First I had was a Revell Spitfire MKII which my dad bought at the newsagents opposite the printers where he worked. He built and painted that one and the Sopwith Camel and a Brewster Buffalo which followed.
I was eventually let loose on an Airfix ME-109G which I built and painted around 1964/5 aged 9 or 10 which was the first of many. The local newsagent began stocking the Frog range which included some of the lesser known types most of which I built including the Oxford, Barracuda, Magister, Tupolev SB2, and Gipsy Moth. I also built a Keilkraft Nomad glider which I could never get to fly because I didn’t understand how to adjust the trim followed by the rubber powered Ace which barely flew because I had no idea how to carve the prop and an Ajax which flew quite well. I had a Hales Froglite balsa sheet Tiger Moth which I got by saving up crisp packet tokens which flew very fast meaning it needed repairs after every “landing” and I also built a Dolphin glider and got a fair way through a Minimoa but the stringers and spars were very thin and delicate and I kept breaking them so it never got finished. Later I built a sheet balsa towline glider by St Leonards Model Supplies which flew much too well for the space available in the local park and spent a lot of time stuck in the park trees.
Seems a shame most youngsters never get to enjoy the achievement of creating something which flies rather than spending their time staring at a computer games screen. For most now the everything has to offer some kind of instant gratification.