I'm sure a lot of us, way back before we could drive, spent our Saturdays painting and assembling plastic model kits. Back in the '60s, before the cost of oil shot into the troposphere, model kit companies such as Aurora, Revell, ITC, Jo-Han, Pyro, Airfix, etc., had models of everything from figures such as cowboys and Scottish lassies in kilts, to airplanes, tanks, and cars.

My favorite car was probably the Monogram 1/8th scale Jaguar E-type 2 + 2. It came molded in red with (I think) tan interior, steerable wheels, opening doors and hood, etc. I assembled it over Christmas vacation in 1966. In the fall of '86, after my mother died, I found she had saved it in a closet, and it was still intact except for some exterior bits like the door handles. I wish I'd saved it. Runner-up was AMT's '40 Ford coupe; I must have bought five or six of 'em, painted and customized each differently.

Favorite non-car: Remember the Aurora monster models (the Frankenstein monster, the Wolf-Man, Dracula)? Those were well-done, and I wish they could be reissued today. Aurora even issued two kits from "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," and I have them both (partly painted, not assembled) from a friend's garage sale in '73.

What models did you build and remember fondly?

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-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino

Loved 'em! I used to like to get several of them, dump the parts in a pile and see what kind of custom creations I could come up with.

The first job I had (on a farm in the summers) I thought of the pay in terms of how many models a week I was earning.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Did a few of the "George Barris" creations. They were fun because you didn't have to paint anything...the body was already color-molded and the rest were chrome pieces.

Tackled a model of the USS Constitution when I was 12. Took six months to complete. Building the ship was the easy part. The rigging was a bear! The instructions even outlined what the recommended knots to use for authenticity...I didn't have the patience, so everything was "granny" knots!

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

Slightly off topic: Did they ever make a w123 or w126 model? Anyone know where I might find one? Thanks!

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1989 300E 144K

Models were and are great fun! I still have about twenty left to build...seems I buy faster then make them. I went through phases over the years, from military armor and aircraft to ships and cars but now I have the most fun with 1/12 scale motorcycles. I've also got a few wooden ship kits to tackle...

Anyone tried to give built-up models as gifts?

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Dean Albrecht
"Lead, follow, or better yet, get out of the way!"E500 owners motto

I used to paint tin soldiers and give them to my father for gifts. He was pretty well-steeped in things military and liked his little "armies." When he died, I took them back home with me.

I've always liked scale models of just about anything.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

I used to build the standard array of hotrods and muscle cars.

I would detail the model to the hilt. For example, the speedo numbers would get painted to resemble illumination and the body would get primed, painted, wetsanded and color buffed.

I would go as far as making a set of keys and let them hang from the ignition switch or make spark plug wires and loom them correctly. Those cars looked real.

I built over a hundred kits, plus a pile of assorted parts put together with wheels and engines. Never got very good, just liked to put stuff together. My 'Red Baron' kit turned out so bad I dismantled it. The helmet, wheels and machine guns ended up on a Lindberg 1935 Packard. Much improved. Thought MPC kits were a little better than AMT. Bad experiences with Revell excepting the 'Deals Wheels". Remember the 'Glitter Bug'? There was some sort of Mclaren inspired ride driven by Rock Moss, sponsored by Farm. Built most of the NASCAR kits offered in the early 70's. They were all the same apart from the body, probably like the real ones. Moved on to airplanes, kits were cheaper than those $2.25 cars. Glue was .15c, same as the paint.

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51 willys M38
62 willys M38A1
79 chevy
92 300D
95 300D
96 vision recumbent
2004 Wrangler

after my father died 2 years ago i spent some time poking around the basement and garage. my mom would have thrown a lot of stuff away.

i brought home a 1933 1. hp evinrude outboard which had been my grandfather's, a ww2 japanese rifle, and a box with my old model cars including a 32 ford pickup which was channelled shortened and painted metallic red with fuzzy fur on the roof, a poppy orange 65 289 cobra with the four weber setup, and others.

i also have about 12 kits from that era unopened of cars that i admire including 53 studies, a gurney eagle indy car, a porsche 904, and others.

i spent many hours as a junior higher building model cars.

the hand skills developed helped me make it throught the first two years of architecture school in which we built a good many models of our designs.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

My first model was a ~1913 Buick. It was a beautiful little thing. I even managed to not glue the wheels stuck, so it rolled! But, one day I made it have an 'accident' in our sand pile, complete with a small fire. What an idiot I was.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Too bad the price of models, paints, etc. has gone through the roof! I know the quality of items from Tamiya, Dragon, and others has greatly improved but $50 plus for a kit is targeting sales to us old farts...yet our best memories of model-making were as kids.

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Dean Albrecht
"Lead, follow, or better yet, get out of the way!"E500 owners motto

Yep! One of the hardest kits I tried was, I believe, REVELL's "Orange Crate" (OC) dragster. I'm trying to remember what the exact yr. the body was (30's something). It had something like 250 parts, about half were "chromed" (and I didn't quite have the "trimming" part down yet (remove the chrome from the part where the glue is suppose to go...).

I ended up becoming frustrated w/the first kit because the doors needed a "special touch" (read "technique") when they needed to be "glued" to the body (it had two actual hinges/door) and the body was also hinged at the rear of the frame to lift up. A little more than my "over-active" hands could handle.

Later on, after I had started "mastering" the technique of trimming chrome from parts before glueing (using the old "safety razor blades," without the handle or anything resembling safety!) and trimming the "flash" off the parts, I decided that I'd try the OC kit once again.

Same kit, different problems.

HOWEVER, this time, the second kit suffered from a severe case of "plastic twist" (that's what I called it...) where the part(s) appeared to have been removed from the mold before the plastic had "set" properly. Nothing lined up. And back then, once you had opened the box, no refunds were allowed. I even took it back to the retailer and attempted to show him the "twist" in the parts. He wasn't having anything to do with it. He said I probably heated them up over the stove and twisted it myself. If I had known where his nuts were (and how painful it was), I would have kicked him in the Nads 'til he went down hard like a sack of spuds.

As it turned out, I was a bit over my head working on those OCs at age 8, but I did learn a few tricks - the spark-plug wiring trick was actually one of the steps in building that particular model.

As for now...

I'll go through hobby shops and on-line, looking for models of any cars that I had owned. Only thing I have found, so far, is a REVELL '63 Chevy Impala. Just a stocker, no hotrod or "jumper" car. Haven't cracked the plastic wrap on the box yet either...I'll probably save it for the day I enter the nursing home, when I need a reason for sniffing a few tubes of TESTOR'S Glue (YEP! THE GOOD STUFF!)

Now I'm tripping down memory lane....or, am I just tripping????? Oh, the hazzzzze......I need a napppppppzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................

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M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
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“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

I built a lot of models during my youth. I also built many Heathkits and I still have many of them, including a Dwell/Tach meter and a timing strobe light. My color TV still works.

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Regards

Warren

Currently 1965 220Sb, 2002 FORD Crown Vic Police Interceptor

Had 1965 220SEb, 1967 230S, 280SE 4.5, 300SE (W126), 420SEL

ENTER > = (HP RPN)

Not part of the in-crowd since 1952.

Do kids nowadays have the attention span to tackle model kits?

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

I miss Heathkits, they were really neat. Pretty good quality equipment when you were done too. In another life, I did a stereo, some test gear and a 2kw SSB Ham amplifier.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.