Return to an old hobby .

[fastbob]

For no reason at all the thought came to me to start making plastic model kits again . Rather than buy expensive and super accurate Japanese kits , I decided to buy some very cheap kits from former Soviet Bloc countries . The smaller ones are reasonably accurate representations of a Mig 15 and a Mig 17 . The bigger one seems to have been designed from memory .

[rennie]

I used to love making Airfix planes! had them hanging from the bedroom ceiling when I was very young.

don't think I'd have the patience nowadays 

[Mickly]

I also made loads & hung them from the ceiling, when I got a bit older I hung them from a tree in our back garden and shot them with an air rifle from my bedroom window.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I used to make them when I was a kid. They so ended up a air rifle fodder.

 

A couple of years back our local school asked me to run some sessions with the year 6 class making Airfix models. It was something they'd never had a go at, their usual hobby being computer games.

 

One or two took to it but the majority just didn't see the point. It was too difficult, too slow, no reset button if they made a mistake. Which makes me wonder how they're going to approach life skills in general. 

[S-Westerly]

40 minutes ago, Mickly said:

I also made loads & hung them from the ceiling, when I got a bit older I hung them from a tree in our back garden and shot them with an air rifle from my bedroom window.

I did exactly the same. I had precisely 100 aircraft models, mostly airfix and like you hung them from a tree and shot them to bits although I used a competitive target air pistol.

[billy sugger]

Same here, but with a BSA Airsporter . 22 fitted with telescopic sight and rather expensive prometheus hunting pellets

[fastbob]

51 minutes ago, billy sugger said:

Same here, but with a BSA Airsporter . 22 fitted with telescopic sight and rather expensive prometheus hunting pellets

I used to make exploding amunition  by gluing the domed portion of a match head to the nose of each pellet . Looks great in the dark . 

[fastbob]

I thought I'd try something a little more advanced next . A Tamiya 1/48 Beaufighter . 

[billy sugger]

I saw something on the web yesterday, a boxer engine model built from solenoids 

[Bianco2564]

Me and my brother's were mad on Airfix when kids, the bedroom ceiling was full of them.

 

My Dad was clearing out his loft and found my first cine camera and projector, would have had this around 1976 and last used 1977 when I bought a better model. Stuck some new batteries in the camera and incredibly it worked, 44 years since it last run.

You can still get film cartridges but with processing they are £80 for 3mins of film, I'll stick to using my phone.

 

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Bianco2564

[S-Westerly]

It's quite phenomenal how mobile phones have evolved and apart from die-hard enthusiasts or professionals things like cameras and video recorders are almost obsolete.

[fastbob]

Making progress . 

[Bianco2564]

Looking good.

Edited November 22, 2021 by Bianco2564

[fastbob]

Nearly ready for paint . I've always loved the Beaufighter . What a brutal looking aircraft . Imagine a flight of those coming at you with rockets and cannons . 

Edited November 23, 2021 by fastbob

[MikeHorton]

13 minutes ago, fastbob said:

Nearly ready for paint . I've always loved the Beaufighter . What a brutal looking aircraft . Imagine a flight of those coming at you with rockets and cannons . 

Looks great, the Beaufighter and Blenheim both ran from my local airfield Halfpenny Green during the war it was a navigational training airfield. I believe one Blenheim was gifted to the air cadets it was still airworthy and used for a couple of years. I loved the Mosquito who would think a wooden machine could travel so fast!

[fastbob]

Paint on . 

[fastbob]

Engines done . Waiting for paints to be delivered to do the Invasion Stripes .

[Bianco2564]

@fastbob. Got my projector working after buying new drive belts and went through all my home movies.

There were clips of Coventry air show circa 1978-79 showing Concorde doing a fly past and a Lancaster landing.

Also there's a shot of us flying to Jersey from Baginton on what I think was a Bristol Britannia, there's a shot out a window and clearly showing a turboprop engine.

[fastbob]

12 hours ago, Bianco2564 said:

@fastbob. Got my projector working after buying new drive belts and went through all my home movies.

There were clips of Coventry air show circa 1978-79 showing Concorde doing a fly past and a Lancaster landing.

Also there's a shot of us flying to Jersey from Baginton on what I think was a Bristol Britannia, there's a shot out a window and clearly showing a turboprop engine.

I was there . Compared to today , Coventry airshows were amazing . 

[fastbob]

Invasion stripes painted . I decided to do it the hard way rather than use the supplied transfers . Next , the markings . I have chosen to represent an aircraft of the 144 Strike Group based at Banff , Aberdeenshire . This is a bicycle ride from where my Dad grew up and I'm pretty sure he would have spent some time there as a member of the ATC before joining up . When he did join the RAF he got transferred to the Fleet Air Arm and was stationed 480 miles away at Cleve Camp near Bude . So far away that he could not comfortably get home and back on a 48 hour pass . Left alone in the base he was befriended by the visiting pastor and his wife and taken into their family . Which is why I had an unrelated extra Grandma , and a bunch of Aunties , Uncles and Cousins who were all farmers in Devon . 

[MikeHorton]

Looks amazing and great to hear the story behind it

[fastbob]

Just a few finishing touches now. 

[MikeHorton]

Looks perfect job we'll done

[fastbob]

And that's how we do that . All ready to roar out over  the North Sea and bomb , torpedo , strafe and rain rockets upon Nazi shipping .

[billy sugger]

2 hours ago, fastbob said:

And that's how we do that . All ready to roar out over  the North Sea and bomb , torpedo , strafe and rain rockets upon Nazi shipping .

Can't you just bomb the HOP instead?