# Has it occured to anyone else...



## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

...that the Frankenstein kit is 50 years old this year? It just hit me outta the blue.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

frankenstyrene said:


> ...that the Frankenstein kit is 50 years old this year? It just hit me outta the blue.


No way man....
I just bought this a couple of years ago when I was 8 years old....
If it were 50 years old then I'd be......er.....um.....
....Hey Frankenstyrene....
SHUT - UP !!!!


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## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

Did _somebody_ not have his prune mush this morning? Hmm?


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

I am proud to admit that I bought this kit when it first came out (I was 11). Thankfully I don't need prune juice.


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## otto (Jan 1, 1970)

Yea, I even remember when it came out. I was only 5, but very impressed..Ahhh the artwork. I wanted that model, and I didnt even know exactly what a model was LOL.


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

I also bought Dracula, Wolfman and the Mummy when they were first issued and I just bought them again. Hopefully after 50 years I'll do a better job on them. No glue fingerprints, sloppy paint etc. I think I have improved my skills somewhat since then.


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## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

otto said:


> Yea, I even remember when it came out. I was only 5, but very impressed..Ahhh the artwork. I wanted that model, and I didnt even know exactly what a model was LOL.


Yup. If it weren't for Bama's striking Frankenstein artwork, those kits - or should I say, that one kit - might well be an odd footnote of toy history that few today would remember.


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## John Galt (Nov 23, 2001)

That HAS to prompt a 50th anniversary edition. Gold plate, perhaps?

I was 10. Holy crap!!


Happy model-birthday, Frankie! Both of you.

:wave:


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Hey ... don't knock Prune Mush....it goes Great with Scotch :thumbsup:

I remember this corner Smoke Shop in Ottawa that always had a 10 cent novelty rack with joy buzzers, rubber spiders and other kid essentials on the counter right beside the firecrackers....This one day,in '61, when I walked through the door, I was greeted with a display of Aurora FRANKENSTEIN models that, at the time, seemed stacked to the ceiling...but when I found out that they cost 98 cents each !!!! My hopes of ever owning one seemed very dim indeed.... It took months of pleading and begging ( I was an expert at this from the time I was 6)...and I finally got one for my Birthday!
Man... Opening this treasure...I'll never forget the smell of the styrene in the cardboard box...(a smell I looked forward to everytime I opened a New Monster Model kit)....slapping this kit together, glue everywhere....I had 3 colors of paint...all GLOSS...Red, Green and Brown, getting as much on me as I did the Monster...until finally I held this Work of Art in my hands...complete...still wet...but complete...
The Frankenstein Monster was the first Monster to stand guard on the shelf beside my bed...but not the last...
...Ah What Memories
Thanks for starting this thread frankenstyrene:wave:
...Now where did I put my Scotch....er I mean Prune Mush???
Mcdee


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## Bobj812 (Jun 15, 2009)

I'll be 50 this year, and built all the Aurora monsters later. Glad to know I share a birthday year!


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## Disco58 (Apr 10, 2011)

I got mine about '66 or so (which would have made me 8), so it was old news by then.... Had the Phantom of the Opera and King Kong about the same time too. Painted everything with a brush and Testors square bottle enamels (I still have some from then). Didn't know a thing about thinning paint for brushing -- thinner was for cleaning brushes.... In my mind I can still see how bad the paint jobs were, oh man! But it was fun.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Disco58 said:


> I got mine about '66 or so (which would have made me 8), so it was old news by then.... Had the Phantom of the Opera and King Kong about the same time too. Painted everything with a brush and Testors square bottle enamels (I still have some from then). Didn't know a thing about thinning paint for brushing -- thinner was for cleaning brushes.... In my mind I can still see how bad the paint jobs were, oh man! But it was fun.


Yeah...FUN & 1/2 :thumbsup:
...and I always ran out of Red paint first...
Mcdee


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## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

Yessir...
_
*spits* _

Fall of ought-sixty-one, it was. Built my first Aurora Frankenstein monster model kit. Looked just like Boris Karloff. He was a movie actor, y'know. Brit. I remember it like 'twas yesterday. All plastic assembly kit it was. Plastic hadn't been outlawed then, why it was EVERYWHERE. Glued it together with your very own tube of solvent glue. This was back when glue hadn't been outlawed yet. Then you got to paint it up with your very own bottles of enamel paints. This was back when paint hadn't been outlawed yet. And the whole schmere would cost you maybe TWO WHOLE DOLLARS! That was a lot of money back then. This was back when we still had the dollar. We also wore an onion on our belts, as was the fashion at the time.

_*scratches liver spot, gums remnants of prune mush*_

Yessir...then they come out with this snazzy glow in the dark plastic...THAT spooked the girls, let me tell you...that was b'fore they outlawed...._yawn_..._frzgrbl_...dad-burned square boxes..._zzzzzzzzzzzzzz_













(sorry to laugh but you all sound like you ought to be sitting on a park bench feeding squirrels...but then I'm 43 so I have no room to talk...I'll be alongside very shortly)


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

I would like nothing more than sitting on a park bench feeding squirrels (between model building session). I'm one year away from retirement from my crappy job so doing nothing appeals to me.


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## Chinxy (May 23, 2003)

mcdougall said:


> No way man....
> I just bought this a couple of years ago when I was 8 years old....
> If it were 50 years old then I'd be......er.....um.....
> ....Hey Frankenstyrene....
> SHUT - UP !!!!


Now that made me laugh!
What a minute! I'll be 50 next year! Holy Crap!


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## the Dabbler (Feb 17, 2005)

Yup, I remember that year myself. C'eptin' I was pushin' twenty-one at the time.......Ah, yeah ! (sigh)....uhh,... can I skip the park bench and just hit the sofa for a nap ?? My liver spots can't take the sun like they useta !


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## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

dreadnaught726 said:


> I would like nothing more than sitting on a park bench feeding squirrels (between model building session). I'm one year away from retirement from my crappy job so doing nothing appeals to me.


I truly do envy you. Congrats!


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## razorwyre1 (Jan 28, 2004)

what really bugs me is being on the AARPs mailing list.


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## BrianM (Dec 3, 1998)

...I'm hovering at 49.7...didn't realize Franky was my pisano, I'm a square box era modeler.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I didn't own the Frankenstein, I was 8 the year it was released. I think I had started building models but they likely were cars. I do remember definitely getting the Aurora Superman when it came out and painting it with my Testors namels on the front door step. I think the first Aurora monster I got was the Witch and me and two friends each got one. We built them at one of the others guys houses and I can still remember doing that. We probably used different colors of paints from each others stash. I remember doing Silly Surfers and lots of custom cars like Ed Roth models. Around 14/15 I moved on mainly to model rockets and spacecraft models for years and years, in fact I still build and fly them. But around 50, when most guys buy a Vette, I got my fix on plastic geeky subject models again starting with that big Toys 'r Us Aurora Frightening Foursome. I haven't looked back since and have a huge stash of kits in my workshop for my retirement from NASA on December 30. No parks benches for me, too hot in Florida, just my air conditioned workshop after that. Maybe I can get through half of my stash before I kick the can.

Bob K.


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## PF Flyer (Jun 24, 2008)

Keep on buildin'. You're not ready to die until you take up golf. I got Frankenstein when I was about 11, four years (or so) after the initial release. Did the obligatory fast assembly-sloppy paint job and stuck it on the shelf. I remember the Bat models most of all and the Great Moments in Sport figures. A bit later I did Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, and Jesse James. My rejuvenation (read: old man's obsession) with plastic came about 8 years or so ago when, while innocently browsing Hobbytown USA, I came upon the 1999 Revell re-issue of Batman. Package said something about a classic kit and I was hooked--again. My man cave is in the garage where I build models and work on a never-ending O gauge Lionel layout. I have big plans, though, to move the model operation out to my daughter's treehouse. When she outgrows it, I'll add insulation, lights, windows, and power the whole thing with my Honda generator--every ten-year-old's dream. Like I said, big plans....


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

Now that is cool PF. Is it literally in a tree and built well enough to act as a workshop/hobby room? We built tree houses as kids from scrap lumber from the houses they were building in our neighborhood but none of them would ever work like that, they were more like shanty shacks. Tree houses are still cool in my book and that sounds great. Winters in Boone though could put a big damper on going out there.

Bob K.


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## rhinooctopus (May 22, 2011)

*Square bottle paints*



Disco58 said:


> I got mine about '66 or so (which would have made me 8), so it was old news by then.... Had the Phantom of the Opera and King Kong about the same time too. Painted everything with a brush and Testors square bottle enamels (I still have some from then). Didn't know a thing about thinning paint for brushing -- thinner was for cleaning brushes.... In my mind I can still see how bad the paint jobs were, oh man! But it was fun.


Does anybody remember using "pla" brand paint? Same square bottles as the Testors paints.


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## PF Flyer (Jun 24, 2008)

rkoenn said:


> Now that is cool PF. Is it literally in a tree and built well enough to act as a workshop/hobby room? We built tree houses as kids from scrap lumber from the houses they were building in our neighborhood but none of them would ever work like that, they were more like shanty shacks. Tree houses are still cool in my book and that sounds great. Winters in Boone though could put a big damper on going out there.
> 
> Bob K.


I hired a guy to build it (contractors really looking for work here) a couple of years ago. It's 8x8 with a 2' little deck in front. Sits 10' off the ground with the tree trunk through the center, flashed at top to keep out water. If you or anyone is interested, I can post a picture. Problem is, it's just a frame and siding structure at present, gonna need insulation, a door, windows, and some wiring or at least a long outdoor extension cord from the generator. You're right about the winter here, definitely need some sort of heat for that. Depends on how energetic I get as to whether it will be a three-or four-season model hideout. At worst, I figure I can build out there in the summer/fall. Thought about doing the Ghost out there, but my daughter still has it full of her stuff. Sooooooo...another year or two, I guess.


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## mrmurph (Nov 21, 2007)

@ Chinxy: "youngster!"

Have great memories of building Aurora kits in my youth. My first kit was Phantom of the Opera which my mom put together for me at the kitchen table. A few weeks ago when I checked out the wares at my LHS, there was a PotO on the shelf (and several other Aurora reissues). How could I not pick it up?

Let's start a rumor: exposure to styrene delays the onset of Alzheimers, cures hemorhoids, thickens the blood, whitens teeth, and is better than viagra!

Nice thread.


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## Jimmy B (Apr 19, 2000)

The 5-0 comes in January for me. I'm really active, but I smoke and about 25 pounds overweight with a pension for junk food. All considered I'm giving myself a life expectancy of 75.

That means I'm 2/3 the way dead and I haven't even built one of my Monarch models yet. That stash is way too large for just 25 measly years.
Better get to building
See ya


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

I built Frank when I was 5 years old back in 1967. I found one of his arms.I painted his skin copper.


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

I remeber the pla paint line. I Want to say it was in the Pactra line but for some reason I think it might have been Testors. Back then there were no acrylic model paints and you relied on enamals. Many a times I remember my father getting annoyed at the paint smell, this coming from an autobody man who painted cars all day.


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## Roy Kirchoff (Jan 1, 1970)

razorwyre1 said:


> what really bugs me is being on the AARPs mailing list.


I'm on that list, I like to send the EMPTY return postage envelope back to 'em.

~RK~


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

I have been getting AARP applications in the mail since I was 45. I'll be 61 in a few weeks and still getting them and they still go straight into the garbage (although they do make good paint pallets).


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

dreadnaught726 said:


> I have been getting AARP applications in the mail since I was 45. I'll be 61 in a few weeks and still getting them and they still go straight into the garbage (although they do make good paint pallets).


So I'm not the only one that uses the envelopes from spam mail for paint pallets! At least half of my mail is spam, mostly credit card applications. Almost as bad as email spam.

Bob K.


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## John F (May 31, 2001)

I'm 47 so I missed the original releases by a few years, but in the seventies I spent every extra dime on aurora monsters. I used to build them with the glow in the dark parts even tho I knew the disembodied heads and hands would creep me out at night I just couldn't help myself.


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## geminibuildups (Apr 22, 2005)

Im 45 so I missed the originals too. I built the Monogram glow reissues before I went off to college. When I came home to visit one weekend I discovered that my little brother had moved into my room. I was disgusted to find that he had dismembered Frankenstein, Wolfman,and Dracula because the glow in the dark parts scared the little wuss!!


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

When I was kid (10 years old) I remember my neighbor across trhe street woked for Aurora (I believe they were in Hempstead LI, NY) as a maintainance man and every so often he would bring me a box of kits that were either seconds or defectives. Unfortunately I can't remember what they were but I do remember some small scale aircraft that if you put some clay weight in the nose and attach a string you could swing them around your head and pretend they are flying. I wish I could remember the rest of them. Funny, with all this talk about old Aurora kits this memory suddenly popped into my head. I had'nt thought about this in a long long time.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

I'll hit the big five-oh at the end of the month; glad to know I'm in such good company!

I missed the original issues of the glorious line of Aurora monster kits, but the Fright'ning Lightning versions were reasonably plentiful by the time I hit the age to begin modeling. I have fond memories of building them then (sadly, my original build-ups are long gone), enjoy building them again now (with better results, hopefully), and I'm so pleased companies like Moebius and Monarch are carrying the torch that Aurora lit. It's a _great_ time to be a styrene modeler!



P.S. Prune mush and _scotch_??? :freak:


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Yeah...it tastes best if you skip the Prune Mush :thumbsup:
Mcdee


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Well, jeez, why didn't I think of that?


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## BronzeGiant (Jun 8, 2007)

Roy Kirchoff said:


> I'm on that list, I like to send the EMPTY return postage envelope back to 'em.
> 
> ~RK~


I don't send them empty, I rip up all the stuff they sent me with the envelope and send THAT back to them in their own envelope.

Steve


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