I remember Testors releasing some of those kits when I was in college in the early 80s. Then Revell released a bunch of various mecha kits as part of their Robotech line. I bought just about every one I could. I've picked up a few of them in the past few years.

Nice. If you got the blue box, it'll be the first release Imai boxing from about 1982. From memory, it wouldn't have been much more than about 1000 yen, probably less than $10 in 1982. I have a white box Imai somewhere in the stash from about '85-'86-ish.

Being that old, I'd use something like Microscale's Liquid Decal Film on the decals as insurance against them cracking up on you.

I'll be interested to see how it looks built up.

Rob Gronovius

I remember Testors releasing some of those kits when I was in college in the early 80s. Then Revell released a bunch of various mecha kits as part of their Robotech line. I bought just about every one I could. I've picked up a few of them in the past few years.

 

Oh gosh, one of our local toy stores had an entire table of those at a clearance price of three bucks a pop. Now I see them selling on Ebay for quite a bit more. I kick myself for not picking a bunch up now... 

Ha, I've just seen an Ebay listing for the Revell boxed 1/100 scale Macross Factory kit and I'm laughing at the "buy it now" asking price, a cool $2200.00 + $114.00 shipping.

As we say here in Australia, "Tell him he's dreaming!"

Yeah I remember the Revell kits, and yes, that price tag is insane. Probably got it for 10$ at a garage sale...

Anyway, progress is slow, I'm not a good modeller and it's too cold to airbrush in the shed right now. Working on sanding the parts to fit right now, the fit and finish really is bad on this kit.

And yea, the original blue box what said imai (or whathave you, not at the kit right now) 

I'm curious is the "re-box" with the white background cleaned anything up, or if it's just the same old same old in a new look.

CarnivourousDonut

I'm curious is the "re-box" with the white background cleaned anything up, or if it's just the same old same old in a new look.

As far as I'm aware, the moulds are unchanged, even up to the Bandai boxings available today. It's just a different background colour on the box.

Some of my old builds from the 1980s that were in a box I retreived from my mom before she retired to Florida. And the second photo is of some of the ones I hadn't gotten to.

Rob Gronovius

Some of my old builds from the 1980s that were in a box I retreived from my mom before she retired to Florida. And the second photo is of some of the ones I hadn't gotten to.

 

Thanks for posting these again Rob. Always cool to see good old stuff from my childhood like this again. 

I recall those Revell kits, I built a few back when they were new.

So, hours after digging through eBay, I'm both amused and horrified at the prices people ask for old kits from dodgy makers.

Then of course, I get side tracked and look at SF3D kits, other Macross kits, and I can hear my bank account screaming in agony.....

The Monster kit was one  of the most sought after kits of the series and came in two scales.  I found the larget one at a contest.  Since it had no instructions, I got it for 5.00 after pointing out that fact.

I do need to build it someday, I hope.

ikar01

The Monster kit was one of the most sought after kits of the series and came in two scales.

Yep, that one came in 1/200 (Imai) and 1/160 (Arii) If I recall correctly, the 1/200 kit was better proportioned. The 4 overhead barrels on the larger kit seemed a bit short and fat compared to the smaller scale kit.

ikar01

The Monster kit was one  of the most sought after kits of the series and came in two scales.  I found the larget one at a contest.  Since it had no instructions, I got it for 5.00 after pointing out that fact.

I do need to build it someday, I hope.

If you need a copy of the 1/160 scale Monster, PM me and I'll scan it for you.  I have only ever seen the kit once in the store, and that's the one I have.  I liked it, better than most of the Arii kits.  You lucked out - I paid $15.00 for mine.

some of my other sci-fi kits from that era are the Dune movie kits. I bought the Ornithopter and Dune Crawler when I was in college, but got the sand worm kit a few years ago 

Real G, I just checked my copy and you're right, I could use a copy of the instructions.  The decals may need a little sun bleaching but look intact.

I also have some kits from the Crucher Joe series, as well as Xbungle and a couple others.  I came back with two packing crates of kits when I left Okinawa.

I had a couple Duen kits but never heard of a Sandworm kit.

There were three models as part of the Revell Dune series. After the movie came out, I bought the Ornithopter right away and passed on the sand worm. Several years later, I saw the sand crawler at a hobby shop in Germany and bought it, but never built it. I later found a beat up boxed sand worm a few years ago and bought it. I think I paid $20 delivered.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1985-revell-dune-sandworm-430196980

That's a cool find, Rob!  When are you going to start building it? 

Like every kit I own, sometime soon! 

Rob Gronovius

There were three models as part of the Revell Dune series. After the movie came out, I bought the Ornithopter right away and passed on the sand worm. Several years later, I saw the sand crawler at a hobby shop in Germany and bought it, but never built it. I later found a beat up boxed sand worm a few years ago and bought it. I think I paid $20 delivered.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1985-revell-dune-sandworm-430196980

 

Man, I never knew that anybody made Dune movie kits.... I would have snagged those up had I known they existed back then.

stikpusher

  

Man, I never knew that anybody made Dune movie kits.... I would have snagged those up had I known they existed back then.

 

They did three kits, the sandworm, ornithopter and sand crawler. The ornithopter is the type Paul and Lady Jessica escaped in and is 1/72 scale. The sand crawler is a larger scale, not sure offhand, but smaller than 1/35. I'd guess 1/48-1/50 or so. The sandworm comes with little tiny Freman to ride it.

I was in college when I built the ornithopter, Google says 1985, so that would be right.

Oh wow, I picked up all three of the Dune kits from a show about 10-20 years ago. I think I paid about ten bucks a piece for them. I can't recall ever seeing them anywhere else since. 

Not the greatest kits but as a fan of the movie despite it's rather large flaws I had to have them. One day I have to get around to building them. 

One of the guys in our club built the 'ornithopter' in a small dio replicating scene where Paul and Jessica crash in the desert. Frankly I love how they kept the name 'ornithopter' aka a vehicle that flies by flapping it's wings like a bird but stuck it on a regular shuttle like craft.