Hello, I recently went to one of the hobby stores that I frequent and as I was looking at all the new models and their prices I ,for some reason unknown to me, remembered the 98 cent price tag on the old Aurora models. I just had a brief remembrance of when modeling was simple, fun, and cheap. It still is fun, but the simplicity is not there any more and neither is it cheap - I am looking for ways to detail some of my Aurora WW I fighters. I had the Revell Ju-87B Desert Viper when I was a kid, I did a great job on it, and I remember having to get rid of it as we were moving and it took up too much space. Several of the kids in my neighborhood were fighting over it…I am not kidding. All that said to ask the following: Is modeling as enjoyable and fun as when you were a kid, that is if you built models as a kid, and do you at times miss the simplicity of the kits back then? I have to admit that I have gone to great lengths to obtain some of the kits I had as a kid, anybody else guilty of this?
Cheers,
Eric
I seem to remember a .50 cents per copy of the Aurora Famous Fighters series, and they came in colors too. Talk about old, I guess I am that. Can anyone remember a cheaper price? What do you expect from a 60 yr old man.
I was mad when the price went to 98 cents.
Yes, I still enjoy modelling, if I didn’t I probably would give it up. I grew up on the old Airfix kits (there are those who would say that Airfix kits haven’t changed !) and they were thrown together back then. Now, I take my time, and I’ve got a six month waiting list of kits to build for other people. Some of them ask for obscure kits, so I find myself building & modifying/detailing some of those old kits. As an example, I’ve just built some Matchbox kits, None less than 20 years old!
Pete
Yes, I can remember when kits were 50 cents to a dollar. I can remember the first time I spent $2.00 for a truck model and my father was outraged over it. When you factor in inflation, the prices of the more basic kits aren’t that much worse than before. The large scale super complex ones are much more expensive, but they weren’t even available 40-60 years ago. Kits today in the $10-20 range are more accurate and somewhat more complex than yesteryear, but inflation would make them about the same $$$$.
An awful lot of kids these days don’t buld models because there are so many other things in their lives competing for their time. Sports, electronic games, more school activities, etc.
Darwin, O.F. [alien]
I seem to remember 75 cent kits - Aurora, lindberg, and some very early monogram, revell and matchbox. I also remember building them in a couple of hours at most. Now I take my time (as it is limited). I’ve been stock piling kits for a number of years both for subject and the inevitable price hike.
I enjoy more now because I cna afford all the stuff to make them look real. Though i do miss those days when I could by the models I wanted at the drug store.
I started with Airfix, Frog and MPC kits going for around 75 cents to a buck apiece. The good thing back then is for ten bucks ( whole week of mowing lawns), I could buy enough planes at Woolworths and the corner LHS to have the Battle of Britain.
I started, with whatever I found appealing (NO you didn’t, you got whatever your Mom bought you [:)]), at the local Five & Dime for .50 - .75 cents. Not very detailed, but man, did I love them!! Logged a LOT of time flying missions over the war torn battlefield of my backyard!! [:)]
Take care,
Frank
Way, way back in the sixties I remember a Ford Mustang kit with a price tag of 29 cent that cost me a days work at the neighbors house to buy. I don’t remember the manufacturer or scale but it wasn’t very big. The other 21 cents I made that day bought me enough candy to make me sick.
I enjoyed it then and I enjoy it now.
LOL me too oldhooker.
Yes, I still remember when modeling was simple, fun and cheap and I kinda miss that. I still remember when after buying a kit I would go straight home and start building, non-stop 'til the wee hours in the morning. Kits then were really cheap and it’s ok if the build doesn’t turn out very right. No need to feel guilty about buying kits we had as kids. I think we do this to relive the fun we had then and to build the kit better this time.
For a trip down memory lane just look to Testor’s Enamels.
Remember when they were the only game in town and the 1/4 once bottle cost 10 cents!
Go price it now.
I remember when Testor’s raised the price to 15 cents and then only a few months later boosted it again to 19 cents. Raised it right out of my reach. . .
Don
I remember buying Matchbox kits (1/72 a/c) for about 20 Franks wich was at that time about 50 cent, I wish I had then the income that have now [:D].
BTW I must have been 9 or 10 years old.
I hope nobody minds a young pup of 34 chiming in here. Ha-ha-ha! One of my most prized possessions is my dad’s collection of the models he built when he was a kid. Most are the wooden variety before plastic became the norm. He has an F-86 which he had autographed by a Korean War ace too. I love it when he tells me the stories of paying 50 cents for a model kit and how his dad thought it was outrageous. He still buys me kits for my birthday and such. He tells me how he can’t believe what they’re charging now for kits especially when he sees the pricetags on the Tamiya and Trumpeter kits! Anyway, I wonder if my kids will listen in awe as I talk about “the good ol days when kits only cost $40.”
Eric
im only 25 but i have had conversations with my dad about kit prices…ship models by renwall were very cheap back in the day.if i remember my dad correctly, destroyers were 1.00, subs 1.25, cruisers 2.50, carriers 3.00, battleships 3.50.thats very cheap compared to todays 28.00-90.00 kit prices.
I remember when the Monogram’s 1/48 bomber series where under $10.00, and their fighters started at a $1.50, also I remember US Airfix kits where going for $.75 a piece and $5.00 for their 1/72 bombers, the most expensive kit at the time was the Tamiya’s F-14A at $100.00+ and now it’s the same cost but the others are catching up to it’s price mark
I started with the old Comet balsa and tissue models at a whopping 10 cents each.
I’m an Air Force Brat so plastic models were a little cheaper on base. 70 cents to
a buck each.
Ray
I’m not quite that old, but I fondly remember the days (mid/late 80s) when you could buy Matchbox plastic kits in local shops like newsagents and post offices; most under £2.
I particularly liked the military vehicles which came with diorama bases, even though I made a terrible job of the kits themselves (usually fusing the wheels and track into a solid mass with that horrible “tube” styrene cement).
I also well remember the first time I read a Tamiya catalogue (must have been 1988 or 89). To a kid used to the likes of Airfix and Matchbox, the big, highly detailed planes, tanks, cars, ships and bikes in that catalogue seemed unbelievably realistic and impressive!
I used to love riding my bike down to town and going into the drug store and handing over my two bucks to get that latest Aurora release!, if I had any left over, I had to scarf up on comic books and bubblegum packed baseball cards.
I also enjoyed building all those mongram aircraft kits, the all had either folding wings, moveable flaps, retractable gear, droppable bombs, etc. It’s why I still do it today.
Steve
Steve
I still try to keep it simple. It is still a fun, part time hobby for me - not an obsession (at least that’s what I’m telling myself) I don’t buy any aftermarket stuff (yet) and I don’t obsess over accuracy - I have just as much fun building an Airfix kit as I do a Hasegawa.
4 or 5 months ago I went on a “binge” at a hobby shop that I don’t get to very often. Bought two bottles of paint (I have quite a bit already) two sizes of concentric brass tubing for prop shafts, some exacto blades, and four (!) kits (1/72 Airfix and Heller). A whopping $32.+ change. For me - that’s alot in one trip, but from what I’ve seen in this forum - I’m quite a lightweight.
Chris