Airplanes and Rockets' history & copyright Google search American Modeler Air Trails American Aircraft Modeler Young Men Hobbies Aviation Flying Aces Saturday Evening Post Boys' Life Hobby Distributors Amateur Astronomy Engines & Motors Balsa Densities Silkspan Covering Comics Electronics My Models Model Aircraft Articles Plans Model Boat Articles Plans Model Car Articles Plans Model Train Articles Plans 1941 Crosley 03CB Radio Model helicopter articles & plans Crosswords Model Rocket Articles Plans Restoration Projects Photos Peanuts Collection Model Aircraft Articles Plans Sitemap Homepage Hints and Kinks Amateur Radio Archives of the homepage R/C Modeler Electronics About Airpleans and Rockest, Disclaimer, Terms of Use Model Topics Please Donate to Airplanes and Rockets Parole Plaza, Annapolis, Maryland Hobby Items for Sale Airplanes and Rockets Hero Graphic
Plastic Scale Model Kits - Airplanes and Rockets



Rocket Kits + Accessories - Airplanes and Rockets

My Red Ryder BB Gun
(as seen in A Christmas Story)

Ralphie with Rad Ryder BB Gun in A Christmas Story - Airplanes and RocketsA Christmas Story DVD - Airplanes and RocketsA Christmas Story has long been one of my favorite Christmas movies. A Charlie Brown Christmas is my favorite animated movie, and It's a Wonderful Life gets the #1 spot for a film, but this runs a very close second. It first aired around Christmas of 1983, so I was 25 at the time - a bit old for Christmas movies you might say... but you'd be wrong. Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Melanie and I watch those three movies, plus Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and A Christmas Carol (the original with Alastair Sim).

A Christmas Story was adopted from a story that Jean Shepherd read on his radio show on WOR, in New York, on December 25, 1972. A friend of mine who lived there at the time happened to record the original broadcast on his reel-to-reel tape deck, and a couple years ago he sent me a copy on CD. The movie, of course, expounds on the story, but in this case it adds a lot. Jean Shepard narrates in the background of the movie as Ralphie remembering his childhood.

Here is my version of the Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. "An official Red Ryder carbine action, 200-shot Range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time." It does not yet have the compass in the stock or that thing which tells time (a sun dial burned into the wood), but some day I will modify it so that it does.

Pat Nelson - Ace of Test Pilots - Airplanes and RocketsDo you remember the scene in A Christmas Story where the kids in Ralphie's classroom all wear fake teeth and the teacher, Mrs. Shields, collects them and tosses them in her desk drawer? That drawer is fill with many formerly confiscated items, including a copy of "Pat Nelson - Ace of Test Pilots." Its copyright is 1937 by the Whitman Publishing Company, in Racine, Wisconsin. I posted some images of my copy.

Red Ryder BB Gun, A Christmas Story - Airplanes and Rockets

I recently acquired a copy of the January 1939 issue of Boys' Life magazine, which is the one Ralphie was reading in bed.

Check out this vintage Mattel BB cap pistol TV ad. Imagine the wussie response today's Special Snowflakes would have to such an ad! They would run for a safe space and expect comforting puppies until they got over it - if ever.

Here are a few links to pages I have regarding my days of yore:

- Holly Hill Harbor

- Model airplanes

- Model boats

- Electrical / electronics projects

- Model helicopters

- Model rockets

- My model train

- Woodworking projects

- Photos of earlier times

- 1969 Camaro SS

- Southern Senior High School Yearbook (Harwood, Maryland)

  • Senior Class "Official" Photos

  • Senior Class Childhood Photos

- Parole Plaza, Annapolis, Maryland

 

 

Posted February 11, 2012

Plastic Scale Model Kits - Airplanes and Rockets

About Airplanes & Rockets 

Kirt Blattenberger, Webmaster - Airplanes and RocketsKirt Blattenberger

Carpe Diem! (Seize the Day!)

Even during the busiest times of my life I have endeavored to maintain some form of model building activity. This site has been created to help me chronicle my journey through a lifelong involvement in model aviation, which all began in Mayo, MD ...

Copyright  1996 - 2026

All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text used on the Airplanes and Rockets website are hereby acknowledged.

Webmaster:

Kirt Blattenberger

BSEE - KB3UON

Family Websites:

RF Cafe

Equine Kingdom



Model Aircraft Museum, AMA - Airplanes and Rockets

Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) - Airplanes and Rockets

Academy of Model Aeronautics

Tower Hobbies logo - Airplanes and Rockets

Tower Hobbies

Horizon Hobby logo - Airplanes and Rockets

Horizon Hobby

Sig Manufacturing - Airplanes and Rockets

Sig Mfg

Brodak Manufacturing - Airplanes and Rockets

Brodak Mfg