My modeling memories go back to 1956, and there are quite a few extinct kits I'd like to get hold of again - armor, vehicles, aircraft, ships, etc. I've been trying for some time to collect all those wonderful old Revell horse-drawn vehicles - the stage coach, covered wagon, fire engines, etc. They're relatively easy to find - especially if one is willing (as I am) to accept the reissues in boxes with labels like LifeLike, UPC, etc.
One that really sticks in my mind, though, is the Revell 1/49-scale F-102A Delta Dagger. It came in a box with a big assortment of "airstrip accessories," and was originally issued in 1958. (My source for all this information is Dr. Thomas Graham's fine book, Remembering Revell Model Kits.) The airplane itself had an amazing array of operating features, the crown jewel of which was retractable landing gear that, through a bizarre collection of connecting rods and pivot pins, went up and down when the canopy was opened and closed. It was quite a challenge to my 9-year-old fingers. I got it together all right, and it worked - but not quite the way I expected. The nose gear went down when the main gear went up, and vice versa. My father (the ultimate source of wisdom on such things) studied it and assured me that I'd put it together correctly. I've wondered more than once whether I managed to assemble the parts incorrectly or whether somebody at Revell actually made a spectacular mistake in designing the kit. (I rather suspect the former was the case.) I sure would like to get hold of that kit and try again.
Then there was the Revell 1/40 Skyraider, also originally released in 1959. That one had an even more spectacular set of operating features, including folding wings, sliding canopy, landing gear that retracted (complete with struts that rotated automatically as they swung up into the wings), and fuselage dive breaks (side and ventral) that opened and closed when the bomb rack was slid back and forth (yes, you read that right). I bought that one several times in the halcyon days of my youth, and never did manage to get it together without breaking something.
Then there was the Lindberg 1/48 TBF Avenger, with ailerons, rudder, and elevators that, by means of piano wire actuators, worked when the (more-or-less) scale control stick and rudder pedals were moved. I couldn't get that one to work either. (It also had sliding canopy panels, a hinged fuselage door, retractable landing gear, a rotating turret, opening bomb bay doors, and an electric motor to turn the propeller. All for $2.00. WOW! But the wings didn't fold - unlike those of the Monogram competition. Mine always drooped.)
And how about those old Lindberg electric motors with wind-them-yourself armatures? They came in plastic bags (presumably from Japan), and got packaged with all sorts of kits: aircraft, ships, cars, and maybe others. I actually did get a couple of them to run - though I also had some failures.
What a fun, if stupid, nostalgia trip.