! . My brother asked me "Are you sure those should be pointing up??" "Yeah, I'm sure, I built it didn't I?"
That's funny stuff.

makes for interesting reading here. My first kit was a guillows 170 cessna. I think i got it for christmas,,actually i think my dad got it.He had to build it.Way to hard for a 5 yr old.
But that got me hooked.I used it as a glider. At the ripe age of 6 i bought a ig or f-86 in a bag. It was only 1 / 144 scale.From there it was on. I now have over 500 models in my closet. And over the years have built eveything that hit the shelf

I was 9 years old. My folks gave me the Monogram Snap Tite P-40 for my birthday. I had never even seen a model kit before I got that one. Probably spent about an hour or two on it. Of course, I didn't paint it and the stickers were all crooked when I was finished, but I was dang proud of it at the time. Man, if my parents had only known what they were starting in that first kit.

I was 8 or 9. My brother was an avid modeler and he gave me a B-17F for my birthday. I think it was made by Aurora, about 1/100 scale. Moulded in OD, I designed quite an intricate glue fingerprint camo pattern...lol. No paint , no decals and gear. Glued the props on then broke off the blades....everybody knows the props spin too fast to see the blades in flight. Had a ball playing with that bird

Back when I was 6, I was bugging my mother. She was a model builder when ahe was a kid, and still had some of her kits. So, to get me to stop, she gave me her models of two aircraft carriers and a battleship. Naturally, I played with them until they broke. I asked my mom to fix them and she digustedly told me to fix them myself. To her surprise, I dissappeared into a room with a bottle of Elmer's glue and I fixed them! That got her thinking, and a couple days later we went out and got a Revell F-80 Shooting Star in 1/48 scale and built it together. I played with that until it was destroyed as well. My mother told me they weren't toys, and I wasn't getting another one until I learned that.

I did, and got a 1/72 scale FW 190 D by MPC. (My mom had learned that 1/48 scale was too detailed for a kid, so she dropped a scale) I built it, frosted the canopy, and showed her the dirty white result. She asked why I hadn't painted it, saying it needs to be painted and that's why she'd bought the paint. So, I went back, popped the canopy and painted the interior and pilot, refrosted the canopy in place, and proceeded to paint the waviest two-toned grey splinter camouflage job! What a trip!

I still have that model. It's missing it's landing gear, guns and propellers put it still sits among my other 1/72 scale German WWII aircraft. A year and twenty planes later, my first ship was a 1/600 scale USS Forrestal which again, I still have. It is a much darker grey after all that time in the backyard pool, but it is still intact. It wasn't until about three years later when i built my first 1/72 scale Armor piece. It was a German self propelled on the Panzer II hull; I can't remember it's designation, but--you guessed it! I still have it!

My first kit that I didn't destroy, the FW 190D was built 33 years ago, and with the exception of a two-year break, I've been building nonstop ever since!

I was five years old in 1970 when my dad gave me a kit he brought home from his tour in 'Nam. It was the Revell UH-1D gunship!! He gave it to me without any glue, but he told me he would build it for me. Well, a couple of moves later we ended up in San Antonio, TX and I had to have that sucker put together because I used to watch the UH-1's fly over our house all the time. I had no glue so I used the next best thing - masking tape! It looked like hell, but it was together. My dad was impressed (shocked) enough to take me to the PX to buy another kit and it was the Aurora United 737. I remember those first kits like it happened yesterday and my kids know the stories by heart.

First Kit? Dang now thats a hard un!!
I have no idea what company it was but it would have been a 144th scale P-38, dark green plastic and wings that would scale out at around 6ft thick! came with its own glue, and you know if you built it right cause the tube would be empty! Followed by a same scale Avenger, the under cart melted away ( I glued for keeps!)
Not long after I was given a box full of half finished/trashed cars motorbikes and trucks! Learnt real early how to kit bash and scratch build to fix most of these up, this all before I was 10.
I got into car kits (dad was a hotrodder, and now Im a 3rd generation rodder!) Built all hotrod kits I could get my hands on, chopped tops, tubbed etc! (all poorly done)
Then I found air cadets, oh aircraft where have you been?? Joined the local air museum to work on the Aussie (DAP) Mk 21 Beaufighter there, and so started my passion for Aussie WW2 AC.
Funny though the only kits I have built that have won anything are cars........................................ must try to remedy that.

My present premier project, scratchbuilding a 1/24 scale DAP Mk 21 Beaufighter!!
Well I have waffled on enough.....mmmph, mutter................etc, etc.......

Yah;my frist kit was a fokker tri wing in 48th scale.I will never forget it.I was six at the time and very proud of that air plane.I can remember the butt whipping i got for it.I woke
up very early the day after i finished it,to paint it red.Only I used my mothers finger nail brush to paint.No matter what the pain my butt went throught it was worth it.

F-15 Eagle. With the red, white and blue paint job. I was 8 I think. Built an SR-71, a Harrier, and a few others. They later in life felt the wrath of a neighborhood kid's BB gun and fireworks. Punk.

Anyway. B-29 @ 1/48 scale was the next model I built 21 years later. I consider it my first in this born again phase. I have built 13 US WWII birds since. Current project = B-25 Mitchel. After that I plan to finish the rest of the carrier planes I have in my posession and start the first of four dioramas [Carrier, Pacific, Europe, and Hangar (training and experimental planes)].

Next projects:
TBF/TBM Avenger
FM2 Wildcat
TBD-1 Devastator

Missing the following carrier based planes, but haven't found them @ 1/48 yet:
Brewster SBA/SBN;
Curtis BT2C, SB2C Helldiver, SO3C Seagull /Seamew, SOC Seagull, SC Seahawk, SBC Helldiver (A-25 Shrike);
Grumman F7F-Tigercat;
Vought SB2U Vindicator "a.k.a. Vibrator", OS2U-3 Kingfisher; and
General Motors F3M-1 Bearcat.

I think Accurate Miniatures is coming out with the SB2U Vindicator @ 1/48 soon. Found the F8F-Bearcat, but no hurry on that or the F7F since they missed the boat (insert groan here).

I got one of the old 1/48 Aurora UH-1B Huey's while on vacation with my family at Ft. Rucker, Alabama in 1966. I think it took me about an hour and a half to put it together and it was a mess, let me tell you! Lets just put it this way.... had I wanted to start another one, I would have needed another tube of glue!!

That dad-gum Huey was melting right before my very eyes! My uncle, whom I looked up to, told me it was the worse model he'd ever seen in his life! Because of that comment, I started buying models whenever I could afford one, determined to make my uncle's opinion change..... and eventually it did.

Somewhere along the way, I got to liking it, and the rest is history.

My dad is a model builder and was for years before I came around. He gave me three kits for Christmas when I was seven, a 1/72 F-16, and a 48th T-33 and a TV-2. We built the T-33 first. He still has it hanging up in his model room today. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't even be in this hobby today. I can't believe it's been 26 years ago!

Glenn

1956, age 5, I was home sick or something and getting on my mother's nerves. She got a couple of antique car models down off the shelf. I had no idea what they were, still don't know whose they were but I suspect my dad's, although I never saw him build a model for himself until I was a teenager.
She put the parts on with me passing the glue. No paint of course, and I recall them wobbling on 2 wheels. I have no idea whatever happened to them.
Next year dad & I put together a plastic Chris-craft that I could sink in the bathtub, and, as they say, the rest is history ...
Merry Christmas,
Bruce

I remember my first model prefectly. However, I don't remember how old I was. I was either three or four. The model was the Revell Bizmark in 1/600 scale. My mom bought for me from Eckerds for $3 dollars. I was so excited about it that I wanted to open it in the car. My mom wouldn't let me. This must be the reason why I always open models in the car and give it a good look it over. My dad put it together with me watching in complete wonder. Even being so young, he let me put some of the pieces on. We finshed right before bed time. The next day I took it to day care and showed all my firends. I kept the model until I was 11.

By the age of 8, I built at least 50 other ship models. Most of them were painted. None were rigged or had railings. I moved to cars and airplanes when I was 10 because it become hard to find ship model at the retailers. I kept building airplanes until I found girls. I kept building cars models until I could drive.

When I was five, I found an ad for the 1/500 scale Star Blazer Yamato. I asked my dad to buy it and for next five years I waited for it to come in the mail. I check every package for it, but it never came. When I was 17, I found it a comic store and built it. When I moved out, I lost it. I think it's in the artic of my parents house still waiting to be air brushed.

I'm now 26 and back into building model. I just finshed building 5 mopars and just started work on the 1/96 scale Revell Constitution. When at the rigging stage, I'm going to start working on a 1/200 scale Nichimo Yamato and bouce between the two until finshed with the rigging on the Constitution. I'm sure I will build smaller quicker models just to keep my intrest up and take a break from the two monsters.

My god.... I just realized I've been building for 26 years!

My first models were snap together and I think they were an Apache and a F-14 Tomcat. But I don't really remember those except for after building them I took them into my room and started to play with them.
But really I started when I was 16 and the kit was an M1A1, and I finished it in two days because my dad required me to wait two hours for the glue to dry.

My first Plastic kit, as distinct from the old Frog Penguins,was the Lindburg Spitfire. It was not overly accurate but when painted looked good. That is until the celulose paint reacted with the plastic then it was even more inaccurate. My next kit was one of the same companys "MiG 19". molded in translucent white plastic. I should have stuck a fairy light up its exhaust and stuck it ontop of the Christmas Tree !! Accurate it wern't. Ah well the memories. The fun is still there but the inocence is gone.
Dai.

Ahhh...memories!
My first kit was an Aurora battleship from the late 50's, I was 5.
I didn't use the directions...I couldn't read! When it was finished I was very proud, even if my friends couldn't figure out what it was saupposed to be. But I knew it was well built because I used the entire tube of glue. Plus I would always be able to prove it was mine because my fingerprints was glued all over it.
I've been buuilding for 40 years now, I find it a very relaxing hobby...plus I've improved a bit since that first kit.

I think my first model was a Revell 1/72 F-14 Tomcat when I was 6 or 7 it is long gone now.

I spent my childhood in former Soviet Union. At that time there were only few models available - Spitfire (I believe Mk.IX), Hellcat, Lightning, Sea Vampire, Aircobra, Thunderbold and thats about it. They were made by toy manufacturers, that means - horrible quality, low detail etc etc... I'm not talking about marks - Hellcat was simply named "naval fighter", Lighntning - "escort fighter" and so on. I can't really recall my VERY FIRST kit. Perhaps it was a HUGE (considering my size at age of 5 or 6 ) soviet ailiners - Tu-104 and Il-18, that my father brought from his bussiness trip. For a long time I was just snaping lots of Spitfires and Vampires without painting, but with lots of glue . At the age of about 15 my brother and I started to paint our models with oil paints. Needless to say, paintschemes were totaly unrealistic (at least I don't know of any Spitfire, painted dark green/black over dark blue ). Only about 5 years ago I returned to this hobby with a wish to make everything right .

QUOTE: Originally posted by 207xx3ssmitty It was molded in green , kind of shiney. I'm doing pretty good, better get this down before the memory fades. It was supposed to be a MiG-15. It looked more like a F-86 with a pirates cutlass attached to the rear end for a tail. A D model 86. I wonder if anyone out there remembers this kit also?

I most definately remember that kit ! Actually, I think it was labeled as a Mig 19. Totally bogus, but I thought it was a pretty cool looking airplane anyway. I was about seven when I built it as well. I built ALL of the Aurora 1/48th "Famous Fighter" models of the day.

Jim

I was six or seven, so this would have been 1953/54. It was an Aurora 1/48th Me-109 that my dad bought at a liquor store of all places. That store had a small toy section with some platic bagged molels hanging from a rack. That got me started in the right direction - been mostly 1/48th WW2 airplanes ever since !

Jim

Hey hou_ge,
Wow neat question..!!! My dad got me my first kit back when I was seven. OK well he helped me bulid it(at least the interior).
It was the ol C-130 by MPC 72d scale and whats even cooler is that I still have her hanging in my ol room.
This is actually how I got started in this wonderful hobby and it was through my dad. My dad was in the Navy and was in the aviation section and was stationed at NATC Pax River MD (Flight Test, FT)
Another thing that we share is my dad also got into building at the age of seven too.
Yes he and I are still building strong and enjoying a bond that will last a life time
Flaps up, Mike

I can't say for certain that this was my very first kit but it's the earliest I can remember.
It was Aurora''s S2-F "Hunter Killer" (Tracker). Thickly molded in a dark blue/gray with the scribed decal placement lines.
It had no landing gear so it had to be mounted on the accompanying stand.
I brush painted it with a coat of paint thicker than the plastic itself.
It was a masterpiece!
I see that very same kit offered on ebay frequently. One of these days I'm going to get it and relive my childhood, only this time it won't end up with a firecracker stuffed into the rear of one of the engine nacelles.

I can't remember back that far. I think it was back in the late 1960s when I was in grade school. Seems like it was either an aircraft carrier or a viking ship. I beleieve it was an Airfix model. Geez, am I getting old.

Matchbox Lightning (English Electric that is), given to me for my 7th birthday and assembled without using the instructions, with lots of parts left over including two wing halves! I was hooked immediately

I can't remember my first model, but I have 2 that stand out in my memory. My father was a WW II pilot ( B 24, Ploesti; P 51, Italy ), and I remember building the Revell 1/72 B 24D and a large-scale vacform P51 with him. He built a B24 also, and the P51 was rubber-powered to fly (which of course it never did). I also remember the old Aurora planes with the scribed decal placement markings, and a SSN George Washington (interior, spring-loaded missles - Renwal ?) Thinking back, I can still smell the tube glue . . .