Mad Matchbox Week end... 19-20 March 2005

Modeling Subjects Group Builds
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Mad Matchbox Days…?

I’m taking you back to the '70s; Disco music, flared trousers, afro hair-do’s, Pot-Noodles and many other ridiculously weird things. But some great things came out in the '70s too: Hotel California, huh… and the famed 1/76 line of Matchbox AFVs…![}:)]

Well, this is simple enough. Locate a Matchbox kit (AFV only please!), and give yourself a whole 48 hours to build it, vehicle, diorama and all! Because the great novelty thing with those Matchbox kits were the little base with the accessories and figures that came along with those kits. Remember the little bridge that came along with the Firefly…?

It’s not that difficult to locate those kits. E-bay, Kingkit (www.kingkit.co.uk), and now Revell re-issuing them. Won’t break the bank either!

48 hours to built the kit out of the box or bring in as many improvements as you care. Kitbashing, conversions allowed as long as it is based upon the kit and accompanying base. That little diorama can too be modified, detailled, included into a larger base, whatever, but it must be in there somewhere! Without it, you won’t deserve your Mad Matchbox Week end badge…!

It’s planned for the week end of the 19th and 20th of March 2005. I’m giving you two days because my MAD experience has shown that a MAD day project is really hard to complete!

Who’s in? So far, 9 of us:

Cplchilly (PzIII ausf.L)
Deusmex (Chaffee)
Jeff Gunn (?)
Keyworth (?)
KJ200 (?)
Petbat (Stuart)
Rob Gronovius (?)
Tankergeoff (Priest)
and myself (Firefly)

In case you’re not convinced yet, let me refresh your memory a little, though! There were some great little models in that range. Enough for all tastes!

Monty’s Caravan

Wespe

SdKfz 232 6-Rad

SdKfz 11 + BMW + PaK40

Humber

Stuart

M7 Priest

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Scale Link offer a number of conversion kits for some Matchbox kits such as the Chiurchill, Sherman, PzIII and a few others…

Check them out here:

http://www.scalelink.co.uk/acatalog/Conversion_Kits_1_76__Airfix___Matchbox_Originals_.html

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DJ you’re tempting me here, despite my abysmal showing on MKD!!!

Put me down as a maybe.

My LHS still has a number of Matchbox kits, mainly A/C but some armour I think.

When are we going to see a 60s Airfix day?

Karl

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Cool, Karl. I’m glad to see you here too! As to the Mad '60s Airfix Day, I’ll let you organise it…! Your idea! A good one too… There are quite a few old Airfix kits that I would not mind trying out again… Rotodyne, A4D Shyhawk, Graf Spee, Lunar Module, …

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I’m thinking maybe an Airfix weekend with kits costing no more than £5/$10 perhaps. My LHS has loads of the smaller kits from the 60s, the ones I first built as a kid in the late 70’s along with all those lovely Matchbox kits.

Have you thought about moving the Matchbox GB to the following weekend it’s a long one being Easter?

Karl

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Good point, Karl… Let’s see if the others are interested in the Easter W-E instead of the one before…

Airfix Series 1… Talk about going down memory lane…!

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My first ever kit was an Airfix Bf-109G… Hey we could also do a ‘re-build your first ever kit GB’…!

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In that case mine would be an Airfix Hellcat in that lovely silver plastic!!!

I can almost feel the tube glue squeezing out between my fingers and the kit!!![:D]

Happy memories.

Not sure if the US guys get a longer weekend for Easter, can only assume that they do. I get an even longer weekend, it’s my birthday on the Tuesday so that’s a 5th day off[:D]

Karl

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Hey Karl, did you use that awful glue in the yellow tubes??! How many kits did I completely mess up with that glue! Ohh, happy memories!

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If memory serves, and it frequently fails to, it came in a light blue tube at first, that you had to break the metal tip off with pliers to open.

The Wildcat came in a pack with a cardboard backing piece and header, and a plastic bubble type affair, with the instructions on the back piece. I can also remember buying an Airfix Spitfire in the same packing, and pale blue plastic from my local news agent. They also used to sell the glue, back in the days when the selling of noxious substances to those under 18 was a useful source of income![:D]

Karl

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Ahaa! Well, in Belgium, I’m 99% sure the Humbrol glue came in a yellow/white tube. My 109 came in a hard plastic blister with the instructions printed on the back too. I remember my then local hobby shop (well, toy shop) did have a bin with the soft blister type Airfix kits and I remember buying at least the famed Mk I Male kit from there…

That shop also had lots of Revell kits, the ones with the kit sized to fit the box… I vividly remember Revell’s old B-24, in olive green plastic, probably scales at 1/119,53 or something weird like that! Those were the rivets’ golden age! LOL

Then came the Matchbox kits… The rest is history!

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I’m sure my first encounter with Matchbox was either a Curtis Helldiver, with, I think folding wings, or a Wellington, the latter built by my dad. I can rember sitting in the living room and painting the Helldiver a lovely shade of gloss dark green from a little glass bottle.!!!

Fidelity?

More like fiddle sticks![:D]

I used to rush around the the Aviation Hobbyshop in West Drayton every Friday, it was just around the corner, with my pound pocket money clutched in my sweaty mit, and almost invariably would return after much dithering with a new Matchbox kit. Said kit would then be built on the kitchen table, and decaled within the hour!!!

I always liked the Matchbox kits as they were a better build than the Airfix kits, though I do remember my father coming with me one day and returning with Revell’s B17 in 1/72 .

Nostalgia is a heady drug!

Karl

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I just got my entry for this group build ,and its soooooooooooo cute. Its the revell reissue of the M24 Chaffee. The base is in 2 parts so will need plenty of filler , but it only comes in one colour plastic instead of the funky 2 colour matchbox version. The detail is pretty much as expected , ie bad but it dont half bring back memories .[:D]

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Very cool choice, Deusmex…! I built a few of those too as a kid…!

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Hmm matchbox [:)] I even remember their catalogues from those days ; the first few pages the model kits, and the next ones their little diecast cars…

I’ve built a few of those colorfull kits as well, remebering a halftrack (I believe that one came with a railway embedding), a Jagdpanzer (with ruined walls) and didn’t they also have a complete invasion dio ?

Anyway, if (and that is a very big IF) if happen to find one of those kits from memory lane, I’ll join this GB.

ps Do I really have to wear that funky green wick and plateau-shoes ???

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Dan, that is a pre-requisite along with a picture of your un-opened Matchbox kit taken at Midnight on the day before we start (and of course, you must appear in the picture!)

By the way, are we going for the Easter week end or the one before, as originally planned? What do you all think?

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Easters fine by me. I have plenty to keep me going till then [:D]

Oh I just thought Easter isnt fine by me. I have kids lol Id be a baaaaad dad if I just shut myself away and neglected the kiddies.

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That’s exactly why I suggested Easter!!![}:)]

I figure they’ll all be busy stuffing themselves with chocolate anyway!

If you’re looking for a source of these kits try the link below:

www.model-material.com/Wargaming/matchbox.htm

They are based in the UK, I haven’t used them, but the prices look good.

I tried my LHS the other day, but it looks like they have finally run out of Matchbox armour, still got a few A/C kits though.

Karl

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I found some Matchbox AFV kits in 1/76 at GreatModels.com, but I’m not sure if they would count (most of them are modern AFV’s not listed in post #1 and I dunno if they have diorama accessories included).

Price is good though. If these count, I may just need to join this with a Challenger [:)]

Sean

Challenger URL: http://greatmodels.com/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=mmx40178

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Sean, that Chally is a later Matchbox kit and it does not come with any cute little base/diorama… I’d rather you finding an earlier kit. Revell is re-releasing them (Wespe, T34, Firefly,…) and they are still very cheap (just under £4 here).

Domi