Airfix

[Glenn Gilbertson]

The first issue Airfix blue Spitfire "BT-K" in about 1955. Two shillings in Woolworths who  did not have any polystyrene cement so I used a paper glue - "look, Dad, I've finished it "-  then it fell apart in my hand ....

[Rick Lowe]

Something in the old bagged range, but I can't remember what... possumly a Spitfire (the favourite back in the day) but I'm not sure - there were sooo many over the years (listen to the Amateur proto-Old Fart...   )
Whatever Woolworths (the department store, not the supermarket) had; this was well before I discovered the local model shop (sadly long gone).
Likely painted with house paint, or the old Humbrol Gloss M3 Green...

[Wardukw]

In a possibly vain attempt to drag this thread back from the joys of what the Victorians called  "...the delectable fruit-stalk..."   (and yes we do grow our own and Madame R makes a superb rhubarb and ginger conserve)      Can  people remember the first ever Airfix kit they built?    In my case it was as a seven year old in 1959 when with some help from dad I put together a grey plastic MiG 15.   It was supplied with Polish markings which Revolting Pedants would claim probably made it a Lim-2

Oh a great question Mike  and I've never forgotten the first two Airfix models I had  and they were in fact my very first models of any kind 
It was mid 1975 and it was a Mk1 Spitfire and a Mk1 Lancaster 

[Weaver]

First Airfix kit in the house was galleon of some kind (can't remember which one) that my dad built (it was in no sense "mine"). Unfortunately the cat decided that the rigging nets were a perfect scratching post, so it didn't last long.

The first kit that was nominally "mine" was the Airfix Draken, painted in the blue and green cammo scheme. 100% sure that my dad built most of it, but honestly can't remember if or how much I "contributed". Timeframe would be early 1970s, but I can't be more precise than that.

As for kits I built without any dad involvement, thats tricky because there were lots and I tended not to finish them (some things never change). I remember an Airfix Dambusters Lancaster in black plastic. In grammar school (early 1980s now) I got involved with the wargames club, so I definitely built and finished a load of Airfix and Matchbox WWII tanks and AFVs. I also met a freind who's dad was very serious about modelling, and we used to go to Sale IPMS club together, three of us in his two-seat Triumph Spitfire  . All of them influenced me to start actually finishing builds and painting them properly.

[Old Wombat]

No idea what my first kit was, nor when I built my first Airfix kit (my memory doesn't work that way) but either/both had to have been between 1969 (age = 7) & 1971 (age = 9), & by 1974 I was well into building models.

Mostly Airfix & Matchbox. 1/72 aircraft & OO/HO AFVs, other vehicles & figures.

By 1975 I had a significant collection including a Sunderland, Halifax, Stirling, B-17, Catalina & (obviously) Lancaster, Spitfire, Me-109, Me-262, Mosquito, Me-110, Hampen, Blenheim, Matilda, Sherman, Buffalo, M3 Halftrack, M16 Halftrack with quad .50s, Churchill, Quad Limber & 25pdr, 8th Army, ANZACs, DAK, Japanese, WW1 British & German troops, & a swag of others that I can't remember.

PS: I also had the Ancient Britons, Romans & Sherwood Castle set (possibly bought individually, rather than as a set, but, again, I can't recall).

PPS: All painted with Airfix/Humbrol enamels. (Ah, that smell!      )

[Mossie]

Likely painted with house paint, or the old Humbrol Gloss M3 Green...

Yeah, there was a DIY shop in the next town that was a bike ride away. They did Humbrol, but only the gloss tinlets. I think most of camouflaged aircraft got Humbrol 3 and 10, greens green and browns brown right? I didn't have a clue about exact shades and couldn't access them if I wanted.

Despite living only a few miles from the Humbrol factory, most of the kits I had access to where Matchbox. The village shop occasionally had them in and there was a shop in the next town that stocked them regularly.  I remember a Matchbox Mirage I painted in silver that never fully dried.

[zenrat]

My Dad built me an EE Lightning, a Freedom Fighter, a Battle, and possibly an Me 110.  Would have been around '73 when I was 5 as we moved house and I remember packing them into the car for the move.  He had a real knack for brush painting silver enamel which i've never been able to replicate.
Don't know what my first Airfix was but the Sea King in the Helicopter 66 scheme would have to be a contender.

[Beermonster58]

In a possibly vain attempt to drag this thread back from the joys of what the Victorians called  "...the delectable fruit-stalk..."   (and yes we do grow our own and Madame R makes a superb rhubarb and ginger conserve)      Can  people remember the first ever Airfix kit they built?    In my case it was as a seven year old in 1959 when with some help from dad I put together a grey plastic MiG 15.   It was supplied with Polish markings which Revolting Pedants would claim probably made it a Lim-2

Yes, it was the Folland Gnat. Purchased in 1967.I still remember carefully cutting out the decals and gluing them (paper and all) direct to the model, the concept of waterslide decals then being alien to my nine yesr old mind. 😂😂

[Nick]

My first kit was a Gloster Gladiator from Airfix. Got for my 10th birthday from a school mate, I think. Don't recall painting it or putting the markings on.

My dad bought me the Airfix Scorpion a bit later on and we had great trouble with the tracks. It was fun to build though.

[NARSES2]

The first issue Airfix blue Spitfire "BT-K" in about 1955. Two shillings in Woolworths

Same as me but probably 1957'ish as I'd of been 5 or 6 ? For some reason I also remember the old Saddle Tank loco 

[DogfighterZen]

For me it was very different, i've never had an Airfix kit when i was a kid. I only had a few because they were expensive and my dad couldn't afford to buy many.
Not sure about my first kit's date but i believe it was either 1986 or 87, i remember destroying the Esci F-16A, Hasegawa 1/72 EA-6B, Italeri's 1/72 F-4S, Mig-29A and F-14A. Pretty sure i didn't have any other kits as this went on only for a few years and then i discovered canoeing at my local nautical club down by the river just a couple of minutes walk from my house and that ended my early model destruction career.
First Airfix kit i ever built was the 1/72 A6M Zero in 2014 and it was probably my third or fourth kit since my comeback into the hobby... and that one was also destroyed as i painted it with a green enamel color from a tin pot, with a paint brush without thinning it...  

[The Rat]

and that one was also destroyed as i painted it with a green enamel color from a tin pot, with a paint brush without thinning it...  

The beginning of the 'learning curve.' Mine went up a few notches, then flat-lined!   

[frank2056]

IIRC, my first was the 1/72 Hawker Hurricane:



I certainly enjoyed building it.

[jcf]

and that one was also destroyed as i painted it with a green enamel color from a tin pot, with a paint brush without thinning it...  

The beginning of the 'learning curve.' Mine went up a few notches, then flat-lined!   

The polite term is plateaued. 

[NARSES2]