Book: Collecting Vintage Plastic Model Airplane Kits

[gwb123]

Nostalgia is a very powerful force for some of us.

 

It's often said that at the root of the desire to collect is a desire to finally own the things we never had or could never find as a kid.

 

Craig Kodera's Collecting Vintage Plastic Model Airplane Kits would seem to support that argument.

 

For those of us who built kits during the 1960's and 1970's, there were a wealth of projects available at the local hobby shop.

 

But there were the occasional mystery items as well. Revell or Monogram kits that had packaging that didn't match the current offerings. Strange looking space craft that had no resemblance to what NASA was busily launching into space. Strange manufacturers like Strombecker and "Helicopters for Industry, Inc." Who the heck were these people?

 

And even odder, ... wooden kits, with a handful of plastic parts? What were you supposed to do with these?

 

http://www.ninfinger.org/models/yahoo%20photos%202004/pages/Strombecker%20Sea%20Dart%20Restored.html

 

[gwb123]

Collecting Vintage Plastic Model Airplane Kits solves many of these mysteries.

 

It is a colorful, general overview of the model kits produced in the United States from the 1940's onward.

 

Primarily relying on box top art, it tells the story of model kits from the early post war wooden sets up to the fully injected molded kits of the early 1970's. It gives a rough outline of how the industry grew and developed, and in particular how packaging and artwork went from basic line drawings to full blown artwork. A lot of this information is contained in the photo captions.

 

The author also digresses into "Why We Collect", what it was like to visit real hobby shops before mail order and internet shopping took over.

 

At one point he discusses the ups and downs of "old school collecting" that was done by mail order lists and the occasional collectors meet. This has a lot of direct parallels to militaria collecting.

 

[gwb123]

The illustrations are bright and detailed. It is very much like looking at a catalog of rare kits, some of whom I have not seen for years.

 

One drawback is that, as the title clearly states, the selections are limited to model airplane kits. I am sure many of us would like to see a similar volume on armor or automobiles. Those will have to be taken up by another author.

 

This book does suffer a bit from insider knowledge. The author refers to such things as Revell "S kits" and "Pre-S" kits without ever explaining exactly what those are.

 

This is also not an exhaustive reference on every single kit ever made during this time period. For that, the author dutifully refers us to The Collectors Value Guide for Scale Model Plastic Kits by John W. Burns. The author also refers to other works that are focused on specific model manufacturers, such as Remembering Revell Model Kits by Tom Graham (which I also have on order and hope to review shortly).

 

As mentioned, the book is primarily on US manufacturers, but there is a chapter on foreign kits from the period from the likes of Airfix and a host of Japanese manufacturers. He even has some kits from Russia and what was then the East Bloc.

 

This is a fun book, colorful, reasonably priced and I keep going through it like a kid a Christmas. You can preview some of the pages on the Amazon listing:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Collecting-Vintage-Plastic-Model-Airplane/dp/1580072232/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456613560&sr=8-1&keywords=collecting+vintage+plastic+model+airplane+kits

 

If you have ever wondered about the story about these old kits, this is a good place to start.

 

[Rakkasan187]

Great looking book..

 

I have a huge tub full of old vintage aircraft models.. Glad to see a book about them now..

 

Leigh

[gwb123]

Great looking book..

 

I have a huge tub full of old vintage aircraft models.. Glad to see a book about them now..

 

Leigh

 

If you have a tub full of old vintage aircraft model kits, complete, unbuilt and in the original boxes, you might have goldmine sitting there, and an opportunity to make lots of new friends! LOL!

 

Seriously, you should see some of the prices the author of this book quotes on some of these. They make militaria look like a bargain!

[Third Herd]

For the younger people reading this, the early model airplanes were scaled to fit a certain size box, not standard scales. I'm old enough to have "helped" Dad build the solid wood model planes for me. The shapes were there you had to do final sanding, glue them together, and paint them. Monogram had it's own Rocket Scientist named Willy Ley design their space models. They had a Space Shuttle with a manned first stage which landed like an airplane after launch. By the time I was in Junior High kits came in 1/72 scale with the local discount store selling Airfix and Revell fighters for $0.39 and the four-engine kits for $1.77. The Sporting Goods department of that store had some surplus, can you picture a High School kid being sold bayonets now days. P14 Enfield and US Model 1917 were $5.00.

[gwb123]

I forgot to mention, the book has a whole chapter on rocket, missile and space kits. Model makers used to race to see who could produce the latest missile first.

 

Now they all look archaic. Except for the Nike Hercules, which still looks like a bad boy.

 

These images were gathered from the internet.

[sundance]

I remember those models well -makes you feel awfully old. I suppose I don't really have to worry until I can't remember them.

[38Driver]

Gil you hit the nail on the head with the nostalgia part of this. I found the book "Great American Fighter Pilots of WW2" and I was hooked. That was 2nd grade, about 1967. It's been down hill ever since

 

The Monogram P51B "Ding Hao!" and the Revell B-17F "Memphis Belle" were the foundation of the model building that resulted from the finding of that book. I have that book still on my shelf, and while I don't have the Belle kit, I do have four of the Mustang kits, including two in the original boxing sitting on the shelf. That kit was the best kit ever made as far as I'm concerned

 

 

[gwb123]

I was right there with you. I recently sold my copy of that book; figured it was time to let someone else treasure it.

 

Revell's Memphis Bell was one of my first serious kits. Their advertising said it could be built in 2 days... I seem to recall it took 2 weeks as I carefully put everything in place and let the cement harden before moving on.

 

Later, to spice up my collection I painted it all black with German markings to simulate one of the ones captured and used to track B-17 formations.

 

I can't remember what I did with the P-51B. I probably built it as stock from the kit.

 

One thing about Revell and Monogram in those days... solid kits that could take a lot of abuse from inexperienced hands and still look good. And in the hands of an experienced modeler they could look spectacular.

[38Driver]

I had four of the 17s hanging from my ceiling as a kid with a bunch of the Revell fighters fighting around them. I used to try and imagine myself being in one of the 17s. I suppose that was a reaction to seeing all those episodes of "12 O'Clock High" on TV at the time. Little did I realize that almost 50 years later I'd have finally put together all the bits a WW2 pilot would have worn.

 

That of course inspired by the pilot figure in the Monogram Mustang

 

He showed up in the Mossie kit as well as the P-47 kit too.

[Lone Star Models]

I have collected, sold, then collected once again many of the models I bought as a kid with my mowing money. I loved the garish art on the Aurora Famous Fighters series. I have managed to buy most ( still missing the FW-190,ME-109 and Zero. Just too pricy for me. I have also collected all of the 1/72 Revell fighters series with the little brass name plate. I plan to build a deep frame to hold all of them and hang it on the wall in my office. One of you mentioned prices. Yes some of these are are way out there and I have managed to snag and then resell a few. The best was a 1/32 Pershing 1A kit It was in a large white cardboard box with a photo of the real article on the top. I found it in a pile of kits from a collection a local shop had just acquired. I asked how much, they said it was not listed in the KCC Value guide so how about $40.00? Sounded fair to me so I took it home. Once home I was a bit more diligent than they were. I found it in my value guide It was listed at $900.00!!!

There is a story about these particular kits I can tell if you guys want to here it.

Mike

[Custermen]

 

Once home I was a bit more diligent than they were. I found it in my value guide It was listed at $900.00!!

 

Sounds like the old kit of the Lockheed Electra. The mold was re-made to a P-3 Orion. I inquired and found out it was worth $200.

 

My brother had built the model of that F-102. Pretty cool.

 

Great images of old models. I kept many of my box-top art work especially from Revelle. But I finally got rid of them.

 

I recently found an old B&W negative of the models hanging in my room from the 1960's. I had it re-scanned and cleaned up some. My brother was good at painting the Jets with the aluminum finish and bright Orange. Whereas, I beat him with the WW2 camoflage. However, in the photo below, he had built the B-24 and the silver B-17 and painted the odd camo on the Bf-109. I had built the rest of them.