AN AWARD-winning builder of model aeroplanes from Abingdon has died aged 76.

Tony Clements was one of the country’s leading plastic model artists, after becoming interested in aircraft during his wartime boyhood.

He made his first model, of balsa wood, tissue and silk in 1953 and just over 25 years later made his first plastic model.

By the time he was interviewed by the Oxford Mail in 1986, he was spending six to 10 hours a week on his hobby, with each model taking at least a year because of his attention to detail.

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He said at the time: “It’s no good making a model and then ruining it by using the wrong camouflage patterns or colours or having the cockpit dials set in the wrong positions.

“You have to go back to the original plans, when possible, for all the key details.”

Former Herald series reporter Phil Clee said of Mr Clements: “I came across Tony several times as a leading light of the Abingdon Model Club, who won national honours from the International Plastic Modellers Society.

“He was not someone who simply put together models straight off the shelf and out of a box, he made his creations from scratch, using every medium possible.

“The amazing end results won him the admiration of judges and fellow modellers across the UK and abroad.”

Mr Clements was recognised in the UK championships of the International Plastic Modellers’ Society in 1984 for his scale model of the Luftwaffe’s “flying bomb” – a Messerschmitt 109 fighter perched on top of a Junkers 88 bomber.

He was also later awarded the scratch building trophy by the body for his impressive rendering of a model Hansa-Brandenberg DW20, which originally flew in 1918.

Mr Clements had carved the twin-blade “pusher” propeller for the model from a piece of ash and the spokes of the beaching trolley were made from copper wire.

Anthony Clements was born on July 7, 1938, and grew up in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

He was a pupil at St Luke’s School, before national service with the Royal Army Medical Corps, although for a large part was taken ill in hospital.

Afterwards he became a heating engineer, first for JM Jones in Maidenhead and then later for Gibbs of Reading, as a heating and plumbing consultant.

He retired in 2003 aged 65, although both firms have since closed down.

Mr Clements met his wife Beryl (nee Cook) through a work colleague in his first job and the couple wed in St Joseph’s Church, Maidenhead.

They moved to Abingdon in 1972, after having their first child, Martyn, in 1966, followed by Julia in 1969.

Mr and Mrs Clements celebrated their golden wedding anniversary earlier this year.

Tony Clements died on September 18 after suffering from cancer for two years.

He is survived by his wife Beryl, children Martyn and Julia and grandchildren Matthew, Ashley and Margot.

A funeral service took place at Our Lady and St Edmund in Radley Road, Abingdon, on September 25.

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