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Got any models from childhood on display?


mustang1989

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I thought I'd start a topic regarding builds from childhood that some of us have that are still display worthy. Just curious to see what's out there.

 

I built this kit when I was a youngster (about 14 or so) right around the 1983 time frame. It was my first car model I do remember that. Despite being a beginners build and a rough one at that, it has survived 31 years and is in my display case almost as it was when I built it. The engine is long gone and the passenger seat in the interior is loose but other than that it's all there. A couple of years after I built it I robbed a set of wheels from a "Street Demons" 41 Willys kit that I had just because I couldn't stand the rear wheels that came on it originally. Over the course of the last two days I took a break from my 56 Ford F-100 build(just needed a break!) and took this one out of the case and repaired the suspension so that the body doesn't rest on top of the rear tires any longer, re-adhered the rear bumper and "dolled her up" a little bit for some decent photo shots.

 

Here's the one that started it all for automotive modeling for me:

 

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Edited by mustang1989
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Dude! You were SO far ahead of where I was at age 14! That's a sweet looking Z-28, especially for it's age!

 

I wish I had one of my models from my teen years, but I don't. The oldest in my collection is this 1/48 Fujimi A-6A Intruder...

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I built it in 1981, when I was 24 and my son was born. It's lost the refueling probe , but otherwise is in good shape for its age.

 

I don't have a pic of the oldest model in my case. I have a Monogram 1/48 Kingfisher that my dad built @1966. It was built OOB. He left the top sides in the molded blue plastic color and brush painted the bottom surfaces in Floquil Reefer White. The decals have yellowed badly, but it looks pretty good to be near 50yrs old! I treasure it as a legacy of when dad handed this hobby off to me, which is one of the greatest gifts of my life!

 

Gil :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
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Man that Intruder looks great for its age Gil!!! How long had you been modeling at that point?

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Modeling? That's a very subjective term......I've built models since I was 8 or 9. For our purposes though, I guess what we'd term "serious" modeling, I first learned of the larger world of plastic modeling when a friend told me about the magazine Scale Modeler. That was about 1976. From there, I found IPMS and joined it in 1977, and have been a continuous member ever since. So, in that sense, I'd been "seriously" building about 4-5yrs when I built the Intruder.

 

Oddly though, I think many of us look back at times and think we had more FUN building the models of our youth, before we found out all of those "serious" things we needed to do to our kits to make them better. You're a very lucky person to have the foresight to hold on to one of your builds from your teens! Wish I still had that connection myself!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
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I hear you on the serious modeling bit. My serious modeling came in stages , with a little encouragement of what I saw in magazines but mostly what I saw in one model show in Arlington, Texas and a model shop by the name of Phil's Hobbies in Farmers Branch in Dallas in the late 90's. My painting and detailing skills improved ok in back then when I built a Hasegawa Dauntless that is now long gone and then again in 06 with a Hasegawa Bf109G-10 that's now gone as well. Two models in 10 years wasn't what you would call serious modeling though. I'd say my biggest advance into modeling where I actually sought out all of those "serious" things you are talking about was three years ago when I joined the FSM forum. From there I began obtaining skills at a very rapid rate as my modeling replaced my drinking habit and Mr. I was good at that! My modeling now is not only really fun for me but also therapy to keep my mind straight. :D

 

It's a funny story about how I still have a few models from childhood. I left home at age 19 headed for Basic Training in the Army and all of those models stayed back there in my room for all those years. I took about 3 or 4 from the display shelves about 11 years ago and had them on display as they were but those got demolished in a move so I just left the remaining 4 back there until this last year where I'm certain that I'll pack them away more carefully if we ever have to move again. I had them all in those old Jo-Han plastic cases and the wheels had melted into the bases!!! LOL.

 

Actually, I have a 1970 Dodge Challenger from my youth that I took down from the shelf in November of this last year and totally revamped. I'd put it here but it's no longer an original build as the only parts that are still "original" are the body and all of the interior. I've got pics of that one here: http://forum.ipmsusa3.org/index.php?/topic/14862-30-year-old-monogram-1970-dodge-challenger-ta-detail-shots/ . Little did I know 30 years ago that this Challenger would go on to win 1st in it's category and then Best in Automotive at an IPMS show in Houston. LOL.

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I guess I can post my "original " pic here. For the full story one can always go to the link in the previous post here.

 

My 30+ year old Monogram 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A before the re-vamp:

 

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Edited by mustang1989
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I don't have any complete models from childhood, but I still have the Monogram Battlestar Galactica, Colonial Viper and Cylon Raider. The Galactica and Viper have been torn down and are (slowly) in the process of being rebuilt. One thing I will not fix on the bottom of the Galactica is a fingerprint made in a glue smudge in the plastic. It will stay there in honor of the 13 year old (me) that originally built the kit.

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I have an Aurora MBT70 I built as a child that I rebuilt about 15 years ago. I guess it would have been originally built in the late 70s. Another old kit is an AMT VW Rabbit I built when I was 20 years old right after I bought a brand new Rabbit in 1984. The third kit is one of the first Tamiya models I built in the early 80s; one of the motorized M4A3E8 Sherman tanks.

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One thing I will not fix on the bottom of the Galactica is a fingerprint made in a glue smudge in the plastic. It will stay there in honor of the 13 year old (me) that originally built the kit.

Now that is cool! I've got some of the same stuff going on with a couple of my other builds from the early years. I hear ya loud n' clear! :smiley2:

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Among the painted and detailed models in my display is a headless Highway Pioneers Fiat. My grandfather built it in the early 50s, when my years were in single digits. The model is unpainted and reflects grandpa's technique, where step one was to discard the instructions. He had quite a collection of Highway Pioneers, arranged around the living room on window boxes. A couple of years after his passing came the earthquake, and every car tumbled seven feet. I offered to reassemble them, thank Gowland and Gowland for using a different color plastic for each car. A few small parts, such as the Fiat driver's head, went forever missing, but that Fiat represents the beginning of a display full of models. Thank you, grandpa, and grandma too for letting me build on the kitchen table.

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I have an Aurora MBT70 I built as a child that I rebuilt about 15 years ago. I guess it would have been originally built in the late 70s. Another old kit is an AMT VW Rabbit I built when I was 20 years old right after I bought a brand new Rabbit in 1984. The third kit is one of the first Tamiya models I built in the early 80s; one of the motorized M4A3E8 Sherman tanks.

Sounds great there Rob! I really like the rebuilding idea as I did the same with the Challenger. Got any pics of 'em?

 

 

I don't have any complete models from childhood, but I still have the Monogram Battlestar Galactica, Colonial Viper and Cylon Raider. The Galactica and Viper have been torn down and are (slowly) in the process of being rebuilt. One thing I will not fix on the bottom of the Galactica is a fingerprint made in a glue smudge in the plastic. It will stay there in honor of the 13 year old (me) that originally built the kit.

Same goes for this one Michael! The last Colonial Viper I saw was at a show and it looked awesome. I've been on this kick of building models that I built as a kid and I believe I've got one rebuild left in me for a 74 Pro Street 'Cuda that I still have.

 

 

Among the painted and detailed models in my display is a headless Highway Pioneers Fiat. My grandfather built it in the early 50s, when my years were in single digits. The model is unpainted and reflects grandpa's technique, where step one was to discard the instructions. He had quite a collection of Highway Pioneers, arranged around the living room on window boxes. A couple of years after his passing came the earthquake, and every car tumbled seven feet. I offered to reassemble them, thank Gowland and Gowland for using a different color plastic for each car. A few small parts, such as the Fiat driver's head, went forever missing, but that Fiat represents the beginning of a display full of models. Thank you, grandpa, and grandma too for letting me build on the kitchen table.

Now that is a great story Buck. Pictures of that would be really awesome to see. Who was the manufacturer of that kit?

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Here's that 74 'Cuda I was talking about earlier and is the 30+ year old range. I've thought seriously about re-doing this one................

 

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I still have nearly all my childhood models, including my first ship, first jet, first painted jet, etc. I've lost a total of about 11 models in my youth from moves, but most had been replaced. I've tried to keep all my models I've ever built which explains why I have so many completed models. I could never bring myself to throw away, burn up, or blow up any of my models when I was a kid.

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That's awesome Mark! You know I had dang near every 1/48 scale model Monogram made as a kid. A Dauntless, Hellcat, Wildcat, Avenger, Helldiver, Airacobra, Mustang, Thunderbolt, Zero, Bf109, Fw190, Stuka, and Me262 to name some. I remember one day as a kid looking at them and for some reason not being interested in 'em anymore and got a plastic trash bag, threw 'em all in there and tossed them in the trash. :smiley3: What tha hell was I thinkin'????? Jeez !!!! I needed a swift kick in the pants for that one! ass-kicking_zpslbzvxejn.gif

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Everyone has a first model, regardless of the age he or she was when it was built. Keeping it in the showcase is a visual reminder of what we were then and what we are now in the progression of skills in first assembling and then assembling and finishing models. I'll keep this list of currently displayed models to models I built before turning 20 in 1961.

Gowland & Gowland Ford Model T

Gowland & Gowland Stanley Steamer

Revell Grumman F9F-8 Cougar

Revell Chance-Vought F7U-3 Cutlass

Revell Lockheed F-94C Starfire

Revell North American X-15

Revell Northrop F-89D Scorpion

Revell Battleship USS New Jersey

Revell S.S. United States

Revell US Army Nike Hercules

Revell Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket

Hawk Convair XF-92A Dart

Revell Convair F-102A Delta Dagger

Revell Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation [Eastern Airlines]

Revell Martin B-57B Night Intruder

Revell North American F-100C Super Sabre

Revell Northrop SM-62 Snark

Revell Boeing B-52A with North American X-15

Revell Boeing KC-135A Stratotanker

Revell Boeing B-29A Superfortress

Revell Boeing B-47 Stratojet

Revell Convair B-36 Peacemaker

Revell Chris Craft "Revell 1" inboard motor boat

 

There are many more not on display still in the to-be-restored boxes not listed here. Why so many Revell kits? Those are the kits my favorite dime store toy department carried. Simple as that.

 

Ed

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I posted photos of the old AMT VW Rabbit here a while back. Here it is again, nothing special though.

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I haven't taken a photo of the M4A3E8 because it was nothing special. I built it as the motorized kit and remember one of the tracks would walk off the suspension when turned on. The MBT70 survived decades of dusting and vacuuming on my dresser at my parents house. It was the last of the Aurora tank kits I built as a child and after my sandbox and BB gun days. It was unpainted and the decals had flaked off here and there. Many of the smaller movable parts were missing. Several of the fragile detail parts had broken off. In the early days of eBay, I'm talking 1996 or 97, I found a glue bomb kit on eBay for $5 with $3 shipping. It was one of the first items I ever bought on eBay. I used that kit to rebuild my original kit. I added new decals from a Tamiya M113 and actually painted the tank with Testors olive green paint. I'll post some photos later, but it hardly resembles the kit I built in junior high school.

 

Another kit I built as a child, but rebuilt as a young adult was an old Monogram M48. I originally built it as the Vietnam era kit, but after I spent my first summer as a tank crewman on an M48A5, I repainted the kit to semi-resemble the tank I rode on in 1985. It was originally built before 1980. Again, nothing special, just something I built when I was younger.
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My oldest survivor is this 1/72 Hasegawa Stuart (note the nickname):

 

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It's also a veteran of several WWII miniatures war games, c.1980. Sold off its four brothers a few years ago. I believe it's the one in the center of this picture:

 

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I'd forgotten this....while I don't have the first model I built as a kid, I DO have its replacement!

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I was finally able to find the old 1/48 Aurora Me-109 at an affordable price last year. I built it exactly as I built it when I was a kid: OOTB and unpainted. The kit decals were useless, so I left them off (and may have as a kid too). The only difference is I used superglue and got it done in a few hours instead of a day. But, it serves to remind me of my modeling "roots". It's also a very good example to show "rivet counters" when they complain about inaccuracies in newer kits. We've come a l-o-n-g way baby! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
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Love that candy-apple '109. My little brother built that one and used too much glue on one wing, melting it. I think I built a Spitfire (or P-40?) alongside it...1967-ish...!

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Considering the fact that my childhood is about to embark on its 50th year............................................

 

 

...yes!

 

 

Rick L.

LOL!!!

 

Ed: Man you were one busy modeler before 20 years of age!! Wow! I hear you on "what the store carried" . Moses 5 and 10 cent store was my friend for a long time, then the local Gibsons got in on it some and then finally, Walmart.

 

Rob: Those are awesome!!!! And they are special in the fact that they, however bad we all think they are now, were very instrumental in giving us the skills we have today. Models like that will never measure up to our current standard but are a show piece displaying how far we've all come in modeling.

 

Bob: Now that....is cool! The ol' then and now pics. Love it!! emotion-21.gif

 

Gil: That's a neat idea on the tribute build! And you are right about the "coming a long way" and about the rivet counters complaining about a few scale inches here and there..................especially on that Eduard 109G kit. I've got a Royal Class boxing of the G model and it's simply awesome!

Edited by mustang1989
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I never thought of my old kits as bad, just built to a different standard from different times in my life. I did buy another Rabbit off of eBay and have the reissued Monogram M48 Patton to build to my current standards. The Rabbit will be easier, but the old Patton will be difficult to build to a modern standard without cross kitting with a more modern model kit.

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