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Matchbox sunset box art - to brighten your day!


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Okay, it’s almost summer, but not quite, and the weather where I am has turned cruddy. It’s a grey, windy, “Blech” day on the “meh” side of staying in bed all day. So, to get everybody pumped back up, I decided to dig out my own sunshine, in the form of some old Matchbox “Sunset Stripe” box art.

I love Matchbox kits, and the addition of the oh-so-80’s street van-esque “sunset stripe” to the boxes only makes these kits better. It’s like they’re trying to be something they’re not, but in the end, it just makes them cooler as relics of a long-gone age. 

Check out the pictures of my stripers at the link below;  I hope they photos bring a smile to your face and some warm memories to  your mind. If nothing else, they’ll give you a bit of sun on a cloudy day!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/matchbox-planes-sunset-boxes/

matchbox-planes-sunset-collection-002.jp

 
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I've built several of their 1/72 kits over the years, and have a big pile of them in the Snakepit to do. I know I've built the P-51D, the F-86A, the F6F Hellcat, the F-5A, and a couple of the F4U-4 Corsairs. One I'm especially looking forward to doing someday is the Noordyun Norseman--but I can't decide if I want to do it on wheels or floats. Maybe I need to get another one.

I built that 1/48 AD-5 Skyraider when it first came out, what, 1982, 83? Built it but never painted it and have never finished it. Someday I will! Meanwhile, I've picked up three or four more copies of that kit over the years, and have build plans for them all (USN, USAF, VNAF, and so forth).

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I've only ever seen the Norseman once - and the guy wanted some obscene money for it. I don't know why, but it did look like a cool kit! I'm the same with the Twin Otter - I'd love to do one on floats and one on wheels, but I can't decide.

A widebody Spad family picture would look awesome!

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  • 2 weeks later...

A widebody Spad family picture would look awesome!

I'd love to do a lineup of them someday. The one on the Shelf of Doom, I originally planned to do it in USAF camo but decided I didn't do a good enough job on it to warrant the work of that, so I'm just gonna squirt it Glossy Sea Blue as a generic early one. Then I'd like to do a 1964 1ACS USAF one flying with VNAF emblems, and maybe a true VNAF one, and maybe one of the USN EA-1Fs used for night interceptions over Vietnam in 1961. So many interesting ways to paint these fatfaces!

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I have always liked the Matchbox kits for their subject matter and ease of building. I know that some builders and reviewers have complained about too-deep panel lines and some lack of detail, but the kits fit together!!! After building many Airfix, Revell, FROG, and other manufacturers' airplanes, it is nice to have a kit which falls together without paying Tamiya prices. When I buy models for my model building program, I try and avoid biplanes, but my students have a fighting chance of finishing a Matchbox version. Right now, I have one of their SAAB J-29's on my workbench, ready for final assembly, and have enjoyed it thoroughly.  

BTW, your name is familiar, Adam. Have you written for a British model aircraft magazine, by chance?

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I have always liked the Matchbox kits for their subject matter and ease of building. I know that some builders and reviewers have complained about too-deep panel lines and some lack of detail, but the kits fit together!!! After building many Airfix, Revell, FROG, and other manufacturers' airplanes, it is nice to have a kit which falls together without paying Tamiya prices. When I buy models for my model building program, I try and avoid biplanes, but my students have a fighting chance of finishing a Matchbox version. Right now, I have one of their SAAB J-29's on my workbench, ready for final assembly, and have enjoyed it thoroughly.  

BTW, your name is familiar, Adam. Have you written for a British model aircraft magazine, by chance?

Hear, hear! 

I have to agree completely. I have a number of Frogs (but no more old Airfixes - I refuse!) that I've bashed on, and they take a TONNE of work. The same amount as my Farpro aircraft. They're not good when it comes to fit and their raised lines have to be rescribed anyway. As for sink marks, I think Matchbox is far better than the competition in most cases, too. Now, I have had to throw some putty at Matchbox kits, but nothing like the others. 

When you say modelling program, you mean like a program to get kids interested in modelling? That's awesome! Matchboxes are perfect for that! I have their J-29, and Heller's J-29 (I wanted the recce version so I could do one cammo). The Heller kit looks like it's nicer, finer and more detailed. It's also a lot less likely to fit and it will be a short tonne more work. 

Yes indeed, I have written for a couple, actually, in the recent past. I was in most recently in March or April's SAMI with, ironically, my FROG Ta-152H. I was pleased to be the last kit featured in the now defunct "Classic Plastic" column. I have a few other articles submitted to them that may one day see the light of day, too. 

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When you say modelling program, you mean like a program to get kids interested in modelling?

Yes it is. I run a program in the school where I teach, for students from Grades 4 to 8. The students start with a group build of a 1:24 car, and move on to building other models (usually 1:72 aircraft, depending on donations). I have been taking the group builds to contests, with a number of awards over the past few years, with a picture in the Model Cars annual being the biggest. There are a few teachers out there who build with their students; I was inspired by the model building which Bill Eh! did with his students, so I hope other like-minded teachers will encourage their classes.

I liked the article on the Ta-152. I always liked the Classic Plastic section in SAMI, and hope that they continue to run articles which are different from the other model aircraft magazines. With the cost of magazines these days, it's depressing to encounter the same basic article in both SAMI and SAM. 

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Yes it is. I run a program in the school where I teach, for students from Grades 4 to 8. The students start with a group build of a 1:24 car, and move on to building other models (usually 1:72 aircraft, depending on donations). I have been taking the group builds to contests, with a number of awards over the past few years, with a picture in the Model Cars annual being the biggest. There are a few teachers out there who build with their students; I was inspired by the model building which Bill Eh! did with his students, so I hope other like-minded teachers will encourage their classes.

I liked the article on the Ta-152. I always liked the Classic Plastic section in SAMI, and hope that they continue to run articles which are different from the other model aircraft magazines. With the cost of magazines these days, it's depressing to encounter the same basic article in both SAMI and SAM. 

That's awesome! I wish I'd had something like that when I was in those grades. I started modelling in Grade 6, when my buddy gave me the Monogram A-10 for my birthday. It's a travesty, but it was super fun to build one of my favourite planes. That was all it took. It's all the A-10's fault, actually; I saw (and was scared poopless) by a shark-mouthed A-10 when I was 4 and my dad took me to the London Airshow, and since then I've been big into planes. Then the sharky A-10 came and got me into models. Bloody heck, Fairchild, nice work! :)

Is your school a more rural school, where kids are more used to using their hands, or is it in a larger metropolitan area?

Thanks for the compliments. It was Classic Plastic that made me pick up my first SAMI, and then contact SAMI about the chance of me writing for them. I do like that they publish sometimes "less than perfect" examples of built kits. That's really, really important. I've never bothered with magazines because they show stuff so far above what I can do that it seemed pointless. I hope they continue to run weird stuff too. If they don't, it's going to be a serious mistake for them. I'm sad to see CP go, but I guarantee you that I'll keep building the oldies, and keep sending them in to SAMI, hoping they'll see light! 

 

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Is your school a more rural school, where kids are more used to using their hands, or is it in a larger metropolitan area?

I teach in a school which is mainly rural, but I have also implemented a similar program at an urban school. The club is open to all, but I have found that the majority of students who participate regularly are girls. There are boys who like to build, but they also like to get outside at recess. I don't chase after them to attend, though; they come when they feel like it.

 

Thanks for the compliments. It was Classic Plastic that made me pick up my first SAMI, and then contact SAMI about the chance of me writing for them. I do like that they publish sometimes "less than perfect" examples of built kits. That's really, really important. I've never bothered with magazines because they show stuff so far above what I can do that it seemed pointless. I hope they continue to run weird stuff too. If they don't, it's going to be a serious mistake for them. I'm sad to see CP go, but I guarantee you that I'll keep building the oldies, and keep sending them in to SAMI, hoping they'll see light! 

 

I agree with you on the content of SAMI. I have been buying the magazine for many years, and have enjoyed the variety of aircraft they cover. Since I enjoy building older kits, I enjoy reading Classic Plastic and Clark's Field (I also like Mike Grant's work, but it almost falls under the category of re-engineering). I just hope it doesn't fade out like SAM has over the past couple of years. I was buying it when Jay Laverty was editor, because it catered to a wide variety of subjects (the Canada Day issues were great), but I find that the content is no longer worth the price of admission. I do hope SAMI doesn't fall into that trap.

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