Evening All,
For those of us over a certain age, this brings back lots of memories of visits to Woolworth's for Airfix kits (which when I started modelling were 2 shillings in real money, (10 pence in today's currency), for a series one kit. I did have a local model shop - they sold Frog kits and later Revell, but I never saw the Aurora kits. The model shop also sold Kiel Kraft flying models made from balsa but they were far too difficult for me to make as I was even more ham-fisted then than I am now. A local cycle shop also sold a range of Airfix kits so I was really spoiled for choice on a Saturday morning. I built almost all subjects at the time, so inevitably I built the WW1 range: and like many others I had fads about certain subjects/periods so I did build WW1 aircraft, but I did not really get into them properly until I was well past my teenage years, by which time I had learned to rig them with stretched sprue.
I have always been a bit of a hoarder, and started young.... Seeing Dave's images of some of the box tops and headers reminded me that I have a collection of header/instruction sheets of almost every model which I made as a youngster, so I paid a visit to my attic and found the following, which may bring back some memories for others over a certain age....!
These are original Airfix headers from the late 1950's when they started to release kits in plastic bags. These were bought in the early 1960's before new header designs were introduced. The Albatros, Fokker Dr 1, Sopwith Camel, Bristol Fighter and RE 8 were among the very first aircraft kits released by Airfix: all pre-date 1960. The 2/3 on the RE 8 header means 2 shillings and three pennies, (there were 12 pennies in a shilling), and was the first price increase that I can remember.
In the mid-1960's Airfix introduced new headers for their kits, so that they now appeared as follows:
The next WW1 type was the Roland CII whcih was an incredibly good kit for its time, as the observer's scarf was caught by the wind. The level of detail was also greatly superior to the earlier kits. Then in 1967/8 three new kits were released at almost the same time: the DH 4, Avro 504 and Spad VII, and finally a little later the Hannover Cl II:
The Hannover was particularly exciting for me because it had to be painted in lozenge camouflage, (there were no transfers then), - what a challenge that was! Airfix also released the Handley Page 0/400 in the late 1960's but I do not have a box top of that kit.
Revell kits were more expensive than Airfix - as I recall they were approximately 2/6 against Airfix 2/-, so value for money was not the same. However the Revell kits offered a different range and the Fokker Triplane and Sopwith Camel were definitely better mouldings. In addition to the box tops that Dave had shown, the others were as follows:
Eventually the prices of Revell and Airfix series one kits became almost the same, and as my income had also increased the difference in price did not matter any more, well not to me at least!
Revell also issued three 1/28 scale kits: the Fokker Triplane, D VII and Sopwith Camel. Although I saw the Camel and Dr I in my local model shop, I never saw the Fokker D VII and to this day I have never seen the latter as a kit, although I have seen them as completed models. I only bought and built the Dr I:
It is not only the box artwork which has changed in the passing years: the quality of the content and range of types in different scales has changed too. It is no wonder that many of us learned to convert models using the limited materials available. However if you want to know what modelling was like in the very early days, just try an early Airfix kit - they have not been retooled and although the moulds are now very worn, they still give an accurate impression of what was on offer 50+ years ago - and they were pretty good for the time!
Ah memories....
Stephen.