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Nostalgia in modeling

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  • Member since
    August 2008
Posted by tankerbuilder on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 5:36 PM

Hey Mitsdude !

   Did you know that the REVELL WESTINGHOUSE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT is and has been the HOLY Grail model for many engineers in the power producing job market ?     T.B.

  • Member since
    August 2008
Posted by tankerbuilder on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 5:38 PM

You know what , Baron !

   I do the same thing and to my dismay some are still confusing .Especially the old Heller Kits !  T.B.

  • Member since
    February 2007
Posted by mitsdude on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 1:29 AM

No wonder I rarely see it for sale and when I do its $$$$! :(

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Wednesday, May 27, 2015 11:12 AM

tankerbuilder

Hey Mitsdude !

   Did you know that the REVELL WESTINGHOUSE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT is and has been the HOLY Grail model for many engineers in the power producing job market ?     T.B.

Did anyone here vote for a re-issue of the kit?
Here's your chance !
  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Rain USA, Vancouver WA
Posted by tigerman on Saturday, May 30, 2015 1:19 AM

Can't say I ever have or will. Most o those kits were inferior by today's standards. Some I wouldn't mind for the box-art though.

   http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y269/wing_nut_5o/PANZERJAGERGB.jpg

 Eric 

  • Member since
    January 2014
Posted by Silver on Thursday, August 6, 2015 1:25 PM
its ok ,collect an build all you want. I flew F-105's in Viet Nam and now i am building and collecting until i "Eject".
  • Member since
    August 2008
Posted by tankerbuilder on Monday, August 10, 2015 3:15 PM

" G "

    You mean the old kits don't you ? I see some now and , yes , they make me laugh too .Like who'd want to build that ?

  • Member since
    November 2009
  • From: Twin Cities of Minnesota
Posted by Don Stauffer on Tuesday, August 11, 2015 8:54 AM

If you are from my era and started with wood kits, if you want nostalgia, check out Penn Valley Hobbies. I don't have the URL handy, just google them.  They specialize in balsa kits, and have contemporary kits, including a couple of firms that reproduce some of the old brand name kits, like Megow.

Don Stauffer in Minnesota

  • Member since
    August 2014
  • From: Cadillac, MI
Posted by dbrownlee on Tuesday, August 11, 2015 12:08 PM

Silver
its ok ,collect an build all you want. I flew F-105's in Viet Nam and now i am building and collecting until i "Eject".
 

My dad was a " bear" in 105's in Viet Nam

  • Member since
    September 2005
  • From: Illinois: Hive of Scum and Villany
Posted by Sprue-ce Goose on Tuesday, August 11, 2015 3:16 PM

nkm1416@info.com.ph

Lately I'm buying kits not to build them but to remind me of the ones I did before or the ones I was not able to buy at that time. Just opening the boxes and dry fitting the parts brings back a lot enjoyable memories.

Are the modelers of the 60s really like this or is it just me?

 

I have purchased some 1960s era kits in original boxes simply as a reminder of the kits
owned and built as a child. ( same versions )
Some kits I either built as a child or wanted to own have been re-released by Revell, Lindberg (now RoundTwo )  and others, or new versions were issued by Moebius.
The re-released kits I bought for assembly.
Lindberg%20Instructions_zps6itzwmde.jpg
  • Member since
    February 2003
Posted by Jim Barton on Thursday, August 13, 2015 11:34 AM

Sprue-ce Goose

 

 
tankerbuilder

Hey Mitsdude !

   Did you know that the REVELL WESTINGHOUSE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT is and has been the HOLY Grail model for many engineers in the power producing job market ?     T.B.

 

 

Did anyone here vote for a re-issue of the kit?
Here's your chance !
 

 

Got my vote in!

Many years ago, I saw the Revell Nuclear Power Plant at a model kit show and decided I just had to have it as a "go-with" for my collection of old telephone pole insulators. 

Then I saw the price...500 dollars!Oops (This was over a decade ago; I wonder what the darn thing goes for now!) I didn't buy it...

"Whaddya mean 'Who's flying the plane?!' Nobody's flying the plane!"

  • Member since
    February 2003
Posted by Jim Barton on Thursday, August 13, 2015 11:41 AM

Anybody remember AMT's "Vantasy" kit from the 1970s? I built it then, but instead of building it out of the box, I made it my own vehicle. One thing I remember was that my sixth-grade classroom had blue carpet put in, not shag carpet but real short carpet, and I took a little bit home for the model and put it in.

Of course the real carpet was WAY overscale for a model, even when shortened with scissors, but back then, that didn't even dawn on me! I also painted the model Testors dark red.

I have a kit of Vantasy again; maybe I'll do another build the same, only with in-scale carpet and a better paint job.

"Whaddya mean 'Who's flying the plane?!' Nobody's flying the plane!"

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Bethlehem PA
Posted by the Baron on Thursday, August 13, 2015 12:11 PM

Don Stauffer

If you are from my era and started with wood kits, if you want nostalgia, check out Penn Valley Hobbies. I don't have the URL handy, just google them.  They specialize in balsa kits, and have contemporary kits, including a couple of firms that reproduce some of the old brand name kits, like Megow.

 

 
 
Penn Valley was my LHS, when I was a kid.  I grew about 8 miles away from there, and I'd ride my bike over on Saturdays and spend my paper route money.
 
Penn Valley has survived the advent of the cyber age.  They still have store hours, albeit only on Saturdays, but they do a brisk business via their website, and via their eBay store.  I always think of PVH, when we get into discussions about how technology has killed the old-timey LHS.  I think to myself, it only killed those who decided it wasn't worth it to adapt.

The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.

 

 

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Thursday, August 13, 2015 12:34 PM

tankerbuilder

" G "

    You mean the old kits don't you ? I see some now and , yes , they make me laugh too .Like who'd want to build that ?

 

Actually I meant my builds.

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    August 2008
Posted by tankerbuilder on Monday, August 17, 2015 5:01 PM

Now " G "

 Your early builds can't be any worse than some of mine . T.B.

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Cameron, Texas
Posted by Texgunner on Monday, August 17, 2015 5:58 PM

My first "build" was the ancient, infamous "yellow" Aurora Zero.  My grandma sat on it.Crying


"All you mugs need to get busy building, and post pics!"

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Bucks county, PA
Posted by Bucksco on Monday, August 17, 2015 10:34 PM

Anyone remember these guys? I started out on the road to figure painting doing these and decided to re-collect a set and do them for old times sake.

 

 

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Monday, August 17, 2015 10:51 PM

I don't but they look wonderful.

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    February 2007
Posted by mitsdude on Tuesday, August 18, 2015 1:15 AM

Only 218 votes. Don't think that will be enough to make it happen. I remember opening the box and looking at this kit in Woolsworth. I'd never seen a kit in so many colors. It wasn't shrink wrapped. That wasn't uncommon back in those days. A store employee saw me "pawing" through the box and ask me not to do that as parts could be lost. Scared the crap outta me. I just knew somehow my parents were gonna found out. Didn't go back for over a week. Kept my eye out for that employee but never saw her again.

  • Member since
    June 2010
Posted by Temujin on Tuesday, August 18, 2015 2:04 PM

 

nkm1416@info.com.ph

When I started in 1969 I bought model kits with the intention of building them.

I was about 15 years old then and I'm now 61. The collection has grown to about 360 models, about 250 in the stash.

Lately I'm buying kits not to build them but to remind me of the ones I did before or the ones I was not able to buy at that time. Just opening the boxes and dry fitting the parts brings back a lot enjoyable memories.

Are the modelers of the 60s really like this or is it just me?

 

 
 
Personally, I couldn't imagine opening a kit & only dry-fitting. I'd lie awake staring at the ceiling if all I did was dry fit and not actually do the build.
 
On the other end of the spectrum, I do not understand these 'mutliple build' modellers. I like one build in front of me, with no peripheral distractions. To be building more than one model at a time...madness.
 
Multiple builders, one and all, are mad men, I say!2 cents
 
But, everyone has their preferences and weird little habits, but that's the beauty of modelling. At it's foundation,modelling is a hobby that only has to satisfy one person... the builder. You're that person, and if you get satisfaction from dry-fitting your models, mission accomplished.
 
I've never bought an after-market part. I believe in building what's in the box. I don't begrudge anyone who does, mind you. That's just my preference, what satisfies me. Some modellers are into getting as detailed as possible, and if that means working 'outside the box', that's what they do. That's what satisfies those modellers.
 
If dry fitting is all you need, it doesn't matter what anyone thinks, friend.
 
 
 
 
 
 
  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Tuesday, August 18, 2015 2:56 PM

Surely, you are kidding, right? There's no right or wrong.

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    August 2015
  • From: the redlands Fl
Posted by crown r n7 on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 10:13 PM

my kid bought me this kit from one of those sci fi shows its an old aurora kit it still reminds me of that warner bros singing frog cartoon

 

 

 Nick.

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Philippines
Posted by nkm1416@info.com.ph on Tuesday, September 1, 2015 5:52 AM

Temujin
Personally, I couldn't imagine opening a kit & only dry-fitting. I'd lie awake staring at the ceiling if all I did was dry fit and not actually do the build.

it is only my nostalgia kit collection that i will not build anymore, the re-issued ones and the new releases i will build :)

  • Member since
    March 2013
Posted by patrick206 on Wednesday, September 2, 2015 1:52 PM

Don - Comet kits were so enjoyable and affordable, many years back I loved building the 54 inch Taylorcraft, built several and kept finding ways to improve the strength by using matched, contest level balsa. By keeping it light they flew beautifully, had to use de-thermalizers after one sailed away. I still build them, plans are available, as are laser balsa kits. Great fun.

Patrick

I was so disappointed when Comet went out of business just before the turn of the century.  I could pick up the exact same kits I built as a kid when I was an adult- even an older adult.  And Comet kits were always affordable.  I guess it is surprising they lasted as long as they did.  I know they were a well established brand even when I got into modeling in mid to late forties.  And I loved those Monogram kits, like the Speedi-bilt line, that were combination balsa and plastic.  They did not fly worth a darn, so I built them as static scale only.

 

[/quote]

  • Member since
    August 2014
Posted by Weird-Oh on Thursday, September 3, 2015 10:03 PM
A League of Extraordinarily Old Gentlemen, hmmm? And yet we're all 12 inside.
  • Member since
    August 2014
Posted by Weird-Oh on Thursday, September 3, 2015 10:07 PM

I'm 62 and probably have 20 or 30 unbuilt kits. There used to be some pressure every time I'd open the cabinet and see them all staring at me accusingly, but I've come to realize that simply owning them is its own reward in many ways. Some are kits I couldn't afford when I was a kid, and others are from my favorite SF movie, 2001, that didn't even exist back then. All of them make me happy, and isn't that the whole point? Maybe they'll get built and maybe they won't, but in the meantime, every time I look at my stash, I glow a little inside. And that's good enough for me.

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