Memories of a kit builder...

[Cerebus]

When I did not live (*at*) home for over 4 yrs my Dad decided to discard those kits
into the trash. He decided he is tired of dusting those kits on my top shelf (*at*) home while I was away in college.
What can a kid say when his Dad discards his monster kits while
paying for 4 yrs of college???

Can't say nothing We didn't have any idea what we had when we were young. I thought the toys and kits that were out when I was a kid would always be available.

[Mord]

[quote author=The Batman link=topic=8776.msg394094#msg394094 date=1385528624

When I did not live (*at*) home for over 4 yrs my Dad decided to discard those kits
into the trash. He decided he is tired of dusting those kits on my top shelf (*at*) home while I was away in college.
What can a kid say when his Dad discards his monster kits while
paying for 4 yrs of college???
[/quote] All you can do is say "thanks, dad". Then you take some of the money you make from your college enhanced career and buy them all over. You get the fun of putting them together all over again.

[Cerebus]

Great answer Mord!

I know the kits I'm building today are coming out better - I made all the mistakes the first time I built them. Now I'm getting a second crack at them

[Hepcat]

Then you take some of the money you make from your college enhanced career and buy them all over.

Except for the disconnect between "college enhanced career" and making more money of course.

 

[Haunted hearse]

Except for the disconnect between "college enhanced career" and making more money of course.

 

ESpecially, if the only job available (especially if you have a degree in the arts) is one that involves asking "Do you want fries with that?"

[The Batman]

ESpecially, if the only job available (especially if you have a degree in the arts) is one that involves asking "Do you want fries with that?"

Only had to work at a cookie store for a few months before my career took-off & lead to a branch mgr position in less than 2 yrs. These days I love my job in a tall building with zero public access and the right to wear jeans, polo shirts or plaid shirts & Nikes daily.  GONE are the days of taking suits to the cleaners every Fri.    CHEERS! 

[RedKing]

My Dad and Uncle were avid kit  builders and some of my earliest memories are going to a now long gone hobby shop with my Dad and getting some Pyro/LifeLike and Aurora dinosaur kits, and my dad building and painting thm up for me. My dad also built and painted the Aurora Godzilla and Kong kits and the Addar Jaws for me as a little tyke.

When I was about 7 or so I started putting the kits together myself with my Dad or Uncle's help. I always had plenty of dinosaurs, Star Trek and other sci-fi kits in the late 70s and early 80s. In 1983 when Monogram reissued the "Big 4" Aurora monsters, I was ecstatic. 

By the late 80s when I was about 16 or so I started toget serious about building and painting kits. My uncle, who is actually only 8 years older than me, also seriously got into building WW2 dioramas so we set up a major workshop in my grandparent's basement (they lived right next door to my parents). It was around this time my Uncle and I took a trip to Rare Plane Detectives in NJ and came back with a literal truckload of kits! I got my first vinyl kits-the big Tsukuda kits of Frank,Mummy,Wolfman and Creech, the Horizon Lugosi Dracula and a Volks set of Ultraman and Neronga.

[Hepcat]

It was around this time my Uncle and I took a trip to Rare Plane Detectives in NJ and came back with a literal truckload of kits!

Rare Plane Detectives? Sounds like my kind of place! What was it like overall? Is it still in business?

 

[RedKing]

Unfortunately I don't believe Rare Planes is still in business. It was a pretty big store and they had tons of new(at the time) and vintage kits of all genres as well as a few vintage toys . Along with the kits I mentioned I also picked up dark blue recasts of the Marx Hunchback and Mummy , which were the only ones they had.

[Bizarro Jeff]

It would have been in the early 60s, during the monster boom...we had a small department store (Ring's), and they had a small hobby corner for children in the rear of the store.  I remember buying most of the Aurora monster models available at the time (except for Phantom - he wasn't a real monster).  Later moved into tank  kits by the time I was in high school....then didn't do anything for years until about 10 years ago, when I started picking up kits again....now I have a couple of totes full of models to work on, some I want to re-paint...usually I build 'em. and the wife paints them for me....one of these days I'm going to learn to use an air brush....

Spookmaster

[Hepcat]

...some I want to re-paint...usually I build 'em. and the wife paints them for me....one of these days I'm going to learn to use an air brush....

Good wife!

 

[Hepcat]

We didn't have any idea what we had when we were young. I thought the toys and kits that were out when I was a kid would always be available.

Truth!

 

[Mcdee]

I was 8 years old in 1961 and was visiting my uncle in Ottawa...
Part of our usual visit was a trip to the Smoke Shop to get candy
 and a novelty toy off of the 10¢ rack ! This one particular Saturday
 when we walked into the store, I found myself surrounded by what seemed
to be a hundred or more FRANKENSTEIN models!!!
Boxes stacked high on a table with James Bamas' rendition
  of the Monster looking at me menacingly ....
I was smitten.... Convincing my uncle that I would indeed perish on the spot
if I left such a fine establishment as this without one of these boxes clutched in a death grip!
I didn't even know what a model was at that point in time, but I was about to learn...
Still feel like I'm 8 every time I see that kit!
Cheers
Denis

[Hepcat]

Good story!

 

[RICKH]

My first kit was the Aurora Frankenstein (which was my first Universal monster toy) followed by Dracula, then the Wolfman, then all the others as they were released.  At first my brother would assemble and paint the kits, but eventually he handed the painting job off to my mom.  I've been very fortunate in that I've kept all of my original Aurora monsters and superheroes. They've all been repaired, refurbished, and repainted.   I might also add that now I assemble and paint all of my models myself which is a good thing seeing that my brother is 72 and my mom is 94!