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My First Heartbreak 27/Jan/19


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A long time ago in a land far away ...  Ok....   1978 Grayling, Michigan....

My father gave me this kit:

PJzFvw.jpg

Until that time, I had only known of one other 109 kit, the 1/48 scale Monogram kit with Galland's markings.  At that time it was summer vacation and my father had my sister and me until school started.  We were staying at his on-and-off girlfriend's place for a few days, and with a passion, I had started building the kit.  Once I got the landing gear attached, I propped the model to dry.    Then we had to go to Grandma's house for a few days.  For those few days I thought only about getting back to my model.

 

Alas, the girlfriend was a neat freak.  My propped and drying model was never seen by me again.  Nobody ever fessed up to throwing it into the trash, nor did anyone replace it.  And I was just a broke kid.  So, summer ended extra-unhappily that year.

At a recent show, I saw the box and grabbed it up as if I were drowning at sea, and it was a life-jacket.

8zmiI7.jpg

I realize now that many parts are the wrong shape and dimension.

8bQxwQ.jpg

Hinges will have to be cut off or filled, and some parts will have to be modified.

But Damnit...  I'm gonna finish this kit.  And weather it up appropriately.

...without any AM or major surgery, just a little prettying up.

Because I always felt that I had been royally screwed over that summer.

 

Thanks for joining me as I get this one back!

 

Gaz

 

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21 minutes ago, 1to1scale said:

I say you finish it OOB, and hand paint the whole thing! Finish as you would have back then, this way she won’t break your heart again.

Can't do it the way I did back then.  Had no idea of real color schemes.  Only had a few bottles of Testors paints.  And with a brush...   ugh...  I can't even imagine. 

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I can relate. I was gifted with a whole bunch of KP-Plastic 1/72 models dating from early 70's. My daughters friends Grand Father was a mechanic in the Polish Airforce and he left the kits to him in his will. Long story short, they ended up with me to build. 

Actually very interesting reading material, he went through every kit amd has hand written notes on the instructions as to what is wrong and what not. 

 

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Hi Gaz, nice deep dive into nostalgia. I like the idea of 1to1scale to finish the 109 the way you should have done by the time to close that chapter. But hey, it's your history and there is a lot of AM around. Man, an engine out of two parts, if only Zoukei Moura knew :D.

Cheers Rob

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Go for it Gaz. I've been considering one or two "nostalgia builds". I think the old Lindberg aircraft carrier "Wasp" will be a great start. I still have the one I built as a kid. I rescued it from the attic a while back. Certainly the worse for wear. LOL :)

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Guys,

     Thanks for all of the positive props!  Makes me feel keen to dive back into it...  now if I could get away from this job!

Martin,

     Thanks for the parts offer.  I'm gonna stick to the kit parts just because I want to see it in all of it's goodness and nastiness.  Every time I look at something I see something else that they didn't get quite right.  I may use a little brass tube here and there, but that's standard everywhere I see plastic gun barrels.

 

Gaz

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Wow, Gaz. But I built this exact kit back in the day. I saved money from my short-lived paper route and bought it at the local hobby shop.

I think it was 2 bucks. My 1st 1/32 airplane kit. I remember having a hell of time getting the "bulge" to line up.

So if you don't mind, I'll travel along on your journey to the past. :)

Thanks

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Gaz, this is awesome!  I remember that kit back in the day. I loved the boxart.. two 109s on a slushy runway on one of those nasty cold that cuts to the bone freezing rain evenings. I get thechillsbjust looking at it.

Go for it!!   Finish this thing!  I did mine back then as well, but from what I remember, it was pretty hideous looking.

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This is also a big nostalgia trip for me. I had one of these, and it went through 3 distinct paint schemes while I had it, including my first ever attempt at Luftwaffe mottling (using a dry brush). I eventually finished it using the (totally spurious!) 9/JG54 decals from the Fw190D-9 kit. It came out great! (although it did have 74/75 fuselage mottles with 70/71 splintered wings, but hey ho)  42 years later, I still have the kit in pieces! And I now have another in its box...

Build it OOB; enjoy it and enjoy the nostalgia blast! This isn't an exercise in accuracy; we all seem to get paralysed by the accuracy bug from time to time. This is not one of these occasions - this is pure enjoyment :)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

HI Everyone,

     With me pouring most of my modelling energy into the Brummbär build, I haven't done much with this bird.  Over the last couple of days I was able to spend a little time on the pilot.  His face is a bit malformed, but my figure painting hasn't helped him, either.  For your entertainment I present:

FRANKENPILOT!!

xXmGIl.jpg

 

I haven't detailed his boots as they'll never be seen again.  Hopefully some day my figure painting won't be so bad.

 

Thank you for sharing my nostalgic trip.

 

Gaz

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