Best Christmas Airplane Model As A Kid?

[RyanShort1]

My mom had a rough year one year with an ongoing medical deal, and spent a lot of time in the hospital in San Antonio... well, the doctors there apparently wanted to do something nice for several of the kids of the patients (We'd spent a lot of time with her there) and some doctor gave me a 1/48 scale Monogram B-17 that was pretty sweet. I think it eventually got thrown away about a decade later after I built it, but that was an amazing model.

[Steve Nelson]

Late to the party, but I'll chime in. Hands-down the greatest Christmas model I ever got was the venerable Monogram 1/48 B-17G in 1975 (then a brand-new, state-of-the-art kit.) It was a gift from my uncle, who was visiting while on leave from the Navy. I was 11-years-old, and it was my first "serious" effort at a model. I endeavored to get the paint colors right, decals straight, keep the glue off the canopies and such. A couple of years later my friends and I went to the first big warbird airshow I'd ever attended, and I saw my first real live B-17: the CAF's Texas Raiders. I was inspired to recreate her, so I stripped the turrets off my old B-17 and painted her green. By then I had graduated to using actual military flat colors. I had to hand-paint all the numbers and letters..no such thing as aftermarket decals back then. At least, not in our tiny farm town on our paper route budgets.

It was also probably the first model I ever did actual research on. Our local village library had a book from the American Heritage Junior History series called "Air War Against Hitler's Germany," and I poured over every page, learning about places like Schweinfurt, Ploesti, and Regensburg. I nearly wore that book out over the course of my teen years, checking it out a couple dozen times. The librarian was a dear friend (and my sister's Godmother) and I once joked with her that if that book ever went out of circulation I wanted it. Fast-forward about three decades, and a package shows up in the mail. Obviously a book, wrapped in plain brown paper, with the return address of the (now long-retired) librarian. I turned to my wife and said "OMG, I know EXACTLY what this is!" Sure enough, I ripped off the paper to reveal the well-worn copy of "Air War Against Hitler's Germany," complete with the original check-out card still in the pocket of the back cover. That is probably one of the most treasured books I own.

Steve

[phil65]

Great story...

Phil

[Don Martin]

Would have to say the Monogram 1/72 B-52 and the 1/48 B-29(the early-mid 70's versions)........of course, there were many honorable mentions.....the Renwal Polaris Sub, The Airfix HMS Belfast....not airplanes, but sure put a smile on a kid's face......

[Rauhbatz]

Since Christmas is coming as well as a monster blizzard which lends itself well to model building....

...any other Christmas model gifts of note...

I bought a Monogram Ford Tri-motor from MTS Hobbies a few weeks back...received same one Christmas...as they flew these out of Columbus Ohio in the late 1920s as part of the transcontinential TAT route that involved planes and trains...

[Xray]

Would have to say the Monogram 1/72 B-52 and the 1/48 B-29(the early-mid 70's versions)........of course, there were many honorable mentions.....the Renwal Polaris Sub, The Airfix HMS Belfast....not airplanes, but sure put a smile on a kid's face......

Have had this B-29 hanging on my ceiling for years, going to have to try to dust it off some day.
Not sure if it is 1/48 or 1/72, I usually went with 1/72 for large aircraft and 1/48 for fighters.

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[junkman9096]

Christmas 1964 with two neat stacks of 10 Revell's 1/72 single engine fighters. The whole gamut of FW190, Me109, Mustang (which even to my 11 year old eyes looked like a lump) etc. Plus exotics like Me262, Frank, and Tony. Think they were 50 cents each and I was THRILLED.

[Rauhbatz]

Just moving this up in the topic list for 2023

Thanks to Alan at Old Model Kits I have an original french R-100 airship with the mooring mast...my dad went out in a snowstorm to a now defunct hobby shop in the bottom of a hardware store on High St in Columbus Ohio (it was Halls Hobbies I think) to get it for me for Christmas...

It was my last "holy grail" kit...so Im content...for now :0

[L-188]

I wish I could remember the countless models my dad built for me. One that stands out is the giant B-52 Monogram put out. i never developed the patience required to built models. I do have about 100 die casts, all shapes and sizes From Gemini jets to hobby master and corgi. My hats off to all the builders out there.

[Rauhbatz]

How about the Monogram Missile or Aircraft sets.....Alan has both for sale on Old Model Kits - New Additions Section

https://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?newlist=1

I was only a year old when these came out so my timing for them as Christmas gifts was off

[Rauhbatz]

How about the Monogram Missile or Aircraft sets.....Alan has both for sale on Old Model Kits - New Additions Section

https://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?newlist=1

I was only a year old when these came out so my timing for them as Christmas gifts was off

[JohnB]

How about the Monogram Missile or Aircraft sets.....Alan has both for sale on Old Model Kits - New Additions Section

https://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?newlist=1

I was only a year old when these came out so my timing for them as Christmas gifts was off

I bought an Air Power kit from that vendor 15+ years ago for (as you'd expect given inflation) a lot less money (but still too much, considering what the kit contains...IIRC).
A couple of years later, I found a nearly complete unbuilt kit at an antique store for $30!!!

Here is a well illustrated review of Monogram Air Power kit:

https://www.dembrudders.com/monogram-ai ... -1959.html

It was done as part of Bill Engar's kit review website. Bill is a columnist for the IPMS magazine and well known in the aircraft model world.
There is a link in there for a popular YouTube video as well.

Engar has told me there has been some serious consideration by one model maker to reengineering the kit (the original molds have been lost) for a reissue.

If you want the Missile kit, and don't want to pay a premium for an original issue.....buy one of the '80s Monogram updated re-releases or better yet, a recent Atlantis reissue of it (and get fresh, useable decals) and save a few hundred dollars.

[Rauhbatz]

Thanks John B!

The french R-100 I got last year was my Holy Grail...my shelves are so full I have no place for the Missile/Airpower sets :0

[JohnB]

Thanks John B!
..my shelves are so full I have no place for the Missile/Airpower sets :0

At those prices, your check book will be thankful.

It's super that younger generations can get the missile set at a bargain price thanks to the 1980s Monogram revision (replacing some missiles with more current ones) and reissue as well as the recent Atlantis reissue. Let's hope the Air Power set comes around as well.
As far as other reissues, a fairly simple $20 kit is great for people getting introduced to the hobby. Not everyone needs or wants a $60 Tamiya kit or a $300 1:32 B-17.

I'll post any news about the Air Power reissue on my "Old Models" thread here.

A thousand dollars for an AP kit shouldn't be too surprising with prices being what they are nowadays. Still, a $1000 is a lot to spend for a half pound of plastic. I only bought mine (at a then exorbitant price) because I grew up on Air Force bases in the 50s-60s, so that kit pretty much encapsulated my childhood.
And finding my second at $30 was a lot of luck, but you never know, bargains are out there.