I just acquired a long wanted older plane Kit. The MONOGRAM -Cessna180 Sport Plane ( With Floats). You know back then Revell, Monogram, Aurora and Lindberg put enough rivet detail on them to build the Titanic! - Really!
Turns out I was right and wrong about this kit. I remembered grossly oversized rivet detail.But, I didn’t care as this was the only model of a plane I used to own. Mine ,when I bought it was so corroded, I had to replace All the bottom panels on the fuse and some on the wings as well as both floats!
They had so much salt corrosion, They were paper thin. After that and a overhaul she passed certs. I wanted the model to remind me of happier younger times. I was thinking of sanding all the rivets off and using the tiniest ones on a three-D Decal sheet to replace them under a foil Chrome skin. I don’t have to!
Funny though how you remember things. I remember Aurora’s Tanks with the Rubber-Band tracks and their sorry attempt to mold them in color for you. Oh, let’s not forget Lindberg’s and Aurora’s attempt to put a person in the plane cockpits. Half a head on each fuse side. What was with that? Airplane guys-Remember Aurora’s Lime Green YAK-15?
Heres one I sure Ship-Builders have done. The Models put out by a company I cannot recall. Their ad point? Invisible glue surfaces( Oh yeah, it was RENWAL !) Not with tube glue and the kids ways back then. What good and bad points of the old models do you remember? Let’s get some “old style” chuckles going here
I still remeber putting together my 1st Renwal kit with its “invisible” glue surfaces. I think mine was the USS Farragut with a “Weapon Alpha” ASW launcher. I had never even heard of that werapon before I bouth the kit [:P]
Have that kit (C-180) in my stash. You know I love to build lightplanes. Also have the Monogram Tri-pacer kit. That looks like a pretty nice kit too.
I remember a Monogram 1:48 B model Mustang. First kit I ever built that had detail molded in inside cockpit area (molded into the inside surface of the fuselage side), and a detailed wheel well.
I have found most of Monogram’s P-51s were decent especially in cockpit innards. Even with the toylike aspect of some, They just looked nice when done.
yeah,I was stationed on a FRAM Destroyer on the West Coast at the time I acquired my first Renwal ship. It was the U.S.S.KING. a Destroyer ( Supposedly a Forrest Sherman type.) Boy, were they off on that one. I had Seen the Sherman on a visit to the east Coast and they didn’t look nuthin alike.
Today I just recieved a model in the mail that I had ordered a while ago, but which got delayed by COVID issues. The interesting thing about the kit is that while it is a fairly new model there are a lot of features about it that remond me of older kits, but updated with the latest technology.
The kit is an Academy 1/700 Korean DOKDO Amphibious ship. I really didn’t know much about the kit when I ordered it but I just wanted a modern small/midsize amphibious ship model, and since I had been on the DOKDO a few years ago for work I thought it would be a good choice.
When I opened the box today the first thing that caught me eye was a notice that it had “Multi Colored Parts”, which got me thinking of the old Matchbox ship and planes kits molded in two colors, which never quite looked right together [:P]. On this kit though they did a really good job, molding the lower hull and appendages in Red, the upper hull and superstructure (and some small additional parts) in medium gray, with additional details in black or white.
On top of that, although its not fully clear, I think it may actually be a snap together kit kind of similar to the old Mongram Snap Kit Super Carrier kits. However, the parts on this DOKDO kit look very well detailed with a side molded one-piece deck house and very faint tie-downs on the main deck.
And finally, it comes with two sets of transfers, one of which looks like standard waterslide decals and another set that may actually be peal and stick stickers.
As such it kind of comes across as a nicely balanced little kit where, if you want to you can detail it up fairly nicely, or if you are just a young kid (or a young kid at heart) and want something simple to play with you can assemble it quickly and still have something that isn’t too bad looking.
Just remembered another old thing that I think few will remember. I believe it was 1945, manufacturers were just beginning to put out kits again. Kit was a Strombecker destroyer. Hull was nicely precarved pine, deck houses were from pine sheet sawed to planview. And it came with glue! Glue was a package of powder (I think it was casein glue). Added water to powder. Boy, did it take a long time to set up!
Yeah that Casein Glue did take a long time to set up. I remember that stuff from building a D.C.6 from Strombecker with plastic engine Nacelles and Cowlings as well as the plastic area from the cockpit.