Although my return to scale modelling in my late 30’s has mostly been characterised by armour, the scale modelling projects in my early-mid teens mainly focussed on World War II aviation. Unfortunately those rather amateurish initial efforts found the inside of a bin (with my blessing) as my mother prepared to downsize the family home, and I was not alerted to the possibility that those models could be restored and refinished as others in this forum have done successfully…
Seeing so many beautiful aircraft produced by fellow forum-goers has given me an itch to revisit a number of those exact kits from my youth. Unfortunately many of them are now-out-of-production, with suppliers like Hasegawa featuring prominently. But thanks to the lack of discipline and depth of stash of many hobbyists some of these kits persist in the second-hand market today
This brings me to Hasegawa’s Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk.1 in 1:72 Scale - This was the very first scale model I built, probably around the age of 11-12 after a visit to the Darwin Aviation Museum inspired an explosion of interest in World War II aviation
After a bit of searching I was able to locate a reasonably-priced example, although it was probably double the cost of what I’d consider reasonable for a 1:72 scale single-engined WWII fighter plane. But I figures this is the cost of nostalgia… So what price have you paid for nostalgia, and was it worth it?
Some of the exhibits from the Darwin Aviation Museum in Darwin, NT Australia with the star of the show being “Darwin’s Pride” - a B-52G donated in 1989
A dissenting opinion straight out the gate, I like it! You’re absolutely right to feel that way, especially given the advancements in materials, mould quality and the risk that the decals of a decades-old kit will crumble to dust…
I don’t often buy nostalgia kits, but I did pay 10X the original price for a Gundam kit. But the kit was 800 Yen when new, and at today’s exchange rates, $55 including shipping was expensive but not eye-watering in my view.
Plus, it had cool box art.
My only regret is that I did not know that this kit existed, and I might have had a chance to snag one at the original price when I started visiting Japan to go model hunting in the early 1990s.
One old kit I would not mind building is Monogram’s 1/48 SBD Dauntless. I built one back in 1976 or so after watching “Midway”. I had a blast with the working features in the kit, dive bombing imaginary IJN warships on my living room carpet.
But nowadays most older kits have been superseded by much more modern examples (except for the Dom Tropical Test Type!), and my take on it is that if the new kit is better, I go for the newer kit.
I’m all over the board with this. I enjoy so many new kits. But as older kits were re issued in my adult years, I definitely wanted the Mulligans to have another crack at them with my improved skills and tools. Some kits I could care less about having another go at. But some, like Neal’s classic Monogram SBD are on my list. I’m wrapping one up now. Others, that I missed as a kid, the Revell upper stages Apollo kit that my friend had but I never did back then, are now in my stash. There is a lot more to this story, but yes I do enjoy having another crack at kits I built as a kid, as well as those that I missed having a crack at back then.
With E-Bay I’ve found a lot of the older kits that lined the shelves when I was younger, and they really are not much more than when they were new.
To put it another way: the older kits are often cheaper than the newer ones. And whether it is planes or ships, my favorite part is painting them. A lot of the older kits are simpler, less parts, and quicker builds - so I find myself enjoying building them quite a bit more.
The irony is that now that it is years later: cost takes a back seat to the want, yet often the kits I want are quite economical!
Oh I forgot about the older Tamiya armor kits that I bought a second time to relive the thrill. I have fresher copies of the 8-ton halftrack w/ flakvierling, Chieftain and Pak 40. All were reissues so prices were not crazy.
At the time, I was on a Tamiya armor kick, so I also bought and built their Sherman Jumbo, Cromwell and Churchill. Tamiya kits are always enjoyable to build.
I have replaced kits I built as a kid/teen. Ended '25 by building the ancient Revell USS Nauitlus
which was a personal “legacy” kit. I built a lot of Aurora tanks and planes and ships, and I am slowly replacing them with 1/35 Tamiya kits. I reckon the last 20-25 purchases have been legacy kits. Returning to my childhood before I croak
I salute your ability to remember what you made when you were young My memory is a deep black pit. The old planes and boats I did back then are still in a display case at my parents - last I checked there was a 1/72 mustang at least, maybe a Spit, along with a super small scale full plastic Santa Maria ( I think ) and a Nina. Brands ? No idea! Knowing my old man, Revell or Heller probably, brushed Humbrol enamels. ( spoiler : they look bad. )
Still, nostalgia hit in some way, given that I looked for and ultimately found a box for the limited edition Heller Pilote de Saint Malo a while back. From a limited series in the late 90s/very early 2000s came three wooden boats, and I made one back then when I was a teen, and resumed work last year on the second I had discarded . So I figured, just in case, I could try to acquire the third, too.
Ended up costing surprisingly “nothing” as far as wooden kits go, 75euros, on ebay.
Also, when I came back to the hobby, I picked up a kit I had in the stash for years, an Hasegawa Corsair, the result of which shall never stain the internet, lol. Someday, I’ll have to do another, proper Corsair. Love this bird.
Don’t give my melon too much credit, because I can’t understate how helpful Scalemates.com has been in helping me identify the kits in question! I didn’t diversify between brands too much either, so I was fairly confident that if I knew the aircraft it’d either be an Airfix, Hasegawa, Revell or Italieri kit. The rest was just down to recalling the colour and decal scheme, as I never deviated from the intent of the box contents…
Still, it sounds like we’re very much on the same page! Chasing that feeling, while determined to redo the kit with the justice and patience unafforded by our younger selves…
If you’re going to return to childhood before croaking, it might as well be by immersing our hobby-minded present with our hobby-minded past! Unfortunately for many, their reailty of returning to childhood involves a somewhat involuntary need for adult diapers… Best of luck with your recent purchases!
While I collect things in my other hobbies, model making isn’t one. While I am nostalgic about some kits I had and built as a kid. I know the quality from 1970s kits aren’t what they are today, especially aircraft. I prefer modern kits of subjects I loved in my youth.
I love building kits from my youth. It’s like spending time with a childhood friend. Plus I love the build process, working with my hands, seeing how good these kits can be if parts are properly prepped. I really don’t find enjoyment in building kits that just fall together. The fun for me in a Tamiya kit lies in the paint and decaling stage. I won’t pay a crazy amount to acquire an old kit though. I have come close on a few occasions to dropping $100 USD on a sealed original Monogram B-24J but have not done it yet-- although that may be a reasonable price for that kit. I draw the line at paying 30 or 40 dollars for a 1/48 Monogram P-47 when I can pick up a Tamiya P-47 for the same price. I know I can always get more for cheaper (much cheaper) at show vendor tables, marketplace, etc…
My return to the nostalgia of scale modeling has cost me the minimum I can manage. I like to say, “I don’t have too many more years left to build scale models (age 69),…” so I have established fairly tight themes for this last time around:
British aircraft of WWII
WWII aircraft that served through the entire war.
Old cars and trucks
Spending limits are added, too. I stay within the themes, and if I spend more than $20 for a kit, I check to see if I’ve lost my mind momentarily.
I will add a decent airbrush soon, and gather the finishing materials needed to match my themes. But Ive also been modeling on and off for decades, so a lot of old school substitutions will be used, where possible.
To answer the question: I havent spent nearly as much as some.
Just a guesstimate, but roughly $500 in acquiring all of Monogram’s old aircraft kits in the baby blue boxes (as well as a few from even earlier and a handful of the white boxes from the 70s) and Revell’s 1/32 WWII aircraft series.
I’m loving this topic and all of the responses. For me, I try to obtain the best possible kit available for the chosen subject, with all the bells and whistles I can get. Sometimes that ends up being a modern Tamiya kit, other times it has to be a vintage kit due to the fact that the subject is no longer made or in a configuration that can’t be found. A couple examples would be this Renwal USS Seminole which isn’t made anymore and cost me close to $200 bucks.
I had to have it as it was a tribute build to my grandpa, thus money was no object.
Another one is a kit I built as a kid, the USAF Thundebirds F-4E’s flying in formation. A unique configuration for one of my all-time favorite planes.
I got this one for $25 and shipping, so a cheap blast to the past for me!
Like I said, it depends on the subject and what’s available and I don’t have any financial barriers other than psychological. If I want it and can justify it, I build it!
Well, in my case, having stashed many models in time never built before and still stacked into boxes waiting for me to finally assemble them all, I do not seek older ones since I already have some and although they are not up to speck with the newer ones (but one can easily find aftermarket items to make them live again while updating them to current standards), I do not seek to find the more complicated ones that are out nowadays.
First of all because some of the so called newer ones are simply repackaged ones with some few additions, sometimes unnecessary at all, and then because their cost has augmented astronomically.
The only recent “old glory” I did buy for a rather reasonable price was a 1/72 scale Northrop Black Widow made by Airfix since I had read reviews of some newer ones which apparently had many downsides to them and were by far more expensive.
But comparing some newer ones, like 1/35 scale tank models, with some of my older ones I did buy, there is not much difference between the two, except maybe some very tiny parts that once the model is finished disappear completely in such a scale.
The only ones that could be interesting are those who have a fully detailed interior, but they too come at a steep price and if one just wants to show a tank in action, instead of making a museum piece, all this is wasteful time to spend on it and since I am building historic dioramas all I need is a correct looking tank and not unnecessary gizmos that as I said, just empty you pockets and cannot really be seen with the naked eye.
I am fully satisfied with what I’ve got. The rest is up to the beholder.
I bought the re-issue of the Revell 1:48 Gemini capsule I built in the early 1970s. I believe it set me back about $50 CDN. Probably 10x the cost when I first bought it. It is still waiting in my stash. My craziest purchase was the Revell 1:72 Flower Class Corvette. I paid $300 CDN for the discontinued kit and then forked out $500 CDN for the entire catalogue of David J. Parkins photo-etch details. Throw in plan and reference materials at about $200 and I am sitting on a $1,000 CDN project before I have even started. I may be crazy, but my goal is to recreate the HMCS Sackville…the last surviving Flower Class birthed in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I have started the hull, sanding down the overscale plates, grinding away the ridiculous keel and relocating portholes per my plans. But the photo-etch has come to intimidate me so I have been slow to take up the challenge…despite the cost!
In the 70’s, my brother got Revell 1/32 fighters for Christmas. I started looking for repops in 2000’s. I found my BF-109G-6, Spitfire Mk 1, Hurricane Mk 1, Seafire Mk 1 from the original Squadron and original Kitlinx for $20-35.
My memory is a deep black pit. The old planes and boats I did back then are still in a display case at my parents - last I checked there was a 1/72 mustang at least, maybe a Spit, along with a super small scale full plastic Santa Maria ( I think ) and a Nina. Brands ? No idea! Knowing my old man, Revell or Heller probably, brushed Humbrol enamels. ( spoiler : they look bad. )
