As Mal Mayfield (Holdfast) and I work together, our conversations usually end up on the subject of modelling. A lot of the time we end up talking about the kits we want to start (or finish!) but there always seems to be something that is keeping us from doing this. (okay, I'm the bigger culprit for this I suppose as Mal does actually finish some of his!)

It's either 'waiting for a good reference pic of the cockpit' or 'trying to find some appropriate decals' or 'got to re-scribe it all and it's such a big aircraft!!!.......' I'm sure many other modellers out there might have the same problems and all of this got us talking about 'the good old days' when a kit was bought in the morning, built by lunchtime and painted and decalled by night time. I know that for Mal when he was a kid, it was down to the local 'Woolworths' with his brothers to buy an Airfix kit. For me it was my local post office, where I'd cycle down and purchase a Matchbox aircraft kit for 99p. Oh, happy, carefree days!

Because of this, Matchbox kits have always held a special place in my heart. So, when I saw a Matchbox P-51 on E-bay for 99p I just had to put in a bid. Now thie kit was missing a canopy, which was great, because I had one that was missing it's spinner! Problem solved! I won the kit (for 99p!) and awaited delivery. It duly arrived, and I decided it was going to be built straight out of the box, no extra details added, just the way Matchbox intended them to be built!

It was one of the most enjoyable modelling experiences I have had for a long time. So the seat looks like a bench with a back...who cares? So the panel lines were either raised or a scale depth of three inches....who cares? I just built the thing as I would have done all those years ago, albeit with a little more care (and filler) and thoroughly enjoyed doing it. That's what it's all about to me. Enjoying it. I know that there are dozens of Mustang kits out there that are miles better than the Matchbox one, but it was just nice to take a little step back in time to when modelling was a little more carefree.

To be honest it was also a chance for me to experiment with 'Klear' floor polish which Mal has been on at me for ages to try. I'll never look back! Wonderful stuff! Anyway, here are the pics.

Happy modelling everyone!

Harri

I thoroughly enjoyed building Matchbox kits. For me, they appeared at the local discount store (which just closed their doors within the last 3 yrs) in the 1970s. I build just about every 1/76 scale armor and 1/72 scale airplane they sold. I even remember building the Tiger Moth and Lysander in a larger scale.

The Matchbox kits were probably my largest collection of armor kits.

I was at the annual Toy Fair which used to be held in Brighton when these kits were first released (1972?). Everybody ran them down as toys because of the multi-colour plastic, then we saw features such as the poistive locations for the Gladiators undercarriage. These were great starter kits for young modellers at the time, and some were even made into show entries!
Good to see that they're still around and giving pleasure - their armour and softskins are good little models as well.

Like so many in the UK and Europe, my first kit was a Matchbox.. the F4U corsair light and dark blue, off course.

They were easy to build, yet most were very accurate in actual profile !!!!! some kits sadly were never seen again in plastic kit form, like the buckeye or the wellesley.

And yes, their armor kits are still sought after all over the world... it even prompted revell to re release some.

when i was a lad i would just build it and then decal it, no painting whatsoever! i would mostly buy the airfix "blister" pack kits that sold for the princely sum of 30 pence. i remember buying an airfix me 109 G (still on sale today i think) building it, decaling it, then running around the house with it in the space of 30 minutes! p.s. for a quick oob build of an "elderly" kit that mustang looks pretty smart

the first kit I remember building was a Matchbox 1/72 Fairey Swordfish that my dad bought me and we built it together.
it was grey and olive green plastic.

I sill have one Matchbox kit - the Supermarine Stanraer.

Yes, to be honest Matchbox brought out some pretty daring kits in their later years. The Heinkel He 70, and Douglas Skynight were a couple that spring to mind. Also I remember the Hawk 100 as being an impressive little kit. I wonder if Revell will re-release any other old Matchbox kits. I personally would love to see the Halifax available again because I personally think it is a better kit that the Airfix one.

You can still find quite a wide selection of matchbox kits on E-bay and some go for very reasonable prices too.

Harri

Hi all!

As a kid, I used to buy my Matchbox kits in a "Bureau de tabac" at the end of the street where we lived. One kit was 5 francs at that time (late 70' early 80') and I build every one available! Even the Formula One with 6 wheels and Bang&Olufsen decals (It was a tyrell I think).
The strange thing about that is the fact that no one survived! When we moved in 1982, no more kits anymore! I asked my mother lately what happened to them at that time and she swears she didn't trashed them! I don't believe her! I think she was fed up with these plastic things laying around! :-)
Today, I have many of the Matchbox aircrafts in my stash... but from other manufacturers and in 1/48!

Jean-luc

Nice one Harri. I really wish that I could do a simple build without wethering etc, maybe I'll give it a try, one day. I do sometimes think about doing something other than aircraft, maybe cars. I Have often thought about doing them in showroom condition............maybe.
Stang looks good, have you decided what you're doing next?
Mal

i have an airfix p40E kittyhawk in my stash and im going to sart it NOW! after struggling with a roden ww1kit for the last two weeks i need somthing like this to chill out with
p.s. i dont care how inaccurate the nose might be!

For an old kit that Mustang looks very nice. Like the rest of you I built a LOT of Matchbox kits in my youth, aircraft and armour. Nice to build, some unusual subjects,and didn't some (if not most) of the armour kits come with a little diorama/vignette base as well?

I feel a quick eBay browse coming on...

That mustang does look great!
I can't join in the stories from the past on building Matchbox kits. But at this time I am building a Matchbox 1/32nd Bf-109e-3 which I am having a lot of fun with. I picked it up in an antique store for about $7.
The scale of this plane seems a little 'chunky' and not quite true to scale as compared to todays more more accurate kits. But as all ready mentioned above, who cares This kit so far has been a blast to work on.

Good modeling all,
Wayne

except for the trenchline depth of the surface panels, matchbox kits had a tendency to be spot on. SO your 1/32 ME 109 is in fact 1/32.

The ME109 is actually one of the best kits Matchbox has ever done, and even today, it can hold it's own a bit.. True, this isn't Hasegawa or Tamiya, but this is as good as could be made 25 years ago.

The Matchbox ME109 is actually a very accurate model. My favourite though is still the Spit 22/24 - absolutely beautiful. A pain around the wingroot area but a real treat when built. Wish I still had mine - a 22 and a conversion to a Seafire but sadly they've both long gone.

That's right. All of the Matchbox AFV's had a small base, usually with a couple of figures included in the kit.

It's great to hear of so many other people who have fond memories of these kits. I'm actually about to start a Matchbox Percival Provost (another E-bay bargain!) so I'll let you see it when it's completed.

Harri.

Thanks for the info on the Bf-109 guys.
It is really cool to know that it is a quality kit even for its age :-)

Wayne

I picked up one at a toy & model fair about 10 years ago - it had been started and a few bits were missing but I am replacing these as I go.

This is a kit that you can go to town on if the fancy takes you. The wings are made from quite thick plastic which means cutting out the slats and flaps is straightforward. I've also removed soem more panels from the nose so that the underside of the engine can be seen (the FSM Special on Battle of Britain aircraft was used as a guide).

You may be interested to know that some Matchbox aircraft are still available - Revell currently have the Heinkel He70 out at the moment and the Wellington Mk X can still be found in their box as well. (Italeri have a Wellington listed as a new release - thic could be the Matchbox one as well).

Second-hand dealers often have Matchbox kits at reasonable prices and garage/car boot sales can be good places to pick up bargains too.

Re the Matchbox AFVs - they can now be found in Revell boxes. The two tone plastic has been replaced by a single colour but i think the bases are still included.

Detail on the tracks in some cases isn't what we'd expect today but 25+ years ago was superior to Airfix track and due to their interlocking method of joining, meant no faffing about with cement - these were aimed at younger modellers but still stand up well today. In fact, I notice on some of my friends 1/76 resin tanks, that Matchbox parts appear to have been used on the masters.

Currently available are: M24 Chaffee, Sdkfz 234 Puma, Wespe SPG, Sherman Firefly, Priest SPG. There may be a couple that I've forgotten.

Revell also did the Sdkfz 11/Pak40/BMW motorcycle with a set of their new Afrika Korps 1/72 figures - again, the dio base was included. The Pz II was released with Revells horse drawn artillery set (a great kit in it's own right).

There were several others reissued recently like the Comet and T-34/76 and even a few more issued when Revell was just getting into the 1/72 scale armor field. Those were issued along with some 1/72 scale vinyl troops and were labeled as 1/72 instead of the more proper 1/76. Some of the combo packs included the Panzer II, Priest, Comet, Firefly, Stuart Honey, M16 halftrack, and the SdKfz 11/Pak combo you mentioned above.

I think Matchbox kits were great. Much better than the MPC boxings of the old Airfix kits that were competing on the shelves at the local department store.

this kittyhawk was finished a couple of days ago and is in the M.O.M.