# What was your first kit ever.



## noahasarcmi (Sep 20, 2011)

I know we have some older modelers but, does anyone remember the first kit they built? This would be the first kit when you were serious into kit building, and felt great about the build. For me it would have been my an Aircraft. I built a Pro Modeler Corsair 1/48th scale with photo-etch. This kit was inspired from a TV Show I used to watch called baa baa blacksheep. I know some of us have some interesting stories about the first build so share. 

-Nathan


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## Full Flaps! (Sep 26, 2010)

Although I wouldn't consider myself a "modeler" in the context of this discussion, I do remember the first two kits I was given. 

A Pontiac Banshee from Revell, and a high end kit of unknown origin, maybe Italian, with diecast metal body and working steering. A '57 Ferrari I believe it was. I never had modeling paint and glue growing up, so they were never put together proper. But I did have a ton of fun mocking them up as much as I could and tinkering with the parts!


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

That's not a fair question! It sounds like you did your first kit in the not too distant past. My first kit was in the dark ages of the early '60s! I am not sure what my actual first kit was but it was either the Aurora Superman, Witch, or maybe something like a Munsters car or Tom Daniel's car or such. I had a shelf above my bed back then and displayed my models on them. I had the kits mentioned above and also a couple of silly surfers but in that time frame I would guess that Tom Daniel's like cars were likely my favorite type of model. I also had my small stash of maybe 10 Testors enamels and a couple of paint brushes to do them with. I was very limited by what I made mowing yards. I then migrated to model rockets for years and years starting around '68 and came back to plastic modeling big time around the time I turned 50 and I love it. The much larger financial resources really help although the fun factor is about the same and the anal retentiveness is hugely greater! Everything has to be perfect now and a model takes 2-4 weeks typically. Back then I was happy with 4 colors or paint and brushing it on.

Bob K.


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## kenlee (Feb 11, 2010)

The first model I ever built on my own was a "67 Chevelle SS 396 that I got in 1970. I was ten at the time and saw on a rack by the check-out at the local grocery store. There were several but I picked the "67 because it was the same car that my cousin owned. It was a total glue bomb, I slapped it together while watching saturday morning cartoons, no paint, a big glue fingerprint in the rear window, glue smudges around the front window but I was proud of it because I had built it myself.


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## noahasarcmi (Sep 20, 2011)

The first kit I did was a NASA Space Shuttle which was also a glue bomb with Testors glue everywhere. Your right Bob that wasn't a fair question. I think what I meant to say was your first kit you really felt proud of. Sorry for the confusion and my lack of coffee before the holiday start! Any one remember the manufacturer of that Space Shuttle and scale? I can remember it was in white styrene and I didn't paint it just slapped decals on it. 

-Nathan


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## Vindi (Mar 20, 2009)

My first kit was the one of Ed White on a EVA from his Gemini Capsule. Not painted, just the white plastic. Can't remember if it was Revell, Monogram or other. All I do remember is that it came in a long box.

Wish I had that model now still in the box!


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## Ace Airspeed (May 16, 2010)

A young lad in the Dark Ages of the 60's also........it was a 1/72 Jolly Green Giant helicopter. No paint, but I used toothpicks to apply the glue and there wasn't a single smear of it to be seen. Even the windows had no glue spots. I was very proud of that model.

The first model I painted (memories are fuzzy) was a 1/72 B-57 (early 70's Dark Ages). I brushed the Humbrol Vietnam flat enamels and it came out nice.


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## Full Flaps! (Sep 26, 2010)

rkoenn said:


> The anal retentiveness is hugely greater! Everything has to be perfect now and a model takes 2-4 weeks typically.
> 
> Bob K.


The first unglamorous, yet highly crucial ingredient of perfection, or something close to it! :thumbsup:


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## chuck_thehammer (Oct 24, 2007)

my first model...about 50 years ago...I was 8 or 9...my mother had returned from a bus trip for a funeral...the car was I think a early t-bird type car (2 seater) with a twin bubble all clear top...no paint...car turned out OK and sat by my bed for years...


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

chuck_thehammer said:


> my first model...about 50 years ago...I was 8 or 9...my mother had returned from a bus trip for a funeral...the car was I think a early t-bird type car (2 seater) with a twin bubble all clear top...no paint...car turned out OK and sat by my bed for years...


Is this the car you are talking about? I believe I had one of those also back in the '60s.










Bob K.


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## dklange (Apr 25, 2009)

I have no idea what my first kit was... I do know it was an airplane kit... airplanes were all I built until around 1962 or 63 when I got my first Aurora monster kit... I do remember having Frankenstein, The Creature, The Mummy and The Wolf Man all sitting on my dresser and thought they were all very cool!! Did not do any painting. - Denis


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## Solium (Apr 24, 2005)

I don't know if it was my first kit ever. But the first kit I CAN remember, seeing on the shelf, holding the box in my hands and taking home and snapping together was Aurora's Prehistoric Scenes Sabre Tooth Tiger.


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## chuck_thehammer (Oct 24, 2007)

rkoenn said:


> Is this the car you are talking about? I believe I had one of those also back in the '60s.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's it...thanks...I have not seen a photo of it in like 40 years...brings back good memories...

Chuck

this must be why I also love the first generation of the batmobile...


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## rhinooctopus (May 22, 2011)

*First Model Kit*

That would be the Aurora Frankenstein Monster. For Christmas...in 1962 (I was 8 years old)...my mom bought this kit for me. She even helped me build and paint it! Of the four of us boys (me and my 3 brothers) I was the one that continued-on building figure kits...with the exception of a few years in the early 70's where I was into building 1/25 scale drag racing cars.
A little later in life I got heavily back into figure kits thanks to John Green (who looks amazingly like Bryan Adams!). I really miss getting his "news letters"!

Phil K


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## kenlee (Feb 11, 2010)

chuck_thehammer said:


> That's it...thanks...I have not seen a photo of it in like 40 years...brings back good memories...
> 
> Chuck
> 
> this must be why I also love the first generation of the batmobile...


This kit has been re-issued several times by Revell-Monogram, the last time just a few years ago. It turns up frequently on e-bay, just look for the Lincoln Futura.


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

WOW Phil you are old. BWAHAHAHAHAHA

My first kit - actually two cause I got them together were the Aurora Godzilla and King Kong back when I was 8. This was 1970. Then after that my favorite came in 1974 when I was 12. The Aurora big T-Rex. Now my first kit that I was proud of would be my Creature from the Black Lagoon Tsucuda (sp) cause he won a prize in a contest.


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## irishtrek (Sep 17, 2005)

The first kit I remember getting was a Junkers Ju88 from Revell when I was a kid back in the mid-late '60s. Not sure what ever happened to it.....


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## dconlon (Oct 12, 2010)

My first kit was Aurora's Blackbeard.
I still remember it vividly.
It was 1967, I was five years old and I'd bugged my father enough that he finally took me to the convience store down the street to pluck it out of the display window.
I never painted it but was very proud of my build.
That one kit started a life-time of modeling - from other aurora kits to balsa planes to wooden ships and now back to figure kits.
I don't recall how or when Blackbeard was discarded but I can't wait to see him again next year when Atlantis re-releases the kit. It will have been a 45-year wait and I'm just as eager now as I was when I was five.

Derek


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I grew up around models since my dad built them. I remember as a kid (around 1970) he had built the old Hawk 1/48 Westland Lysander and the box scale Monogram PBY Catalina. I used to play with those.

The first kits I had sort of blend together. I had the MPC 1970 Jeepster which was a cool Safari jeep with all kinds of hunting guns and little animal pictures. I would have been about 5 when I got that and I could not build it. I do remember playing with the tiny guns. I also had the Dark Shadows Werewolf, Aurora monsters and tanks, and small 1/72 Revell airplanes.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

irishtrek said:


> The first kit I remember getting was a Junkers Ju88 from Revell when I was a kid back in the mid-late '60s. Not sure what ever happened to it.....


That kit is still available today from Revell Germany although they have also issued an all new Junkers 88 in 1/72. The old issues are not hard to find either.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

noahasarcmi said:


> I know we have some older modelers but, does anyone remember the first kit they built? This would be the first kit when you were serious into kit building, and felt great about the build.


For me, this is two separate questions.

The first kit I built was Aurora's The Forgotten Prisoner of Castel-Maré, the "Fright'ning Lightning" version, in 1969. I was 7 or 8 years old and, though I'd heard of model kits, I really didn't know much about them. I glue-bombed it together (no seam work whatsoever), slathered on the paint by hand (black on the coat and pants, white on the shirt, red on the sash--just like the box!), and spent many subsequent nights falling asleep to the warm greenish glow of the Prisoner's skeleton staring back at me. Ahhh, those were the days... I was proud of it then, but thinking about it now I realize it was the epitome of "kid built".

Although I built a lot of kits in those days and improved my painting techniques somewhat, I didn't really get serious about building until I was well into my 20s; this is when I began focusing on eliminating seams and learning "new" painting techniques like drybrushing and washes, and occasionally making minor modifications. So the first kit I built as a "serious" modeler that I felt great about...well, I'm still waiting for that to happen. :dude:


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## Facto2 (Nov 16, 2010)

As a kid, first kit was the Aurora Frankenstein (what else?). Circa 60 something. As an adult returning to modeling, first kit was the Screamin’ Freddy Kruger. All hand brushed. Had no idea what I was doing. Hadn't even heard of an airbrush... And I sure as heck didn't know how to use a camera.


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## flyingfrets (Oct 19, 2001)

The first model I'd ever *seen* was a Gemini spacecraft my Dad built & painted for me when Gemini 3 lifted off, so it had to be the spring of '65 & I'd have been all of 4.

No seams, gorgeous paint job & I was mesmerized. And I knew right then and there, I had to build models like that too. Of course it took 2 1/2 decades, but I finally did it!

First one I *remember* building was the Aurora Batmobile (in reality, a glue bomb, but my pride & joy at the time). Guess I was 5 by then.

Been an addict ever since...


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## modelgeek (Jul 14, 2005)

Mine was an Aurora Panther F9F in 1963 I was 8 yrs old..


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## jbgroby (Dec 15, 2003)

REVELL USS Arizona. I remember building it and then going out of my way to save firecrackers to re-create Pearl Harbor.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

It would be nice to remember the exact maker and kit. The first model I remember was a small F-102 model. I remember bringing it to show-and-tell in kindergarten, in 1962.


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## AZbuilder (Jul 16, 1999)

*Glue Bombs*

I remember building my share of glue bomb models over the years since the early to mid 60's. Two kits that stick out is a Red Ferrari GT and a Sikorsky Coast Guard Helicopter of course they were unpainted because my mom was afraid I would spill paint all over floor. But, I would like to think my skills have improved over the years and I wish I was able to take pictures of my finished projects back then


John
AZbuilder


*Let Your Imagination Soar*


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

My first kit was a 1959 VW Type 2 Deluxe, I was about 8 when I bought it with my allowance in 1962. I remember it so well because my father helped by painting it and put it in the oven to dry.......... I has horrified when this mass of melted plastic came out, thanks Dad........:drunk: We were one of only a handful of people in Niagara Falls to own one, our first was a 1958 standard Type 2 and my Dad got asked all the time, "where's the engine in that thing, he always had some smart-ass reply....... Anyway, there was a very happy ending to this story, that year, (1962) we got our second and it was a deluxe and after my Mom told the salesman at the VW dealership my story he gave me a beautiful 1/24 deluxe in red and cream. I was so happy even thought I didn't build this one I did get a new model and proceed to build my first glue bomb of my very own, without my Dad's help......

Here's some of my car stash that I just got to relive my childhood.......:thumbsup:


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## NTRPRZ (Feb 23, 1999)

Mine was an AMT 1949 Mercury bought around 1964. I painted and repainted that thing several times; I wish I still had the original. The kit's been reissued many times, and I have a reissue, kept in an original box I picked up at an antique store in New York. 
After this, I built many, many AMT cars along with the Aurora monsters and TV kits. My favorites were the Lost in Space and UNCLE kits.

Jeff


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## MightyMax (Jan 21, 2000)

Aurora's Dracula's Dragster. I was so proud of it I had to take it to Show N Tell. It broke my heart when I snapped off his hand holding the goblet.

You better believe I bought a few of these when Polar Lights repopped them. I still have them stashed. One day I want to glue one together with a whole tube of Testors glue and not paint it. Then I want to do a really serious job on the other.

Max Bryant


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## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

My first model was a Lindberg Stinson Stationwagon I built with my Dad in the late 50's. I remember he let me do it all myself and I couldnt get the wings to glue right at all - plenty of glue later it still was never right but I was told I did a great job and I can still picture that time in my head to this day. I was probably around 5 at the time. Wish he was still around to share those memories with - we spent a lifetime building and collecting models, going to shows and swap meets . He has been gone 26 years now and I still have quite a few of his models.
Steve


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

First model, Renwall Visible Man, 1959...
...Second FRANKENSTEIN, 1961...
never looked back...
Mcdee


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## PF Flyer (Jun 24, 2008)

Not sure about the actual first kit. The first kits I REMEMBER are both Auroras: Batman and the Great Moments in Sport Willie Mays. Wish I had the originals done with Testor's gloss enamel and tube glue. Both were probably pretty bad. However, the great thing about this hobby is that, if you're willing to use ebay, you can correct some of the mistakes of your youth! Sort of....


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## Y3a (Jan 18, 2001)

1st ever? a 7" long Yamato battleship.(1963) 
1st kept model, Mr. Gasser.(1965) Then followed by Rat Fink, Dracula, Lost in Space Cyclops& Chariot('66), Flying sub, Invaders ship, Seaview('67), and Lost in Space Robot('68). Spindrift in 1970. Somewhere in there I also built a Supermarine Seaplane racing airplane.


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## HabuHunter32 (Aug 22, 2009)

First kit Aurora long box Frankenstien. No paint just glued together. Later my dad helped me when I got serious and wanted them to look better. I had built lots of cars that were to be honest glue bombs and at July 4th M80's and fire
crackers were used to great effect. After years of watching my dad make sailing ships and Spanish Galeons with out any kit, just a set of plans and wood I asked for his help and got serious. Even though plastic was not his medium he was a great help none the less. 


The first model that I was proud of was a 1/350 USS Missouri from Life Like some time in the early to mid seventies. It was on display in our local hobby shop for several years back when I lived in New York.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

John P said:


> It would be nice to remember the exact maker and kit. The first model I remember was a small F-102 model. I remember bringing it to show-and-tell in kindergarten, in 1962.


Probably the Aurora one. It may have been an ex Comet tool but it was small... maybe 1/100 or 1/144. It is somewhat common on eBay but also can be pricey. The small Aurora kits were cheap, sold by the bazillion, but also usually built... so its harder to find a nice mint one nowdays.


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## Bobj812 (Jun 15, 2009)

The first kit I actively built was an old car - turn of the century era, don't recall the make. It was molded in red plastic and had gold chrome parts - you can see it in the pic below, top shelf in the middle. Mad dad had decided that was the kit I was going to learn to build on (all the other kits in the pic he built I believe - I know I built a Batmobile myself later - and I'm sure he painted the _Seaview_ blue due to my insistence). I believe he had started it, but I wound up finishing it. The _Enterprise_ or Flying Sub must be on my dresser to the left. Pic was shot some time in '69. Not sure if the _Spindrift_ model was out yet or not, but I built that one myself I recall.


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## BatToys (Feb 4, 2002)

chuck_thehammer said:


> That's it...thanks...I have not seen a photo of it in like 40 years...brings back good memories...
> 
> Chuck
> 
> this must be why I also love the first generation of the batmobile...


Revell reissued the Lincoln Futura kit twice if you want to see it again.
The First issue is very hard to find but the two reissues have a new and improved canopy.


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## mr.victor (Feb 11, 2009)

Mine was the glow Aurora witch, around 1972. It's still my favorite, so I loved the recent glow re-pop.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

BatToys said:


> Revell reissued the Lincoln Futura kit twice if you want to see it again.
> The First issue is very hard to find but the two reissues have a new and improved canopy.


It may have been out three times. I know it was out TWICE in their SSP reissue series around 1998. It had been out once when they started that series, then again a year or two later when they started recycling the SSP stuff. Then it was out about 7 years ago in a regular box. Did I see that it is up for a reissue again in 2012? I forget...

I built this one a while ago


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## apls (Dec 5, 2005)

I remember my first kit. It was 1964. and it was the Aurora Dracula. My next door neighbor, was an older kid that collected them. I was 5 years old, I glued the inside mouth to his throat. Four stores sold these models, no hobby shops near me. The original six monsters were out. Superman followed. My best memory was the first Batman kit I got the week the show premired. Built models all the way until 1976, went to college, thought I had outgrew them. Rediscovered them in 1981, John F Green in Fullerton CA. was my go to guy. Now the hobby is better than ever. Now in my fifties, with a nice home and great wife, I feel blessed and very happy. And I still like everything I enjoyed back then. One of my Holy Grail kits is Jim(my) Brown breaking the rushing record. I wish Moebius would reissue them.


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## noahasarcmi (Sep 20, 2011)

This has been a great thread and a lot of awesome memories! Thanks for sharing everyone. Still trying to find the scale and model manufacturer of the NASA Space Shuttle w/Satellite I built. This would have been late 70's early 80's ( Sorry got a late start with modelling all I am 42 after all.:wave Anyone know what this one would be? My guess would be Revell but, this is a guess. 

Thanks!

-Nathan


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## xsavoie (Jun 29, 1999)

It just has to be The Wolfman.In the late 60's.Must have been around 10 by then.Afterwards,the other monsters followed.In the 70's,the Prehistoric Scenes,as well as many other kits of that era.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

noahasarcmi said:


> This has been a great thread and a lot of awesome memories! Thanks for sharing everyone. Still trying to find the scale and model manufacturer of the NASA Space Shuttle w/Satellite I built. This would have been late 70's early 80's ( Sorry got a late start with modelling all I am 42 after all.:wave Anyone know what this one would be? My guess would be Revell but, this is a guess.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> -Nathan


If it was a fairly good size kit it was probably the Revell 1/144 scale kit. That was one of the first Shuttle models and is still around today. It was sold as the Enterprise, and also with the 747, fuel tanks, and at one time even the whole launch tower complex. Entex had a poorish 1/144 Shuttle in the 70s as well and it is still available today from Minicraft. If your model was small and snap together it would have been the Monogram kit. That has been reissued a couple times.


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## Rondo (Jul 23, 2010)

My earliest kits are a little hazy. I recall a Revell Huey Gunship which was way over my head and a Monogram Paddy Wagon which came out better. A Revell B-52 and Seawolf sub were very early too, but the actual first may be something I can't recall. Perhaps if I sniff some tube glue it will all come back....

First kit that really came out well was a Monogram Woody street rod. Simple kit and basic build but it won the contest at the town car show. I believe I still have the trophies from that. I recently got that kit again and ought to build it soon.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

djnick66 said:


> Probably the Aurora one. It may have been an ex Comet tool but it was small... maybe 1/100 or 1/144. It is somewhat common on eBay but also can be pricey. The small Aurora kits were cheap, sold by the bazillion, but also usually built... so its harder to find a nice mint one nowdays.


That's kinda what I figured too.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

PF Flyer said:


> However, the great thing about this hobby is that, if you're willing to use ebay, you can correct some of the mistakes of your youth! Sort of...


The trouble with doing that is it's like eating a bag of potato chips--once you start you can't stop. I've re-collected almost every kit I had as a kid...and then some.


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

Can't remember the first one - but I sure had a great time building some of those old Aurora kits like the Bison. I remember that one....


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## kit-junkie (Apr 8, 2005)

I'm pretty sure it was a AMT or MPC 1950 something Corvette. My dad brought it home and said "here build this". I think I was seven. I was hooked after that.


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## ERVysther (May 2, 2009)

Aurora Glow in the Dark DRACULA....around '74 or so...my dad built it for me - I was like 5 or 6 :freak: - no painting...just the kit with the glow parts...saw that thing in the dark and WOO-HOO! - been hooked ever since!


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## djmadden99 (Dec 23, 2008)

My dad would build the Aurora WW I fighters and hang them in my room, at least until I'd start playing with them...he never could convince me they weren't toys.
The first kit I picked out at the store (a Ben Franklin five & dime) was the Aurora Tar Pit, which he put together and I "helped" paint. I got the Prehistoric Scenes and Glow Monsters, MPC Star Wars and lots of Airfix WW I and the Revell WW II planes. 
I rediscovered models for a little while from John Green's ad in Starlog magazine and the 1983 Monogram reissues of the monsters, put didn't get serious again until the late 90's when I found a copy of Classic Plastic by Rick Polizzi and found out what all was out there. 
Man, these posts brings back some fond memories...kind of like some of the scars on my hands from Xacto blades from when I was 11 or 12!


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## starduster (Feb 12, 2006)

My very first model was the Disney moon rocket ship, this was in 1957 and being 13 I was fascinated with all the Disney space ships after seeing them on the Disney TV show as I eventually had all of the Strombecker models, this lasted until the 1960's when I was building all the AMT cars, I wustive had darn near every one ever made all to be lost in a storage shed fire in the 90's. Karl










This is me in 1957 with my first model.


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## liskorea317 (Mar 27, 2009)

rkoenn said:


> That's not a fair question! It sounds like you did your first kit in the not too distant past. My first kit was in the dark ages of the early '60s! I am not sure what my actual first kit was but it was either the Aurora Superman, Witch, or maybe something like a Munsters car or Tom Daniel's car or such. I had a shelf above my bed back then and displayed my models on them. I had the kits mentioned above and also a couple of silly surfers but in that time frame I would guess that Tom Daniel's like cars were likely my favorite type of model. I also had my small stash of maybe 10 Testors enamels and a couple of paint brushes to do them with. I was very limited by what I made mowing yards. I then migrated to model rockets for years and years starting around '68 and came back to plastic modeling big time around the time I turned 50 and I love it. The much larger financial resources really help although the fun factor is about the same and the anal retentiveness is hugely greater! Everything has to be perfect now and a model takes 2-4 weeks typically. Back then I was happy with 4 colors or paint and brushing it on.
> 
> Bob K.


This sounds a lot like my experiences with models back in the 60's. My first was in '61-a vintage racing car with the number 35 decaled on the doors. I had several of them but I was small and didn't really know what I was doing. Then Superman came around '65, then the Star Trek Enterprise in '67, followed by the Invaders saucer then a lot of helicopters...I had no paint and couldn't afford paint until I started mowing lawns in '70, but by then I discovered girls and spent my cash taking them out and all that. Igot another Enterprise in '77 and built it for fun, but that was the last until about 7 years ago when I stumbled upon a hobby shop here in Seoul and the guy had Monogram Star Trek kits and a nice supply of Tamiya paint. But my skills were still same as they were in the 60's until I found all you guys!
Now I can glue something without getting finger prints all over it!


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## geminibuildups (Apr 22, 2005)

*The first model I ever had was an Aurora Eastern Airlines 727. I was 6 years old and I vividly remember sitting at the dining room table while my dad built it for me. No paint but he did a pretty good job with the decals. I had that model for years. 

The first ones I put together myself were the Aurora Prehistoric Scenes Allosaurus, Horned Dinosaur and Spiked Dinosaur. I got those for my 7th birthday -- and Im STILL building them. 

(I'm allowed to use paint and glue now)

:woohoo:


Geminibuildups

GEMINI MODEL BUILD-UP STUDIOS
www.geminibuildupstudios.com
*


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## mrdean (Aug 11, 1998)

Revell Everything is Go - Mercury Capsule and Atlas Booster

I built it and loved it and played with it until it died. Then Superboy was built and painted using magic markers. I was too young for enamel paints.

This was in the early 60's. 

Mark Dean


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

This...........................
-Jim


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## BatToys (Feb 4, 2002)

In 1964 or 1965 My Dad and I were in the local Aurora Hobby Store and I still remember the clerk handing him a model kit. I was about 4 or 5 and I remember being on the porch opening up King Kong.

I didn't realize kits were hollow so I thought you had to build the skeleton, then muscles so I glued with Elmer's the two legs pieces atop the other to make layers.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

My room, circa 1971-ish. I was hot and heavy into WWII then - Monogram 1/48 especially.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

John P said:


> My room, circa 1971-ish. I was hot and heavy into WWII then - Monogram 1/48 especially.


I guess you weren't too tall back then! Didn't your mom make you make your bed??? LOL That is pretty cool. I don't think my mom would have allowed me to hang things from the ceiling but I did have a shelf on the wall I could display my models on.

Bob K.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I bet the new owners had fun plastering over the thumbtack holes and tape rips when the folks sold the house 20 years ago. :lol:


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## rat salad (Oct 18, 2004)

In 1971, when I was 8 years-old, my Mom worked a night job at a place called the Fashion Bug. There was a place called Korvettes nearby, and once a week after she got off work she would go over to Korvettes and pick me up a Monster Scene kit (for being a good boy). Eventually, she bought all of them for me, and even helped me paint them. The Monster Scenes were my very first models. Followed by the classic Aurora monsters. When I hit around 12, my friends and I blew them up with firecrackers, shot them with BB-guns, and lit them on fire. Boys will be boys.
: (


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## pugknows (May 28, 2002)

Glow Dracula, late sixties, the best thing my Mom ever bought me.
Rob
Monster Model Review


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## roadskare63 (Apr 14, 2010)

my very first...and a bad mistake, was an aurora mod squad station wagon with the 3 figures of the stars...i think the only part of that kit that survives today is the figure of link.
i got it all together as a wicked glue bomb but in 1970 i was only seven and proud as all heck of it...sitting on a shelf one day. a book end suffered a mechanical failure and it was literally crushed to i't pieces

never got another one, but kept on building others still to this day:thumbsup:


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## Auroranut (Jan 12, 2008)

The first model I actually built all by myself was an Airfix Renault Dauphine when I was around 6 years old. 
I hunted around for another for decades and eventually a mate of mine from a club in Sydney sold one to me a few years ago for $5!! I'll build it up one day....

Chris.


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## Argonaut (Feb 11, 2007)

I would watch my father build when I was very young but my first serious
effort solo was the Revell Gemini, and shortly thereafter I got my first AMT
Enterprise kit with the saucer lights. My dad handled the lighting chores on that one... Ah memories...


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## teslabe (Oct 20, 2007)

Auroranut said:


> The first model I actually built all by myself was an Airfix Renault Dauphine when I was around 6 years old.
> I hunted around for another for decades and eventually a mate of mine from a club in Sydney sold one to me a few years ago for $5!! I'll build it up one day....
> 
> Chris.


When I was a kid I remember my mom putting our "59" Dauphine through the back of our garage, glad it wasn't our "58" VW Bus.......


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## Auroranut (Jan 12, 2008)

OUCH!!!
Maybe you should hunt down the Airfix kit and build a dio of the scene....

Chris.


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## geminibuildups (Apr 22, 2005)

Anyone else think they designed those flimsy little stands for the Starship Enterprise models so they would tip over and the model would fall to the floor breaking off one of the engines. Maybe THAT'S how they sold millions of those things. 

Just a theory on my part, of course. :devil:


Geminibuildups

GEMINI MODEL BUILD-UP STUDIOS
www.geminibuildupstudios.com


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## septimuspretori (Jan 26, 2011)

My 6th birthday...September 25, 1969...My dad got me the Aurora King Kong kit which had some glow in the dark pieces. We put it together together with Testor's tube glue in the orange and white tube. He did most of the work, but he really did let me help put things into place. No paint, but we used all of the glow in the dark pieces. I went on to collect all the Aurora monsters, and turned most of the kits into glue bombs. But Kong is special because he is my first, and the only one that Dad and I put together....together.

Ben


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## kenlee (Feb 11, 2010)

djnick66 said:


> I grew up around models since my dad built them. I remember as a kid (around 1970) he had built the old Hawk 1/48 Westland Lysander and the box scale Monogram PBY Catalina. I used to play with those.
> 
> The first kits I had sort of blend together. I had the MPC 1970 Jeepster which was a cool Safari jeep with all kinds of hunting guns and little animal pictures. I would have been about 5 when I got that and I could not build it. I do remember playing with the tiny guns. I also had the Dark Shadows Werewolf, Aurora monsters and tanks, and small 1/72 Revell airplanes.


Now that I think about it, the Hawk Westland Lysander was the first model that I owned. My Dad got it for my for my 7th birthday. I did not build it myself but I "helped" my Dad with it. His idea of helping was to let him do it while I watched, he didn't trust me to not get the glue all over everything. He did let me put the little bombs on it as well as the decals. He apparently didn't read the instructions for the decals because he put the entire sheet in the kitchen sink full of water. I still remember the look in his face when he saw the decals floating around in the sink. We didn't paint it since the plastic was the "right" color. I found one of these a couple of years ago on e-bay for a great price so I got it and built it in his honor.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Hey cool. Thanks for sharing the photos. I remember my dad's kit was in a pretty bright blue-green plastic. I guess it looked good with the yellow Aurora Zero he had as well.

My dad, who passed away in September always built models. He did these before I was born and in the late 60s



















The Revell Mustang (back) is about 50 years old and the Airfix one up front is from about 1977










I used to look at these when I was a kid, and try to paint my models up the way he did.


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

A very old Revell Cadillac Eldorado kit my father bought me in 1957. It was very primitive, had the body side panels molded as seperate pieces, no engine, plastic tires, box scale. Remember glue fingerprints all over it. I believe Revell risuued it last year.


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

DJ - very cool that you have kits your dad built. All of my dad's early built kits were either destroyed by me, or lost in a flood. I do have a SPAD that he built in the 80s. 
My very first kit was, I think, a HAWK Zero. I also remember a GeeBee Racer, red and white, but I'm not sure where it fits into the timeline.
My first monster kit was the classic long box Wolf Man. My dad pretty much built and painted my early monster kits - I "helped"... The first monster that I built and painted all by myself was either Bride of Frankenstein or Godzilla.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I destroyed my dad's Lysander for sure. I remember climbing up on the book case to get it down. He probably blew a gasket but I don't remember that. I do remember him getting me my own models and us building them together... I know way back around 1970 we didn't have a lot of money and I think my dad got me some built up models at the flea market to play with. I had an Aurora Frankenstein, Mummy, and Batman. He could have built them for me but I don't remember him doing them. He did build me a few models before I could do them myself though.


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## noahasarcmi (Sep 20, 2011)

ChrisW- I remember the GeeBee Racer too ! I think it was a Testors Kit came with paint and everything. See if I can find a picture if the kit box online. 

-Nathan


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

John P said:


> My room, circa 1971-ish. I was hot and heavy into WWII then - Monogram 1/48 especially.


Hey JP - Very cool memory launcher. I wish I had a picture of my room circa the late 60s! Kits everywhere! I even commandeered my sister's tea party table to display models...
Around 1970 my parents let me put shelves on the walls - the kind with the metal u-brackets and arms. my one wall was covered with shelves, monsters along the top (because of height), the rest mostly cars.

Nathan - I don't think Testors was producing kits back then - this would have been around '62 or '63. They may have acquired the molds and reissued it at a later time, tho... my guess would be Aurora or Hawk. I just looked online - Hobby Warehouse has the Testors GeeBee kit on sale for $6.10 with free shipping!


one more edit - looking a bit further online, I'm pretty certain it was the Hawk model kit, with the box that had "HAWK" running down the right side of the box lid.


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## noahasarcmi (Sep 20, 2011)

Ahh no problem Chris! I wasn't thinking that far back LOL....


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Back then you could have had one of two Gee Bee kits. There was a smallish one made by Hawk. I have seen it in white, red and also yellow ?!? plastic. It is a very simple kit. Testors has sold the kit off and on since they picked up the Hawk tooling in the early 1970s.

Pyro had a larger Gee Bee (along with a Hall Springfield Bulldog and I think Pesco racer). Those were later sold by Life Like, and ultimately Lindberg today. At some point those kits were motorized although every one I ever had was not.


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## chief1615 (Oct 9, 2007)

My first kit was the original Revell lunar module release around 1969. I ordered it for a dime through a Man in Space book offer. The space module experts say that is not very accurate but I did not care at the time. I had a hard time putting it together because I used Elmers glue. It kept coming part. I had no clue about paint so it remained white. I think that I also messed up the gold foil.


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## spawndude (Nov 28, 2007)

My first model build was in the late 1950's and was a car of some kind. 

Back in those days a model was a gift given to preteen-early teen boys when you didn't know what to get them. Today this type of gift would be an I-tunes or Xbox Live card.

To this day I can distinctly remember brush painting the undercarriage of the car black. This particular paint was a very dull shade of black, not the shiny black I was expecting.

What I didn't realize was on my recent trip to TG&Y I had picked up a bottle of "flat" black! This opened up a whole new selection of colors I had to have, the "flat" versions of all the colors.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Okay, I know this is a bit long, but here's a little adventure film I made during the 70s, involving an unfortunate incident with the models on my ceiling:


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## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

I'm not sure, but I think it was either Frankenstein, one of the Aurora knights or the Black Bear and Cubs. I remember getting all those very early on, early 60's. But cant remember the exact order. I also liked building the 1/72 WW1 biplanes. But I "think" I started with the Auroura figure kits. The first one I was really proud of was a Dracula from the late 60's, probably 68. I was eleven I think. I really took my time on that one. I had all the right colours of paint, stayed within the lines, and avoided smearing glue on the parts! LOL..It did look pretty darn good iirc.


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## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

It is odd, I have many very distinct memories of buying certain Auroura kits, taking them home, opening them up and building them. It seems like yesterday. Heck I think one of the most vivid is when I got my long box Superboy. I remember walking to the store on an overcast spring day, a Saturday afternoon to be exact., picking it out, paying for it, walking home, It started to sprinkle a half block before I arrived at the door. I recall turning on the tv. Opening the box, smelling the smell. Marveling over the parts, breaking out the glue and putting it together. Seems like yesterday. I've got vivid memories of the Black bear with cubs, the gold knight, MANY memories of the other knights as I build so many of each over the years. frankenstein, wolfman, mummy, dracula,creature, hyde, hunchback, kong, superman, seaview, batboat ect. each one was like an amazing new adventure. Well, except the wolfman, I was kinda bummed out when I popped it open and saw it wasnt like the box art. I whined and begged sooo hard at woolworths to get it too! LOL..I was kinda disapointed with the seaview too as there werent very many parts.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

otto said:


> It is odd, I have many very distinct memories of buying certain Auroura kits, taking them home, opening them up and building them. It seems like yesterday. Heck I think one of the most vivid is when I got my long box Superboy. I remember walking to the store on an overcast spring day, a Saturday afternoon to be exact., picking it out, paying for it, walking home, It started to sprinkle a half block before I arrived at the door. I recall turning on the tv. Opening the box, smelling the smell. Marveling over the parts, breaking out the glue and putting it together. Seems like yesterday. I've got vivid memories of the Black bear with cubs, the gold knight, MANY memories of the other knights as I build so many of each over the years. frankenstein, wolfman, mummy, dracula,creature, hyde, hunchback, kong, superman, seaview, batboat ect. each one was like an amazing new adventure. Well, except the wolfman, I was kinda bummed out when I popped it open and saw it wasnt like the box art. I whined and begged sooo hard at woolworths to get it too! LOL..I was kinda disapointed with the seaview too as there werent very many parts.


Funny you mention that. I have a very clear memory of getting the Aurora Japanese tank at Wilson's Department Store near my house, and building it on my bedroom floor while I watched Curse of Frankenstein on TV. The cool thing is that Frankenstein was on Creature Feature, a local show hosted by Dr. Paul Bearer on Channel 44 here. I found a web site that has a listing of every movie shown on CF and the dates. So I can pinpoint the exact day and year I built that kit (over 30 years ago).


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

djnick66 said:


> Funny you mention that. I have a very clear memory of getting the Aurora Japanese tank at Wilson's Department Store near my house, and building it on my bedroom floor while I watched Curse of Frankenstein on TV. The cool thing is that Frankenstein was on Creature Feature, a local show hosted by Dr. Paul Bearer on Channel 44 here. I found a web site that has a listing of every movie shown on CF and the dates. So I can pinpoint the exact day and year I built that kit (over 30 years ago).


Ah, Creature Feature. That started in the '70s out of Tampa didn't it? I remember it but that was after my early monster kid phase and I didn't watch it hardly at all, college and such kept me busy. It was on during the afternoon I believe? I saw the good doctor one day on one of our trips across the state somewhere between Lakeland and Orlando in his hearse. He was cool though, I'll be lurking for you! I remember Shock Theater on CBS on Friday nights at 11:30 with Shock Armstrong, the all American ghoul. My friends always got to stay up for it but I was lucky if I got to once every 3 or 4 months. My mom was a stickler about what time her kids were in bed.

Bob K.


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## greg_c2 (Aug 3, 2008)

*First post*

New guy here. The details of my first kit are fuzzy. I remember it was a model of a Russian fighter plane and it was molded in green plastic. Probably an AMT kit as that is what the local drugstore sold. The kit was given to me by my piano teacher when I was in the fifth grade. I think she was hoping I would glue my fingers together and not be able to take any more lessons. Later I built mainly planes then moved to big trucks and farm kits by Ertl.


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

Hi Greg - welcome to the forum.
Otto - not that odd - at least around here! Some kits, very distinct memories. AMT's Silhouette and AMTronic, a number of the monster and Superhero kits...


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## noahasarcmi (Sep 20, 2011)

Anyone thinks this post should be a sticky? Might be a really interesting read for Newbies and Old timers to read through. 

Thanks.. 

Hank?


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## spawndude (Nov 28, 2007)

"I had no paint and couldn't afford paint until I started mowing lawns in '70, but by then I discovered girls and spent my cash taking them out and all that."

I wonder how many of us had our modeling careers interrupted by "girls"!


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

spawndude said:


> "I had no paint and couldn't afford paint until I started mowing lawns in '70, but by then I discovered girls and spent my cash taking them out and all that."
> 
> I wonder how many of us had our modeling careers interrupted by "girls"!


Girls, ah the scourge of modelers everywhere! LOL Well my wife's an angel, most of the time, and I am still in love with her after 32 years together. She also supports my modeling and even attends events with me such as Wonderfest. She also goes out on the rocket range when I fly my model rockets. However, I can't get her to build either a plastic model or a rocket.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

spawndude said:


> "I had no paint and couldn't afford paint until I started mowing lawns in '70, but by then I discovered girls and spent my cash taking them out and all that."
> 
> I wonder how many of us had our modeling careers interrupted by "girls"!


Not me!







Dammit.


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## PF Flyer (Jun 24, 2008)

A very cool thread. Enjoyed every post and especially the pics and video. Zombie 61, I hear you. Ebay has gotten far too much of my money for Auroras as I've tilted at the windmill of lost youth (to use a horrible mixed metaphor). As I write this, I'm looking at Godzilla, Batman, Blackbeard, the Lone Ranger, and Robin, not to mention re-pops of Dick Tracy, Hulk, Captain America, Spidey, Spock, and the Batmobile. And that's just within sight of my home office computer. But it helps to know others share my compulsive behavior. "My name is PF Flyer and I never grew up...."


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## revelo (Jan 11, 2007)

My first kit was an Aurora White Tail Deer and Bison, given to me when I was 6. That's 40 years ago. The bison got lost, but I still have the deer, along with the box. It was my father who gave them to me. Of all the kits in my collection, it is my jewel of the crown, and now more than ever, as my father passed away a month ago...I sure miss him.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

PF Flyer said:


> Zombie 61, I hear you. Ebay has gotten far too much of my money for Auroras as I've tilted at the windmill of lost youth (to use a horrible mixed metaphor). As I write this, I'm looking at Godzilla, Batman, Blackbeard, the Lone Ranger, and Robin, not to mention re-pops of Dick Tracy, Hulk, Captain America, Spidey, Spock, and the Batmobile.


Except for the Lone Ranger, I have every one of those kits in my stash; great minds think alike!


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