I have been interested in aeroplanes for as long as I can remember (over half a century on a good day!), and have been building models of them since somewhere around the age of eight.  The first model that I can remember building was purchased from King's Cycle Shop in Allenton, just south of Derby, and was an old Frog kit of the Meteor Mk.8.  It was constructed on my gran's kitchen table, and painted using the leftover 'oil' paints from my mum's 'Painting by Numbers' set.  These were designed for use on the ersatz 'canvas' supplied in the set, and when applied to the impervious styrene surface, resolutely refused to dry!

I continued to purchase these Frog kits, but at around 8/6 (43p) each, they represented a huge investment for a boy whose disposable pocket-money income amounted to around 1/3 (6p) in a good week!  The salvation, of course, was the emergence of Airfix.  The first Airfix kit that I can remember seeing, and purchasing, was their early nondescript Spitfire, moulded in pale blue.  It was less sophisticated than the Frog kits, and it came in a plastic bag instead of a shiny box, but it was only 2/- (10p), so I could buy one every two weeks!  Soon the Gladiator joined the Spitfire, then more wartime aircraft, and then a series of small scale sailing vessels - the Golden Hind, the Cutty Sark and the Shannon - and then the floodgates opened!  Cars, jets, biplanes, military vehicles, model railway accessories, modern warships and merchant ships, airliners, railway engines - all appearing at regular and frequent intervals on the counters of our local Woolworth's store, and all priced within the ambitions of a young boy.