Aurora kits were my unofficial babysitter many evenings and I don't think I built anything else until I was in my teens. I built so many of those kits. Lots of great and bittersweet memories came flooding back when I watched this. Thanks!
I was lucky, I was born a decade after My eldest Brother, I had two brothers worth of ancient hand me down toys and books. All the best Tommy! Same here Mate, watchin this, I had similar reactions too Friend.
There are so many of those kits I remember building when I was a kid. My hobby supplier was the neighborhood drug store who always had a good supply of Aurora kits. Aurora had such great box art. Thanks for this, great memories.
When I was a preteen I built that model of the Cutty Sark that’s on the cover of the catalog, it’s now gone it was my first really big ship. I loved it
I built many of these, including the Seaview submarine. It was molded in black. Moebius shot it in grey when they repopped it. Even has the exact same base. I now have the repop, wish I still had the old aurora kit!
With Atlantis teasing us with a few of the old kits repopped, I keep hoping they will bring back more. But alas, some of my favorites might be gone forever, the molds lost.
What a great catalogue! It even had the CF-100 'Canuck' in it! (But not the Arrow!) It was great to see the 1/32 scale cars as well! Thanks so much Max! Keep 'em coming!
I am 77 years old and was an avid modeler in the 60's. I have a Revell catalogue from 1962 with similar prices. I don't recall them seeming extra cheap at the time. There is also a penciled list of all MY models, 1962-1967. There were airplanes, ships, military vehicles and later, many cars. I still have a number of the Aurora knights which made impressive displays. Especially those with filigree decoration which could be effectively done with brushing on and wiping off gold paint. My list totals 132 which took me well into my college years. Then I guess I grew up (?) Lately I have been collecting fine, assembled metal car models and I've been working on a wooden ship model. I see the fine work being done in plastic these days, but been there, done that. By the way, the bicycle and hobby shop I haunted is now a cat cafe!
Thanks for this video Max. Since I was born in 67' , most of these kits were long gone by the time I started into this hobby, though I did build a few, The Seaview for one...and a couple 1/48th scale tanks.... The prices are eye opening!
I graduated high school in '67. Loved to model and built a lot. Then other issues stole my attention. There was a war out there some place. Low draft number. Couldn't concentrate for a spell. Thanks for the memories.
I had the 1/48 P - 40 first model kit I ever bought, flew many combat missions through out my parents house ANZIO BEACH , 1/48 SHERMAN , TIGER TANK , PANTHER TANK , PATTON TANK I have the JAPANESE TANK in the 70s issue box , the JS 3 ( storage tub survivor) with some minor repairs needed…. Thanks MAX…. CHRIS my friend DAVID would have loved MAXSMODELS… he loved all the MONSTER MODELS , the EVIL MAD SCIENTIST SETS , yep he was a AURORA FREAK… Again MAX , thanks CHRIS from OHIO
Wow thanks for sharing Max, that's a real gem and a collectible item in itself. I don't recollect ever seeing any Aurora kits over here when I started modelling in the early/mid 80s. It was mostly a diet of Matchbox, Airfix, Italeri, Revell and Tamiya at the higher price point.
In my area, Airfix became available about the time Aurora disappeared. I found a few Frog kits early on too, but they were rare and soon disappeared. Matchbox was unknown to me (except their diecast cars) until recent years, when I lucked into a few on Amazon.
Those old catalogs are treasures Max. Thank you for a look through this one, there are kits in there that I never knew of. My scale back then, as it is now, was 1/76-1/72 so I rarely looked at these other scaled kits. So much of interest but so little time.
Great video brings back memories because I got my modeling start with Aurora. I remember many of those catalog pictures as box art. If these great pictures dont make you nostalgic, the prices will. Thanks and happy new year.
Thanks Max. I built the little B 17 model for a class presentation. Only listed 49 cents. Saw ebay listing for $100! I remember doing the same thing: dreaming as I reviewed the catalog. I built more of these than I thought I did. Blessings to all.
Very cool captain, thanks. THOSE PRICES....I remember getting the old squadron flyers in the 70s as a kid, still had things about that much. Now a 1/72 jet can easily be $40...even adjusted for inflation etc....seems high.
Thanks for the last minute post. It's always hard this time if year when we think of those not with us anymore. We lost a son in 2017, so I understand how it feels when thinking of Andy. Hoping you are having the Merriest of Christmases, and a Happy Happy New Year! As always, God bless you and yours and thanks again for all you do? Model On Captain!
Thank you for the video. Great job! This was the golden era for Aurora. The kits (ships, tanks, and planes) were getting better, and then c1969 the last new moulds came out. After that it was just bigger boxes housing the same kits, except for some retooled tanks c1976 (and Aurora did add about 3 sister ships in the early 70s). I liked your choice of music, too.
Wow, so many memories. I built at least one from most of the categories. The 1/48 tanks came with a vacuum molded diorama base and a figure or two. At my local Woolworths, Tamiya didn't exist and Monogram was too expensive, Aurora did have the best box art.
Jeez, Max, if I had a dollar for every one of these magnificent kits I had I could buy a mansion! What a shame that young modelers (the pitifully shrinking number of them) don't have an Aurora for their generation. The T.H.U.D. song cracked me up. I'm in my 60s now and have a large stash of monster and hero kits that I can finally do justice to. Doesn't matter how old the body gets, the mind is still 12 years old! Thanks!
A wonderful addition to your reference collection. Actually, the Grumman S-2F Tracker is another non-WW2 type in amongst the WW2 aircraft. I never had any of these kits, and I do not recall seeing any Aurora kits in NZ when I began modelling in 1974 - but I am sure any that might have been around would have been well out of my price range. Great box art.
Hahahaha, Everything has always been a ripoff for the lower hemisphere? Third World down here. Box Art was beautiful, Starfighters in space, YUM! @02:38 Just Awesome for a Kid to Dream!
Those old catalogs are like time capsules. They take us back to the early days on modeling. Someday show a video on some other model company catalog. Great video. Like the music selection.
Awesome video! Pretty sure these kits are still available today as the molds were probably sold to other companies and repackaged under their name. I also liked the F-105 song. My grandfather used to work on those jets and almost every 105 built he had something to do with.
The breadth and variety of the kits was amazing. Let's see. ● The 1:24 E-type Jag coupe ended up in a Monogram box. ● The hotrods were fun but in non-standard 1:32 scale. ● The 1:48 tanks had lots of detail and working parts including the Swedish S-tank whose suspension went up and down like the real one. ● The knights were brilliant with colored feathers for the helmet plumes -- I got my wife interested in modelling by giving her knight kis. ● The movie monster kits flew off the shelves. ● The tilt-wing actually had a functional tileing wing. ● The W.W I fighters came with camouflage and markings preprinted on cloth for covering the model. ● Aurora loved using square boxes that didn't stack well with anyone else's.
I’m having a great time buying these old models on EBay “aircraft model junkyard” and restoring them to what I thought they looked like when I finished them 60 years ago.
I actually have several of those kits in my stash. I bought a box of models at a yard sale and there were several vintage kits in it. Got the whole box for ten dollars.
There used to be an F-105 on static display at the old Kelsey-Hayes factory in Romulus, MI, along I-94. There are currently TWO on static display at the Gila Bend Municipal Airport, near I-8. But you have to get off the freeway and drive a few miles to find the small airport. These airplanes were part of Luke AFB and the associated bombing range (now the Goldwater Range)
I was born in late 1960, so I saw my share of Big A kits….the ones I recall building: SE-5, C-119, the Anzio set, Panther tank, M-109, Chieftain, Jet Commander, MBT, B-26, Fokker D-7, Nautilus, F-107, Ragnarok,…..many more I’m sure, but have escaped my recall.
Great Art. In summer of 196? you could get a Creamsickle that had a trading card with an Aurora military jet. Aurora had the Best military aircraft art ever! Thanks for sharing ! BTW - thanks for playing DEAD MANs CURVE !
Built many of these. Wow the art work! Parents gave me the Batman model for Christmas. Saw the same model all original at a shop in Minnesota . Asking 300 dollars.
Thanks for sharing this. It's easy to think that Aurora was all about monsters and spaceships (no problem with that - thats all I built as a kid - that and Prehistoric Scenes dinosaurs!!!) But the catalogue really shows the diversity - take note Airfix!!!!!!
I remember this catalog! My brother and I wore out a few of them! I built the F-104, C-119, P-38, American LaFrance Pumper, Man From U.N.C.L.E. Illiya, Frankenstein, Dracula, Superman busting thru the wall and those are the ones I still remember!!
My older brother had that same catalog. Being a Godzilla fan even then, I remember being enamored by the box art of Big G. We had the Green Beret kit (very expensive now if you can find it.) He was a green Green Beret since we didn’t bother painting him.
I had never heard of the "Whoozis" line. Apparently, Aurora was trying to hop on the Weird-Ohs and Ed Roth monster craze. However, those Whoozis are rather creepy!
Another Oldie - Squadron Shop in Silver Spring MD near the DC line -197?. Crowded as hell on weekends. One of the staff was a guy who was in the Africa Corp. Everyone was asking him questions about Tiger Tanks - he was like a rock star. Then they moved the Shop to Glenmont MD. One day early 80's I'm walking into the Squad Shop when 10 Montgomery County Cops, lights flashing, pull right in front of the store and corner a car with two shady looking guys in it. Guns drawn the yell for the guys to get out! I walk into the SQUADRON Shop and everyone was all "why they arresting those guys with guns drawn." I just smile and say "Dallas Cowboy fans..."
The F-110A McDonnell was the first 48 scale model kit I ever built. I saved my school allowance in order to but this kit. I believe I paid 12 Pesos for this kit in 1966 and never realized that that was already a week salary for some people in Manila in those days. I did not buy this from a hobby shop but from Goodwill bookstore at Rizal Avenue in Manila.
That 1/32 scale car called the scat cat was my first model I bought at the age of 7 for 50 c I think it was that it was at a drug store that's no longer around built 100 s since then thanks for that great memorie hope you had a great Christmas and have great new year may just bring in the new year buildings a model
Aurora kits were my unofficial babysitter many evenings and I don't think I built anything else until I was in my teens. I built so many of those kits. Lots of great and bittersweet memories came flooding back when I watched this. Thanks!
I was lucky, I was born a decade after My eldest Brother, I had two brothers worth of ancient hand me down toys and books.
All the best Tommy!
Same here Mate, watchin this, I had similar reactions too Friend.
There are so many of those kits I remember building when I was a kid. My hobby supplier was the neighborhood drug store who always had a good supply of Aurora kits. Aurora had such great box art. Thanks for this, great memories.
Great music as well
When I was a preteen I built that model of the Cutty Sark that’s on the cover of the catalog, it’s now gone it was my first really big ship. I loved it
Thanks for sharing a walk down memory lane. I built a bunch of those kits.
I built many of these, including the Seaview submarine. It was molded in black. Moebius shot it in grey when they repopped it. Even has the exact same base. I now have the repop, wish I still had the old aurora kit!
Luckily a lot of these molds still exist & we can continue to enjoy the kits. Sadly some we will never see again. Thanks for showing the catalog.
With Atlantis teasing us with a few of the old kits repopped, I keep hoping they will bring back more. But alas, some of my favorites might be gone forever, the molds lost.
@@lancerevell5979 Some molds were lost in that train wreck many years ago.
I remember so many of these kits so well.....and that Cessna 310 just makes me hurt because it is impossible to find for any kind of a sane price.
A lot dreams in that book. Thanks for sharing .
It’s really amazing the selection of kits back then.
Boy that catalog brought back some fond memories. Thanks Max!
Max, great video. I knew you would put the catalog to good use.
What a great catalogue! It even had the CF-100 'Canuck' in it! (But not the Arrow!) It was great to see the 1/32 scale cars as well! Thanks so much Max! Keep 'em coming!
I am 77 years old and was an avid modeler in the 60's. I have a Revell catalogue from 1962 with similar prices. I don't recall them seeming extra cheap at the time. There is also a penciled list of all MY models, 1962-1967. There were airplanes, ships, military vehicles and later, many cars. I still have a number of the Aurora knights which made impressive displays. Especially those with filigree decoration which could be effectively done with brushing on and wiping off gold paint. My list totals 132 which took me well into my college years. Then I guess I grew up (?) Lately I have been collecting fine, assembled metal car models and I've been working on a wooden ship model. I see the fine work being done in plastic these days, but been there, done that. By the way, the bicycle and hobby shop I haunted is now a cat cafe!
Thanks for this video Max. Since I was born in 67' , most of these kits were long gone by the time I started into this hobby, though I did build a few, The Seaview for one...and a couple 1/48th scale tanks....
The prices are eye opening!
But, like everything else, the "cheapness" was relative. Two bucks for a kit then was big money for a kid getting a quarter a week allowance! 😳
I graduated high school in '67.
Loved to model and built a lot.
Then other issues stole my attention.
There was a war out there some place.
Low draft number.
Couldn't concentrate for a spell.
Thanks for the memories.
I had the 1/48 P - 40 first model kit I ever bought, flew many combat missions through out my parents house
ANZIO BEACH , 1/48 SHERMAN , TIGER TANK , PANTHER TANK , PATTON TANK
I have the JAPANESE TANK in the 70s issue box , the JS 3 ( storage tub survivor) with some minor repairs needed….
Thanks MAX…. CHRIS
my friend DAVID would have loved MAXSMODELS… he loved all the MONSTER MODELS , the EVIL MAD SCIENTIST SETS , yep he was a AURORA
FREAK… Again MAX , thanks
CHRIS from OHIO
Wow thanks for sharing Max, that's a real gem and a collectible item in itself.
I don't recollect ever seeing any Aurora kits over here when I started modelling in the early/mid 80s. It was mostly a diet of Matchbox, Airfix, Italeri, Revell and Tamiya at the higher price point.
they were gone by then
In my area, Airfix became available about the time Aurora disappeared. I found a few Frog kits early on too, but they were rare and soon disappeared. Matchbox was unknown to me (except their diecast cars) until recent years, when I lucked into a few on Amazon.
Those old catalogs are treasures Max. Thank you for a look through this one, there are kits in there that I never knew of. My scale back then, as it is now, was 1/76-1/72 so I rarely looked at these other scaled kits. So much of interest but so little time.
Great video brings back memories because I got my modeling start with Aurora. I remember many of those catalog pictures as box art. If these great pictures dont make you nostalgic, the prices will. Thanks and happy new year.
Thanks Max. I built the little B 17 model for a class presentation. Only listed 49 cents. Saw ebay listing for $100! I remember doing the same thing: dreaming as I reviewed the catalog. I built more of these than I thought I did. Blessings to all.
I had a number of the Aurora 1/48 tank kits. Those were my first armour kits
An enjoyable gem!!!!
This is one of the few I don't have. Its great to see and your music is as always spot on. Thanks Max.
Gary Owen and an old Aurora catalog what a delicious tea time combo!
Very cool captain, thanks. THOSE PRICES....I remember getting the old squadron flyers in the 70s as a kid, still had things about that much. Now a 1/72 jet can easily be $40...even adjusted for inflation etc....seems high.
Thanks for the last minute post. It's always hard this time if year when we think of those not with us anymore. We lost a son in 2017, so I understand how it feels when thinking of Andy. Hoping you are having the Merriest of Christmases, and a Happy Happy New Year! As always, God bless you and yours and thanks again for all you do? Model On Captain!
Very sorry for your loss. Hope this brought a little comfort of happier times.
Very interesting - some airfix in there.
Thank you for the video. Great job! This was the golden era for Aurora. The kits (ships, tanks, and planes) were getting better, and then c1969 the last new moulds came out. After that it was just bigger boxes housing the same kits, except for some retooled tanks c1976 (and Aurora did add about 3 sister ships in the early 70s). I liked your choice of music, too.
Wow, so many memories. I built at least one from most of the categories. The 1/48 tanks came with a vacuum molded diorama base and a figure or two. At my local Woolworths, Tamiya didn't exist and Monogram was too expensive, Aurora did have the best box art.
Jeez, Max, if I had a dollar for every one of these magnificent kits I had I could buy a mansion! What a shame that young modelers (the pitifully shrinking number of them) don't have an Aurora for their generation. The T.H.U.D. song cracked me up. I'm in my 60s now and have a large stash of monster and hero kits that I can finally do justice to. Doesn't matter how old the body gets, the mind is still 12 years old! Thanks!
A wonderful addition to your reference collection. Actually, the Grumman S-2F Tracker is another non-WW2 type in amongst the WW2 aircraft. I never had any of these kits, and I do not recall seeing any Aurora kits in NZ when I began modelling in 1974 - but I am sure any that might have been around would have been well out of my price range. Great box art.
Hahahaha, Everything has always been a ripoff for the lower hemisphere?
Third World down here.
Box Art was beautiful, Starfighters in space, YUM! @02:38 Just Awesome for a Kid to Dream!
Those old catalogs are like time capsules. They take us back to the early days on modeling. Someday show a video on some other model company catalog. Great video. Like the music selection.
Awesome video! Pretty sure these kits are still available today as the molds were probably sold to other companies and repackaged under their name. I also liked the F-105 song. My grandfather used to work on those jets and almost every 105 built he had something to do with.
The breadth and variety of the kits was amazing. Let's see.
● The 1:24 E-type Jag coupe ended up in a Monogram box.
● The hotrods were fun but in non-standard 1:32 scale.
● The 1:48 tanks had lots of detail and working parts including the Swedish S-tank whose suspension went up and down like the real one.
● The knights were brilliant with colored feathers for the helmet plumes -- I got my wife interested in modelling by giving her knight kis.
● The movie monster kits flew off the shelves.
● The tilt-wing actually had a functional tileing wing.
● The W.W I fighters came with camouflage and markings preprinted on cloth for covering the model.
● Aurora loved using square boxes that didn't stack well with anyone else's.
Good 2 know!
Thanks from another Baby Boomer !
I’m having a great time buying these old models on EBay “aircraft model junkyard” and restoring them to what I thought they looked like when I finished them 60 years ago.
Wow that was a really neat video. There was a lot of cool looking models in that catalog
I actually have several of those kits in my stash. I bought a box of models at a yard sale and there were several vintage kits in it. Got the whole box for ten dollars.
There used to be an F-105 on static display at the old Kelsey-Hayes factory in Romulus, MI, along I-94. There are currently TWO on static display at the Gila Bend Municipal Airport, near I-8. But you have to get off the freeway and drive a few miles to find the small airport. These airplanes were part of Luke AFB and the associated bombing range (now the Goldwater Range)
The instant the music started I knew what it was! As well as the catalogue pictures, thanks for the karaoke version of "To Sir, With Love" ;-)
I was born in late 1960, so I saw my share of Big A kits….the ones I recall building: SE-5, C-119, the Anzio set, Panther tank, M-109, Chieftain, Jet Commander, MBT, B-26, Fokker D-7, Nautilus, F-107, Ragnarok,…..many more I’m sure, but have escaped my recall.
Thanks max for showing them.one ove my models .i do have to rebuild is my stutz bearcat model car.
Great Art.
In summer of 196? you could get a Creamsickle that had a trading card with an Aurora military jet.
Aurora had the Best military aircraft art ever!
Thanks for sharing !
BTW - thanks for playing DEAD MANs CURVE !
that was awesome … thanks for posting this
Built many of these. Wow the art work! Parents gave me the Batman model for Christmas. Saw the same model all original at a shop in Minnesota . Asking 300 dollars.
Thanks for sharing this. It's easy to think that Aurora was all about monsters and spaceships (no problem with that - thats all I built as a kid - that and Prehistoric Scenes dinosaurs!!!) But the catalogue really shows the diversity - take note Airfix!!!!!!
I remember this catalog! My brother and I wore out a few of them! I built the F-104, C-119, P-38, American LaFrance Pumper, Man From U.N.C.L.E. Illiya, Frankenstein, Dracula, Superman busting thru the wall and those are the ones I still remember!!
Very cool, would love to have the catalog announcing the Monster Scenes.....
Great model kits from when I was a kid. If only I had the painting skills back then. I coveted the Classic Monster kits but failed at miserably.
Love the prices
Those days are gone forever.
I built most of them and ended up working on F-4s and F-14s in the Navy. (1970-1990)
Great Show Ol Chap!
The score was Awesome,
We All had a Deadmans Curve, sends chills when I think back, not just Me, My Psycho Mates,,,,
Fond Memories, Thanks for Sharing !
My older brother had that same catalog. Being a Godzilla fan even then, I remember being enamored by the box art of Big G. We had the Green Beret kit (very expensive now if you can find it.) He was a green Green Beret since we didn’t bother painting him.
I had never heard of the "Whoozis" line. Apparently, Aurora was trying to hop on the Weird-Ohs and Ed Roth monster craze. However, those Whoozis are rather creepy!
Another Oldie - Squadron Shop in Silver Spring MD near the DC line -197?. Crowded as hell on weekends. One of the staff was a guy who was in the Africa Corp. Everyone was asking him questions about Tiger Tanks - he was like a rock star. Then they moved the Shop to Glenmont MD.
One day early 80's I'm walking into the Squad Shop when 10 Montgomery County Cops, lights flashing, pull right in front of the store and corner a car with two shady looking guys in it. Guns drawn the yell for the guys to get out!
I walk into the SQUADRON Shop and everyone was all "why they arresting those guys with guns drawn."
I just smile and say "Dallas Cowboy fans..."
The F-110A McDonnell was the first 48 scale model kit I ever built. I saved my school allowance in order to but this kit. I believe I paid 12 Pesos for this kit in 1966 and never realized that that was already a week salary for some people in Manila in those days. I did not buy this from a hobby shop but from Goodwill bookstore at Rizal Avenue in Manila.
That 1/32 scale car called the scat cat was my first model I bought at the age of 7 for 50 c I think it was that it was at a drug store that's no longer around built 100 s since then thanks for that great memorie hope you had a great Christmas and have great new year may just bring in the new year buildings a model
P.S.- I grew up on Naval Air Stations and I saw all of the 50's and 60's cold war aircraft.
thank you very much
I have a blue knight in my stash.
That's not just a catalog. It's an art book.
I had so many , the monsters , superheros ,airplanes ! Gosh that was fun
Had big fun with Aurora kits. They were the easiest to build.
I built a bunch of those. As I remember, they were often molded in plastic that was in "interesting" colors, like deep green or maroon.
Max ! I had it !
Cool Max.
Great video , x b 70 all the way.
I have it in my stuff.
I was 30 in 67 and built a lot of these kits for and with my son. Somebody wanted a 100 bucks for the yellow zero on e Bay., l built 2 .
Hey Max - do you know if old Aurora kits were 'factory sealed' when first sold?
Yes they were. So was Monogram. Revell just used two pieces of Scotch tape to keep the box together.
First viewer, yeah!
Kit #352 going for over $500.00!
Agora fiz uma viagem no tempo em que comprei meu primeiro kit
To Sir with Love??? What happened to The Girl from Ipanema?
I love that "F-105" song! 😀
Thank you!