What happened to model airplane kits?

[kyleb]

All the model planes I put together as a kid were always assembled with black powder in the engine(s) and black cats in the fuselage...... too bad cell phones with cameras were not around back then....

If they were, you (and a lot of others) would be on a watch list. ;-)

 

[Shepherd]

I still build and fly a lot of balsa RC models, Working on a 1/5 scale Howard DGA and a 1/4 scale Staggerwing right now.
I also fly foam, because sometimes you just want to fly with no fuss.
Then there are my "fan-fold" scratch built flying wings. I buy a bundle of 1/4" blue fanfold foam for $12.00 and I usually build planes 6 at a time. With the wild aerobatics I do with them, they don't last long.
I haven't built a plastic model in a long, long time. I may have to do that again.

 

[Sac Arrow]

Both, but it depends on the level of realism you are going for. Yellowbird's paint jobs in his post above are great when you include the wear marks and subtleties . . . I never had the artistic hand nor the patience for it. When you look in the cockpit windows of the Cub, do you want to see yellow paint? If so, you'll need to pre-paint the pieces which you won't have access to later on. Control sticks, panel, seats, interior wall details, etc. will all have to be done before final assembly. Most of the kit instructions tell you when to paint most of the main parts, on others you just have to anticipate how it all goes together and if it will be seen. Some guys go as far as to paint all sides of every piece, even if it can't be seen after assembly. I usually just took the time to paint the featured items, but didn't get too picky about the detail on the inside (tailgunner seat harnesses, machine gun detailing, individual instrumentation). I used Estes liquid enamels for most of the small parts, but when it came to painting the large panels/structure, the rattle-can versions were easier to apply evenly and avoid runs.

Most decals are still water-applique as far as I know, so a steady hand and some tweezers are helpful.

I've built my share of Revell models, but I've never had the patience to paint and detail them, and that is where the real work is. A college roomie was in to building plastic scale model cars, and for every hour he might spend trimming and gluing pieces, he might spend five masking and painting.

I liked to make those little Guillows scale model planes - fabric covered balsa frames that could be powered by rubber band or those tiny Cox .010 engines. If you took your time, and particularly if you covered them with heat shrink covering and not the supplied dope tissue, they could come out pretty nice.

My biggest project was an RC boat. It was a Dumas kit, precut plywood construction of an oil rig tender. It was big, something like 48 inches long and it was powered by twin electric motors. It took me about six months to make it. I put a layer of fiberglass over the hull, and resin coated all of the rest of the wooden surfaces, and painted it with marine epoxy. It came out really nice. I wish I still had it. I left it at my folks' place and they donated it to some library for a prop.

 

[Chip Sylverne]

When I was a kid I built a balsa and paper Focke-Wulf, powered it with a Cox .049 and let it fly. And fly it did, right out into the middle of the lake where we spent our summers. Also had a plastic Cox P-40 that you controlled at the end of a couple of cables as it whizzed around you. Crashed that thing a lot. Also built a foam "flying wing" that never made it past the build stage before I spilled some solvent on it and it melted. Then got into the Estes thing. Built a launch controller into a briefcase with all manner of arming lights, countdown timer etc. that used so much juice it wouldn't power the electric igniters you stuffed into the rocket. Looked cool though.

The pilot shop at Clearview in MD has a bunch of model kits on the shelf. I think Lancaster has some too.

 

[paflyer]

If they were, you (and a lot of others) would be on a watch list. ;-)

No kidding...

 

[bcool]

I also built the 1/24 scale Mustang with the knob underneath that would raise and lower the landing gear.

John

Oh, man, I had that Mustang, too - it was the coolest thing ever I remember lots of models from the 60's that had moving parts - those were my favorite!

 

[455 Bravo Uniform]

I got back into Estes rockets again a couple years back. Me and the kids built about 2 dozen and then they lost interest.

I remember blowing up some of my completed Revell car kits with fireworks back in the 1970s, and a couple of our planes too. Once we were out of firecrackers, out come the gasoline; I remember the little plumes of billowing black smoke from the burning plastic. Crazy kids. Fun times.

 

[Sac Arrow]

I got back into Estes rockets again a couple years back. Me and the kids built about 2 dozen and then they lost interest.

I remember blowing up some of my completed Revell car kits with fireworks back in the 1970s, and a couple of our planes too. Once we were out of firecrackers, out come the gasoline; I remember the little plumes of billowing black smoke from the burning plastic. Crazy kids. Fun times.

I remember cramming a couple Estes rocket engines (the small ones) in a plastic F4 Phantom model and cementing a launch rod guide to the underside. It didn't really go as well as I would have hoped.

 

[Chip Sylverne]

I got back into Estes rockets again a couple years back. Me and the kids built about 2 dozen and then they lost interest.

I remember blowing up some of my completed Revell car kits with fireworks back in the 1970s, and a couple of our planes too. Once we were out of firecrackers, out come the gasoline; I remember the little plumes of billowing black smoke from the burning plastic. Crazy kids. Fun times.

We would do that with ship models, battleships and carriers and stuff then float them out into the pool. I built a couple tall ship models too, but those were a lot of tedious work. After I left home for college, Dad had a garage sale and sold them. Even though they were plastic they brought surprisingly good money.

 

[Acrodustertoo]

I empathize. I recall doing lots of plastic models myself and enjoying activity in a big way.

I also remember getting these from my Dad and playing with them for many hours. I wish I kept some mint in package since they would be worth a few dollars now.

Look at the instructions on those! Man I miss the good old days.
These days the instructions would have to be in eleven languages with pictures so even stupid people could try to assemble that thing plus about six pages of warnings about how your life will end if you actually try to use this thing.

 

[jsstevens]

Oh, man, I had that Mustang, too - it was the coolest thing ever I remember lots of models from the 60's that had moving parts - those were my favorite!

I also built the Monogram F3F where you could pull the propeller out, turn it and the gear would retract or extend. That was a complex mechanism.

 

[Shepherd]

Reading the thread has triggered my one remaining, functioning braincell.
When I was 10 or 11 years old, I built a large plastic model of a B-29. I don't remember the manufacturer. It had electric motors that would start in sequence. All the switches were cam operated, which you had to assemble the mechanism for that, also. After the engine run-up, the plane would start rolling across the floor, (a gear attached to the main landing gear) then stop, and the engines would shutdown in sequence.
Since the memory triggered, I have been searching the internet, in vain, to find out more about it.
Unfortunately, while I was in the Air Force, Mom decided my personal air force of 20 or so plastic models hanging from my ceiling had to go. sigh.....

 

[yakdriver]

Well, if anyone is around the Orange County (California) location, Hobby People in Fountain Valley is going out of business. Case of the father passing on, and the kids having no interest in operating the business. All inventory (including drones, models, RC airplane and cars ) are 50% marked price. I picked-up two model car kits at near 1980 level prices. ($9 and $12.50.) I had bought my son a model car kit two week prior at another hobby store and it was almost $30! So the pricing was good.

As of this Sunday, they did have some aircraft models left...[/QUO

I knew Paul Bender and I built a lot of the display models that you saw hanging from the ceiling. Whenever Pilot would come out with a new kit I would build one for the stores. That was 1972-1981 and then I moved to Idaho. I still build and fly RC Scale along with building and restoring full scale airplanes. Don

 

[jsstevens]

Reading the thread has triggered my one remaining, functioning braincell.
When I was 10 or 11 years old, I built a large plastic model of a B-29. I don't remember the manufacturer. It had electric motors that would start in sequence. All the switches were cam operated, which you had to assemble the mechanism for that, also. After the engine run-up, the plane would start rolling across the floor, (a gear attached to the mail landing gear) then stop, and the engines would shutdown in sequence.
Since the memory triggered, I have been searching the internet, in vain, to find out more about it.
Unfortunately, while I was in the Air Force, Mom decided my personal air force of 20 or so plastic models hanging from my ceiling had to go. sigh.....

That would be so cool! I never saw that one.

 

[mscard88]

I started w/ model cars and customized them into hot rods. Had a few cool ones I built, won a few local model car contests. Built a ton a ton of model planes, mostly military planes. My son got into model military planes as well, and we built some together. Don't see too many on shelves anymore, and the ones I do see are kinda pricey.

 

[DFH65]

Built and broke lots of both plastic and balsa models as a kid. The balsa ones I would put the rubber band props in and inevitably crank them to the point of breaking the balsa wood firewall or pull the stick in the back that held the rubber band through the fuselage. A lot of the models we would eventually shoot at with our BB guns for fun or make 8mm movies with a combination of fire, BB guns and fire crackers. Man I am old.

 

[Matthew]

If there were records kept, they would probably be somewhere along these lines:

Plastic models:
75% went in the trash unfinished
10% lost during lifetime of growing up and moving out
5% stuck in a box in the basement and your parents are still waiting for you to get it
10% blown up

Balsa models:
70% went in the trash unfinished
5% finally wore out after being broken and repaired over and over
10% lost during lifetime of growing up and moving out
5% stuck in a box in the basement and your parents are still waiting for you to get it
10% blown up

 

[ChemGuy]

I remember cramming a couple Estes rocket engines (the small ones) in a plastic F4 Phantom model and cementing a launch rod guide to the underside. It didn't really go as well as I would have hoped.

I think I know you....i did the same thing. Might have been a tomcat though

 

[Ghery]

Is that Corsair the Monogram 1/48th scale? I like the wear detail on it. I built all of the Monogram 1/48th WW II carrier series. Corsair, Wildcat, Dauntless, Helldiver, Avenger. I had a carrier deck set up on a shelf in my bedroom. I also built the 1/24 scale Mustang with the knob underneath that would raise and lower the landing gear. I had it chasing a 1/24 BF-109 which was inverted, cotton "smoke" trailing and the canopy off and the pilot half way out of the cockpit (bailing out) across my ceiling.

John

I think that Mustang was 1/32 scale, not 1/24. I had it, too. Along with the "Visible Mustang" that was basically the same kit, except the skins were clear and it sat on a pedestal. There was an electric motor buried in the Merlin to spin the prop. The landing gear was retractable and the bombs on the hard points under the wings could drop (same with the one you are thinking of).

The Monogram 1/48 scale series included far more than just the carrier planes for the US Navy. I built all of those, plus there was an ME-109E, a P40, Zero, FW-190, Spitfire, Hurricane and probably others.

I also built the Monogram F3F where you could pull the propeller out, turn it and the gear would retract or extend. That was a complex mechanism.View attachment 51443

One of the few model planes I have left. The gear mechanism failed decades ago, but it's great for illustrating flight control positions and what the plane might be doing.

At my peak when I was a kid in the 1960s you couldn't see the ceiling of the basement in my parents' house because of all the model planes I had hanging there. I still have a very few of them, but boy there were a bunch back then. And my brother had quite a navy on a shelf, as well.

 

[yakdriver]

The Monogram 1/48 kits were a dollar in the 60s. I got a dollar a week allowance and built all the Monogram WWII kits. I could also choose to get two of the 50 cent 1/72 scale Hawk kits. when I was in my early teens I got an airbrush and got pretty good at finishing. A friend of my Dad had a P-51 and I got my first ride in it when I was 12. I built him a Phantom mustang and painted one half like his airplane and the other side was the clear. He kept it on his desk at his office for over 30 years. Don