I fell in love with the Hunter when I was a kid back in the '70's. Also Frog kits. There was a shop in our village that had shelves at the back full of Frog kits of the most unusual subjects. Frog did the fifties fighters like the Vampire and Venom, and others like the Gannet and Short Seamew, and the Fairey FD1 and Swift etc. that weren't covered by Airfix or anyone else back then. Thanks for this great video I just subscribed.
Everytime I see these old Frog or Airfix kits I am transported back to when I was a kid with my nose pressed up against the window of our local Paper Shop.. I lusted after a B17. Happy and simple days.
А как в Советском Союзе жаждали купить В - 17 от ,фрог,...Прессформа была в Тошкенте...но так и не увидели!Но самое страное что декали под индексом 217 ( если правильно помню) продавались с рук...у спекулянтов.Где то и у меня такая есть...купил в 1988 году...так и лежит..модель не выпускали..а декаль продавали.Выходит какое - то время модель все же выпускали на экпорт в коробках ,novo,...и видимо рабочие ( упаковщики) декали воровали на продажу..другого обьяснения как декали попадали спекулянтам на продажу ...ненахожу.😢😂
For those who dont know the name F.R.O.G. stands for Flies Right Off (the) Ground.....love these vintage kits.....shame they went belly up ....back in 1977?
It's my understanding that FROG's first series of plastic models (molded in acetate in the mid-1930's) was called the "FROG Penguin" series to distinguish them from their regular flying model kits, since penguins are "flightless birds." Another, likely apocryphal, story I heard was that FROG used a different name when their kits were imported to France, since "frog" is a somewhat "politically incorrect" term for a French person . . . .
@@CelebratingVintageModelKits The English have long joked about calling the French "Frogs." But the French have a clapback insult, calling the English "Le Rostbif" (Roast Beefs.") Apparently this goes back a few centuries. Wouldn't it be funny if Heller kits are only called that if exported, but are locally produced under the name, "Modele Reduit Rostbif" . . . ?
Only 7 years separate this from the Revell H-201:198 B-17 in 1:72. Injection molding really got advanced in a short amount of time. Yes!. the 1974 tooling was a gem.
The hunter was a beautiful aircraft. I like how the molding has the wing roots molded to the fuselage. The lead weight is a nice feature. This is going to sound weird, I know what testors glue smells like..does frog glue smell the same? Or does it have it's own distinctive scent?
Being a model train fan, I can help with some of the kit's brands' history, as they are more well-known in that field. Rovex was a plastics company that made a plastic train set in 1950, and got bought out by Lines Bros in 1951 as the nucleus for their Tri-ang Railways (but the name 'Rovex' did resurface on other stuff from time to time). The three Lines Brothers had a real toy/model empire from about the 50s to early 70s when it collapsed, buying up many other products/manufacturers- the most famous being Meccano Ltd and its Hornby Trains- but it also owned Frog; hence 'Lines Bros' on the Frog box. Tri-ang is a brand name used by the Lines, as three lines make a triangle. Tri-ang Railways (later Triang-Hornby) is probably the most well-known product with 'Tri-ang' in its name, but they put it on plenty of things; i.e. upon the collapse of Lines Bros, Tri-ang-Hornby had to revert to just 'Hornby Railways' as the name 'Tri-ang' was sold separately during the dissolution.
When I first joined IPMS in the mid-1970's, there were still plenty of these OG model kits on the shelves in local hobby shops. In many cases, these were the ONLY available kits for some particular subjects. Here the 'challenge' was to improve them to match the latest generation of kits then coming out. The standard, basic "Treatment" was to improve (i.e. scratch-build) the cockpit, wheel wells, droop the flaps and deploy the airbrakes. (Extra points for vacuforming replacement canopies, and detailing weapons bays.) Since there was no Internet for research, you were at the mercy of available reference material found in libraries and magazines. I suspect this is what led to many model builders becoming "accidental kit collectors" as projects had to be constantly postponed due to lack of needed reference materials . . . . Our club - IPMS Gateway Chapter, in St. Louis, Missouri, USA - even had a special yearly "Out of the Box" contest to help encourage actual building where the kit had to be built without any extra additions (other than aftermarket decals) so entries could be judged on basic craftsmanship alone. Thanks for sharing this! 35th Like.
Ah yes, the satisfaction of scratch building an entire interior from references you found from combing the library shelves! No PE set can replace that!
I am a lot older than that, and it was not at all unheard of to make static display models from scratch, what you would call "multimedia" today, but mostly wood.
@@CelebratingVintageModelKits Oh, sure, that was part and parcel of it, when it was appropriate or necessary or use plastic kit parts on the scratch wood model. If you could use a Strombecker F-86 wing, it saved you from having to cut it out yourself. Problem I had at the time was not having any money for fancy "kits", but a basement full of every kind of woodworking tool and endless scrap wood/drops. Jigsaw or bandsaw to get the profiles, pocket knife, wood rasp, and sandpaper to get the contours. That was a LONG time ago...
What isnt realised is that frog pioneered plastic kits in the 1930s with a range of frog penguin kits which were quite accurate and intricate and it wasnt till the1960s that kit manfacture caught up with those early models . Frog were very adventurous in their selection of models and didnt follow the trend of endless spitfires, me109s p51s etc. but produced some kits which it took years for the mainstream manufacturers to emulate. They are sadly missed.
I had forgotten about the old "mystery glue" pods. The same pods could also be used for grease or oil, they used to be in a lot of kits. Including glue was effectlively mandatory for some places in the 60's because they didn't sell it in tubes due to abuse. Several older rocket kits contained small glass bottles of contact cement, too. I was very disappointed when my bottle of WeldWood in my 1969 Centuri Saturn 1b (NOS) was all dried up. I should complain about that...
In one of the viewer build vids one of the viewers included a pic of the mythical FROG metal tube of cement that came with the earliest of their kits. Thanks for watching!
@@CelebratingVintageModelKits I recently saw an old Ambroid "Whipsaw" CL combat kit, and it contained the most beautiful tiny tube of Ambroid cement! That was worth the cost of the kit by itself, no one is going to actually build an fly an early 50's combat airplane.
@@CelebratingVintageModelKitsУж ...не знаю какой вариант выпускался в Советском союзе...на коробке только индекс фирмы ,фрог, стоял...Конечно на экспорт шли с декалями и в коробках ,novo,...Кстати попалась мне тогда с рук не декаль на ,хантер,...а наклейки из бумаги!Типа прорезаные в бумаге круги и прочее...был в шоке!!Никогда такого не видел...но индекс на наклейках стоял как на коробке...😢
@@АндрейШмырев-ж3з Interesting! I have a 1950s F-86 Sabre that was made by a short lived company that had self adhesive stickers instead of decals. It will. Be featured in an upcoming vid.
I fell in love with the Hunter when I was a kid back in the '70's. Also Frog kits. There was a shop in our village that had shelves at the back full of Frog kits of the most unusual subjects. Frog did the fifties fighters like the Vampire and Venom, and others like the Gannet and Short Seamew, and the Fairey FD1 and Swift etc. that weren't covered by Airfix or anyone else back then. Thanks for this great video I just subscribed.
Keep your eyes on the channel. Some of those kits you mentioned are coming! Thanks for watching!
Everytime I see these old Frog or Airfix kits I am transported back to when I was a kid with my nose pressed up against the window of our local Paper Shop.. I lusted after a B17. Happy and simple days.
What a great memory! More 50s FROG coming!
А как в Советском Союзе жаждали купить В - 17 от ,фрог,...Прессформа была в Тошкенте...но так и не увидели!Но самое страное что декали под индексом 217 ( если правильно помню) продавались с рук...у спекулянтов.Где то и у меня такая есть...купил в 1988 году...так и лежит..модель не выпускали..а декаль продавали.Выходит какое - то время модель все же выпускали на экпорт в коробках ,novo,...и видимо рабочие ( упаковщики) декали воровали на продажу..другого обьяснения как декали попадали спекулянтам на продажу ...ненахожу.😢😂
For such an old kit the parts are remarkably clean.
I have a couple of model kit gnomes in my stash that buff and polish them to keep them looking new. You need to get yourself some.
For those who dont know the name F.R.O.G. stands for Flies Right Off (the) Ground.....love these vintage kits.....shame they went belly up ....back in 1977?
It's my understanding that FROG's first series of plastic models (molded in acetate in the mid-1930's) was called the "FROG Penguin" series to distinguish them from their regular flying model kits, since penguins are "flightless birds." Another, likely apocryphal, story I heard was that FROG used a different name when their kits were imported to France, since "frog" is a somewhat "politically incorrect" term for a French person . . . .
@modelermark172 very true.👍👍👍
Good thing is most of the mold’s survive!
Thats is correct sir! The tri-ang name was used to not offend the Frenchies!
@@CelebratingVintageModelKits The English have long joked about calling the French "Frogs." But the French have a clapback insult, calling the English "Le Rostbif" (Roast Beefs.") Apparently this goes back a few centuries.
Wouldn't it be funny if Heller kits are only called that if exported, but are locally produced under the name, "Modele Reduit Rostbif" . . . ?
Just subscribed, I love this!
Me too! Dang, the kit is three years older than I am. Great stuff.
Welcome to the channel! Thanks for watching!
Thank you & my pleasure😊😊
@@emilysantoyo918 be sure to send in pics of your vintage model builds for the next viewer build vid. Email in the channel description
Only 7 years separate this from the Revell H-201:198 B-17 in 1:72. Injection molding really got advanced in a short amount of time. Yes!. the 1974 tooling was a gem.
Even when you compare it to FROG kits from just a couple years later, there was significant improvement. Thanks for watching!
The hunter was a beautiful aircraft.
I like how the molding has the wing roots molded to the fuselage.
The lead weight is a nice feature. This is going to sound weird, I know what testors glue smells like..does frog glue smell the same? Or does it have it's own distinctive scent?
Dont know how it smells since its all dried up. Maybe someone from the UK can give us a clue.
@@CelebratingVintageModelKits oops, I forgot,that other tube of frog cement was a picture sent in...
Great conversation
A lot of good comments from viewers really makes the channel worthwhile!
Being a model train fan, I can help with some of the kit's brands' history, as they are more well-known in that field. Rovex was a plastics company that made a plastic train set in 1950, and got bought out by Lines Bros in 1951 as the nucleus for their Tri-ang Railways (but the name 'Rovex' did resurface on other stuff from time to time). The three Lines Brothers had a real toy/model empire from about the 50s to early 70s when it collapsed, buying up many other products/manufacturers- the most famous being Meccano Ltd and its Hornby Trains- but it also owned Frog; hence 'Lines Bros' on the Frog box. Tri-ang is a brand name used by the Lines, as three lines make a triangle. Tri-ang Railways (later Triang-Hornby) is probably the most well-known product with 'Tri-ang' in its name, but they put it on plenty of things; i.e. upon the collapse of Lines Bros, Tri-ang-Hornby had to revert to just 'Hornby Railways' as the name 'Tri-ang' was sold separately during the dissolution.
Great info! Thanks for posting it!
When I first joined IPMS in the mid-1970's, there were still plenty of these OG model kits on the shelves in local hobby shops. In many cases, these were the ONLY available kits for some particular subjects.
Here the 'challenge' was to improve them to match the latest generation of kits then coming out. The standard, basic "Treatment" was to improve (i.e. scratch-build) the cockpit, wheel wells, droop the flaps and deploy the airbrakes. (Extra points for vacuforming replacement canopies, and detailing weapons bays.)
Since there was no Internet for research, you were at the mercy of available reference material found in libraries and magazines. I suspect this is what led to many model builders becoming "accidental kit collectors" as projects had to be constantly postponed due to lack of needed reference materials . . . .
Our club - IPMS Gateway Chapter, in St. Louis, Missouri, USA - even had a special yearly "Out of the Box" contest to help encourage actual building where the kit had to be built without any extra additions (other than aftermarket decals) so entries could be judged on basic craftsmanship alone.
Thanks for sharing this!
35th Like.
Ah yes, the satisfaction of scratch building an entire interior from references you found from combing the library shelves! No PE set can replace that!
@@CelebratingVintageModelKits . . . AND basing your choice of project subject matter solely on available reference material!
I am a lot older than that, and it was not at all unheard of to make static display models from scratch, what you would call "multimedia" today, but mostly wood.
@@brettbuck7362 Ever do the kit splicing of wings from one maker and fuselage of another?
@@CelebratingVintageModelKits Oh, sure, that was part and parcel of it, when it was appropriate or necessary or use plastic kit parts on the scratch wood model. If you could use a Strombecker F-86 wing, it saved you from having to cut it out yourself. Problem I had at the time was not having any money for fancy "kits", but a basement full of every kind of woodworking tool and endless scrap wood/drops. Jigsaw or bandsaw to get the profiles, pocket knife, wood rasp, and sandpaper to get the contours. That was a LONG time ago...
Arma Hobby 1/72 P-39 Airacobra kits include weights shaped to fit into locations in the fuselage -- only took 60-some years to rediscover a good idea!
I thought it a pretty neat thing to see them do. I have a few more of their kits from this era so I will see how many others they did like this.
What isnt realised is that frog pioneered plastic kits in the 1930s with a range of frog penguin kits which were quite accurate and intricate and it wasnt till the1960s that kit manfacture caught up with those early models . Frog were very adventurous in their selection of models and didnt follow the trend of endless spitfires, me109s p51s etc. but produced some kits which it took years for the mainstream manufacturers to emulate. They are sadly missed.
I had forgotten about the old "mystery glue" pods. The same pods could also be used for grease or oil, they used to be in a lot of kits. Including glue was effectlively mandatory for some places in the 60's because they didn't sell it in tubes due to abuse.
Several older rocket kits contained small glass bottles of contact cement, too. I was very disappointed when my bottle of WeldWood in my 1969 Centuri Saturn 1b (NOS) was all dried up. I should complain about that...
In one of the viewer build vids one of the viewers included a pic of the mythical FROG metal tube of cement that came with the earliest of their kits. Thanks for watching!
@@CelebratingVintageModelKits I recently saw an old Ambroid "Whipsaw" CL combat kit, and it contained the most beautiful tiny tube of Ambroid cement! That was worth the cost of the kit by itself, no one is going to actually build an fly an early 50's combat airplane.
Собирал модель ,хантера, от ,фрог,...в начале 80- х годов.Невзрачная коробка...без клея...без декалей...белый пластик.
Novo got the molds for both the Mk1 and Mk9 kits FROG made. And they are still kicking around!
@@CelebratingVintageModelKitsУж ...не знаю какой вариант выпускался в Советском союзе...на коробке только индекс фирмы ,фрог, стоял...Конечно на экспорт шли с декалями и в коробках ,novo,...Кстати попалась мне тогда с рук не декаль на ,хантер,...а наклейки из бумаги!Типа прорезаные в бумаге круги и прочее...был в шоке!!Никогда такого не видел...но индекс на наклейках стоял как на коробке...😢
@@АндрейШмырев-ж3з Interesting! I have a 1950s F-86 Sabre that was made by a short lived company that had self adhesive stickers instead of decals. It will. Be featured in an upcoming vid.
@@CelebratingVintageModelKitsОчень интересно.🎉