If you had the ability to open a time portal, stick your hand in to it and pull out some kit from the past, or even current, what kit would you pick? Money is no object either.
For me, back in the day, I always regret not grabbing the Fine Molds 1/72 scale Millenium Falcon, but I also wish I could have gotten the DeAgostini 1/43 scale subscription kit.
https://www.scalemates.com/kits/deagostini-1-100-build-millennium-falcon--980354
I have all the stuff I really want except for this. The first model I ever built. Would love to pick one up for a reasonable price
If it was going to be a car, something I build very rarely, it would be the Chrysler Turbine car. I saw one at the N.Y. World’s Fair and built it twice.
I remember what might have been a Hawk kit that had what I think was a rocket called the Dart, but I’m not sure.
I agree with the Millenium Falcon. But if I could go back in time I’d pick up another one of MPC’s 1/78 Millenium Falcon’s. I had it as a kid and of course totally botched it. But I’d love to take a shot at it again as an adult, and toss in a lighting kit just to see how well I’d be able to slap it together the second time around.
I would eschew grabbing a model kit over slipping through the portal myself and going for a drive, just to visit the many places that used to sell model kits. I’d just peruse the stuff on the shelves, to refresh the memories of my childhood.
Did I remember correctly? The Hobby Company had paint racks that were well stocked with Pactra Authentic International Colors, my most favorite paint line ever.
Pete’s Modelcraft was our main hobby shop in the 1970s, with stores in several major shopping centers. As a kid, I didn’t pay attention to a lot of their kits, as I only focused on what I could afford. What DID they sell? That would be an interesting question to answer.
The Woolworth’s chain here in Hawaii had a great buyer when it came to model kits. They had a wide selection, from cars to planes, ships, and sci-fi. I don’t recall them carrying a lot of armor though. I bought my first MaK kit from the Ala Moana Woolworth’s in 1985.
The Legionairre was a wargaming shop that carried a lot of armor and cool aircraft kits. I bought my first Tamiya tank there, an M60A1, for a whopping $10.50. That was serious money for a kid in 1977.
Even the drug stores had decent model kits. Longs Drugs was the first place I saw the Monogram B-17G in 1975. I think it was going for $8.50. Too rich for my blood, but my friend’s mom got him one, so I got to see him build it. The Shep Paine diorama sheet in the kit blew us away.
But what I would really like to do is go to my favorite eating places that have disappeared. Chico’s Pizza on Waialae Ave for their Ono’s Special pizza plus a bucket of their pressure fried chicken and potato wedges. I’d sit in their dark dining room, on a park bench which passed for furniture, enjoying the chicken while waiting for the pizza, all the while marvelling at the steady stream of cockroaches travelling up and down the heavy blackout cutains. [:O]
Byron II steakhouse at the Ala Moana Shopping Center for a London broil, followed by a cherries jubilee for dessert. No cockroaches behind the curtains though; this was a classy joint.
The Yum-Yum Tree at Kahala Mall for a mushroom burger and a slice of their pecan pie.
And if I had some Immodium handy, the Harvest House in Woolworth’s. I’d have their club sandwich. Or if I was feeling like a gambling man (thus the Immodium), their broasted chichen.
And maybe grab a strawberry/vanilla Icee or a Green River drink from the fountain at Kress.
Yes, I have obviously given much thought about this before. You can still get old kits if you want them badly enough, but I cherish the memories of “being there” even more.
May I borrow the time machine to go back to the Mesozoic Era to take a bunch of reference photos to make sure I’m painting my dinosaur models accurately???
And after Gamera returns, I’d like to go back to the 1970s during the Hickam AFB open house days to take as many photos as my phone can handle. I’d cover that Avro Vulcan like white on rice!
Oh, and Gamera, please visit the other eras like the Cambrian and get some pics of trilobites and sea scorpions. But avoid the dates with the planet-killer events. [:O]
All the Aurora Prehistoric Scenes.
Oh ho, yes Aurora Prehistoric Scenes! My most coveted series in elementary school.
I had a “Christmas Story” experience in 1975, when I really really really wanted the T-Rex, but it was like $20, so I thought there was no way I’d get it. I dreamed of the kit for a month, ignoring school lessons and the scoldings from the teachers. All I could think of was that T-Rex. And lo and behold, the T-Rex was mine on Christmas day! I think that was the best Christmas present I ever got.
That’s the kit. I havent seen one since the 60s.
Remember the Komet, Oaka, and V-1 with the plastic fire in the tail?
But what I really want to snatch through the time-portal is as many bottles as I could get of Model Master Acryl in every color.
It would involve a whole list! There are way more than just one or two kits that I’d want to pick up…
If I have to start with just one, it would be two of the Revell box scale RMS Queen Mary liners.
I loved those kits. I got the saber-toothed tiger for Christmas and the Allosaurus for my birthday a couple months later. I had most of the series along with my brother.
When I was a 2LT at Fort Knox in 1987, I bought the Monogram boxed T-Rex and built it. I left it in the bachelor’s officer quarters when I left for Germany. A couple of years later, I found out it was still there in the same living room of my old quarters.
Rob,
My most sought-after dino kit was the Ankylosaurus. I missed it when it was generally available, but managed to get one by eating several crummy candy bars to get the bar codes to mail order one. It took ages to get here, but I finally had one!
" OH mighty time machine, please take me back to 1977."
" Then find me a K-mart that stupidly put the Porcher Rolls-Royce on sale for $20, so that I might spend my paper route money on purchasing Three of them."
I thought we had a time machine, Is’nt that what eBay is?
Back in the early 70s, before I got married to the Admiral, she was my fiance at the time, I purchased the Revell US Constitution, My fiance was wondering why I would buy something that to her it was just a toy, my father-in-law to be, wonder why I would waste my time building something like that.
I started the build and went as far as the second deck and the installation of most of the cannons, then marriage got in the way, the first daughter arrived, and a couple of moves. To make the story short the kit got lost somehow before I could finish it, mainly, because I did not have time to work on it (at the time, besides working 6 days a week I also was going for a degree at the local college) the kit disappeared. I suspect that the Admiral sent it to the scrap yard.
I would love to get my hands on the same kit, but, I am trying to get sufficient experience in the building of wood models so I be able to tackle a wood model of the Constitution.
well see.
Joe
Ebay is more like Time Bandits. Or a Ferrengi bazaar.
Today while at my bench, I realized that I’d love to get a bunch of old discontinued paints… Polly S, Pactra International, Floquil, Humbrol Authentic…