Modelers Lounge > The Nostalgia Board

Gotta Catch 'Em All!

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Brad Cancian:
Hi everyone.

My name is Brad and I have a problem. Well, I have what is probably going to be a problem as time goes on. I'm becoming a bit of a collector. There, I said it.

As I get older, I am finding myself drawn to the kits of my childhood. My early entry into WW1 models were the classic old Airfix and Revell 1/72 kits. I remember quite vividly the Airfix Vintage Aircraft series of WW1 aircraft, all lined up on the shelf at my local toy store (which was all we had as a hobby shop in my home town back in the late 80s and early 90s). These kits were released in around 1987/1988, and were reboxes of the old 1950s and 1960s Airfix moulds. What I loved about these was the combination of box art, and the link to history - the kits had pictures and stories of famous pilots adorned throughout. That made the kits a history lesson as well as a fun build.

I was also inspired by some of the old advertisements, seen here in some of the '88 issues of Windsock:



I certainly didn't build all of them, but I distinctly remember building the Triplane, SPAD, and Roland (I particularly liked the dynamic pose of the kit pilot in the Roland).

Well, I picked up a couple of these kits at a swap meet a little while back and it fuelled my interest again in these older kits (I am building the 1957 vintage Albatros at the moment, see here: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11345.0 ). This compelled me to complete my little collection of kits, for no other reason to admire and smile at (I said I had a problem, didn't I...?). These are still quite cheap and readily available, so it wasn't going to be a big outlay. Yep some of the boxes are a bit crushed, but here they all are - a representation of what would have been probably several months of pocket money for me as a child back in the very late 1980s  ;D :





I am indeed happy to have this little collection complete. I'll probably pick up some better quality boxes as time goes on.

It got me wondering - am I the only one who collects just for the sake of collecting (and no I don't mean hoarding - I mean actually collecting something specific, to get a set of something, for no other purpose than to satisfy some strange itch)?

Yeah, it's probably just me...  ;D  But anyways, I thought this might bring back a little nostalgia for someone!

Post your 'collections' here, even if only to make me feel better and not alone, haha!

Cheers,

BC

Jeff K:
i wouldn't say i did anything resembling a good job on it but i certainly adored that Biff as a kid.

my Albi was a Revell, and it was how i found out who Voss was. it turned out a bit better, wings and struts aligned almost correctly. didn't even think about riggin' em though.

macsporran:
Hi Brad
My name is Sandy and I am an addict.
I grew up with the original Airfix releases back around 1960 and remember the excitement of discovering each new Airfix release on Woolworths' counter on a Saturday with pocket money burning a hole in my pocket.
However this was soon eclipsed by the bigger, better Aurora kits which started my WWI addiction and sent me scouring every department store and fancy goods shop to find these more elusive (in the UK) treasures. Two coloured plastic, crew figures and bases, nameplates - be still my beating heart!

I dropped the hobby at University, then marriage, then kids, then...... modelling reappeared with my children catching the addiction.
This is where the collector took over as I strove to reacquire all those beautiful Aurora biplane.
I managed to build a full collection of every aircraft they released including all the ones I never found as a kid - especially the Gotha!
I built one of each - even painting lozenges on the Fokker DVIII wing as per the Joe Katula box art! And I kept a mint boxed copy of each one too. This was in the 1990s.
Alas, marital discord, divorce, house sale etc and all the models and model-making had to go. The new eBay facility soon sent all my treasures far and wide.

Until...
...
...
I attended a model show ten years ago and somebody showed me this brand new box from New Zealand of an SE5a (favourite plane of all time) from an outfit called Wingnut Wings. And The Addiction Started All Over Again. Aaaargh.

Now I've got all the tools again, a cabinet full of built models, three or four on the go, and a stack of WNW goodies to last me forever.

But.....
Your post makes me think back on all those seductive Aurora sirens calling me back to my first love......

I wonder if there's a metallic red Aurora Gotha on eBay today.......
Sandy

enathan:
I have a similar ‘problem’. 
As a kid I used to buy every WWI kit available in my country - some of the Airfix bagged kits, a few by Revell and an Entex Nieuport 17 – that was it then. I bought a number of each, built most of them and even ventured into some modifications – a Nieuport 24bis from the Ni.17, an Albatros D.II from the Revell D.III, and scratch built a Fokker E.III and a D.H.2, based on the very restricted information and poor materials I had then.

It all stopped at a certain stage of course, and family and career took over.

Three years ago, in a time of personal changes, the interest arose again. I still had some of the old kits but my main interest was not in building them, but in acquiring kits that I could only dream of when I was young.

First were the F.E.8 and Morane L, which had always been favourites. I ordered them from Choroszy Modelbud and Ardpol in Poland, and then some kits from Hannants in the UK, and it went on and on. Without planning it I became a collector, finding the best sources, following sellers of rarities on Ebay etc.

The plan had become to have one of every WWI airplane produced in 1/72 scale, including sub-variants. I now have some 300 kits, and counting.

And yes, it is terrifying…   

Brad Cancian:
Great stories guys - I'm glad I am not entirely alone :) It goes to show how the hobby, and specific kits themselves, leaves a warm place in our hearts.

Though I do now find myself trawling ebay for older kits now... it's started....!

Cheers,

BC

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