Hey Carlos, I remember the glue but I can’t remember the brand - green and yellow print on a white tube, with a triangular shaped plug/cap? It wasn’t Testors, but it was a well known brand name at the time.
Speaking of glue tubes, perhaps not so well known in the US, but does anyone remember the old Airfix glue tubes? You had to snap off the metal “pin” end on the nozzle to open it and then find something to cap it when you were done otherwise it would dry out in a couple of days.
I remember that lemon-scented glue, too, but I don’t remember who made it, either.
I never had the Airfix tube in a kit, but there were other manufacturers who did that, too. Japanese companies like Aoshima included a little tube of glue in their kits, and I think Hasegawa used to, too. And Monogram did, in their Merite figure line. I still come across those kit tubes, in kits that I pick up second-hand.
One of my first models was a Lindberg Boeing 707 in Lufthansa colors. My dad & I were both new to model building, and it said to add weight to the nose so the model would sit properly on its landing gear. Weights? Instead of weights, we reasoned that we could just fill the entire front half of the fuselage with tube glue, which would, of course, solidify into a rock hard mass and become our weight. The next morning, we had a beautiful puddle of 707 on the kitchen counter…
Not the one I’m thinking of - I’m thinking late 70’s, well before the Testors “Blue Label” It was one of the major players though - Pactra perhaps? (Yellow/green/white tube)
Back to topic, when I was about 11 or 12, I did an Airfix B-29 and must have messed up something in the interior, because I could not get the fuselage to close up - yes, a real 1/4" gap running the full length of the plane. [:-^]
And then there was the Airfix B-24 built with “that last drop of glue in the tube”. Yet somehow I actually managed to get it all together. Then someone bumped me and it fell to the floor and exploded into a million pieces. [xx(]
When I was a kid my dad used large bits of sprue to repair the undercart on my models after they had received the inevitable hard landing. He also made me a Lysander painted gold. I rescued many an SOE agent from the crevices of our sofa with that one.
I guess the best blooper was forgetting to add the nose weight to B25 and B29 models so they all stood on their tails!
I’m 42 now and when no one is looking I still take the Lanc for a quick spin around the Dams
That’s the one! Though I remember a tube stopper of the same shape in black plastic as well.
If I remember correctly, it was made of “non-toxic” materials, because of concerns that kids were taking the glue and sniffing it. This stuff was supposed to be less harmful, ie, less reactive. I don’t know if that actually stopped the kids who really wanted to from getting stoned, though.
I dont about the glue…I still think it was testors…we are talking about the other side of the country…Miami…I remeber I would only find Testors stuff at the local dept stores…i wasnt til later that I would go to the locas HS…Felix Hobbies. or Orange Blossom Hobbies…
oh yeah used to tear them, then sometimes actually chew the bits and pieces left from the spru gate, nothing could slow down the model production. If it took me more than a day to build a kit, something was wrong
Hell I once painted a model with house paint, I was building a thinderbird F-16 and thought, white paint is white paint…
No, I didn’t live there. Only been there a couple of times on holidays visiting relatives. That’s why it stuck in my mind. I seem to recall that Long’s was one of those places where you could buy just about anything. At the time, hey had an impressive range of kits for a “non-specialist” store. [:D]
Leaving the interiors out usually helped make the build go faster. [;)]
Wow!! You brought back some memories. I lived in Miami for 40+ years and Orange Blossom Hobbies on NW 36 St was the best. I spent hours looking at TONS of stuff there. Remember Pat and Charlie in plastics? What a shame it went belly up a few years ago. The next best thing to OB is RC Hobbies on Mcnab and University Drive in Broward. Felix Hobbies rings a bell. Where was it located?
You are right…OB was the best…I used love staring into the display cases they had next to the back parking lot entry but most of all the ones in the front… saying I could never do that kind of work!! and we are there now…believe it or not…
Felix was on NW 7th Ave and about 134 St in NMiami he later moved off of W Dixie still in NMiami. He had a big slot car track in the front window.
Those were the days…
Oh and I used white, house paint too…remember painting a Corsair II talk about going on thick!! and since of course your money was better spent on paint than thinner, i would use lighter fluid for brush cleaner…talk about dangerous!
How about Warrick Custom Hobbies in Plantation Ft Lauderdale. I lived in Ft Lauderdale for 13 years. The shop was unbelieveable. he had O gauge trains that sold for over $3000 dolars in stock. The place was huge. Just about anything you could thing of he had. The best stocked hobby shop I have ever been in. I see he no longer advertises in the back of the mag. I do’nt know if he is still there. he use to be on Peters road just off of Rt441. I might have to see next time I go back to visit my freinds down their.
Warricks moved to the shopping center just south where it used to be originally some years ago. They did away with most of their plastics and only have a few kits, a shadow of what they used to carry. When they started getting rid of their plastics about 3-4 years ago, I was lucky to grab the Dragon 1/35 Morser Karl with the turned metal projectile for $34.99![party]
I built my first model when I was ten years old. It was a DC3 with full interior. Only problem was I was in a rush to build the plane and slap on the colorful decals only to wonder how to go back and put in the interior into a completed airframe![BH]
I remember getting a Douglas DC-3 (or DC-10). The original decals were for PanAm. I painted the entire airplane gloss blue, yellow, and black. Then I was so impatient and started putting on the decals. I put the airplane together in 1 hour. It still looked awesome to me.
