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Oh man, the actual model body looks cooler than the box art!

Greg, this one is before my time, but I can see why you dig it. I love the teenager admiring it on the box. And someone had to paint that, too. Imagine seeing all the original art for it.

Wouldn't last very long around children. Or us. And like Don said, it would definitely be behind glass.

Oh man, is that the display for it? That's a neat looking little T...

Getting back to which model kit box art takes you back, I forgot this one... This box art represents a time when I was old enough for the "big boy" kits: the Revell Hot Rod series Custom '57 Chevy Nomad. I got it for Christmas and I'm sure my father picked it out. The hood opens, the rear tailgate and window opens, the doors open, the engine parts tree had a crankshaft on it. I will never forget the tires that came with that kit, either: a very supple rubber, the best tires of any kit I ever opened. We had a blizzard that year where I lived and school was closed for a good part of January. I spent most of that time building models, including this one. That box makes me think of running outside in the snow to rattle can the body, sitting in my room building for so long my father wondered if I was huffing the glue. And you got an awesome HOT ROD magazine sticker and an order form for the magazine; very adult stuff. I look at that box and can see that time period. I'm not going to elaborate and get all mushy, but you know what I mean. I found this same box/kit on eBay a while back and plan on putting it together this summer. Apologies to MCM Forum member Travis321: I stole your image of this box. I could not find one anywhere on the net above 300 pixels wide. Let's go bug him and see if he got his '57 Nomad kit done! http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29208#entry283714

I like these ones, too! MPC may not have had the best kits out there, but their artwork was gorgeous.

Don, I love MPC box art, especially the early through mid 1980's stuff.

Great story, Jeff. It meant a lot to that boy for you to work with him. Doesn't sound like he thought it was a disaster at all. Every MPC flip-nose kit I ever built was a disaster.

Great model car body AND engine!

That's very cool, Toma. Those Tamiya kits have great box art, and they're illustrations to boot.

Great box art, Chris. I too built a lot of kits from the same series of box art and they take me back every time.

Nice, Carl! I've never seen that box art before, but I see why it struck a chord. It's interesting that Ford is not mentioned on the top.

That's great, Bill! See that's what I'm talking about! So can you tell me about the AMT '40 and '32 boxes? Were those two kits in one box?

Man, why doesn't anyone donate gluebombs and builtups to me? I gotta pay for that stuff, lol

I know a lot of us really dig the old box art on our model kits, but is there any one model kit box art that really takes you back to being a young modeler? Maybe even an era of model kit box art? Just post some model kit box art that you still dig after all these years and tell us why... I'll start: This was my first model car kit back in the late 70's, a Monogram 1/32 '55 Chevy. My grandmother took me to the 5 & 10 to get it. Yes, the 5 & 10, lol. I put it together on her kitchen table while the adults talked.That's why that box art takes me back. I look at the box art for the Jo-Han USA Oldies sets and immediately think about the summer after 8th grade, 1987, when I stayed with my other grandparents in rural Ohio. Again, there was a 5 and 10 in their town and they carried the whole USA Oldies line, and they were cheap, like between $4 and $6. I had most of them after that summer. I look at the box art for those kits and think about summer heat, the munincipal swimming pool, vegetable gardens and my grandparents. Good times. I was never a huge fan of Monogram kits because I didn't really like 1:24 scale. My father purchased this one for me one night at a toy store called Juvenile Toy Sales in Annandale, Virginia around 1987 or 88. I was 14 I think. It ended up that the kit was so good that it didn't matter that it was 1:24. Everything fit perfect and even the sea foam green color the body was molded in was so nice, paint wouldn't do it justice. The box art just evokes the memory of good times during that fall. Actually, looking at them now, I think the Monogram box art from this time period is my favorite of all. The design was modern (for the time), progressive and kind of classy. It would fit in perfectly next to a Patrick Nagel painting. These kits were also my first foray into the French language: MODELE REDUIT

Tomo, sorry about your model, but at least you still have your gorgeous 1:1 GTI. I used to have that same model and loved the headlight layout on those early 90's GTI's. Just out of curiosity, what the heck is that building behind your car?

Lookin' good!

Wow...that is looking impressive!

I've heard that about AMT kits before, Bill. Isn't that funny? I think you can get accustomed to a depiction of something, even if it's wrong, and tend to like it better than the actual one. For example, since I was a kid I loved the aesthetics of the SR-71 Blackbird aircraft, the lines, the form, everything. But when I saw it in person at the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space in Dulles, it didn't look the same. I think I still have another R/M 32 somewhere, I may have to try one out again.

I like where you're going with it, man. But that's going to be a lot of cutting and gluing! I will follow this build. Just personal opinion, but if I were to alter a '53 Corvette, it screams one seater spaceship to me. I'd either cut out the entire passenger side of the body and make it a narrow trike or shorten it just how you did and cover the passenger area as if it were metal, then put on a bubble top. I'm giving myself ideas, lol.

Hey guys, another work in progress (about 95% done, just needs tail lights and head lights): Nothing very fancy with this one... A Revell '32 Ford 3-Window Coupe that I picked up on eBay for cheap a few months ago. The funny thing about this kit is that it used to be my favorite of the 32's, but after working on a gluebomb AMT version earlier this year, I just cannot get into this kit. The dimensions seem weird, everything feels too big or too small, too tall, etc for 1/25 scale. Does it make sense to say that the Revell-Monogram kit doesn't feel as easy to modify than the AMT? Regardless, it's still a quality kit, I just couldn't get into it. My gluebomb AMT 32 Ford can be seen here: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75266#entry947120

Thanks, everyone! I love those mid 1980's AMT kits as well, and they're not going to collect dust around my bench. It's funny though, I have several new kits I bought recently, but I'm lovin' working on these 32's.

LOL! I joke about that all the time when I open an older, sealed kit! Smell that old air, lol...love it

Hey all, so glad to be back here on the forums. Man, I missed them. It isn't much yet, here's my work in progress: A '32 Ford Roadster from an older, sealed 1980's AMT kit I bought for $10 at the Mid-Atlantic NNL in May. I've ditched the fenders and running boards and will channel the body over the rails. I'm going to try to use the kit wire spoke wheels if I can clean them up really well. I ditched the kit tires as well and they've been replaced with the thin stripe Firestones from the AMT Custom & Competition tire set. As you can see, this worked perfectly because the kit's wire spoke wheels would have covered up a good portion of the wide whitewalls. The front tires should be a little smaller than the rear, but they look pretty nice and I can live with it. To get the front end as low as I want it, I used a dropped front axle from the parts box, no doubt from an older AMT 2in1 kit. I would buy 1/25 dropped front axles by the dozen if I could, by the way. On a side note, I highly suggest getting a subscription to some of the car magazines out there. They're super cheap via subscription and give me a lot of inspiration.

I don't care too much if someone else thinks my models are inaccurate. I do it to please myself.