I remember the Strombecker kits, I was about 8 I think, (79 now.) Two that I can still identify were a single engine float plane and a twin engine airliner, I think either a Convair or a Martin.
A small packet of powdered glue came with them, but I switched to plain old white wood glue, after seeing the mess I made mixing the powdered glue with water.
Also made several of the Comet kits, Only one simply refused to fly well, the Ercoupe, the rest were good once trimmed. Lots of fun hours spent at the bench putting them together.
I grew up on Aurora and Lindberg kits. They were cheaper and had tanks, science fiction, superheroes, cars, planes and ships.
Nowadays, many companies focus on a single genre like cars, planes, tanks, etc. Of course some companies make many, but many of the top companies have a narrower focus.
I got started with Monogram near the introduction to plastic. At first they had a line of balsa flying (so-so) models with plastic details (Speedee-Bilt). Then they went to all-plastic. Never did get one to fly decently (too high a wing- and power-loading). Started treating them as static scale.
They didn’t have too many Renwal kits out where I grew up when I was young, but I did eventually buy one of their USS Farragut models. As I recall the model was engineered with a hole in the bottom of the hull so that you could fit all the parts together and apply glue to the inside of the model. And then at the end you would close off the bottom of the hull with a final piece of plastic. That way, at least supposedly, any glue marks would be hidden.
I think that the molds were from an era when there was not a lot of info on the shape of underwater hulls publicly available, so the the model was kind of square and blocky below the waterline, like some Monogram and Revell kits (I believe).
Anyway, with my limited model making skills at the time, I thought it was kind of a clever way to cast the parts. Plus I also seem to recall alot (maybe most) of there ship kits were a constant 1/500 scale, which was also nice.
Pat
PS. Here’s an image I found on the internet showing the flat bottom of the hull with the large hole (that you eventually seal up).
I agree, many of those old kits should have a turn of the limelight every now and then and to be moulded even better with some eye catching little extras, I’d certainly be a buyer…
The very first model kit I ever saw was Renwall’s Atomic Annie. I remember visiting my older cousin where he had one and he let me see it ( unbuilt in the box ) about 6 times. I simply couldn’t get that kit out of my head, so much so that I finally found one 5 years ago . It hides under the bed to this day because that’s the only place I have to store this large box not to mention where I would put the finished kit. I never considered my lack of display space when I bought it but at least I found and purchased my holy grail Renwall kit . I still am on a search for a motorized Renwall kit I built as a kid of 10 years old ,which is the early WWII US Sub Chaser
I have to add to this old Thread. Renwal offered a neat idea. Hidden gluing surfaces! This way you could use that old thready Testors or the much better Revell tube glue and build to your hearts delight and have a reasonable looking model when done. Many of their kits were built to be playable I do believe.
Renwal kits were also designed to be played with. Movable hatches, thick, sturdy pieces, green army men, rolling tracks, etc.
As a kid, all I could afford were the much cheaper Aurora tank kits. Although I do remember building the Aurora MBT70 and wondered why it came with both the “good guy” white stars and “bad guys” German crosses. I think I put those on a WW2 German or Japanese tank.
I remember building only a few Renwal kits, and all of them with my dads help. They were a little more advanced than I was ready for at that age. Of course I’m pretty sure that he selected them too… The M47, Hawk Missile, and one of the Nike missiles, can’t recall if it was the Nike Ajax or Nike Hercules. I’d like to find the Nike kit to build again one day.
Nuke cannons…I remember seeing the tractors for the atomic cannon going down the highway not far from my house every so often. I’m sure we had a few of them stored on the other side of town at Picatinny Arsenal. A lot of things were done there.
I started with the old Strombecker woood kits way back when I was five. The only one I rfeally remember was a B-24 with decal windows and a weight that had to be sealed into the fuselage so it would sit on its nose gear.
My first plastic kit was the Revell Seamaster followed by Boat models from Pyro and various aircraft kits from Aurora. Most of the fighters had solid wings and thedecal placement was marked by raised areas on the wings and fuselage. Lindberg had the XF-90 and XF-91 that I would like to find.
From Renwal I remember the Skysweeper and the M-42 Duster along with the Ontos, one of my favorite tanks.
I think there was another company called adams that did some obscure models including a collection of small missiles like the dart.
Yes. We trained for it in the 80’s. IIRC, we had battlefield nuclear shells for our 8 inch guns, if not the 155’s as well. Had it gone to Tac nukes, it would have gotten real messy real quick.
Besides that honking big self propelled howitzer, the Renwal kits I loved most were the Attack Transport and Attack Cargo ship, Sarasota and Seminole. The Sarasota was the same ship as the Revell Randall/Montrose, but a smaller scale and much sharper detail. The Seminole was completely unique, as was the Compass Island survey ship. Later I gathered up several of each for wonderful, wonderful projects for the future.
Now I have settled with the realization that I am building on 1/700 ships and these just don’t belong. So I have been selling them off at shows and ebay, and the dreams are floating out the window.
