Matchbox Model Kit Thread
Discussion
Thought it might be nice to have a thread dedicated to the old Matchbox kits. I built loads of these as a kid, and now my own kids dabble in modelling, I've found that these kits can be picked up for a few £, and are obviously just as quick and easy to build as they always were, so they're ideal for beginners.
Here's a start with the 1:72 Gnat from '72/'73:
1:72 Skyservant form c. '74:
1:32 Spitfire from c.'77:
1:32 Bf109 again from c.'77:
Picked these up from Telford for £8 the pair:
The Skyhawk (c.'76) was immediately claimed by the daughter, and apparently won't be troubled by a paintbrush. The Mig 21 is pretty bad; I'd assumed it was a re-boxing of the original '74 kit, but on closer inspection of the runners, the mouldings were appalling. The reason quickly became apparent:
Still, at least the pilot has a nice comfy chair:
Feel free to post pics of your own Matchbox kits here folks (or the Revell re-boxings)...
Here's a start with the 1:72 Gnat from '72/'73:
1:72 Skyservant form c. '74:
1:32 Spitfire from c.'77:
1:32 Bf109 again from c.'77:
Picked these up from Telford for £8 the pair:
The Skyhawk (c.'76) was immediately claimed by the daughter, and apparently won't be troubled by a paintbrush. The Mig 21 is pretty bad; I'd assumed it was a re-boxing of the original '74 kit, but on closer inspection of the runners, the mouldings were appalling. The reason quickly became apparent:
Still, at least the pilot has a nice comfy chair:
Feel free to post pics of your own Matchbox kits here folks (or the Revell re-boxings)...
Yep, there's not much wrong with that Tempest - good example of what can be achieved. IIRC it had the option of a completely different nose with chin intake - typical Matchbox.
Many parts for their larger kits - especially fuselages of the heavy bombers - were in several sections. This was apparently due to the limited capacity of their injection moulding machines. This is the B-17 with the nose and tail chopped off:
I've got a 1:32 Sea Venom and the Revell boxing of the Walrus in the stash.
Many parts for their larger kits - especially fuselages of the heavy bombers - were in several sections. This was apparently due to the limited capacity of their injection moulding machines. This is the B-17 with the nose and tail chopped off:
I've got a 1:32 Sea Venom and the Revell boxing of the Walrus in the stash.
Yes - the Tempest came with alternative noses - which was a nice touch. I built the V version twenty plus years ago but it's not worthy of posting a picture as my skills back then were fairly crude.
I have lots of Matchbox kits in my unbuilt pile. My favourites are the "between the wars" 1/72 models they produced.
I have lots of Matchbox kits in my unbuilt pile. My favourites are the "between the wars" 1/72 models they produced.
Loved that Tempest, I built mine with the other nose, although I seem to remember I got the greys mixed up on the colour scheme and it ended up looking a bit weird, doesn't matter too much when you're 8 though.
Other notable mentions go to the more unusual stuff like the Vickers Wellesley and Messerschmitt ME210. Seem to remember their Meteor being really nice too, choice of noses and canopies.
Other notable mentions go to the more unusual stuff like the Vickers Wellesley and Messerschmitt ME210. Seem to remember their Meteor being really nice too, choice of noses and canopies.
lufbramatt said:
Loved that Tempest, I built mine with the other nose, although I seem to remember I got the greys mixed up on the colour scheme and it ended up looking a bit weird, doesn't matter too much when you're 8 though.
Other notable mentions go to the more unusual stuff like the Vickers Wellesley and Messerschmitt ME210. Seem to remember their Meteor being really nice too, choice of noses and canopies.
I built the Messerschmitt - which is a 410 by the way Other notable mentions go to the more unusual stuff like the Vickers Wellesley and Messerschmitt ME210. Seem to remember their Meteor being really nice too, choice of noses and canopies.
. It's not one of their best, to be honest and these days the Italeri or the Fine Molds kits are a better bet. Italeri do make a 210 as well.I was on the prowl for a PB4Y Privateer at Telford but I wanted the more recent Revell release as the decals would be better. I didn't see one although I did see one in the original Matchbox box which I passed on.
I built loads of them too and they are still on my favourites list
Mind you they weren't ALL good, their Jaguar T2 was far too short and if its front seater had needed to eject he'd have left all of his lower bits behind
In my small pile of ready to builds I have a Buccaneer, Stranraer and a Wessex to convert into a Westland Wessex (again)
And at the Sutton Coldfield Show I found this tucked away in a box on the floor £3, in a bag without a box
The A.W. Siskin which I'm using a: for the simple pleasure of it and b: to try out brushpainting the new Vallejo Model Air silver, aluminium and chrome paints
They are not bad
Oh yes at Telford I found a stall with many bargains, not least of which was a similarly packed (no box but with transfers) Matchbox Hawker Fury
For one pound
Big bargain methinks
b
Mind you they weren't ALL good, their Jaguar T2 was far too short and if its front seater had needed to eject he'd have left all of his lower bits behind
In my small pile of ready to builds I have a Buccaneer, Stranraer and a Wessex to convert into a Westland Wessex (again)
And at the Sutton Coldfield Show I found this tucked away in a box on the floor £3, in a bag without a box
The A.W. Siskin which I'm using a: for the simple pleasure of it and b: to try out brushpainting the new Vallejo Model Air silver, aluminium and chrome paints
They are not bad
Oh yes at Telford I found a stall with many bargains, not least of which was a similarly packed (no box but with transfers) Matchbox Hawker Fury
For one pound
Big bargain methinks
b
perdu said:
I built loads of them too and they are still on my favourites list
Mind you they weren't ALL good, their Jaguar T2 was far too short and if its front seater had needed to eject he'd have left all of his lower bits behind
In my small pile of ready to builds I have a Buccaneer, Stranraer and a Wessex to convert into a Westland Wessex (again)
And at the Sutton Coldfield Show I found this tucked away in a box on the floor £3, in a bag without a box
The A.W. Siskin which I'm using a: for the simple pleasure of it and b: to try out brushpainting the new Vallejo Model Air silver, aluminium and chrome paints
They are not bad
Oh yes at Telford I found a stall with many bargains, not least of which was a similarly packed (no box but with transfers) Matchbox Hawker Fury
For one pound
Big bargain methinks
b
The Siskin looks good. I remember it went together well. Blue & yellow plastic?Mind you they weren't ALL good, their Jaguar T2 was far too short and if its front seater had needed to eject he'd have left all of his lower bits behind
In my small pile of ready to builds I have a Buccaneer, Stranraer and a Wessex to convert into a Westland Wessex (again)
And at the Sutton Coldfield Show I found this tucked away in a box on the floor £3, in a bag without a box
The A.W. Siskin which I'm using a: for the simple pleasure of it and b: to try out brushpainting the new Vallejo Model Air silver, aluminium and chrome paints
They are not bad
Oh yes at Telford I found a stall with many bargains, not least of which was a similarly packed (no box but with transfers) Matchbox Hawker Fury
For one pound
Big bargain methinks
b
I think we probably went to the same stall at Telford - on the corner of an aisle? That's where the Tamiya Zeros for £9 were at IIRC, and where I got the Mig 21 and Skyhawk.
That's the one, blue and beige in my boxing
A bit short of undercarriage location points but really fine detailing for a Matchbox kit
Which I think went for most of their delightful biplanes
That stall had lots of really 'going for a song' items, lady wanted out of the Model Show game I understand
A bit short of undercarriage location points but really fine detailing for a Matchbox kit
Which I think went for most of their delightful biplanes
That stall had lots of really 'going for a song' items, lady wanted out of the Model Show game I understand
perdu said:
That worked well, not much refinement needed to help expand a junior modeller's skill repertoire with that one
Tell her Bill says nice
Thanks Bill.Tell her Bill says nice
This is WIP for the boy's MiG 21:
He chose the Egyptian AF scheme. I musr say he's getting pretty good at freehand camo. The pilot looks great too.
We're going to mount it over an appropriate base photograph with a motion blur filter applied.
Built the Tempest a few years back, and it formed the basis for an experiment on metal finishes.
First I sprayed the whole thing white, then masked and sprayed some of the panels in various shades of blue, grey, brown, black etc.
Then I oversprayed this with a 50:50 mixture of silver and clear, stopping when the difference between the colours was just visible. Then decalled it and gave it the final clearcoat.
Interestingly, the effect seems to vary depending on where you view it from, and where the model is relative to the light source.
Of course, it's not really applicable to the Tempest, which would have been painted in High Speed Silver. But it was an interesting exercise, and a nice cheap kit to try it on!
First I sprayed the whole thing white, then masked and sprayed some of the panels in various shades of blue, grey, brown, black etc.
Then I oversprayed this with a 50:50 mixture of silver and clear, stopping when the difference between the colours was just visible. Then decalled it and gave it the final clearcoat.
Interestingly, the effect seems to vary depending on where you view it from, and where the model is relative to the light source.
Of course, it's not really applicable to the Tempest, which would have been painted in High Speed Silver. But it was an interesting exercise, and a nice cheap kit to try it on!
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