Then it was the Comet and Guillows stick-kits covered in very light tissue, then sealed with clear dope and the decision taken whether to add the weight that was the cost of colour. We would soak the rubber in glycerin mixed with talc to get more winds out of the "motor".
Of course, that lead to uprating the plants to glo-fuel engines and learning to fly models with u-control. Many a model gave its all in the education process, but once you got the hang of it...
Between that and building Airfix, a love of aircraft and their history that still burns brightly.
I still will build an old Airfix, Frog, Revell, Monogram kit from those days from time to time. They come for easy money off the Bay of E and I have a bookcase full of unbuilt kits I've accumulated over the years. Just grab one as the muse alights and, in a few evenings, my cares get pulled down to their proper size.
No need to be melancholy, mate. The young generations aren't interested in the main, preferring sims and the like, and those who do build often regard the kits from our youth as too crude for their tastes. The various kits of old (in whatever medium) are plentiful and cheap.
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