I got the Priest for my 6th birthday in 1981. It was my first model kit. And I absolutely loved everything about it, including the diorama! I could look at those track prints in the mud for hours. Then I started collecting more Matchbox kits, and yep, the other dioramas may have been better, but I never saw the Priest diorama as bad.
Thank you Peter for an awesome series of broadcasts, both reminiscent and informative. I’ve enjoyed greatly the fond memories of building these kits, also the ones that got away. Your peeve about wrong box art and incorrect missiles, but you steered well clear of the monumental error of the Alpha Jet. Maybe one more show 🤣
It is almost impossible not to watch and listen to your videos the whole way through as you come out with some absolute gems! John Noakes! A true legend. The Viggen missiles are SAAB RB04s. Your Gerry Anderson suggestion has some credence. The missiles were first used around 1959 on the Lansen, about 3 years before Fireball XL5 first hit our snowy little 405 lines televisions. I wonder if the Matchbox Viggen had a brief shelf-life because Matchbox only put that rather daunting colour scheme on the box? Not their fault as the overall grey Viggens were still in the future in 1976. The silver prototype finish would have been a simpler option for youngsters. I have to slightly disagree with you about the Helldivers. Yes the later one has less story to it but in this case I prefer its depiction of the actual aircraft. I have thoroughly enjoyed this series, Peter. Thank you so much for taking the time to entertain us. PS My dad would be saying exactly the same to me.
This has been a fantastic series.... so many memories! Thank you so much for this 👍🏻 These Matchbox kits were very special; a real breath of fresh air back in those days, with not a lot else but 'ancient' 20 year old moulds from Airfix, Frog, and Revell... Yeah, some Matchbox Magic... 👍🏻👍🏻
I built the SB2C as an A-25, painted OD over grey, Humbrol paints; the F4U, Humbrol paints; the E.E. Lightning as an F.2A, green over natural metal, Humbrol paints. All were built in the mid to late 1970's. Owned most of the rest at the time, including the Gnat, Strikemaster, Buccaneer, and the A-20... Revell also released the E.E. Lightning in their box and bought that as well. Sad to say most have been superceded as serious scale models. However, there are a good number of kits, like the Siskin and the Wellesley, that have not.
Thanks for that Matchbox mini series, very enjoyable and interesting regarding the box art ‘sanitation’. I find it strange as the original artwork depicted true historical events which puts the model into context with a specific time and place. This fires the imagination and gives the model maker a jumping off point to do their own research and expand their knowledge where a generic picture does non of those things, a backward step in my opinion. But a most enjoyable watch Peter.
Not sure but I think that by the time I went through the orange range I painted half of them, maybe more. If the colour scheme seemed to difficult I wouldn't paint them. I had about half of the shown kits. None survived into the 21st century I'm afraid... One or two I bought later again in 1/48 or 1/32 scale.
Love your videos. The matchbox series was very nostalgic. Took me back and has got me building my own collection of Matchbox planes. I had no idea of the genesis boxes. I have 3 now. Very pleased. I remember buying them for 30p! From a hardware shop called Mr Bond's Store
Hi Peter, greatly enjoyed the matchbox series, I only ever had one in the 1990s and shortly thereafter stopped modelling though I'm still interested. In a just barely related topic, i wonder if you are aware of some of the very early Airfix a/c kits that were moulded in different colours? I was about six or seven (many moons ago) and distinctly remember my dad having a Gladiator, Camel and Lysander and I think the Spit BT-K that were available in both silver and blue plastic. That is all one colour not multi coloured a la Matchbox. I don't know if both colours were available simultaneously or if one was replaced by the other. It would be interesting to know more but I seem unable to find any info. Sorry to have "gone on" a bit! Keep up the good work Mate.
Enjoyed this, but I feel that MB's range of military figures should have been given a mention. The first 3 sets were pretty good, but they really upped their game for the rest of the series. They set a new standard for sculpting, posing and mould quality. The only drawback was the horrid mortars that were standard for all the kits. If you were a kid building model tanks you definitely wanted some of their fine troops to go with them.
I was late to the Matchbox party having built the P38 Lightning in 1990. It was my second kit and I absolutely butchered it! I went with the all metal scheme as I was drawn to the devil decals on the fuselage thingies! If I remember correctly, the decals were crap! Great vid (again) Peter!
I thought the Matchbox decals were not the best. Colour registration could be a little be out on some kits. A year or so before Matchbox launched their kits, Frog repackaged some of theirs and these came with excellent decals, I remember a 1/72 Spitfire that could be built to represent Douglas Bader's aircraft.
@@Danzo1957 Agree with you there Dan on the quality of decals. That being said, I'm looking at a 1/72 Me 110 in my stash from 1983 and the matchbox decals are very usable! As for Frog, I do have a soft spot for them and just finished a 227 Squadron Beaufighter this weekend - very enjoyable build (sans decals ;) )
The Jaguars big Rocket Pod is presumably meant to be a Matra JL-100 drop tank/rocket pack, but I have never seen them on an RAF (or French) aircraft. Wikipedia says Lightings carried these. The other missiles are possibly "meant" to be Martels, but the shape is too slim. The splitter plates are wrong for this type. The instructions tell you to remove them, but you are still left with the hugely oversized V section on the fuselage half. That should not be there either, they should be flush with the intake lip. The model is seemingly based on a pre production prototype.
You could think they used toxic substances to color the plastic that vivid , i always thought the Matchbox kits looked very modern both in boxart en consistent quality , dirt cheap too , i remember i could buy 2 of every weeks pocket money in 1978-79
The Matcvhbox Strikemaster was nice although I think that the Airfix Jet Provost T5 kit was better. I'd expect that Fireball XL5 (1962) predates French anti-shipping missiles. Fireball XL5 was inspired by the Sanger Bredit spaceplane concept and the spaceship from the film "When Worlds Collide". Those devices on the P-38 booms are actually turbochargers rather than superchargers. Airfix and Hasegawa had metallic coloured plastic. The Matchbox A-20 had a few shape errors, particularly around the engines. The older Airfix kit was more accurate in outline, if cruder and more difficult to build.
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab The special effects were by George Pal, who won Oscars for some of his movies (War of the Worlds for example). The original idea for using a rail system to launch a rocket dates back no the 1930s when Dr Eugen Sanger and his girlfriend Irene Bredt designed a spacecraft that was boosted along a rocket rail and then up a mountainside. It was referred to as the Sanger-Bredt Spaceplane and also the Silbervogel (Silver Bird). The Nazis contemplated using it to bomb New York. It was way ahead of its time. Sanger and Bredt eventually worked in the US for Bell Aircraft and some of their ideas were incorporated in the Boeing X-20 Dyna -Soar project.
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab It scared the (short) pants off me when I first saw it aged about 11. I love it now. The Morlocks always remind me of a certain ex-Prime Minister
How to relive your childhood without sending any of these little angels to heaven - Step 1. Buy the classic Matchbox kit of your choice from eBay. (The price will be extortionate, but if you are mad enough to follow the following steps, you may be able to convince yourself that it's good value for money!) Step 2. Buy the modern Revell equivalent (this may also be extortionately priced, but you may be lucky enough to get them in a sale if nobody else was ts to buy them!😂) Step 3. Carefully (lovingly) remove the contents of the classic kit and put them in a safe place. Step 4: Remove the contents of the Revell kiit and throw the box and instructions in the bin! Step 5. Carefully place the revell contents in the classic kit box along with the original Matchbox instructions. Step 6. Take this reboxed kit into your workroom and build it (taking great care not to damage the all-important box and instructions). Step 7. Put the original contents back in the classic kit box and place it back in your stash! Note - if you're careful, you may be able to do this several times before the box starts to show signs of wear! If the box is already tatty, who cares. you can do it as many times as you like (or untill the tatty box falls apart!😂 This way, you may get to have your cake and eat it! You will just have to imagine that the boring grey/ white revell plastic is in two or three garish 1970's colours! (Apparently there are certain physchotropic drugs that can help with that last bit, but I wouldn't know anything about that! 😂
Recently almost finished a revel t-6 texan but even though is is sold as a starter set they rank it as a level 3 kit... Absloutley horrible kit and the fit of the parts was awful.. More hassle than it's worth. Ended up throwing it in the bin. I will NEVER buy another revel kit again unless it's 1 of the matchbox kits they reissued.. Have also being losing faith in them for a while and that texan kit was the last straw.
I got the Priest for my 6th birthday in 1981. It was my first model kit. And I absolutely loved everything about it, including the diorama! I could look at those track prints in the mud for hours. Then I started collecting more Matchbox kits, and yep, the other dioramas may have been better, but I never saw the Priest diorama as bad.
It was good quality, I just felt it was too small.
Those rockets look like something from WW2 slung under an Allied or German ground attack fighter 🤔 Ah Steve Zodiac 😂😉
Well done Peter top marks very entertaining again look forward to your next vlog 👏👏👏👍🏴🏴
The Curtiss helldiver was a lovely kit. Especially the folding wings,
Thank you Peter for an awesome series of broadcasts, both reminiscent and informative. I’ve enjoyed greatly the fond memories of building these kits, also the ones that got away.
Your peeve about wrong box art and incorrect missiles, but you steered well clear of the monumental error of the Alpha Jet. Maybe one more show 🤣
Love your videos , so enjoyable.pure pleasure.
Another lovely blast from the past 😛 Lovely stuff. Thanks
It is almost impossible not to watch and listen to your videos the whole way through as you come out with some absolute gems! John Noakes! A true legend.
The Viggen missiles are SAAB RB04s. Your Gerry Anderson suggestion has some credence. The missiles were first used around 1959 on the Lansen, about 3 years before Fireball XL5 first hit our snowy little 405 lines televisions.
I wonder if the Matchbox Viggen had a brief shelf-life because Matchbox only put that rather daunting colour scheme on the box? Not their fault as the overall grey Viggens were still in the future in 1976. The silver prototype finish would have been a simpler option for youngsters.
I have to slightly disagree with you about the Helldivers. Yes the later one has less story to it but in this case I prefer its depiction of the actual aircraft.
I have thoroughly enjoyed this series, Peter. Thank you so much for taking the time to entertain us.
PS My dad would be saying exactly the same to me.
Build the boston nice wee kit back in the day remember going ott on the weathering lol
That Strike master is an absolute little jem of a kit.
This has been a fantastic series.... so many memories! Thank you so much for this 👍🏻
These Matchbox kits were very special; a real breath of fresh air back in those days, with not a lot else but 'ancient' 20 year old moulds from Airfix, Frog, and Revell...
Yeah, some Matchbox Magic... 👍🏻👍🏻
I built the SB2C as an A-25, painted OD over grey, Humbrol paints; the F4U, Humbrol paints; the E.E. Lightning as an F.2A, green over natural metal, Humbrol paints. All were built in the mid to late 1970's.
Owned most of the rest at the time, including the Gnat, Strikemaster, Buccaneer, and the A-20...
Revell also released the E.E. Lightning in their box and bought that as well.
Sad to say most have been superceded as serious scale models.
However, there are a good number of kits, like the Siskin and the Wellesley, that have not.
Really enjoyed the series thank you Peter. 👏
Thanks Paul ONE MORE short one tomorrow, the Epilogue...please do not miss it!👍🏻
Thanks for that Matchbox mini series, very enjoyable and interesting regarding the box art ‘sanitation’. I find it strange as the original artwork depicted true historical events which puts the model into context with a specific time and place. This fires the imagination and gives the model maker a jumping off point to do their own research and expand their knowledge where a generic picture does non of those things, a backward step in my opinion.
But a most enjoyable watch Peter.
Not sure but I think that by the time I went through the orange range I painted half of them, maybe more. If the colour scheme seemed to difficult I wouldn't paint them. I had about half of the shown kits. None survived into the 21st century I'm afraid... One or two I bought later again in 1/48 or 1/32 scale.
Love your videos. The matchbox series was very nostalgic. Took me back and has got me building my own collection of Matchbox planes. I had no idea of the genesis boxes. I have 3 now. Very pleased. I remember buying them for 30p! From a hardware shop called Mr Bond's Store
Hi Peter, greatly enjoyed the matchbox series, I only ever had one in the 1990s and shortly thereafter stopped modelling though I'm still interested. In a just barely related topic, i wonder if you are aware of some of the very early Airfix a/c kits that were moulded in different colours? I was about six or seven (many moons ago) and distinctly remember my dad having a Gladiator, Camel and Lysander and I think the Spit BT-K that were available in both silver and blue plastic. That is all one colour not multi coloured a la Matchbox. I don't know if both colours were available simultaneously or if one was replaced by the other. It would be interesting to know more but I seem unable to find any info. Sorry to have "gone on" a bit! Keep up the good work Mate.
I certainly built the Saab Viggen it was my favourite of all matchbox aircraft, although I did not build many I focused on armour.
I never built it, didn't see it in the model shop, back in the day sadly. Seems a good one.👍🏻
Enjoyed this, but I feel that MB's range of military figures should have been given a mention. The first 3 sets were pretty good, but they really upped their game for the rest of the series. They set a new standard for sculpting, posing and mould quality. The only drawback was the horrid mortars that were standard for all the kits. If you were a kid building model tanks you definitely wanted some of their fine troops to go with them.
Thanks for the feedback...See this one Michael, I show them at 34.16 👍🏻
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab ? 34:16 is you talking about deleting swastikas. Did you mean to link to another video?
@@michaelemberley2767 Ooops, Yes, sorry Mike, I had a senior moment there, 🤭 I meant to add this link: th-cam.com/video/_kim1vBkbxc/w-d-xo.html
I was late to the Matchbox party having built the P38 Lightning in 1990. It was my second kit and I absolutely butchered it! I went with the all metal scheme as I was drawn to the devil decals on the fuselage thingies! If I remember correctly, the decals were crap! Great vid (again) Peter!
I thought the Matchbox decals were not the best. Colour registration could be a little be out on some kits.
A year or so before Matchbox launched their kits, Frog repackaged some of theirs and these came with excellent decals, I remember a 1/72 Spitfire that could be built to represent Douglas Bader's aircraft.
@@Danzo1957 Agree with you there Dan on the quality of decals. That being said, I'm looking at a 1/72 Me 110 in my stash from 1983 and the matchbox decals are very usable! As for Frog, I do have a soft spot for them and just finished a 227 Squadron Beaufighter this weekend - very enjoyable build (sans decals ;) )
The Jaguars big Rocket Pod is presumably meant to be a Matra JL-100 drop tank/rocket pack, but I have never seen them on an RAF (or French) aircraft. Wikipedia says Lightings carried these.
The other missiles are possibly "meant" to be Martels, but the shape is too slim. The splitter plates are wrong for this type. The instructions tell you to remove them, but you are still left with the hugely oversized V section on the fuselage half. That should not be there either, they should be flush with the intake lip. The model is seemingly based on a pre production prototype.
The Strike master kit I have has a mustard yellow fuesalage and brown wings and tailpanes
You could think they used toxic substances to color the plastic that vivid , i always thought the Matchbox kits looked very modern both in boxart en consistent quality , dirt cheap too , i remember i could buy 2 of every weeks pocket money in 1978-79
👍👍
Just to say at the risk of being burnt at the stake. I paint on the sprue!
Lol! (Me too,) 🤫
The Matcvhbox Strikemaster was nice although I think that the Airfix Jet Provost T5 kit was better.
I'd expect that Fireball XL5 (1962) predates French anti-shipping missiles. Fireball XL5 was inspired by the Sanger Bredit spaceplane concept and the spaceship from the film "When Worlds Collide".
Those devices on the P-38 booms are actually turbochargers rather than superchargers.
Airfix and Hasegawa had metallic coloured plastic.
The Matchbox A-20 had a few shape errors, particularly around the engines. The older Airfix kit was more accurate in outline, if cruder and more difficult to build.
I remember that movie...the long spaceplane take off ramp...it was pretty cool effects considering when it was made. 😊
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab The special effects were by George Pal, who won Oscars for some of his movies (War of the Worlds for example). The original idea for using a rail system to launch a rocket dates back no the 1930s when Dr Eugen Sanger and his girlfriend Irene Bredt designed a spacecraft that was boosted along a rocket rail and then up a mountainside. It was referred to as the Sanger-Bredt Spaceplane and also the Silbervogel (Silver Bird). The Nazis contemplated using it to bomb New York.
It was way ahead of its time. Sanger and Bredt eventually worked in the US for Bell Aircraft and some of their ideas were incorporated in the Boeing X-20 Dyna -Soar project.
@@EricIrl Yes I liked the 'Time Machine' movie too...another George Pal classic! 👍🏻
@@Peter-Oxley-Modelling-Lab It scared the (short) pants off me when I first saw it aged about 11. I love it now. The Morlocks always remind me of a certain ex-Prime Minister
@@EricIrl Lol, yes... that bad hair! 😆
Speaking of jet trainers the raf used did they not have the vampire T-11 /T-55 before the jet provost /Strike master?
How to relive your childhood without sending any of these little angels to heaven -
Step 1. Buy the classic Matchbox kit of your choice from eBay. (The price will be extortionate, but if you are mad enough to follow the following steps, you may be able to convince yourself that it's good value for money!)
Step 2. Buy the modern Revell equivalent (this may also be extortionately priced, but you may be lucky enough to get them in a sale if nobody else was ts to buy them!😂)
Step 3. Carefully (lovingly) remove the contents of the classic kit and put them in a safe place.
Step 4: Remove the contents of the Revell kiit and throw the box and instructions in the bin!
Step 5. Carefully place the revell contents in the classic kit box along with the original Matchbox instructions.
Step 6. Take this reboxed kit into your workroom and build it (taking great care not to damage the all-important box and instructions).
Step 7. Put the original contents back in the classic kit box and place it back in your stash!
Note - if you're careful, you may be able to do this several times before the box starts to show signs of wear! If the box is already tatty, who cares. you can do it as many times as you like (or untill the tatty box falls apart!😂
This way, you may get to have your cake and eat it! You will just have to imagine that the boring grey/ white revell plastic is in two or three garish 1970's colours! (Apparently there are certain physchotropic drugs that can help with that last bit, but I wouldn't know anything about that! 😂
Lol! 😅
What about Monty’s caravan?
th-cam.com/video/X50G7I_6vuA/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-jnndeZMD1I_s7C3
The Matchbox Jaguar has to be one of their worst kits.
I would much rather se more time time allotted to the armour kits because ra n awful lot of time is spent on the aircraft.
There were more planes in their range...but this should help! th-cam.com/video/x-9NuNn-zzQ/w-d-xo.html
Recently almost finished a revel t-6 texan but even though is is sold as a starter set they rank it as a level 3 kit... Absloutley horrible kit and the fit of the parts was awful.. More hassle than it's worth. Ended up throwing it in the bin. I will NEVER buy another revel kit again unless it's 1 of the matchbox kits they reissued.. Have also being losing faith in them for a while and that texan kit was the last straw.