James May's Toy Stories

[jamesxyz]

Pet hates about Airfix:

Never could paint the pilots in enough detail (that's when I eventually got the patience to paint them before glueing them in!)

Glue all over the cockpit glass!

The hulls of ships never quite fitted perfectly.

As mentioned on the programme Tank caterpillar tracks - aargh!

James May never metioned the old 'cover them in lighter fuel and throw them burning from an upstairs window' ... those were the days ...

 

[just jim]

I liked those "Diorama" kits, where you got a bit of demolished wall or street corner to go with your half-track or jeep. They never lasted long though -I just couldn't resist destroying the models.

 

[Dayvo]

James May never metioned the old 'cover them in lighter fuel and throw them burning from an upstairs window' ... those were the days ...

I did similar things to my brother's Action Man!

And his AM Commander couldn't give any of his eight instructions underwater!

 

[Arch]

I enjoyed the program, but I wonder how much the full-scale kit has cost the license payers? It can't have been cheap. Probably worthwhile, though!

Probably a fraction of the cost of Strictly Come Wotsit, and you have something tangible at the end, a nice model, instead of someone slightly well known being able to say they dance better than a lot of other slightly well known people....

Also, if it's housed at the museum, it's possibly now owned by, or at least on permanent loan to, the public.

 

[Noodley]

It wasn't 'til last night that I realised just how many Airfix models I had when I was a kid. I must have had hundreds of them. Ships, tanks, planes, battle scenes and soldiers from just about every era.....and even the Birds!

 

[snakehips]

I had a Junkers 87B with the wings on back-to-front.
It was hard work getting them on that way round but I managed it !

Snake

 

[PaulB]

Is it just me or does anyone else think James May is a great presenter? He's enthusiastic without being all John Noakes or David Bellamy and seems to bring out the best in people. I thought he was perfect for this programme and I enjoyed it a lot.

 

[Alan Frame]

It amuses me that the other two presenters on Top Gear often take the pee out of James May when he is, imho, by far the better presenter and his tortoise approach to life often gets the better of their hare.

 

[Noodley]

It amuses me that the other two presenters on Top Gear often take the pee out of James May when he is, imho, by far the better presenter and his tortoise approach to life often gets the better of their hare.

The other two are primarily interested in themselves. Then the subject. (To be fair I did see a programme once where Clarkson did seem genuinely interested in the subject and the primary focus was not him, and it was a very good programme)

May is primarily interested in what he does. And he is a far far better presenter.

 

[Baggy]

Pet hates about Airfix:
Glue all over the cockpit glass!

Stick pin in glue nozzle, apply glue with tip of pin = no glue on cockpit glass

 

[Noodley]

Stick pin in glue nozzle, apply glue with tip of pin = no glue on cockpit glass

Correct

In the days when pins had proper heads

 

[summerdays]

Not quite - I loved it! Middle aged, yes, man, no...

Summerdays - there are kits of all kinds these days to suit various ages - how old is your son? There are some very simple snap together sorts which a younger kid might manage, although really the main thing is to have the dexterity to handle tiny parts, and the patience to let the glue dry properly at each stage (mine always had saggy undercarriages, because I put them down on the wheels before the glue was really dry). A good model shop, if you can find one, will probably be able to advise. I was certainly doing them at 11 or so.

My son is almost 9, and absolutely loves lego - his first love - he has already mentioned that he would like more for Christmas too. And he probably will get some as its the only toy we have given him that he continues to play with after the first enthusiastic opening of the packet. But I could see a similarity with the airfix kit, having instructions to follow etc. We taped the program for him as he went to bed during it, and several members of the family watched the program a second time with him.

I think James May is a good presenter - I would love to know what he was like as a child, somehow I assume he was a geeky child.

 

[Arch]

!

My son is almost 9, and absolutely loves lego - his first love - he has already mentioned that he would like more for Christmas too. And he probably will get some as its the only toy we have given him that he continues to play with after the first enthusiastic opening of the packet. But I could see a similarity with the airfix kit, having instructions to follow etc. We taped the program for him as he went to bed during it, and several members of the family watched the program a second time with him.

I reckon there is probably a kit suitable for him at 9 - start him easy and then work up. So avoid biplanes to start with - they are right sods! He might (or might not) need a little adult help or supervision to start with - only you will know how likely he is to be overenthusiastic with glue or capable of cutting the pieces off the sprue with a knife. And he can decide whether to faff about painting it (before or after) or whether to just get on with it.

Lego is great too. We had a big biscuit tin of it, all jumbled up and all the leaflets, so we could recreate specific things, or just build random stuff... Never had any technic though, wished I had....

 

[jamesxyz]

Stick pin in glue nozzle, apply glue with tip of pin = no glue on cockpit glass

I was only 7 or 8!

(smug g*t!!!)

 

[darkstar]

Looking forward to the bridge made from meccano, was produced in Liverpool, i know an engineering student (from Liverpool Uni) who won the chance to help out on the build!