Old Molds

Proff ;

I have to give it to you . The Varney Sub was sold indeed in 1947 .The same sub was back in 1949 under the O-Lin label .Now did you know at that time 1947-48 there was a company called Charmore that offered " Trail-Blazers of Transportation kits ? They were a Stagecoach , the F-90 , a Train Locomotive and a 1910 Ford " T " .

Lindberg, Hawk, Revell, and Monogram all had kits on the market before 1950. But the only one I know of that's still in production is that old Revell battleship fossil.

One other possible candidate: Round 2 Models advertises a USS Gato that appears to be a repackaging of the old Lindberg "fleet submarine." That one, I believe, originated with Varney, the model railroad company, in the late forties. But, as I understand it, the Varney version had a one-piece, solid acetate hull. I think the two-piece Lindberg hull came on the market before the Revell Missouri. But I may be wrong about that one.

Old model kits.com dates that solid-hull Varney sub to the mid-forties. It went through several changes before it turns ok the form of the kit Round 2 is selling now. The Revell battleship, from what I can tell, is the same blobby, awful kit that modelers were buying in 1953.

I know the Hawk/Lindberg P-80 and GeeBee were some of the earliest US plastic models.  I never saw a repop of the P-80, but still see the GeeBee on hobby shop shelves.  I believe it dates from somewhere from 1948 to 1950 time frame.  The latest version of the kit sure looks like what I remember from the old days.

You all are Warm Only . The first one I can think of was in 1946

I'm pretty sure the oldest is the Revell Iowa-class battleship, which Revell of Germany, at least, is still selling as the U.S.S. Missouri. It was originally released in 1953 - five years before the Arizona. (My source, as usual, is Dr. Thomas Graham's fine book, Remembering Revell Model Kits.)

The Iowa-class kit...well, looks like a 1953 kit. The detail level, by modern standards, is awful. (It was in fact pretty bad by the standards of 1958, when the Arizona came along.) The shape of the hull bears scarcely any resemblance to reality. (I think that's at least partially due to the fact that in 1953 the underwater hull lines were still classified.)

My recollection is that in the early fifties this kit sold for $2.00. (Maybe a bit less.) The current price at Squadron Mail Order is $17.50.

Some people regard this kit with great nostalgia, and are grateful to Revell for keeping it on the market. Other people think that selling a 60-year-old kit in a new box for a price like that is a thoroughly disreputable marketing stunt.

There's room for argument, but I think the title for "oldest plastic kit" goes to the old Frog Penguin aircraft kits, which were released in England in the late thirties. The biplane model that King George V and his speech therapist are handling in the movie "The King's Speech" looks like it could be a Frog Penguin. (Great movie, by the way.)

The first American plastic kits probably were the little 50-cent kits from Hawk. Round 2 Models has reissued some Hawk kits recently, but none of the really old ones. They date from the late 40s, before Revell existed. I don't think Testor's offers any old Hawk kits any more - but I won't be the least surprised if some of them turn up again. The 1/48 Spad and Nieuport 17, in particular, were remarkably nice kits for their era.

I recently bought a bagged kit of the Revell 1/28 Fokker DR 1 which, while not the oldest, does date from 1957 IIRC.

http://www.modelkitcollecting.com/topic821.html

I think our Crusader is on it. Some of those really old Hawk kits are still around.

Revell U.S.S.Arizona.(1959)

My wife calls me "Old Moldy". Does that count?

Well I think some of the usual suspects:

Revell 1/535 Missouri. (1953)