unclescott58

I didn't even know that MPC offered a 1980 Volare kit. I'd love to see pictures of one. Scott

Oh yea. Speaking of the history of model companies and books on those companies, we forgot to mention SMP. The history of this company and it's ties to AMT have always confused me. Were they really seperate or something else? Scott

Thanks for clearing that up Tim. Your right of course. My mistake. Speaking of books dealing with the history of model car companies. I'd like to see more of your writing Mr. Boyd. Between Art Anderson and you, one or the other should be able a write phenomenal book on the history of different model companies. One or both of you need to be thinking about it. Scott

Mike, what's the hobby store in Fargo? And where is it? I get up there once in while. It might be fun to check it out. Andy, I thought Pete was the manager of the Gager's in Brookdale? I know for sure there was a Gage's in Brookdale. And I thought the hobby store in Northtown was called something else? But, I may be wrong on that. And I may be wrong about Pete running the Brookdale Gager's. We're talking 30 years now! Scott

Others have said it all. A way cool and fun model! Great details! Got tell us more about the pig. Why does Oscar have a pig with him? I was 10 years old when Sesame Street hit the air for the first time. A little too old to take much interest in the show. Had a younger sister who watched it though. So I know the basic characters of the show. I know Oscar lived in a garbage can. So I get why his car would look like it does. But, where does the pig come in? Don't get me wrong. I like the pig. I just don't understand. Scott Aho

The hobby store by Moore Lake in Fridley was call National Hobby. As far as Motorsports Miniatures, I believe that's the place my friend Kevin use to work at in the 80's. If it's the place I'm thinking of, it moved at least once. It was last at Lyndale and Diamond Lake Rd. I'll talk to Kevin in the next few days and see what he can tell me. Scott Aho

Everybody who's responded has got nailed. Mid to late 20's Packard. Scott Aho

Wow! Very nice Rich. Buick is my favorite brand, so I always love to see these. And like yours, it's nice to see them done right. Now if we can just teach you how get your tongue back in your mouth? Scott Aho

One of the reason I loved Batman as kid over all other super heroes was the cars. And cool cars with fins besides! I love fins. So I collect Batmobiles. Kits, die casts, most anything. But, mainly from the Golden and Silver age of comics. Pre 1970. About 5 years ago, I was surfing the web and found a guy from an outfit called Academy Art & Design offering a resin for converting the Polar Lights Herbie the Love Bug kit into a Batmobile. I liked this. It's both weird and cool! The only trouble is by the time I saw this, the Herbie kit was getting a little hard to find. And I didn't have one in my collection. Talking with friends about this after a Model Car Club of MN meeting one night, another member, Bill also thought this was cool and decided I needed to do it. He said he would give me a Herbie kit from his collection if I bought the resin conversion kit. How could I pass that up? Below are results. I finished this several years ago, but I thought people might still get a kick out of seeing it. I have two theories on why Batman would have Volkswagen Beetle Batmobile. One is for Dick Grayson/Robin when he flew the nest (yes I'm going for the bad pun) in the comics in 1969 to go to college. We know he took his Robincycle with him. But, a motorcycle does not work well under certain conditions. He needed a car. And everybody in college at that time was driving Beetles. Plus how much trouble could Robin get into with a VW Beetle? It makes sense. The second theory? The gas crisis of 1973 - 74. Batman (especially the TV Batman) is a good citizen. Always looking for ways to make things better. Plus with speed limit going to 55 mph, what more does he need than a good, economical Beetle? Forgot to mention, the Bat-44, as the conversion was called, came with the Tail Fin, Bathead hood and vinyl bat-hubs decals. Shortly after I bought mine, the seller's website disappeared and I saw nothing more of this kit anywhere on the web. I wonder what happened? Scott Aho

One thing I need to mention. I am not a purist collector when it comes to the kits in collectors tins. I have opened and built two kits from tins. One is Ed Roth's Mysterion. The other is Tom Daniel's Red Baron. Scott Aho

I've only ever bought two kits that I plan on never unsealing and building. One is Round 2's reissue of the Aurora Batmobile in the collectors tin. The other is Revell's '67 Corvette convertible in the collectors tin. I have both kits in regular boxes for building. I also have a early JoHan Turbine car, opened but still in the box as it was packed. A couple of reason I probably will never build this kit are, 1. I have an original promo (with the cool box and tissue paper). 2. I opened the box and found the kit missing all of its clear parts. And 3. I'm just impressed with the way they designed this kit to fit into its box. I kind of don't want to mess with that. Plus I've built the car more than once in the past. I'd still like to find the clear parts to add back into the Turbine kit. Is there anyone out there that might be able to help me with that? Scott Aho

Rob, does Thomas Graham's Airfix book cover the some of the models like the Aurora 2001 Space Clipper or the MPC Space 1999 Eagle kits they shared? And does his Matchbox book cover the era when they controlled AMT? If so, these two books maybe worth adding to my collection. And yes, I too would like to see the histories Lindberg and Hawk. Plus IMC and Renwall too. And even the "Three Ps" of the model world. Pyro, Palmer, and Premier. Scott Aho

Hub Hobby is still around. And they are still in Richfield on 64th and Penn Ave. But, it seems to me that they were originally at a different location in Richfield. In some shopping center just off of Lyndale Ave. I don't believe they were ever part of the Hobbytown USA chain. I'm sure they are not now. Hub is still doing well. Besides the store on 64th and Penn, they have a branch in the St. Paul suburb of Little Canada. Just off of Rice Lake Rd and highway 36. Still a fun place for one to spend their money. Whether on models, trains, toys, crafts, whatever. Hub still has just about everything. Speaking of Hobbytown USA. We still have those around too. No where near the selection of Hub. But, one is fairly close to where I live. Just up the road a few miles in Brooklyn Park. So I spend my money there too, from time to time. I work as a sub in schools during the regular school year. Starting this summer, for the summer I'll be workering for an outfit called Computer Explorers. A computer summer day camp that meets in different schools around the area. The only problem with this is their offices are in the same building as the Little Canada Hub Hobby store. If I have to go into their office much, I may be broke by the end of summer! Scott Aho

Michael, I too don't like the white seats. But, you know what? Who cares? Do you like them? If you do, they are great. Very nice build. And I do like the key hanging from the ignition. A little touch that goes a long way. Scott Aho

A cool little Dune Buggy. Very nicely done. By the way, I like the wheels. Were did they come from? Scott Aho

I've seen topics here dealing with old hobby stores long gone in different cities. Well living all my life in the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul I have fuzzy memories of old hobby shops long gone. The first place I need to mention is Jerry's Toys and Hobbys in St. Anthony. Jerry was one of the great guys to do business with when I was a kid. I remember a couple of times a buddy or I being a little short on money to buy something we wanted. We'd be close. Maybe off by 25 cents (a big amount back then). Jerry would still sell us the kit or slot car, telling us to pay him what we owed him next time. He never took our name or wrote down what we owed. He just trusted us. And you know, my one buddy and I always paid him back. The other hobby store we most frequented was Jolly's in Apache Plaza. A fairly easy bicycle ride from our homes in Fridley. I know there were several Jolly's Hobby Stores. But, Apache is the only one I remember being in. Gagers (been so long, I'm not sure on the spelling of this one) was another local hobby chain I remember. There use to be one in both the Brookdale Mall and another in the Rosedale Mall. And I'm pretty sure there were more. There was also a hobby store like Gagers in Northtown Mall. But, I don't think it was a Gagers. A hole in the wall place I remember was small hobby store just east of Bloomington Avenue, on Lake Street in South Minneapolis. I found it in the mid to late 70's. It was run by some old guy and he still had several kits from the late 60's and early 70's at the time. It was like finding hidden treasure going into that place. His prices were good. Original prices or lower, I believe. I bought to few kits. But, didn't have the money to buy as much as I wanted. He was gone by 1980. Other places? I remember a short lived slot car place in Fridley, in the mid 60's. I became close friends with the owner 25 years later. But, I did not know him then. Another great place on Lake Street was Woodcrafter's. I think they also ran a store in Har Mar Mall at one time. And sponsored a hobby show on TV. And then there was Pete's store on University Avenue, about a mile south of Northtown Mall. Really miss Pete and his shop. He closed sometime in the early 2000's. He was very supportive of our local model car club. (The MCCM, the Model Car Club of Minnesota. Which is still going strong.) And it was just fun to hang out with him or his assistant Rick from time to time. Despite the humorous put downs, one always felt welcome and had fun at Pete's. I'd like to hear the memories of others out there. And does anybody out there remember the name of the hobby store on Lake Street I was talking about? Plus, people keep telling me I'm wrong on this. But wasn't Carrs Hobby Store in Duluth, MN, at one time on the other side of the street from where it is now? And maybe down a block or two? Scott Aho

Interesting article, with some nice photos. But way too stort. I wanted to learn more. There are some great books out there by Thomas Graham, who wrote one book each dealing with the history Aurora, Monogram, and Revell model kits. And also one on Aurora slot cars. I wish Mr. Graham would do similar books on AMT, MPC, and JoHan As for the car being worked on in the photo with the article and shown above. Jesse maybe right. But I don't think so. The roof looks more like a Falcon to me. The front almost look like the Squarebird Thunderbird. But, 2/3 down the body is a line that makes my think it's a Merury. I'm thinking this mold is maybe too early into its tooling stage to really tell what it's going to be yet. Ford product? Most likely. Valiant? Doubtful to me. Did AMT ever do a Valiant model? I know JoHan, Revell, and possibly MPC. But AMT? I don't remember. Scott Aho

Where is this topic going? The more I read. The more negative it sounds. This started out interesting. But, it sound like doomsday for our hobby reading these postings! All I know is I like what's been happening with model cars and companies that make them in the last couple of years. Ten years ago I was worry about the state of hobby. But, things are looking pretty good right now. The companies are producing kits I've been willing to spend my money on recently. Is there a good business case for what I want in the long term? I don't know? Will future generations follow in our foot steps? I'm not sure so? Should I care? Again, I'm not really sure? I'm enjoying the hobby right now. And I hope I will for at least another 15 to 20 years. After that I can't say what will happen. You can't force the younger generation to doing anything they are not interested in. What cars do they want? And will they buy and build models of them? I'm not so sure? We do know what present modelers are doing, wanting, and buying. Will they want the same cars the young non builders want? If the kids won't build models. And us old farts do not build those kits either. What is the correct business case for upcoming new kit subjects? Scott Aho

"From the Land of Sky Blue Waters" is my little AMT Fiat sponsored by the one time local St. Paul, MN brewery Hamm's. Even though I don't drink, I couldn't resist making this car as being sponsored by Hamm's Beer. I bought a set of Gofer Racing decals. Very nice decals by the way. And here were the old Hamm's Beer logos with the beloved Hamm's Bear mascot. I couldn't help my self. I had to do it. The "Sky Blue" color is Tamiya Light Metallic Blue, TS-54. She is pretty much done. Just need to apply a coat of Future floor wax and that should be it. I hope you like her. Any constructive criticism, good or bad is welcome. Any questions are welcome. Scott Aho

OK. You know the true story about Rendezvous? A Ferrari driven at speed through Paris, as seen above. The film maker later admitted to the truth about making that film. The film is slightly sped up. And the Ferrari? Really a 70's S class Mercedes, with Ferrari sound effects added later. I remember hearing so much about this film before seeing it. When I finally saw Rendezvous I was very disappointed. Then finding out later yet, it was kind of a fake. Well, what can you say? I'm just glad I didn't pay the big bucks people were asking for this film years ago on VHS tape, before seeing. I had thought about it. Though free on YouTube, it's worth a look. Scott Aho

Pete's Aries story reminds me of the '81 Aries I once own. Not a bad car. But, not a great one either. Every time it rained is when I ran across problems. Mine had the 2.6 Hemi. Rather than the base 2.2. The 2.6 was a Mitsubishi engine designed originally to go in their rear wheel drive cars. In the front wheel drive Aries, it was mounted transversely. Putting the distributor high on the front and driver's side of engine compartment were rain water could get at it from under the edge of the hood. I tried everything to keep water away from and off of this distributor. Nothing worked. I finally just drove around with a can of spray dry in the car. Stopping every few miles, and sprayed the distributor on rainy days. Minnesota winters finely destroyed the car. One very cold day, a trim piece on the forward edge the landau vinyl roof got so brittle it just fell off! Later, rust finally made the floors feel spongy. That's when I got rid of the car. I have a buddy who bought an Omni GLH brand new. I was very impressed with that car. It was fast. Handled well. And was largely ignored by the cops. Shortly after he bought it, we decided to go to Dyersville, Iowa, to tour Ertl's facilities and buy kits at their outlet store. I drove it about half of the trip with my foot into it as much as possible. Had a blast! And we still got better than 30 mpg! I've got nothing bad to say about Dodge Omnis or the 2.2 turbo engine. (Though I've heard that if you didn't keep things clean around the turbo, fires were known to happen!) And as I've mentioned before, I knew several people who own Chevettes. No diesels in the bunch. So they were all very reliable, boring little appliances. Note I say appliances, not cars. These were like toasters. They did their job, but did not exicited you. Kind of like the early Ford Falcons. Corvairs were more interesting cars. But, Falcon were better appliances. And sold better for that reason. My first new car was a '77 Plymouth Volare. I can tell you all sorts of horror stories about that car. Cool looking car. But, nothing but trouble. But, that's for another time. Scott Aho

What would you bite on? Which posting are you referring too? Scott Aho

OK I'm only up to page 5 of this thread and need to comment on few things before I forget them. First, I want a Chrysler speed boat! How cool is that!? Second, every time I see the MPC RCMP Chevy I wish I had seen that one back in the day! Another one I need for my collection. I have a '73 MPC Caprice. But, not the RCMP version. Again, how cool was that? And I wonder if Round 2 still has the molds to old MPC Ski-Doo snowmobiles? I don't know if it would be a big seller with anyone else, worth dusting the molds off. But, I'd buy one. Scott Aho

Andy Jones, is the Mk1 Escort the one with what I would call having the "dog bone" front end? Narrow grille that expands to go around the headlights? Kind of like the first generation Ford (Mercury in US) Capri? Big into Ralleying in the 70's? We never got that car in the United States. But, I know I would consider buying one if a kit was made. I don't know if the real car was any good or not, unlike our Ford Pinto. But, I've always liked the looks of it, from the pictures I saw. Bring up Capri. Why is the first generation (none Consul) Capri not offered as a model kit? This car was popular around the world. A hit in every market it was sold in. And popular as a race car. Think of all the different variations one could get from the kit. Stock, racing, 4-cylinder, V6, V8 for the modified and hot rod group, left hand and right hand versions. US and European spec. English and German variations. Were is this kit? Another car I'd like to see from this same time period, is a first generation Toyota Celica that can be built as a US spec model. There are a few Japanese kits of this generation car out there. But, none that can be built as how the car was sold in the US. Love the '71 and '72 Celicas with small bumpers. I love the clean look of the version sold here in the States. Though again, if planned right, one should be able to offer many different variations from the same basic tooling. Again why not? And for our Australian friends. I'd love to see some late 60's, early 70's Holden Monaros, Ford Falcons, and Chrysler Chargers. Plus utes of any year or type. Despite these cars not being seen in most other parts of the world, especially the United States, I feel they would sell well once people became more aware of them. Especially with the early Muscle Car fans here in the US. Scott Aho

Some say this movie is boring. Yet I still like it. Have the DVD in my collection. I find Grand Prix a more interesting and fun film over all to watch. But, yet there is something about LeMans and especially Steve McQueen I like a lot. LeMans like Bullit, is boring other than McQueen, and in the case of Bullit the chase scene. Scott Aho