Elephants in the room.

[Babelfish]

Great thread!

Over the past few months I've pared down my plastic kits collection by more than 25% from over 200 to around 140 at the last count a couple of weeks back. And my aim is to take it down to less than 100.

However most of the proceeds of those sales have gone towards ......... buying even more figures (400+ now and counting).

- Steve

 

[Airkid]

Great thread!

Over the past few months I've pared down my plastic kits collection by more than 25% from over 200 to around 140 at the last count a couple of weeks back. And my aim is to take it down to less than 100.

However most of the proceeds of those sales have gone towards ......... buying even more figures (400+ now and counting).

- Steve

Good man! I've got something in the region of 300 unbuilt plastic kits but fewer figures (maybe 40-odd) as I've only really started to plumb the market. My brother used to collect motor car kits (and occasionally build one, though I've never seen one he's finished). He is now in the process of shipping them on eBay but still has something like 3,000 in various storage areas in his and his mother-in-law's houses. So, I'm not feeling too embarrassed about my 300!

Phil

 

[Wayneb]

When I was a young kid maybe 8-9 years old my mother bought me a plastic kit of a small stagecoach and horses that I put together. From there she used to take me to an auction house where they auctioned off everything from soup to nuts including plastic models kits that she bought for dirt cheap. I had amassed probably before I was twelve, 80 kits that I had built; everything from Aurora figures to Big Daddy Roth to Renwal Visible Man, Head etc. And then my dad bought me a bb gun. Needless to say, with four brothers and boys will be boys, they where eliminated based on favoritism by bb gun or firecracker. Sure wish I had some of those back. And the moral of the story is ........"Sure wish I woulda kept some"............Yeah...That's a profound message.

Wayne

 

[Babelfish]

Needless to say, with four brothers and boys will be boys, they where eliminated based on favoritism by bb gun or firecracker. Sure wish I had some of those back. And the moral of the story is ........"Sure wish I woulda kept some"............Yeah...That's a profound message.

I can relate to that. Some of the Airfix kits I built as a kid ended up getting the air rifle treatment, and still others took kamikaze dives out of my bedroom window to the paving and garden below. Wheels, parts of wings and other bits & bobs were still being found years (and in a few cases decades) later, having been swept into or settled in some remote corner or under a fence section.

- Steve

 

[Wayneb]

Funny, when I was a kid I never really had any favorites as far as kits go as long as I was busy making something and staying occupied. Ever burn ants with a magnifying glass? That's when boredom set in. For those who have led a sheltered life I'm sorry...... I sure had fun when we were young.

Wayne

 

[brian]

I remember the good old days,when i would buy a figure,finish painting it,and then think what i would buy next.Now, i'm totally out of control,where did it all go wrong?

 

[DEL]

I remember the good old days,when i would buy a figure,finish painting it,and then think what i would buy next.Now, i'm totally out of control,where did it all go wrong?

Hmm, Let me think ....... oh yes!

 

[Wayneb]

I remember the good old days,when i would buy a figure,finish painting it,and then think what i would buy next.Now, i'm totally out of control,where did it all go wrong?

Most likely when you escaped the Institution................................and now,...You must go back.

 

[Ray Stout]

The first Kit I ever saw was a Lindberg Line Stuka, I was 9 and couldn't afford the 12/6 price tag, so I bought the Spitfire at 7/6, (37 1/2p). That Xmas my Dad bought(supposedly for me) the B17 Fortress and a large scale PT Boat.He made both and didn't give them to me !!! Shortly after, Woolworths started to stock Airfix kits in Plastic Bags, and it was a "Right of Passage to steal as many as you could. Ray

 

[fogie]

Reading some of this I'm beginning to feel deprived.....I never had too much
experience of plastic kits as a boy. I was influenced by my older brother who
built rubber band powered balsa wood aeroplanes For any who don't recall,
this meant cutting out spars, ribs, and bulkheads, then glueing and covering
with doped tissue paper so the things could be lobbed into the air and shortly
smash themselves to pieces on landing. Plastic models didn't really come into
my life until 1969 when I discovered Historex figures and thus joined the ranks
of the lost.

Mike

 

[Ray Stout]

You mean the Frog Flying Bricks Kits !! All that work being destroyed in 2 mins. Much better making Model Boats!! Does anyone remember Jetex Models? Jetex were a basic Rocket Motor with solid fuel pellets. I used to fit them into Balsa Model Dragsters which also ended up in flames at the end!! Ray

 

[Graham]

You mean the Frog Flying Bricks Kits !! All that work being destroyed in 2 mins. Much better making Model Boats!! Does anyone remember Jetex Models? Jetex were a basic Rocket Motor with solid fuel pellets. I used to fit them into Balsa Model Dragsters which also ended up in flames at the end!! Ray

I remember the Jetex engine. Had a plastic Ford Cortina chassis with a Jetex strapped on in an attempt to set a new world speed record down my garden path. Carefully loaded the two red fuel pellets, wound a coil of fuse held against the back pellet with a mesh disk, clipped on the end cap and carefully checked the path for anything that might flip the car. Lit the fuse and stood back to watch the spectacle. All that happened was the car chassis stayed in one place wile the red hot jet engine melted its way through the plastic.

Never built my hopes up about anything since

 

[Ray Stout]

So much for "ealth and safety" They were loads of fun though, much better than pushing keys on a keyboard. It was truly the age of Discovery along with working Mamod Steam Engines, Bomb-sites to play on, and wet leather Footballs giving you concusion every time you tried to head them !! Ray.

 

[Airkid]

How did we ever manage to survive this long? My grand-daughter thinks I'm making it all up when I tell her what we used to do for amusement back in the day.

Phil

 

[Ray Stout]

In one word Phil, Resilience

 

[Mirofsoft]

We all got Grey Armies Phil, and figures we did when we started. I've seen quite a few old figures on here with members asking if anybody can help with identification. I picked up a very old Taisho in the origonal box and a 4 page instruction colour Leaflet. The casting is very crisp. Here's an example of what I mean. This is a Norman Errington sculpt of a 15th century Paris Militia, it's fine from this angle, but turn it sideways and he's woefully thin. Ray

I bought this one 3 times . THe firsy one painted was bought by a friend, the second then the third and I forgot to buy z fourth fot myself

 

[Ray Stout]

Viewed from the right angle, they're fine figures, I had the others in the series, A standing Napoleonic Scots Grey, An English Civil War figure, and others. Ray

 

[Wayneb]

I bought this one 3 times . THe firsy one painted was bought by a friend, the second then the third and I forgot to buy z fourth fot myself

Yep.......funny how the mind works. I've bought albums and CD's that I already have. Lifes a bitch and then you get old....What else can I say....

Wayne