Having fun looking at vintage old model kits from the 50's & 60's ( Aurora, Revell and Monogram)
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- Опубликовано: 20 окт 2020
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I was a teenager in the 60's and, here in the UK, the manufacturer of choice was usually Airfix. Some Revell kits were available but mainly Airfix. The kits I built were usually tanks that were assembled in a matter of hours and then some paint put on but not particularly accurately. The only weathering that they were given was administered using the sun and a magnifying glass to simulate battle damage. Great days!
Although the majority of my builds were tanks, my first kit was Airfix HMS Campbeltown.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane Andy! Stay safe!
I was 7 in 1965, when I got my 1st kit, a Hawker Hurricane (Airfix 1/72 scale), which I built, leaving gluey fingerprints all over it, and painted it rather badly, using the wrong colours, and probably adding yet more fingerprints, fogged cockpit glass, etc, etc. Modern models are superior in so many ways, but I still look back fondly on those early days...
Used to get an Air fix model when my Nan would visit, still got a soft spot for them.
@@justinchetham-strode5234 It is those memories that got me back into modelling now in my retirement. Happy days are here again!
@@ferbieticklater7429 I'm not retired yet (57 years old), but I'm getting back into modelling, too.
Airfix Spitfire 1962 2 shillings (10p) pocket money, from Woolworths.
I love working with the older kits. Aurora and Airfix. Simple times and relaxing!
I remember building Mongram, Aurora and Revell kits back in the 60's
As my mom liked to say, “Those are gonna be worth something some day”. ☺️
Andy, my very first model was the HAWK "Spirit of St. Louis", Kit # 608 in 1/72 scale. I was 7 years old, in First Grade. I got the bug looking at kits in the local 99 cent store and was begging my parents to let me get one to build. One day, Mom came home from grocery shopping, set the bag on the kitchen counter and called "Johnny, come here, look what I have..." I stared in amazement as Mom slowly pulled up a model airplane kit out of the grocery bag! A model in a bag of food? I was perplexed. I was thrilled beyond description! It was the Spirit of St. Louis! Mom and Dad had recently woke me up late at night (I thought I was in trouble) to watch the Jimmy Stewart movie with them and here she was giving me the model kit! I was over the moon!
That was in 1962. What my Mother did and the feeling of accomplishment in mastering the assembly of those 24 parts are memories that will always be with me. I built model planes for 11 years, then other things came along....
In 2011 got back in after going to a local IPMS show and buying some kits that I remembered from those long ago days. I am semi-retired and I will be building for as long as I can.
A few years ago, I found a shrink-wrapped Spirit at a local show. It was just sitting on a table, ignored, so I bought it. This was a Blessing from God! I now have a virgin copy of the very first model plane I built! It will not be built, but framed and hung as a keepsake memorial.
Going to IPMS shows and joining a local IPMS chapter (Mt. Diablo Chapter, Concord, CA) opened and widened new vistas for modeling enjoyment. If you are in IPMS, you know. If you build, you should look up your local chapter and give them a try. Happy modeling and God Bless you all!
Looking back at the old kits its easy to see were currently in the Golden age of modeling with how well most kits are produced and the plethora of products available. Great time to a modeler!
My first kit was aurora's Batman in 1967. I was 6 yrs old.
I was born in 1948 and watching this brought back the memories of how excited a little ten-year-old boy could be when he brought that model home the level of joy and excitement
mine was the airfix raf typhoon gr4 from their century raf kit. I also remember trying to build the old monogram flying fortress, and boy was the fit hell.
Simpler kits, simpler times, nice memories, thank you
Glad you enjoyed it
@@AndysHobbyHeadquarters
I remember building some of Revell’s WWII U.S. bombers. Bought the kits at the local drug store. If memory serves correctly, I didn’t paint the body of the plane, but I would paint details. I was about 9 or 10 when I started building. Thanks for the memories.
They taught a lot. In the 50s and early 60s World War II was almost yesterday - everybody's father had been in it and early TV was filled with WWII documentaries - Victory at Sea was the most famous. I was a WWII history nut by sixth grade and the kits played right into it.
Air fix kits in the U.K. and Aurora glow in the dark lost prisoner
My first model was Tamiya’s 1/35 pak 40 anti-tank gun that I built about six years ago! Been hooked since then!
I'd like to see you build one. A vintage model with modern building techniques and supplies. Could be fun.
I agree, I'd love to see Andy build an old kit just for fun.
I've got an original Monogram 109E (1962) that I am going to give the Aires cockpit treatment to, also scratch building the wheel well detail to the retracting landing gear.
The monogram kit of the Porsche 904 was actually a static shelf model based on the slot car. Slot car racing in 1/32 scale was very popular in those years.
Hi there I really enjoyed looking at those old kits, and the catalog was very interesting too. I started modeling when I was seven years old. My very first model I built on my own was an old Lindberg kit, it was a model of the hindenburg that blew up. That was a awesome kit for being in the sixties it had a lot of detail. There were two others that stuck in my mind , they were both Lindberg kits as well one was a model of the five Blue Angels on a nice stand that had lighting bolts from the plane to the stand to mount them . My dad got that for me he was a lifer in the US air force. The other one was a highly detailed kit of the Titanic. So much detail and it was huge. Model kits have changed a lot over the years. I'm still building at 62 and fully enjoy the hobby. Thank you for a wonderful trip down memory lane. Looking forward to more great videos.
I remember these kits I start building models in 1961, I use to paint these with a brush with pactra paints. Thanks Andy to bring these memories.
Seeing all that flash brings back memories. That's why I laugh at the complaints of "flash" on modern kits. Thanks, Andy, I needed that!
Reminds of good days..first model revell spitfire and a candy! Good memories! Thanks Nick p.
WOW! this takes me back, First kit was mid 60's Airfix Spitfire, my dad bought me as he was in the Air Force..... ended up after a long time with a firecracker!
Simpler kits in those days, I can say that as I'm trudging through a Meng King Tiger with full interior. There's probably more parts on the drivers sat than the entire Fokker D7 kit - happy days!! Thanks for the nostalgia Andy.
I love those old kits. I’m 72 and still building. Y first kit was a P-40 flying tiger kit. Monogram I’m thinking. $.98 1955
If I remember correctly the 1/32 car models some would allow you to add a slot car chassis and run then as slot cars...
I think your right
That was me in the 80"s. I had some cool cars and always grew a crowd.
Take the different bodies to the slot car track and swap em out if anyone had the car car. I ran the HO scale cars as the 1/32 were the "big boys" and their cars cost big money ( about 5 bucks)
@@AndysHobbyHeadquarters Thats what behind the chassis "tub" with the two seats and the driver molded "insert." You use the driver part when its going to be used on a slot car. Thats why there is only part of the driver molded... to allow room for the slot car components.
Yes, many in the early and mid 1960s included instructions on conversion to a slot car.
It must have been in the early 1970's I had built the Revell 1/32 JU. 87 Stuka with the snake on the fuselage. It sat on my desk as my pride and joy. Then one day my father who fancied himself as a DIY type of guy, assembled a shelf above it to hold a set of 26 hard bound encyclopedias. Sometime later the shelf collapsed and shattered my Stuka to pieces!
I boxed it up and buried it the backyard.
Its now a model shrine . Do you place flowers on it ,LOL
R.I.P.
Awesome lmao
Oh my God Andy! I can't believe how crude models were in those days. Bent sprues with enough flash to make another model. You'd think that cavemen made the molds with chisels and rocks. You never know, that's how they made the pyramids. I started models in the late 60's when Hendrix was setting his Stratocasters on fire and I still do. Back then five bucks got me a kit at Bonimart some paints and a tube of glue. "FIVE BUCKS"! That doesn't get you a can of spray paint today! I liked seeing those kits you showed us 'cause I have memories of the early days. As a kid we had all the time in the world to build models but little money to buy them with. As adults many of us have enough unbuilt kits to build another pyramid of Ghiza but less time to build them with. So this video was cool so keep things going and stay safe!
I, with no knowledge of kit buildin got my first kit in 69' . It was an Airfix saling ship :the Golden Hind' Oh my word did I have trouble, with all the rigging and tiny canons. The main problem was the glue. All it had was that tube you showed in the first kit. It dried almost instantly - ususally on my fingers before I could get the part attached. Years later I wanted to show my son the joy of kit building ( I was aprehensive from all my years of "not quite getting it right" ) But to my amazement I discovered the new ( to me ) ultra thin glue. We just put the parts together, and lightly brushed the almost invisible glue against the join and voila! no mess no misalignment. Pure joy. We both are avid kit builders now and I am making up for that 9 yr old who spent many hours up in my room, frustrated at the finished model compared to what was on the box cover. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
My first kit was in late '50's - used to go on holiday to an aunty in South Wales, and buy Airfix kits in plastic bags from Woolworth's in Tenby.
From memory the first kit was a Massey Ferguson tractor, but I also remember building the Red Baron Fokker.
In my current stash my oldest kit is a 1/16 Entex Thomas Flyer from, I think, mid 1980's. I bought two of these kits, the other being a Mercer Raceabout, which I just finished last week!!
I loved this episode, Andy - more than once I found myself talking out loud - agreeing with your comments.
I had to laugh looking at the glue adverts - those tubes which would leave a line of gooey sticky mess everywhere.
Im 17 years old and building models kits for 4 years, i really like this vid! nice too see all that old kits!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@AndysHobbyHeadquarters the kits are looking mutch better now ;)
My childhood in the 60s show more kits I love it
Thanks for your sharing.. very precious indeed, they recalls the development of plastic modeling since 1950s. Interesting and wonderful to see this !
First kit: AMT 1959 Buick convertible when I was 13. Built a 1/25 version of the Porch 904 in 1967.... Beautiful kit. Thanks for the memories.
My first kit was a Sopwith Camel probably around 1974, I was ten watching my 2 older brothers build. We also started buildind Estes Rocket kits when my Dad built a beautiful Honest John. Dad is now 85 and works on and rides motorcycles, has a room full of RC cars and planes and survived cancer and just keeps on living large!
Great episode. My first kit was a Monogram “Demon” that I built when I was probably 6 or 7 years old in 1968. I still have it. My father thought I was too young to be building models, so my grandmother clandestinely bought it for me. I showed him. Ha.
Would love to see you build an old 60s tank Andy👍
Wow! Bell X-5. I have fond memories of that kit. I built two of those back in the mid 60's. Thank you very much for bringing that back to share with us.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for the look back. 1958-59, I was 8 yrs old.
I might add that I was Revell Master Modeler. I knew this because I had a certificate on my wall from them saying so. LOL
Ah yes, the Revell Master Modeler club. I seem to recall they had a monthly magazine with model building tips. Good times and good memories.
@@andyb1368 that is right Andy. I even still have a few of them still.
One of my first kits I built was Revell's Supermarine Spitfire. I just painted the tires and props black and slapped everything together. I even got some glue finger prints on it. It was the ugliest model I ever built, but it was my first. This was back in 1968 and I was 8 years old.
God, glue fingerprints on the model were a rite of passage from watching or assisting in a build to actually building one yourself. For myself, at least....😂
My first model was a T bucket. Don't remember the company name. But that was back in 1963 or 64. I'm 67 years old 68 next month. Been building models on and off for 58 years.
I'm pretty sure that the Fokker is still in production under the SMER label along with other old Aurora WW1 and inter war aircraft kits.
First kit was a 1/72 Northrop F5. Can't remember the manufacturer, but the plastic was white. Around 1976.I remember building Matchbox 1/76 tanks complete with the little dioramas.Then this kid moved in to my street around 1979 and his dad bought him loads of kits including a 1/24 Airfix Harrier and a 1/72 Monogram B36 !!.Had many a great school holiday building kits in his veranda, listening to Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds and sometimes ELO - great times - thanks Alan Webb, wherever you are ! We had a model shop near us, Alton Models, Scott Arms. Sometimes we'd go there when Alan wanted some paints or a new kit, and when the shop keeper (Tony) was distracted, one of us might steal a kit ! Years later, in my 20's, I still visited Alton Models and got to know the owner by name. Shame he had to close. But I hope he had a long and happy retirement. Now I'm middle aged, 99% of my modelling stuff is bought on line. Although, anyone who's visiting Birmingham (UK) should check out Parabellum on Vyse Street in the Jewellry Quarter. Quite an Alladin's cave of virtually any type of genre and scale kits.
Received Revell's USS Forrestal aircraft carrier as a birthday present in 1959. Next year it was Aurora's C-119 "Flying Boxcar". Back then I treated models more as toys than as "scale" display pieces. Had a lot of fun playing with those two kits!
C-119's flexible hinged rear doors gave it great play value, at lot of Airfix partroopers were deposited by mine. The landing gear didn't survive 25 missions but almost all of the paratroopers did.
80's, and the store wouldn't sell me the glue, such great memories
I somehow deleted my comment. My first model was a rocket, and it didn't fire. I think I skipped a step in the process. But the next one that I built fired and went up into the sky... never saw it again, hahahahhahahahaha but we had so much fun. I remember riding my bike to the hobby store and the guy wouldn't sell me the glue, you had to be 18, this was back in the 80s.
That was awesome! Thanks for sharing, I loved looking at the old kits and catalogue. My first kit was a 1/72 mig-21, I think I was 5 and spray painted it silver, 1975. I have a bunch of old kits I look at from time to time.
I also remember working on the blue devil destroyer, fletcher, with my dad. It was a big kit, can't remember the scale, by lindberg I think, close to 3 feet long?
Awesome. Brings back memories from about 12 years old. Early 70's. First model was probably B-58 Hustler or Starfighter. Ended up stuffing them with firecrackers, hanging them from a tree and lighting them on fire
I cut my teeth on 1:72 scale Airfix...
Mind you, back then there was a model shop in every town.
Win some, lose some.
For me, it was Taggart's, in Solon, OH. My favorite place to go in the 60's.
@Baz Bazdad London/Essex? I remember that every toy shop sold Airfix kits, and that Woolworths did so. I remember a specialist model shop just outside my school. But I ALSO remember a superb mega-shop in Holborn, to which my best friend and I went on a sort of pilgrimage two or three times a year. Can't for the life of me remember its name though.
@Baz Bazdad Beatties. Dammit, of COURSE it was. Thank-you... I was afraid alzheimers was getting to me.
Yes, I know that London and Essex share a border. Where exactly that border is - that's another question. The house I grew up in was in Essex when I was young, but was later designated as being in London. And I'm STILL cross about this.
@Baz Bazdad I was born in Hainault, but we moved to Redbridge before I was of school age. Oddly, whenever I was asked where I was from, I always said Ilford. When my mother taught me to memorise my address, it ended "...Redbridge, Ilford, Essex." Winston and JFK were still alive when I was born, but both of them had died before I'd heard of them.
I remember rebelling when I was told to add a post-code. As late as 1990 I was still refusing to use post-codes on principle - though I have since given up this fight as lost. As for county boundaries being re-drawn in the seventies - I still refuse to recognise this. Dammit, they tell me that Southend isn't in Essex any more...
My accent - as picked up in school - started out as East-End-Lite, though after I went to a posh school (scholarship boy) it became much more BBC, and I developed a horror of the glottal stop which I still have today.
Western Auto and Rexall Drug, man. A furniture store carried some models and toys and that was the spot for Hot Wheels!
Wow!!! Sure brings back some memories. I remember Aurora had their kits in different color plastic. Purple, yellow, and green to name a few. Great video Andy.
and the glow in the dark parts monsters
The first kit I remember building with my Dad's help was the Revell Mickey Thompson Challenger 1 . This was about 1963 or 4 . I'm 65 now and still build model cars .
Started building in the 60's. Wish I had some of those old kits today
eBay my friend. That's how I've been able to grow my collection and of course Model shows whenever they are allowed again.
Awesome!!! Yes, in the '70's I belonged to the "Revell Master Modelers Club" and I still have the patch !!! One of my first kits was the Black Widow and I hung it from the ceiling in my bedroom as with others. And I built that Red Baron car too!!!!! And I recently found my 110 camera pics in black and white of some of my builds back then!!! It's no wonder I started a model club 20 years ago and is still going strong today!!!! Shout out to the
" Central Jersey Plastic Model Society " !!!! Thanks !! K.I.S.S. ( keep it simple silly ) LOL
The first kit that I can remember building was the Aurora French Nieuport biplane. Messed that one up pretty bad.
I love taking old/cheap 1/72 kits and bashing, upgrading and changing them into better builds than back then.
Glad I found this, it was fun looking back at these old model kits. I never got into the cars or sea craft. Anything that was air or space related is what interested me. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I saw the first Star Trek models hit the stores! A long time ago....
my very first model was of a Viking ship. I remember it had little figures that sat holding the oars to row . it was about 1956 when i was 6 years old . A family friend brought it over one evening to build while my parents played card games . . such good memories .
I was born in 1966, so probably started building models in the early/mid-1970s. In the UK the models in toy shops were almost always Airfix ones. I remember the 'Series 1' kits in plastic blister packs with the instructions printed on the back, one of them will have been the first. I had a go at everything - 1/72 aircraft, 1/72 tanks, 1/600 ships, 'multipose' 1/32 figures, a Saturn V. a human skeleton, some odd dinosaur kits with about 5 parts - but it was always Airfix, (other than some Matchbox two-colour plastic 1/72 aircraft when I was on holiday). I eventually found my way to a proper model shop and was just amazed at the Tamiya models compared to the Airfix ones. A SdKfz 222 armoured car was definitely my first Tamiya kit. Then I discovered beer and girls and that was it for almost 40 years. Earlier this year I bought another SdKfz 222, and something that I had dreamed of all those years ago - an airbrush :)
My first model kit was the A-4 Skyhawk in 1/4"scale. I was 6 years old in 1960 and built it on a TV tray in front of our TV before school in the morning. My Dad started me building. I, still, build at 66 years of age.
Thanks Andy for the walk down memory lane .
I was a 1970's Monogram addict of cars and WWII planes... Lots of "Kustom" cars, van. police car, pickups, etc... I remember using H-O train grass for green carpet inside a custom van!
While in school (in the UK)aged eight in 1966 our teacher Mrs Booth bought all the boys in the class an Airfix bagged kit (priced then two shillings)as a Christmas present, I had the Messerschmitt Bf 109. I hate to think how much I have spent since then on kits and modelling products but I will always thank Mrs Booth for getting me into one of the most satisfying hobbies
Very enjoyable video Andy great to see these old kits and just how all kit makers have moved forward Steve 🇬🇧
Ah man, you forgot to mention the most memorable part of these kits. THE GLUE! Man, no telling how many brain cells went bye bye with each kit. 🤤
Do you remember those little foil tubes that sometime would come with the kit? They’d always squirt out WAY too much, smelled kinda good, but the goo would always end up somewhere you didn’t want...
I do recall those. I always used the testers but that stuff would get all over your hands and took several hours to dry. Made for a slow build.
@@blessedlife1039 Testors and UHU, in a little yellow and white tube, but that might have been available only in Europe... slow and gooey like molasses...
Do you think it was why we enjoyed building those kits so much?
Omg, all the frosted windshields and cockpit canopies because the tubes ALWAYS spit out too much glue....😂😂😂😂
I built that exact Black Widow model, in 1977 or 1978. My older brother had built one earlier, and I had to do it too. My first glue together model. Glue EVERYWHERE until I was ready to cry. My brother was nice enough to help me sand it and paint it (yes, I put a fingerprint in it).
Born in '54, my father in the Dutch airforce, my first kit was an Airfix Spitfire. Through the years I've build lots of kits, some very good kits with the later Japanese kits, some very bad (some Heller and Italeri kits). Being a pensioner now, I'v got a few projects on the bench, most important the DeLorean from BTTF by Eaglemoss in 1/8, 1/24 VW Samba (hippie) T1 bus by Revell and the Revell 1/72 scale Flower class corvette. Love this great hobby in all its forms.
WOW that was really neat Andy, great nostalgia.
My first kit was back in 72 when I was 7yrs old and my Dad got me a 1/72 scale airfix Spitfire, and here we are in 2020 and I'm still building kits.
My first model was a Revell 1/72 Fokker D-VII. I was around 7. There it all began. Now I am 60 and still building models.
Thank you for the great video .
My father built the Porsche as a slot car back in the 60's sometime and i still have it along with a Chevrolet Corvair from the same brand.
He and his brothers had a home built track on and old table they built for their youngest brother.. my dad is 83 now and his younger brother is 70.
I really appreciate seeing this thank you.
One I remember clearly was a kit of HMS Victory - decent sized - maybe the equivalent of 1/225? Very neat paint job with yellow streaks along the hull. Decent plastic sails. Gave it basic rigging with sewing thread. That was on a display stand but got knocked off for a hard hit on the floor. A good Viking funeral followed. I think the model is still in print.
Airfix?
My first kit was a birthday gift for a buddy of mind. I was 5 or 7? The kit was a 49 or 50 ford or chevy pickup. All white plastic and vinyl tires.I had model glue or paint. I put it together one night in my bed with elmer's glue. I just looked at the photos didn't read anything. I'm 62 now still building.😁
My first kit was a F-102 Delta. It was pretty small and had maybe a dozen pieces. I loved that plane to literal "pieces". So cool!
My first kit i built with my father was in the early-mid 1980s, of a 1/48 F-4E Phantom II from Revell. Dated 1977. Later we would also build the same version of the 1/48 P-61 Black Widow, pictured in the video. Great memories.
Lot of fun watching these old kits and catalogue :O)
I built my first kit with my uncle in 1961. A 1:72 Starfighter from Airfix. Came in a plastic bag with stapled on 'bag art'.
Hooked since then and still am today at age 58.
Hi Andy, great video, lots of memories. I can't remember my first kit, but it was probably a bag kit in the mid 60's. I really got into the Tom Daniels stuff from Monogram in the early 70's. I built the Red Barron car, Beer Wagon, Tijuana Taxi, and many many more. They set on a shelf in my room until I left for college. First trip home at Christmas, my mother had thrown them all away and redecorated the room. 40 years later an I am just getting back into the hobby. I am amazed at the detail in the newer kits.
1960 my first kit was a tank of some sort and then I went into the space building , but armor is still my first love in modeling , thank you for the memory smile
My very first kit was the Airfix 1/32nd scale Sunbeam Rapier which I built in 1960 when I was nine years old. It took many years before I started painting my models!
I recently came across an old monogram HO scale Big Boy kit from my late uncle. pretty neat stuff. late 1960's, early 70's if I recall.
My very first kit was Aurora's "Phantom Of The Opera" figure kit. It was in the early '70's.
I started building kits in the 60s and I've never stopped. For me it's all about the smell of those old instructions in the artwork man do I love it!
I can't quite remember my very first kit but those Aurora WW1 series fighter planes bring back a lot of fond memories. Thanks.
My Grandad had the old Revell kit of the Apollo Module and Lunar Lander, back when they came as one set, with a big crater base and a plastic arm to hold the Module in orbit over the landing site. He never built it, I was way too young, BUT there was something very satisfying about those old silver-grey plastic parts and I enjoyed just looking at it and dry-fitting bits that were rattling around in the box... after he rescued it from on top of a wardrobe where it had probably been for at least a decade.
Model kits were magic to me in 1960s. My Dad took me to a store called Hobby Center that was owned by 2 brothers. First kit that I got from there was a Aurora Frankenstein. Years later it was cars & WW2 tanks & aircraft.. Best part was going there around Christmas.
great nostalgia. I remember these kits, My first kit was an F 86 Saber Jet probably about 1955 It may have been in the catalogue you showed. I built many of the kits in the catalogue
Do more of these posts!!
I believe mine was a Revel USS New Jersey. Cool kits and catalog,Andy! Do show us more of these in the future. I remember I also had some Lindberg fighter bomber and also a Revel Phantom jet.
I saw my first airplane kit as you went through the catalog...a Convair B-58 Hustler, myfirst car was a 1959 Pontiac.. I left it white and it was covered with glue from my fingers because I attached every chrome accessory and fender skirt that came with it!!
Wow. The Revell Forrestal was the first kit I "built". Actually it was my Dad who did most of the work. Had it on a shelf over my bed for years afterwards. Great memory. Thanks for sharing.
Nostalgia time!!! Thanks Max.
We are just about the same age Andy, have fond memories of setting old kits on fire and throwing them too! I still love these oldies over the over engineered kits around today from.some manufacturers. Always scope for some nice scratch built interiors ect
My first model must have been a Me 410 from Revell around 1980 when I was 8 years old. Found it again in a box, hidden in the attic of my parents house a few years ago and it looked absolutely horrible.
Felt some nostalgia nonetheless ;-)
back in the day i remember some airfix kits came in plastic bags with the instructions folded over and stapled to seal, i am 70yrs old and still like to make kits /models,regards from the u.k.
very interesting video ... thanks for posting. First kit I remember buying and building was the Aurora X-15 rocket powered airplane.
Revell X-15. And I built it in 1960 (I was 8). I was hooked and was building kits as fast as I could get them, which really wasn’t very fast at all. Airplanes, space, and sci-fi with an occasional naval or auto were my subjects. I guess I built just about anything except armor. I didn’t build a tank until 4 years ago. I’ve loved building kits ever since with a long hiatus while raising daughters (I tried, but I couldn’t even get them to build 0.99 glider in a bag). Retired now, I love it still. Nice to see us old pioneers remembered. Thanks.
Wow. I actually BUILT that Koala bear, I had totally and completely forgotten about that. In 1958 or 9, I think. That may have been my first model, ever.
I think my first model was Perry the squirrel, around the same time. His buggy looking eyes freaked me out.
God, the flash on that Aurora kit! Made me flash (no pun intended) back to some of the cheap kits I built as a kid, especially the old AMT-Ertl and MPC kits. The very first model kit I remember (helping) to build was the old ST-TOS Enterprise kit from AMT that my brother built back in 1972. The first model kit I got to build myself was an old 1/72 Monogram Junkers Ju-87 Stuka while i was laid up in the hospital when I was 9. The flash on THAT kit....
Good times, and good memories.
Great Video , Andy ! Brings back fond memories. My first kits , Ringo's USN Blimp , afterwards SM.55 Seaplane and USNS Savannah . Remember my brother and I getting some of the Aurora kits after church on Sundays for 49 cents and by 6 pm we were dogfighting. He was a monster guy , I was the planes. Hope you and your loved ones are well ! Tony
My first model was 1962... I was 5. My dad was was building a Japanese ‘oka’ and he got a snap together model of a mother bear and her cub that I put together... and painted, and re-painted, and re-painted over the years. BTW, that ‘Red Baron’ hot rod was one of my early models. Now... armor only.
Although I built a few kits earlier the first one I remember was an Airfix or Frog C-130 that I built on Christmas morning about 1975. Built it with no paint job and in about an hour. The best memory I have as a kid building kits. I think I blew it up with fire-crackers the same day as you do :) Apart from that I loved building the Matchbox 1:76 armor kits with the little diorama bases - so cool. Thanks for the memories Andy.
Lots of happy memories of Aurora, Monogram, Airfix (of course), Frog, Revell, Tamiya (most expensive) and Matchbox. A lot of those kits were pretty well detailed for their time, its in the huge range of accessories that shows how much the hobby has changed. Back when I was a starter we had Humbrol or Airfix enamel paints and that was it, no such thing as acrylics and if you were building a diorama - look for your 'woodland scenics' in the garden! Its also interesting how pronunciations vary around the world - you say Ruh-VELL and DEE-Kals, I've always said Revel (as in to revel at) and Deck-al! Great video!
Yep, good video. We used to build battleships, when we ran out of room would take them out back in a big tub of water, put glue all over them and "light 'em up". Hahahah
Very cool. Great insight to the past.
I really enjoyed this video. I remember some of the kits and the bane of flash. I liked the catalog most because of seeing a lot of armor I built many years ago. I would enjoy seeing more catalogs in the future if you decide to do more. Revell made structure kits in HO too.
I can't recall the first kit I ever built. The first time I ever remember seeing a model kit I must have been 5. My sister was building the Alosaurus Rex from Aurora. I freaked out over it and she took me up to the store the next day and we picked one out for me which she built. It was the Pteranadon. I just turned 54 in September, and alhtough I have bought probably 30 or more kits in the last 35 years, I haven't finished a single one. In fact, I moved in '99 and gave every kit I had to a friend. His car was filled when he drove off. I now have the 3 foot long "Seaview" from Polar Lights, and the "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" "Interceptor" from Aoshima. I got them within the last 12 years, and haven't really touched them. I can't remember the last kit I actually completed.
Thanks for posting this. Great memories. The first kit I remember building was a Revell Lights Action Sound Coast Guard Helicopter. Probably aound 1978. Wish I could find another one. I've seen a couple pop up on eBay but they've been in really bad shape and missing parts. Saw the Black Widow at my local Hobby Lobby last weekend.
my first was 1975ish. it was a California fire truck, molded in white. I later became a Revell "Master Modeler" and had my name (spelled wrong, of course) printed in the monthly catalogue they produced back then. fun times and still building to this day.
Thanks for bringing back many fond memories Andy. I built several of those Revell kits back in the day beginning around 1955. I used to save up empty soda bottles then take them in my wagon to the corner store to collect the deposits on them, 2¢ for the small bottles, and 5¢ for the quart size. I'd get enough to buy one of those Revell kits. Even when I was 10 years old, I wanted to join the Navy, which I ultimately did, so I loved building Navy airplanes and ships.