Romrod

My name is Bill Romig and I live in New Castle, Delaware, USA I am 52 years old and have been Modeling on my own since I was about 8 years old, 1966. Some of the best kits were produced about this time.

To quote Dickens: It was the best of times, "Batman", "James Bond,007", "The Munsters", "The Monkee's","Star Trek","Custom Rod's from Barris","Mercury,Gemini,Apollo", models of everything you could imagine. It was the worst of times, "Cold war aircraft,tanks,subs,etc." but not from the perspective of a modeler. Everything was out there.

If Batman was on TV, I grabbed my Batmobile, and the Aurora "Batman" figure and watched. Same goes for the other TV shows. The rest of the week I played with these, knowing how fragile they were, mimicking what the last show was about.

"Hard to port Mr, Sulu", in a darkened room with the glowing domes of the original AMT "Enterprise" kit. The Space missions and the ships to retrieve the capsule, all played out on TV and in front of me on the living room floor. The scenes of Vietnam Helicopters, Aircraft, etc., and I built some models of them. Where did I get the money for these? I started working at 8 years old at a movie theater, sweeping up after the matinée. Usually came home with about a dollar in change I found on the floor, most models cost about .98 cents back then, .10-.12 for paint.

Times change as does the prices of kits. Many kits still survive, and new ones are added, but what a shame that newer generations can't experience the joy of having a model in front of them of a car, or whatever, since many of the TV shows are still broadcast via the cable channels.