Warbird Information Exchange

I mapped that picture out on the wall of my bedroom when i was twelve years old.You have no idea how much testors olive drab and grey(tiny bottles) was required to paint the plane.I did the back gound with sky blue and white spray cans.My Mother and Father really thought it was nice if you can believe that.This was over 35 years ago.

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Hang The Expense

please refer to my ancient "building models as a kid" thread in the models category & all of the posts from those of us between 40 & 50 years old will seem healthy to do something besides texting & pushing keys & buttons. it was crazy, but it was fun outdoors blowing up botched models. kids are to lazy to even blow them up with firecrackers let alone build them!!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Aside from economics and such, one of the reasons model kits are so expensive these days is that they're no longer targeted towards kids. The model companies are now targeting the 40+ crowd, who demand far better accuracy, detail, and fit than we did as kids 30-odd years ago.

Most of those models we bought cheap at the drugstore and blew up with firecrackers a couple weeks later are regarded as crude, primitive toys by today's standards. I'm building the ancient Revell B-17 pictured above as part of my local model club's "golden oldie" build. I built several as a kid, and while it's great nostalgia the kit is utter crap by my current standards. Interestingly, I picked up an original 1962 issue on Ebay (mainly for that way cool box art) and even with shipping is was still a dollar less than the current release of the exact same 50-year-old kit is going for at the local hobby shop. That's what bugs me..when model companies continue to re-re-re-release ancient kits, but charge the same as the new state-of-the-art kits. Unfortunately, the current marketing strategy seems to be to soak the hobbyist by charging premium prices for everything, rather than using some of their older (and long amortized) molds as cheap "bait" kits to get the younger generation interested.

Airfix is fortunately trying to "get back to its roots" with some of its recent releases, like the new-tool 1/72 Spitfires and Bf-110. Decent kits, but designed to a price, and intended to be easy to build. Many "serious" modelers regard them as lacking in detail and finesse, but they can afford to spend the money on resin and photoetch detail sets, vacuform replacement canopies, and aftermarket decals.

SN