Model Kits Containing Records (you remember those...)

[jbwelda]

a long time ago I picked up this record at some yard sale:

yes at a yard sale. now it seems to have come from a Revell Motorcycle kit of some sort, I am guessing their 1/8 scale various Triumphs, Hondas or others from the time period. But I don't know that...anyone know any particulars on this record and the kit it may have come with?

It is a 7" record, which in this country usually have a big hole in the center and play at 45 rpm, but this one has a small hole center and plays at 33 1/3 which makes it more of an "EP" than the single most of us might know it as. the copyright on this record appears to be 1969

I have never gotten up the nerve to play it but both sides say "Music by Jack Shaindlin". (Jack Shaindlin, who was a music writer for Hanna Barbera cartoons...but I digress).

so my guess might be that there is some kind of corny music on the disk that I would rather not subject my environment to, but who knows.

back to the subject: remembering back to when I was a kid, I recall more than one kit either came with a 7" record or you could mail in a coupon and hopefully receive said record in the mail. I think I tried that once but the record never showed up...then again I lived in the Phillipines so maybe that had something to do with it. but I seem to remember race track sound effects and things like that...maybe a Ed Roth cornball surfer tune like that LP (at least one) of songs he was somehow behind.

anyone know any specifics? like which kits did and perhaps photos of the records, hopefully with a picture sleeve along with it? or are there some model sites that specialize in these kits?

seems like it was an interesting way to sell model kits, but it got my curiousity even back then.

now I don't really mean the more common race track sound LPs and those records, I have quite a few of them already, I am really just interested in records that came as premiums in normal model kits.

jb

Edited June 12, 2015 by jbwelda

[AzTom]

I have a Shelby kit that came with a record of racing at Riverside, if I remember correctly.

[ChrisBcritter]

William, you can find pretty near anything on YouTube now:

The very beginning and end are production music that wasn't part of the original record - easy to tell which is which; the added-on stuff is stereo.

Edited June 11, 2015 by ChrisBcritter

[Scale-Master]

Still have the one about the Doolittle Raiders from Revell somewhere. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Or was is Sixty?

[unclescott58]

Another very cool subject. Never had one of these reconds. And I have not thought about them in years. Cool to finally find out what was on one of them. Somewhere on the web, someone has post a recording of what came on the record that came with AMT's Lief Erikson spaceship model back in the day. that record came mainly with bad futuristic "space" music. This one is much better. Yet, I do like both. Very fun.

Scott

[angelo7]

I had this one as a kid.

[Mark]

There's an issue of the AMT '40 Ford coupe that came with a record. I've got the kit, but the record wasn't with it when I got it. When they ran out of records, they changed the box art a bit. The Round 2 reissue box art resembles that of the "no record" version of that box.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Mark

[Ace-Garageguy]

Wow. That's a new one on me. I had no idea any kits ever came with records. How cool.

[Scale-Master]

There was also and Apollo record we had from Revell. My Dad brought a lot of cool and interesting things home when he worked there.

[Brizio]

Years ago I had a Revell airplane kit and I gave to a friend of mine that he is into military airplanes, I don't remember what military airplane was, but it had a record with it. Never listened it.

[Tom Geiger]

I just have the box on this one but I think I remember it was surfing music.

[Don Sikora II]

There's an issue of the AMT '40 Ford coupe that came with a record. I've got the kit, but the record wasn't with it when I got it. When they ran out of records, they changed the box art a bit. The Round 2 reissue box art resembles that of the "no record" version of that box.

I have a few of the '40 Ford kits that came with the record....but they are all missing the record and the decals. My Shelby Mustang is missing the record too.

I do have this AMT record, but not the kit it came in. I assume AMT's records are all like this, it's made of coated cardboard not pressed vinyl.

[Mark]

I have a few of the '40 Ford kits that came with the record....but they are all missing the record and the decals. My Shelby Mustang is missing the record too.

I do have this AMT record, but not the kit it came in. I assume AMT's records are all like this, it's made of coated cardboard not pressed vinyl.

My '40 Ford coupe is also missing the decals (I knew the record and decals weren't there, going in). Based on years of poking through kits and parts boxes, I'll stick my neck out and say that whatever decal sheet that was in that kit did not include the "RN Automotive" door markings. The Round 2 reissue decal sheet has them, but omits the "Burbank California" lettering below it.

[Don Sikora II]

My '40 Ford coupe is also missing the decals (I knew the record and decals weren't there, going in). Based on years of poking through kits and parts boxes, I'll stick my neck out and say that whatever decal sheet that was in that kit did not include the "RN Automotive" door markings. The Round 2 reissue decal sheet has them, but omits the "Burbank California" lettering below it.

I've never seen the "RN Automotive" decals on an old sheet either, and have been wondering if the original AMT ever made a sheet that included them. The best example of this kit I have has a "200" price extension and the decal sheet shown below was in it when I got it. It might be original, but I'm not sure and it's not in as nice shape as the rest of the kit....other than missing the record the kit hasn't been messed with. Date code on the back looks like September 1969...and this same sheet is in my "Super Street" '64 Impala kit. This box was also made with a "225" price extension, so it must have been in the line for a least a few years. One of these is on my to build list using an original kit and the new decals. The new sheet is very nice, but really I wish that it included the Burbank, California lettering too!

Also have a built '40 coupe in the second "non-record" "Spee Demon" box which probably came out in '71 or '72. No decals on the car or in that box either. I do have an old sheet with "Spee Demon" lettering but it has a date from '69 on the back, so those decals must have been included in something else too.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Don Sikora II

[my80malibu]

That would be a great, and interesting display at the model car museum.

[GasPunkAlley]

I do have this AMT record, but not the kit it came in. I assume AMT's records are all like this, it's made of coated cardboard not pressed vinyl.

[Mark]

I've never seen the "RN Automotive" decals on an old sheet either, and have been wondering if the original AMT ever made a sheet that included them. The best example of this kit I have has a "200" price extension and the decal sheet shown below was in it when I got it. It might be original, but I'm not sure and it's not in as nice shape as the rest of the kit....other than missing the record the kit hasn't been messed with. Date code on the back looks like September 1969...and this same sheet is in my "Super Street" '64 Impala kit. This box was also made with a "225" price extension, so it must have been in the line for a least a few years. One of these is on my to build list using an original kit and the new decals. The new sheet is very nice, but really I wish that it included the Burbank, California lettering too!

Also have a built '40 coupe in the second "non-record" "Spee Demon" box which probably came out in '71 or '72. No decals on the car or in that box either. I do have an old sheet with "Spee Demon" lettering but it has a date from '69 on the back, so those decals must have been included in something else too.

I'm pretty sure that the "Spee Demon" sheet was also used in AMT's issue of the Jo-Han '70 4-4-2 kit.

I've seen that generic numbers/sponsors sheet in several kits, including the late Sixties issue '40 Ford sedan. But I've got one of those kits with the "correct" sheet; that is, one with markings that match up with the box art.

The Super Street '64 Impala kits usually have the decal sheet that was also included in the '65 Chevy II funny car. AMT sometimes stuck the same sheet in more than one kit, but most of them had alternate markings. They'd highlight one set of markings on one kit's box art, and the alternate markings on the other kit's.

Then there's that 1969 issue '58 Chevy, which ran through the mid-Seventies...I've seen at least three different sheets in that one...

[unclescott58]

I just have the box on this one but I think I remember it was surfing music.

I bought one of these early on, in the very early 70's. With that style of box art. And I never got a record with mine.

Scott

Edited June 16, 2015 by unclescott58

[Scale-Master]

I don't think the Nomad came with a record in the kit, you had to send away for it.

[Draggon]

I do have this AMT record, but not the kit it came in. I assume AMT's records are all like this, it's made of coated cardboard not pressed vinyl.

I had both the Gas Ronda funny car kit with the pressed car board record. I found the kit at a collector show in the mall back in 1991 and held on to it u til the fall of 2013 and made a gooooood profit on it!

[Tom Geiger]

and don't forget that there were records printed on the back of cereal boxes back in the late 1960s... I think I remember some Archie's Tunes. Again, these were not quality recordings at all!

[jbwelda]

its not the recording that's not up to par, its how they are "pressed" and how the substrate isn't stiff enough to lay flat while playing. what you have to do is glue the record to a piece of stiff cardboard and play that. there are actually some very rare songs on what were called "flexi-disks", they were the same sort of thing but just pressed on very thin plastic. that's actually what these records mentioned here are, but they are then pasted on flimsy cardboard. they can actually play very well when they are prepared properly but they only last for a few playings usually, they are rather similar to what were referred to as "acetates" and were used to demo how things were sounding at the end of a days recording. could be given to the musicians to take home and listen to on their record players. these acetates were literally acetate or sometimes hardened wax with the sound grooves cut into them, but a few passes of the needle and they started wearing out rapidly.

one song that was only released on flexi from a major outfit was Exile Blues, a medley of phrases from the rolling stones then new album Exile On Main Street in which I think Ian Stewart plays piano and Jagger sings. very kool record that was released only to fan club and radio stations. you are advised to tape a coin to it to make it play better.

jb

[Scale-Master]

and don't forget that there were records printed on the back of cereal boxes back in the late 1960s... I think I remember some Archie's Tunes. Again, these were not quality recordings at all!

I had one of those, I think it was from a Honeycomb box. I know the song was Jingle Jangle.

[chunkypeanutbutter]

I have an acetate-sheet record of the moon landing I found in a free box stack of old NatGeos. I never dared play it, but it's clean.

Edited June 15, 2015 by chunkypeanutbutter

[Craig Irwin]

I still have my Shelby record from the 68 GT 500 kit, and enjoyed playing it at 45 rpm's to make the cars sound faster when I was a kid. It still plays well after the abuse.