Some things Never Change!

[TerryB]

This past Monday I visited the AACA museum in Hershey, first time there in at least 5 years.  I was great, especially the new Tucker display.  Stopped in at the gift shop on the way out and found a nice little model kit of a 1913 Mercedes Benz for only $2.99! Of course it's molded in all gray plastic but the instructions give painting guidelines for the kit.  So today I went to the local Craft store and bought paint and brushes for $12.97 all to paint a model car I paid $2.99 for!  That's the old car hobby for you.  Even in miniature form, the cost of the car is just the tip of the iceberg!

 

Terry

[Mark Gregory]

You are so right !

[Paul Dobbin]

If things really never changed, you would paint it with your mother's nail polish.

[FLYER15015]

18 hours ago, Paul Dobbin said:

If things really never changed, you would paint it with your mother's nail polish.

And the solvent in her polish will melt the plastic ?

 

So Terry, if the pricing is proportional and you paid 30K for a full sized classic, the restoration should cost 130K.

Watching all the T.V. shows doing rebuilds, this sounds about right.

Then just hope you can sell it @ R+M for 160K and break even ???

Choose your car wisely................

[TerryB]

At least I had a tube of model cement I had purchased for another project or that would have added another $2.97 to the bill!

[46 woodie]

Terry, I don't know your age, I'm 70. I can remember building dozens of AMT model cars when I was a boy. I don't think that they were more than $1.00 or $1.25. I took my two grand kids to purchase a couple of model cars and couldn't believe that they now cost around $25. What kid now a days wants to spend $25 for a kit and that's before glue and paint.

[padgett]

Well in 2013 the US had over thirteen million millionaires. Guess it is them.

[Rusty_OToole]

In the sixties AMT 1/25 scale models (the most popular) cost $1.49 in the US and $2.39 in Canada. The price was printed on the box.

[MochetVelo]

The Inflation Calculator says $1.49 in 1965 is equivalent to $11.42 in 2016.

 

Phil

[TerryB]

Well I'm 64 so I do recall buying model cars for a lot less than the $20 + dollars they bring today.  I still have about four completed kits that managed to survive after several moves and 50 years.  That little bargain kit at the AACA museum seemed like a good deal at the time, never thinking about how much the Testors paint would cost. Still it will be cheap entertainment compared to other hobbies I could be doing.

 

Terry

[1937hd45]

My guess is that most kids today can afford a $25.00 plastic model but lack the mechanical skills to open the box and assemble it. Bob

[60FlatTop]

In 1967 I was at Great Lakes Naval Training Center attending Basic Propulsion Engineering School. I liked using the Testors liquid glue. I accidently knocked the bottle over and wiped it up with some tissues. Then forgot and put it back in the box, tissues and all. The glue attacked the quarter panel. I got another body for it in the 1980's, maybe '70's. How long does it usually take to put one of these models together, anyway?

I tool these picture yesterday.

Bernie

[poci1957]

I would say building model car kits was my biggest inspiration toward becoming a "car guy."  Hot wheels, AFX and other toys were also influential but nothing like the model kits, where I learned in miniature what parts made up a car and gradually what the parts looked like in real life, plus I had to learn the skill to finish and assemble one.  I loved them, but like restoring real old cars I guess the modern youth is not interested in the slow process and the time needed to develop necessary skills, not to mention the cost, Todd C

 

[60FlatTop]

The old guys in the car hobby treated me like I didn't know anything and could never be as good as them. I remember them very well and make every effort not to turn into one of them as I age. Maybe that is why I don't attend as many old car functions as I used to. They really proliferate the hobby.

I spent some pretty good time with a few of my nephews over the holidays. They all like cars. But mostly we were just eating and talking. They seemed to have good command of the language and were proficient in the use of knives and forks. None spilled milk or water either. Are these family members that people are finding so inept? Our spawn seems to be doing OK.

 

I think "the modern youth" is not interested in the same things I wasn't interested in when I was a "modern youth".

Bernie

[Guest Skyking]

19 hours ago, 1937hd45 said:

My guess is that most kids today can afford a $25.00 plastic model but lack the mechanical skills to open the box and assemble it. Bob

About 3 years ago I bought one of my 13 year old grandsons a Revell V8 engine at Hobby Lobby's for a Christmas gift.  I'm 70 and I built a lot of models in my days.  The only problem with this model Revell now makes them in China,  but I'd fugured I would give it a shot.  Being that they live in Franklin Tennessee I wasn't close enough to watch him build it.  When my wife and I made the next visit I asked my grandson if he ever got the model built........he laughed and said him and his father couldn't figured it out.

Now mind you,  my son-in-law just about knows what end of a hammer hits the nail. He's been into computer software most of his life and that,  he's an expert on.  So I figured it was over his head....

So I told my grandson that we'll fool with it while I was there.  

Too make a long story short,  this was the worst POS I've ever tried to put together.  Nothing fit properly,  I couldn't even get the pistons into the cylinders.  The parts didn't even mate together.

I felt so bad for my grandson we went out and bought him something else,  and I apologized to my son-law for thinking less of him.  China junk!!

[jpage]

In the '60's and early 70's I spent much of my time building plastic model cars which did spike my interest in antique cars when I got older. I could buy a kit for between $1.50-$2.00 at almost any department store. Most of the kits were not wrapped so you could open the box and actually look at the kit to see what it was like. I built mostly the old cars from the '30's and 40's. Gave it up for  long time and decided to try a scratch built model of my '36 Dodge engine which I have almost completed in 1/6 scale; might post some pics soon. I can't believe what models cost today and how much the paint cost. I could buy glue  and Testor's paint for .10 a bottle, now it's almost $3.00 for a tiny bottle! I still have some of the old bottles marked .10 and .19!  A spray can was .69 , now over $5.00. Tried to get my son interested but it cost too much. It's even hard to find any models in stores today and the selection is pitiful. Now they've gone to models that are already built, all you have to do is add a couple of parts and you're done. No fun or skill in that!. Still love miniatures and respect the skill of guys like Roger Zimmerman who can built quality models from scratch!

[padgett]

[EmTee]

16 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

I tool these picture yesterday.

Bernie

 

Looks like the '58 Chevys that I remember seeing as a kid!  Maybe put it together as a 'daily driver' or stick it in a field as part of the surrounding landscape for someone's Lionel train setup...

[Larry Schramm]

16 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

In 1967 I was at Great Lakes Naval Training Center attending Basic Propulsion Engineering School. I liked using the Testors liquid glue. I accidently knocked the bottle over and wiped it up with some tissues. Then forgot and put it back in the box, tissues and all. The glue attacked the quarter panel. I got another body for it in the 1980's, maybe '70's. How long does it usually take to put one of these models together, anyway?

I tool these picture yesterday.

Bernie

 

I do not see anything wrong with this quarter panel.  It looks just right to be pre-rusted for the Chicago area where you were building the model.

[60FlatTop]

16 hours ago, Skyking said:

About 3 years ago I bought one of my 13 year old grandsons a Revell V8 engine at Hobby Lobby's for a Christmas gift.  I'm 70 and I built a lot of models in my days.  The only problem with this model Revell now makes them in China,  but I'd fugured I would give it a shot.  Being that they live in Franklin Tennessee I wasn't close enough to watch him build it.  When my wife and I made the next visit I asked my grandson if he ever got the model built........he laughed and said him and his father couldn't figured it out.

Now mind you,  my son-in-law just about knows what end of a hammer hits the nail. He's been into computer software most of his life and that,  he's an expert on.  So I figured it was over his head....

So I told my grandson that we'll fool with it while I was there.  

Too make a long story short,  this was the worst POS I've ever tried to put together.  Nothing fit properly,  I couldn't even get the pistons into the cylinders.  The parts didn't even mate together.

I felt so bad for my grandson we went out and bought him something else,  and I apologized to my son-law for thinking less of him.  China junk!!

 

Revell always made POS models. I did a lot of car models starting with an AMT '59 Chevy convertible 3 in 1 kit. AMT made the best. JoHan made models of equal quality to AMT, but odd ball stuff. At least the bodies from those two companies were cast in one piece. Revell didn't do that. I have a couple of Revell repops from the '50's wrapped and unopened, just for the box art. MPC ran off some stuff that reminded me of Chinese replacement body parts. I remember a 1948 Ford convertible kit that is etched in my mind as the worst ever.

 

One really neat model related experience was buying this Rolls-Royce kit around 1980 (I still have it, unfinished) and in 1989, walking around the corner of a friend's shop and finding the real car sitting there!

  I did quite a bit of work on the car over the next decade and even got pictured working on it in a Flying Lady article.

 

 

I guess that is kind of a kid's dream, put the kit together and then work on the real one.

Bernie

[poci1957]

4 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

 

Revell always made POS models. I did a lot of car models starting with an AMT '59 Chevy convertible 3 in 1 kit. AMT made the best. JoHan made models of equal quality to AMT, but odd ball stuff. MPC ran off some stuff that reminded me of Chinese replacement body parts. I remember a 1948 Ford convertible kit that is etched in my mind as the worst ever.

 

One really neat model related experience was buying this Rolls-Royce kit around 1980 (I still have it, unfinished) and in 1989, walking around the corner of a friend's shop and finding the real car sitting there!

 

I guess that is kind of a kid's dream, put the kit together and then work on the real one.

 

 

Good memories Bernie, I assembled that Rolls Royce kit circa 1980 and enjoyed working on it.  I forgot it was a Revell kit, but must have been a good one.  Like yourself I found Revell kits had spotty quality and preferred AMT.  They did a reissue of a lot of their 1960s 3 in 1 kits in the late 1970s that I am sure sparked my first interest in 1960s cars. 

 

I also found MPC detail could go either way and I generally liked Monogram kits, especially their Classic series including a 1941 Lincoln Continental that I thought was excellent.  JoHan kits were relatively scarce in my area but usually interesting and outside the mainstream--they did Richard Petty 1964 Plymouth and 1970 Superbird stock cars that one would not have seen from the other companies, Todd C       

 

[dibarlaw]

 In the 1960s I spent much of my allowance and spare cash from cutting grass and hauling well water for my neighbor on models.

 At one time I had over 60 completed. For 5 dollars bought a book case from a white elephant sale (they did not use the term yard sale then). I refinished it as a place to display all my models. Unfortunately my sister's poodle had a taste for styrene plastic. Most of all with in his reach were destroyed. My favorites were the Aurora Vintage series. I had the 1903 Rambler, 1904 Curved Dash Olds, 1914 Stutz Bearcat, 1909 Stanley Steamer and the 1911 2 cylinder Buick Model 14. I don't believe I ever had the 1913 Mercer Raceabout as it was at least $1.50 more than the others in the series. My favorite was The 1911 Buick Model 14. This is what started me on being a Buick Man. I probably built 3 of them throughout my youth. Replacing the ones that became dog chow or did not survive long, imaginary treks across our back yard dirt piles. My last efforts at model building was as therapy after chemo treatments, trying to keep the depression demon at bay. I bought 4,1/24 scale Monogram Models. A 1933 Cadillac All Weather Phaeton, 1931 Rolls Royce roadster,  1932 Cadillac Phaeton,

1932 Duesenberg Roadster  These were the only ones I finished.

That was 10 years ago and thank God for these extra years! Keeping busy with real antique Buicks, means that I have no time to build models. I have been able to transfer some of the skill acquired through the model building process into making some of the "unobtanium" parts for my Buicks. I still have the 1911 Buick.

[60FlatTop]

Revell made the Highway Pioneers series right around 1950. Those are my first memories. My Uncle Eddie built a few. I remember him sitting at his kitchen table using matches to melt the plastic so he could "weld" the pieces together. Postwar America, men had time for store bought hobbies and stuff was made of plastic.

 

In the early 1960's I bought a really nice Exacto knife set, the wooden box, multiple handles, and I bought the 4" saw blade for chopping tops. A short time after I got it I stuck one of the 1/4" blades into my finger. It bled pretty good. Then I couldn't find the set. I looked everywhere and it was not to be found.

 

In 1980 we bought the house I grew up in from my Mother. My Dad had died a few years before. The big job of hauling out a 30 years accumulation started. In the attic was the baby buggy my Sister, born in 1958, had be wheeled around in, In the bottom, under the mattress was, yep, a mint wooden Exacto blade box with all the shiny, hardy worn parts. Mothers are so protective of their first born. I bet my younger Brother or Sister would have just been told to be careful. At least that's what they would tell you.

Bernie

[JACK M]

Good story Bernie.

When I got to be in my late teens and had moved out of the house a couple of times much of my stuff had been disposed of in my absence.

Mom called it back rent. I think she was hoping I wouldn't come back.