Modeling Missing Links

Did AHM do a 1/72 YF-12A?  I had their SR-71.

And there was that box scale “atomic bomber” that I only ever saw on the side of another kit’s box. It may have been based on a conjectural interpretation of a Russian “Bounder”.  I really wanted one  when I was little but never found the kit.

Heller 1/whatever Snecma C.450 Coleoptere, a tail sitting VTOL prototype that looked like an airliner turbofan engine that had ingested an A-4 Skyhawk. I saw one in a window of a hobby shop in Japan in 1980, but mom was in a rush so she didn’t let me go in.  I never saw hide nor hair of that kit again.  Decades later one turned up on the swap table at the local IPMS meeting, and a buddy snagged it for me.

Bandai 1/24(?) M60A1.  I actually had one of these crude monstrosities.  The remote controller was much more sophisticated than Tamiya’s, featuring a single stick to control direction, and a round plug that allowed the controller’s wiring to be disconnected from the model.  I never saw that kit on the shelf again.

Hello!

There are many kits that used to be there and now they're gone. My first thought after reading the OP was: that's how the shashes get started. Sometimes you miss a kit when it's there, like in every dang shop, and then when you need it it's nowhere to be found. So next time you buy the kit just in case... And end up with hundreds of kits neatly stashed in the garage or a place like that.

My "lost kit" used to be the Fujimi 1:72 A-4 Skyhawk. But two years ago I have found a shop in Hannover that was ending its run and they had those baies there, with price tags still in D-Marks (Euro was introdused in 2002, so it gives you an idea on how long they were laying on the shelve). I have bought three of them and now the Skyhawk is scratched from the list.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

I felt the same with the USS Pine Island, a old Revell kit that I built in the late 1950`s.  Revelo`gram did reissue it a few years ago, although I have not seen it recently.  I did get it. I`m always on the the look out for ye olde kits, but there not many that I just need to have anymore.  But you never know.....

Hi,

Recently I've started fixating on some of the old FROG ship models, and have collected several, except for their old Battle Class Destroyer in 1/325 scale and there old HMS Torquay in 1/500 scale. 

Recently it looks like Mistercraft has started re-releasing the 1/600 scale H & I class destoyers, and you can still find copies of the 1/500 scale HMS Undine, HMS Exeter snd HMS Revenge/Royal Sovereign, either as FROG kits or later as NOVO (or some other Russian or Eastern European company) release.  However the Battle class and HMS Torquay both seem to maybe have fallen off the face of the Earth a bit, as far as I can tell .

In the mid-70's Frog released a 1/72 Lancaster with a Tallboy bomb. I recall seeing a very favourable magazine review, just in time for them to go out of business.

As a kid ( I'm 70 now ) I built and destroyed a "Motorized Sub Chaser ship" by Renwall I think. I would love to have another, built with today's learned ,skills and I've been looking for one for years now but alas it has disappeared as well.

Jay-Jay ;

 That ship is still out there . Non - Motorized , but still available under a different label . It Was originally a Renwal release .

Real G ;

 That kit was by Hawk Models .The same Company that gave us Models of our first sattelites . It was based on comments and planning sessions concerning a Nuclear - Powered  , Nuclear delivery platform for the U.S.

 It originally had Two " Moray " class fighters that bonded at the tail of the thing . The second plane was originally Hawk's too . Later found re- release with Aurora as well .

 The last one seemed to be a one year wonder . After Christmas one year , I never saw it again either .

PFJN;

 I ocassionally see either one .The Torquay recently as a bagged kit at my LHS in the oldies section . Gone Now . I checked for you . T.B.

Tanker - Builder

PFJN;

 I ocassionally see either one .The Torquay recently as a bagged kit at my LHS in the oldies section . Gone Now . I checked for you . T.B.

TB,

Thanks.  I've been checking ebay regularly but haven't seen any lately

Tanker - Builder

 

 Armor . Anyone remember the Renwal Self-Propelled Howitzer or it's sister from Revell ? haven't seen either one since my last tour in the " Nam ."   

That kit has been re issued several times since Saigon fell to the communists. In the 80’s it was reissued under the “History Makers“ series. Within the past few years before the Hobbico/Revell bankruptcy, it was re issued under the Selected Subjects Program (SSP), in the original Renwall style box & artwork with an additional SSP label. I was hoping that they were also going to bring out the Renwall 75mm Skysweeper AA gun from that series as well. But so far no luck. I never built that one as a kid, and that is the closest thing out there to the 90mm M3 guns that my dad crewed on in West Germany in the mid 50s.

TB, If you see the sub chasher somewhere please let me know. Non-motorized is fine with me since I don't  play with my ship models in the bath tub much any more. 

JayJay;

 I am going to be going through my stash soon . If I find an extra , you want it ? T.B.

I surely do TB. good of you to offer as well.  

Hitting My Stash ;

 Tomorrow . If I still have those extras , one is headed your way for sure ! Let me make sure . I take a bunch once in a while to Audi Murphy V.A.Hosp . rec therapy center . Hopefully they didn't wind up there .

Tanker - Builder

 Armor . Anyone remember the Renwal Self-Propelled Howitzer or it's sister from Revell ? haven't seen either one since my last tour in the " Nam ." 

Or Monogram's 1/32 Military 6x6 ? 

Both of those kits were reissued in the last several years. I built the Renwal howitzer in the 1980s. It was recently reissued by Revell in the original Renwal packaging.

The Monogram deuce and a half was reissued many times. It was really 1/35 and the original "Eager Beaver" was reissued in the 1970s with a Shep Paine diorama pamphlet. It was reissued in the 1990s with a TV M*A*S*H tie in. The truck came with a figure of Col Potter, Klinger in white nurse dress, BJ kneeling over a soldier on a stretcher. Other kits in the line were a Swamp tent with Willys Jeep adn Radar driver, Hawkeye in bathrobe and cowboy hat and Hot Lips. The last kit was a Bell chopper.

Revell of Germany reissued the kit boxing it with the same old Monogram Jeep (which was 1/32) under the title Jeep & M34 Tactical Truck.

One kit I always looked at and wanted from the 5 and dime was a Monogram Coastal Junk off shore surveillance boat in 1/48 scale. Always wanted to find another, but never did.

EBay was great for finding all the kits I had wanted but didn't buy when I was younger.

eBay has a number of the Monogram M29c Weasel kits. I always liked it.

LOL Rob! An internet search of "chinese junk" has quite a few...items.

I built the Aurora one with the orange sails which was a little smaller. I don't see the Monogram one for sale anywhere, it must be rare.

Here's one!

https://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=32216&page=12&g=Monogram-plastic-model-kits&manu=Monogram&erl=Monogram-1-48-Viet-Nam-Command-Junk-PB181-300

Hey " G " 

        Now that's one I always HAD to miss . Why ? It's an ongoing disease called Lackafunditis ! I thought it would make for a good conversion to a live - aboard houseboat !

Hi,

I managed to pick up one of my missing links this morning off eBay, though probably paid $10-15 more than I should.  Anyway, hopefully soon I will have my HMS Torquay by FROG.

PF

Any time I am at a swap meet and they have one of those Classic cars, buy Monogram, Itareri or Johan at a reasonable price I pick it up.  Those were great kits, especially the Monogram ones.  How long has it been since you have seen a new Duesenberg, pre-WW2 Mercedes, Cadillac, or Packard kit?  Yet those old kits were fine- ahead of their time.

Hi,

I don't know if this really meets the intent of the OP or not, since I haven't seen a kit for it anywhere, but recently while looking up something else I ran across a plane that I had never heard of before (the Vickers Vulcan) and thought "I'd really wish someone made a kit of that".

http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/vickers_vulcan.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Vulcan

There is something so goofy looking about it that it really appeals to me.

PF

PS.  One additional one