About WW2 Model Airplane Kits

About WW2 Model Airplane Kits

ww2 model airplane kitsHI. My name is Chris Wilson. I am a Kiwi Dad of two living in my home town of Christchurch, New Zealand with my wife, two girls and family menagerie.

I have created this site to showcase my passion of building military models, namely World War Two model airplane kits.

How I Started Building Model Kits?

I started building military models as a wee nipper. I was nine years old when my next door neighbour sold me my first two model kits. They were Airfix kits of WW2 Tanks; the Russian t34/76 and the British Matilda II.

I still remember clearly leaning over the fence and handing over my hard earned 50c pocket-money and eagerly grabbing my newly acquired treasure and running inside to get started putting my tanks together. Can you imagine my dismay when I learned that I needed to buy glue as well! ( Dad – you are my hero)

They were clumsily put together in haste as the impatience of youth drove me on to complete them but I am pleased to say that both my skill and patience has matured with age.

That simple transaction between my neighbor and myself nearly 40 years ago lit the fire of a life long passion. It started with saving my pocket money to buy kits from the local bike shop then began in earnest once I left school and got a job so I could finance my passion.

I would like to say that I still have those two original tank kits I built at nine but alas they become casualties of war… namely, I blew them up with fire-crackers one Guy Fawkes a few years later. Ah well, boys will be boys.

Why Build WW2 Model Airplane Kits?

Dad was a Leading Killick of the British Fleet Air Arm during the end of the second World War. He finished basic training and was deployed to the Mediterranean just before the war ended. He worked on a Vought Corsair as a Non Commissioned Officer before being discharged and entering the Family Paint and Wallpapering business.

Dad loved airplanes and wanted to carry on in the industry after the war ended however my formidable Grand-father would not hear of it and couldn’t see aviation having any future ( Boy, did Grandad get it wrong!) so Dad completed his Apprenticeship and became a Master Painter and Wallpaper Hanger before emigrating to New Zealand in 1955.

Dad still maintained his love for aircraft and used to build balsa wood and tissue gliders so I suppose I got my love of planes and WW2 History from him. It was Dad’s encouragement to build kits on my own that nurtured my love and enthusiasm for building model planes.

Even my friends were influenced by my enthusiasm and they all built model kits as teenagers. However their interest waned once they discovered girls but my passion for building model kits remained. One of my friends Paul used to tell me I would grow out of it but I never did. (much to the dismay of my wife)

I did however slow down for a awhile, while dating my girl-friend (now wife) but it wasn’t long after we moved in together that my modelling gear moved in also and I began spending my spare time in the spare room building airplane models again.

I am a member of a number of online communities with enthusiasts such as myself from around the world and it has been the camaraderie and common interest that has inspired me to share through this website what I have learned and love.

I hope you find my ramblings about the joys and frustrations of building World War Two model airplane kits entertaining and informative. I also hope you are inspired to look for your own model airplane kits to build.