How I Started Modelling

I was 9 or 10 when I first saw a model at Gradys corner store three blocks from home. Gradys was a mom-and-pop corner store that had the main floor of a house serving as the store. As I recall there was not much room so likely only the living room and foyer had been converted. A cooler, some shelves bracketing one short isle and a counter with an old cash register.

Behind the counter way up top was a Lindberg F 104. I knew nothing about models or airplanes for that matter, but the artwork thrilled my young heart.

My mom had sent me make a purchase, perhaps a loaf of bread (in a day bread was wrapped in cellophane and milk was sold in glass containers). The cost of the model was $2.00 and I had no money except the amount for the purchase I was there for. Once home I begged Mom for money enough to buy the model only to be denied and told to earn my own.

Wow this was eye opening. I had chores that did not get a paycheck and no job outside my home.  I canvassed the neighborhood and collected pop bottles for the return money. I cut lawns with a push mower and weeded flower beds to earn the needed $2.00 all the while dreading some other enterprising kid would buy the coveted model airplane.

It took 2 weeks or so and finally I was able to make my purchase of kit and one tube of glue. The kit had a motor that needed to be assembled and installed into the fuselage and when turned on drove a gear that rubbed on a strip of metal. It was supposed to make a jet sound, and it did make an awful sound. I seem to recall my Dad helping assemble the motor and giving me the batteries to power it. The rest was up to me, good thing I was able to read and the pictures helped.

I no longer have that kit, but it sparked an interest in models that has lasted for 60 years.  Today the corner store seems to have been usurped by the convenience store and model kits are relegated to specialized shops and online stores. Times have changed!