Early model kits

[Sherlock]

Just acquired a couple of old model cars today at a local flea market, they apparently came out of an estate sale...

One is an interesting Bond Bug (roughly 1/32 scale I'd guess), looks like it was built from a kit... And it's looking like the real find is an almost complete Gowland & Gowland kit of a 1929 Duesenberg Model J, my model is mostly complete but missing a few things... It looks like this, but built up minus the box - https://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=15750 - I'm missing the front windshield, the driver and the front headlights, otherwise it's complete...

According to one source I looked up, Gowland & Gowland (teamed up with Revell) was one of the first companies starting in the 1950's to sell model kits in North America and to popularize the past time of model building... Maybe some of you remember this, I wasn't born until 1972, and have never been a <span style="font-style: italic">master</span> builder, I've given it up...

 

[NutmegCT]

I think one of the draws to those early Revell kits is explained on the box itself:

"quick construction kit - all plastic, no cutting, no sanding"

Back in the 1940s and 1950s, I think many kits gave you blocks of wood and pre-cut wooden parts, with lots of hand work involved.

I remember as a kid opening a Revell kit, and seeing the "interesting" plastic "skeleton trees" of multiple parts all on one "tree branch". You'd break off the part and carefully assemble it onto the pre-molded car or aircraft fuselage.

Decals provided nearly-authentic livery and other markings, instead of requiring hand painting. And "airplane glue" became unusually popular ...

I think my first model in the 1950s was a DC-3, in Eastern Airlines livery. Then a DC-7B in AA livery. Followed soon by a "complete" series of early US military rockets. Similar to:

Anybody remember the Redstone, and Project Vanguard? When the USSR put the first orbiting satellite up (1957), our Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (1958). That brought about tremendous support for better science education in public schools.

Very cool.
Tom

 

[coldplugs]

Anybody remember the Redstone, and Project Vanguard? When the USSR put the first orbiting satellite up (1957), our Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (1958). That brought about tremendous support for better science education in public schools.

Yep. I still remember the chill I felt on 10/4/57 (Sputnick) and the disappointment a couple of months later when Vanguard failed. Just finished a book about W. von Braun that added lots of new info about the events. 1958 was the "International Geophysical Year" I think.

I also remember (as a little kid) getting kits made by Strombecker. Mostly they were planes but they even made some railroad items. The typical airplane kit contained plans, some powdered glue to mix with water, I think some sandpaper, a wooden cylinder, a pair of wings (wood, with some shaping done) and some other wood scraps. One of my father's best friends owned a hobby shop & I benefited greatly from that.

 

[DrEntropy]

heheee! I built a balsa P-51, lots of WW-II bombers with the Revell and Strombecker kits. They hung from the ceiling in my bedroom in my youth. Sometime around '60 we started getting AMT and Revell car kits. What fun all that was.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Same song; second verse. No telling how many I built back then! Mowed plenty of lawns to afford 'em. :wink:

One of my favorite models was an AMT '63 Stingray. Painted it gold with black interior.

Have a '54 Vette model here in the office, and an MGB at home. Another MGB still in the box, along with a TR7, a Datsun 2000 Roadster, an Alfa Giulietta Spider (about as close as I'm gonna get to owning one!), and a TR3 - all yet to be built, and all 1/24th scale.

Oh yeah, and a 1/8 scale Cord in the box as well. Gotta have something to do in retirement!

 

[sd80mac7204]

Loved those kits growing up! Had several car models I built over the years. Moved on to buildings and built one truck model for a friend. Been building locomotives for some time now.

 

[Gliderman8]

Me too... built all types of planes, cars and Estes Model Rockets. What fun I had as a kid building my rockets from scrap balsa and tubes then launching all sorts of stuff. Even made a electronic locator with parts from Lafayette Electronic so that I could find my rocket in the woods with my 10-transistor radio.
Wish I had those fun times back!

 

[PC]

Same here, built many, mostly aircraft, armor and <span style="font-style: italic">lots </span>of rockets.

Anybody else watch <span style="font-style: italic">James May's Toy Stories</span> on BBC (BBC American here in the colonies)?

He actually managed to get a bunch on modern kids to put down their iPhones and build models.

There's still hope for the future.



pc

 

[Silverghost]

Anyone remember when the price of the kit was on the box?? And every year MPC would release their annual kits so you could build a model of what you saw on the street/showroom floor, etc. Monogram and the Tom Daniels kits. The Revell kits always seemed to be more complicated, higher skill level. Then there was the Aurora 1/16 dragster stuff - AMAZING detail!! I was/am a model junkie.... :laugh:

Sad thing is, go to a hobby shop today. Kits START at +/- $20!! How can the average kid begin to afford the kit, let alone the glue, paint, etc.

 

[Mickey Richaud]

Anyone remember when the price of the kit was on the box?? And every year MPC would release their annual kits so you could build a model of what you saw on the street/showroom floor, etc. Monogram and the Tom Daniels kits. The Revell kits always seemed to be more complicated, higher skill level. Then there was the Aurora 1/16 dragster stuff - AMAZING detail!! I was/am a model junkie.... :laugh:

Sad thing is, go to a hobby shop today. Kits START at +/- $20!! How can the average kid begin to afford the kit, let alone the glue, paint, etc.

Pete -

Back in the 60's, today's $20 was $2!

 

[weewillie]

Remember sitting in my buddies bedroom with all our cars lined up on the window sill and trying to knock them off (window open)with either a bb gun or a spud gun.

Just got out my rc electric and gas cars out last week and got them running again and put a couple of new bodies on too.

 

[AngliaGT]

I've got a closet full of old unbuilt plastic
car & truck models (mostly '60's).
There's also the box from a Monogram B25 bomber
that my Dad built,& an unbuilt Lindberg Corsair planemodel.

- Doug

 

[Banjo]

Basement full of models here. Planes, trains, rockets, boats, and cars. Almost all of the cars are 1:24/1:25 scale. everything from the new Revell Samba Bus kit to a promo for a 57 T bird, Lots of race cars, the Lindberg PT-109 radio controlled, HO train set......
There are literally hundreds of cars down there. I was into shows when I was a teenager, but I haven't done much lately.
I did build the Gangbusters '28 Lincoln that was so kindly shipped to me by a fellow BCFer who has mentioned a closet full of old unbuilt plastic....
I gotta get a pic of that one, and maybe a few of my better race cars.

 

[coldplugs]

As a teenager I built a bunch of Merit plastic models. They had a line of 50's race cars in 1/24. Some had detailed engines. They acted as "triggers" for my researching the car in magazines & books. The two I remember with engines were an Alfa 158 Formula 1 car and a Talbot-Lago F1 car. The F3 Cooper also had an engine.

The first one I built was a '56 Lancia-Ferrari - I notice an unbuilt kit sold on eBay a few months ago for $101. It wasn't a great kit but sure better than nothing.

They also had a Gordini open wheel race car, D-Jag, Lotus Eleven, Connaught, Vanwall, BRM and more I can't recall.

These photos were scanned from old Polaroids... I posted them here a few years ago, so they're recycled.

Not very realistic by today's standards...

My <span style="font-style: italic">action</span> shot!

 

[TR6BILL]

AMT models were my salvation in my youth.

 

[Deleted member 8987]

30 years ago I got into 1:48 WWII aircraft. Did a whole bunch of them..B-29, 17, 24, 25, 26, all sorts of fighters, had them all hung with nylon fishing line from the upstairs ceiling.
Then, 26 years ago we had a house fire.
I think once, out in the grass, I found a main gear wheel off the 29. I gave up after that.

 

[Banjo]

John, those are great! I think I have the D-Type. It's all green plastic, no opening panels. I've never seen another kit built similar to it so I had assumed it was from a company I was not familiar with. I guess Merit would fit that bill.
TOC, that's heartbreaking. so sorry.

 

[Steve]

With me it was Airfix.... Mainly WWII aircraft.

 

[rick_ingram]

Loved those kits growing up! Had several car models I built over the years. Moved on to buildings and built one truck model for a friend. Been building locomotives for some time now.

From 1969 through 1972, I worked in a drug store that had a huge hobby department. Model cars, airplanes; trains; gas powered planes and boats; slot cars...etc.

Never got it out of my blood. Here's my "hobby store" in my office in the basement of the house. Most are British cars, primarily MG; some are kits that I built as a junior high schooler; some are of real cars that I have owned:

 

[Steve]

That's a nice stash....