Saturday 19th, to be precise. My dad was about to undergo a double hernia op, which was a major thing then resulting in a week in hospital and about a month of recovery. Nowadays, you are in and out in a day but I digress…
The important thing is me, and more so as I would have my 10th birthday while dad was under the knife, so he took me to Addlestone for maximum scamming - whoops! - to choose some presents. I came away with a Matchbox He111 and a box each of the new 1/76 infantry (two German, though - dad did not want to be outnumbered). The one surprise present, though, was the Airfix LCM and Sherman. The LCM has long gone, but the Sherman survives in all its mid-80s Guards Armoured upgrade glory!
The hatch was modelled open as the Matchbox British had a tank commander and he needed a mount. So this is 50 years old and a bit fragile, but I still have my original Sherman which is probably 4 years older!
My dad built the Airfix stuff, but I had a crack at the He111. I did very well apart from not painting the pilots, which was my dad’s first comment when I showed him my magnificent effort. It was high praise indeed if you received a ‘Hmm. s’alright’.
Anyway, I’ll be jumping forward in time to 1983 again for my next post, with yet another holiday and my increasingly fertile teenage wargaming mind (helped by Keren Woodward from Bananarama).
Fantastic work on that Sherman.
ReplyDeleteKaren was fantastic work too, if i recall.
I may have been in Scotland on holiday - boy, it was warm... clearly early climate change issues ;)
I remember visiting dad in Ascot hospital: the tarmac was melting and the chap in the bed next to him had ants crawling over his orange squash! When I had my hernia op I was out the same day - benefits of keyhole surgery!
DeleteThat's quite a model!
ReplyDeleteI think that was done in 1984, so I was a bit older. You can see the Miniature Wargames/Peter Gilder influence!
DeleteI have nothing from back then, as later everything was binned when I went to Uni and thought I should put childish things behind me. Imagine how peeved i was when I got and found the wargaming club at the freshers' squash!
ReplyDeleteI do recall the summer of '76 though, a scorcher and all the grass everywhere was brown. My mum had gone to see relatives in Canada so my dad took me round Devon and Cornwall on an oil painting holiday - ah memories.
Sadly, I binned most of my stuff and regret it now. Reality bites, though, and I wouldn’t have room - plus it was all well-played with so not in a good way. This one survived because I had renovated it.
DeleteI built the Matchbox HE111 ain the summer holidays of 76 or 77.
ReplyDeleteI only had gloss white but still chose the winter camouflage version.
I was very chuffed with the final result!
My summer job is to renovate my Revell G-George Dambuster Lancaster from 1975! Managed to get a partially finished kit from Kingkit that has all the parts I need. That will be a challenge, as my dad made it, so I have to get into his groove to make it all look right.
DeleteIt always such a joy being able to play with models from one’s youth on the tabletop. A good looking Sherman to boot!
ReplyDeleteI think it was only used once after the repaint. Bit too fragile now, so it sits with the rest of the troop in my display cabinet. The youngest is 42.
DeleteThat was fantastic modelling at age ten! Weathering and all. Gosh. It has survived really well too. I have some planes from the mid–late '70s that are intact, in the main. Nowhere near as well built and painted as your Sherman—looks likes it's straight from the pages of Military Modelling for sure!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, James
I was actually 18 when I did that. In 1976 it was left in Airfix Racing Green Plastic with just the decals added to get into action quicker. By 1984 I’d sorted French Artillery Green for British armour and Khaki Drill slapped on and dry brushed with Oak weathered it nicely.
ReplyDelete