Reminiscing

[John1955]

I remember when prices stayed pretty much the same through the years for plastic models, assembled ones and kits. Same with paint and glue. I was only 4 years old when I started building kits, and by the time I was in high school, prices had gone up only slightly or not at all. My two older brothers built models and got me into the hobby. The first spray paint I used was the AMT brand, I don't know why that was discontinued, it was great paint. 

I recall that as recently as 1970, AMT made 1/25th scale kits that retailed for only $1.00 (Motor City Stocker series) and Kmart heavily discounted them, selling them for only 68 cents each! When I was a young kid in the early 60's, Pyro made 1/32nd scale kits of classics (some molded in color) that weren't half bad, retailed at just 49 cents and at Kmart - 38 cents. Although it would be nice to be younger than I now am, I'm kind of glad I grew up when I did. 
 

[youpey]

i am in my mid 40s now. when i first started to build models they were about 8 or 9 dollars if i remember correctly. some were 10 dollars.

it seemed that until recently models were about 15 to 20 dollars. i have to say 4 or 5 years ago even. this business of even the junkiest recast be retailed at 30 to 40 dollars is nuts.  even on ebay the kits have gone up. previously you could get a common kit for about 15 dollars maybe 20 shipped, and now people want full retail price for opened kits. 

even 15 years ago, some of the common tamiya kits were 20 dollars and revell and amt were half that. 

 

at this point i am only really buying kits that are being made today with the hobby lobby 40% off coupon. very few kits will i pay full retail price ( i say this as i just bought 4 kits at full retail price)

Edited April 27, 2021 by youpey

[Vince Nemanic]

The beginning of the end for stable prices was the oil embargo in the early 1970s. Since styrene plastic is petroleum based, the price of raw material skyrocketed. Another factor was the decline in car manufacturers ordering promos that the kits were based on. A third factor was the car companies demanding licensing fees for the use of names and designs. All of these occurred in a period of about 10 years. I'm sure there were many other factors, but these were the catalysts for the first big price jumps.

[Snake45]

  On 4/27/2021 at 4:45 PM, John1955 said:

I recall that as recently as 1970, AMT made 1/25th scale kits that retailed for only $1.00 (Motor City Stocker series) 

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Were those 1/32? I don't think I've EVER seen an AMT 1/25 retail for $1, and I started building them in 1966, when some of the smaller ones (Mustang, Corvette roadster) were $1.50 but most were $2.00. The next year all AMT kits were $2. MPCs were always $2 AFAIK. 

[cobraman]

Once upon a time when I lived in Illinois I would by my kits at Zayres. 1.50 kits were priced at 1.11 and the 2.00 kits were about 1.70 as i recall.

[Rodent]

  On 4/27/2021 at 7:27 PM, Snake45 said:

Were those 1/32? I don't think I've EVER seen an AMT 1/25 retail for $1, and I started building them in 1966, when some of the smaller ones (Mustang, Corvette roadster) were $1.50 but most were $2.00. The next year all AMT kits were $2. MPCs were always $2 AFAIK. 

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They were 1/25th and they were $1.00. I only remember the 1970 models. They were basically unassembled promos molded in white. No engines or optional parts.

70 LTD

70 Chevelle SS

70 Monte Carlo

70 Wildcat

70 T-Bird

70 (Fairlane/Torino) Cobra

[Ace-Garageguy]

I'm glad I started buying like mad when I returned to the hobby around 2005. Prices for lotsa stuff I picked up cheap back then are just stupid now.

Maybe someday I'll actually get time to build again...   

[Tom Geiger]

I got back to the hobby in 1989. In the early 1990s I was building light commercial trucks and I was using the Surburbanite snow tires that came in a couple of 1970s MPC kits.  It was easy to find AMC Pacers for $5 each at swap meets.  I’d buy them, take out the tires, then resell them for $5.  At one show a dealer had five of them.. he saw me looking and told me I could have all five for $15! So I bought them. As I was walking around with these kits a dealer friend of mine was making fun of me for buying them.  Soon after someone from the AMC Pacer club contacted him, and suddenly he wanted my Pacers! Ha! I didn’t sell him a single one!

[Mark]

Yes, the Motor City Stocker 1970 kits were $1.00 retail.  No optional parts, no decals, no engines, no whitewall tires kept the price down.  I believe Dennis Doty mentioned in Model Car Journal that the two 1969 series (Wild Flower, and the cartoon racing series) were supposed to have retailed for $1.00 also, but with decals and whitewall tires AMT couldn't keep the cost down.  So those ended up at $1.50.  I'm pretty sure the Craftsman series kits (earliest ones were called Jr. Trophy Series) retailed for a buck, but those were a couple of years earlier.

[Snake45]

  On 4/27/2021 at 10:29 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

I'm glad I started buying like mad when I returned to the hobby around 2005. Prices for lotsa stuff I picked up cheap back then are just stupid now.

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Same here. I was making good money around 2008-09 or so and went on eBay and bought a bunch of stuff I'd been wanting for years. Paid pretty steep prices at that time but nothing like what they are now. I still have most of it to build, too--I just finished one of them up a couple weeks ago. 

[slusher]

When I got back in the hobby in 89 I only had a few kits from Walmart and Kmart. Walmart sold those. Prepainted pro shop kits for 10.00 in 2000 and the other checker boards for 10.00 shortly later Walmart stoped selling Kits. I bought and started buying kits on eBay. 

[John1955]

  On 4/28/2021 at 1:06 AM, Mark said:

Yes, the Motor City Stocker 1970 kits were $1.00 retail.  No optional parts, no decals, no engines, no whitewall tires kept the price down.  I believe Dennis Doty mentioned in Model Car Journal that the two 1969 series (Wild Flower, and the cartoon racing series) were supposed to have retailed for $1.00 also, but with decals and whitewall tires AMT couldn't keep the cost down.  So those ended up at $1.50.  I'm pretty sure the Craftsman series kits (earliest ones were called Jr. Trophy Series) retailed for a buck, but those were a couple of years earlier.

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Yes, AMT did have 1/25th Craftsman series kits that retailed for a dollar, I have several, a '66 Buick Sylark, a '60 Chevy wagon, a '59 Edsel, a '64 Comet and a '63 Impala. But there were more, I don't recall them all, I have a bunch of vintage AW catalogs that are good historical references for this kind of info. Jo-Han also offered low priced 1/25th kits that retailed for 98 cents and some (but not all) included engines. 

Although the AMT 1970 Motor City Stocker kits didn't have engines, the hoods were a separate part, so you could add your own engines and other under hood details. They were true bargains, another bargain I remember from way back when were the IMC big rig kits. The IMC 1/25th trailers retailed for $2.00 (flatbed) and $3.00 (box trailer, tanker) while the AMT trailers retailed for $5.00 and weren't as good. IMC molded the chassis parts in black, but no brand name on the tires though which were solid, not hollow, but very flexible. 

I have always wondered why IMC didn't do better and expand, they made great kits, so accurate and detailed. Their L700 Dodge still is around, as Lindberg and now Round 2 I think. Their '48 Ford ('46, '47) went to Testors, and now I don't know where the mold is. 
 

[Mark]

The Jo-Han 98 cent stock-only kits were offered in 1963, 1964, and 1965.  All Jo-Han car kits had engines starting with the 1963 kits, the 98 cent series included.

Not everything was offered in the 98 cent series.  For '63, there were only four convertibles (Cadillac, Chrysler, Olds Starfire, and Plymouth Fury).  Not sure which ones were offered in the other years, as I don't have any of them.  '64 and (especially) '65 kits are hard to find compared to '63.  

[John1955]

  On 4/27/2021 at 10:29 PM, Ace-Garageguy said:

I'm glad I started buying like mad when I returned to the hobby around 2005. Prices for lotsa stuff I picked up cheap back then are just stupid now.

Maybe someday I'll actually get time to build again...   

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Years ago, my main problem was where to put my model collection. Until 1986 I lived in rented apartments and when I finally did buy a house, it had only two bedrooms, the second bedroom was tiny though. It was an ancient house built with no indoor plumbing and sometime in the 1920's or so, a bathroom was installed upstairs in what had been part of that second bedroom. All of my models went into boxes and stayed there for six or seven years and I quit making models. 

But I didn't quit buying them though, and unassembled kits piled up in that second bedroom. In 1989, I bought a large old house, three huge bedrooms and I built 4 foot by 8 foot shelves using plywood in the third bedroom. My model collection came in from the cold so to speak, out of the boxes and at the same time, I got a decent paying job. So, I went on a buying binge for model kits and began building again. It was like an assembly line, trying play catch up. I built a spray booth in the basement vented to the outside. 

However, no matter how many I built, I couldn't keep up with the new kits I was buying and the older ones that had piled up. Then resin became the thing and I went nuts for resin kits and of course that slowed me down a bit, but Modelhaus and other resin makers loved me. I built plenty of them but I still have at least 25 resin kits (and donor kits) that I never built. Plus, only God knows how many unbuilt plastic kits, many still sealed. I'm now 65 years old and if I lived until I was 100, I couldn't build them all. And my health is failing, so I'm slower as well. Arthritis in my hands and fingers doesn't help either. 
 

[John1955]

  On 4/27/2021 at 5:13 PM, Vince Nemanic said:

The beginning of the end for stable prices was the oil embargo in the early 1970s. Since styrene plastic is petroleum based, the price of raw material skyrocketed. Another factor was the decline in car manufacturers ordering promos that the kits were based on. A third factor was the car companies demanding licensing fees for the use of names and designs. All of these occurred in a period of about 10 years. I'm sure there were many other factors, but these were the catalysts for the first big price jumps.

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All of those are true, but petroleum prices did come down later and American model companies began manufacturing kits in China, which should have meant lower prices on kits, but it didn't. The main reason that kits are so high priced now is about volume of production. Back in the 1960's especially but also in the 1970's, MILLIONS of plastic kits were sold annually. AMT, MPC, Jo-Han and Revell all went to 24 hour a day production to keep up with the demand. 

Even hardware stores and drug stores sold plastic model kits. Even upscale stores like Macy's and Gimbel's did as well. Then along came Atari and others, then the computer age; almost overnight, AMT, MPC, Jo-Han, Ertl and Revell (and others) began losing money and most were sold off like yesterday's trash. With the loss of the kid's as customers, it became a hobby for adults, low sales, low production means high prices. Snap kits did help a lot in the 1980's and 1990's to get kids interested, but that didn't last. 
 

[John1955]

I remember nagging my mother to buy me one of these at Woolworth's. It was 79 cents I think and my mom was strict and frugal. She knew I had some pocket change and said if I chipped in a quarter, she'd pay the rest. I negotiated with her down to me paying 15 cents, LOL. 

[Snake45]

  On 4/30/2021 at 4:47 PM, John1955 said:

Even hardware stores and drug stores sold plastic model kits.

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Yup. The biggest "hobby shop" in my town was about 20% of a hardware store. Even grocery stores in my town sold model kits! One of my fantasies is to go back in time to those times for day, with $200 in my pocket. 

[Rodent]

  On 4/30/2021 at 5:52 PM, Snake45 said:

with $200 in my pocket.

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Careful, you don't want to wind up in a 1966 jail cell for trying to "pass" Series 2013 $20 bills.....

[John1955]

  On 4/30/2021 at 5:52 PM, Snake45 said:

Yup. The biggest "hobby shop" in my town was about 20% of a hardware store. Even grocery stores in my town sold model kits! One of my fantasies is to go back in time to those times for day, with $200 in my pocket. 

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Thanks for reminding me! Yes, I do recall a grocery store here that sold model kits, paint and glue, I'd forgotten about that. OMG @ having $200 in my pocket in the 1960's, I'd have gone crazy. That reminds me of something else.

When I was still in high school, my older cousin was working at a restaurant called Harvest House, connected to and owned by the Woolworth's store. As an employee, she got a 15% discount on anything at Woolworth's including stuff on sale. She told me about the store being overstocked with last years annual kits of AMT, MPC and Jo-Han models, they wanted rid of them and they were on sale at 60% off retail. 

I was working at a Gulf station and had been saving money to buy new shocks for my old car. Forget the shocks! Woolworth's had a huge assortment of kits, I did go nuts. I filled up an entire cart, she used her employee card and an extra 15% was added to the 60% off discount, and I was building models for quite a while after that. Unfortunately, my car wasn't happy and one of it's shock absorbers even broke off and I had to borrow my mother's car to get back and forth from work, I even had to walk a few times. Oh well, such was my love for plastic model kits. 
 

[John1955]

When did you build your first plastic kit? Do you remember what it was and how old you were and where the kit came from? Why did you get into this hobby, did someone inspire you to? For me, it was a Pyro '57 Chevy, 1/32nd scale, and I hadn't started first grade in school yet. There was no kindergarten back then where I lived, but I entered first grade at age 5 so I was probably 5. I don't remember the price, but it came from local hardware store that was also a bicycle repair shop and sold bicycles as well. 

My oldest brother was 10 years old and he bought it for me, using money he had from picking up discarded glass pop bottles and redeeming them for 2 cents each at another store. He and my 8 year old brother built models and insisted that I build them, too. It was molded in color so I didn't need to paint it. I surprised my brothers by not getting the Testor's model cement all over it or all over myself. I was hooked from day one and I'd give anything to still have that model now and to remember whatever happened to it. 

I should remember because I had it on the top of a shelf on the bunk beds for awhile, and my older brothers were proud of me at how well I'd built it. But I just can't recall it's fate. 
 

[John1955]

[Snake45]

  On 4/30/2021 at 7:03 PM, John1955 said:

When did you build your first plastic kit? Do you remember what it was and how old you were and where the kit came from?

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My very first model was an airplane, I don't remember which one but a very early one was the Aurora F9F Panther. I must have been around 5. 

My first model car was a Monogram Ford Woody (I still have it, but not sure exactly where it is at the moment.) I didn't consider myself a "car guy" or car modeler then, just thought woodies were kinda cool for some reason. I started getting into cars in 1966. My first one then was a Palmer '66 Mustang "GTO" (that's what it said on the box!) and I bought it because it was 99 cents and the AMT kits were $1.50 and $2.00. I learned my lesson about Palmer FAST! My next two car kits were the AMT '66 Corvair Corsa and '66 Riviera, but I don't remember which one came first. And then I was off and running! 

[cobraman]

I think my first model was the Revell 59 Ford wagon. No windows as I recall.

[cobraman]

May have been a 57 ??

[slusher]

  On 4/30/2021 at 7:03 PM, John1955 said:

When did you build your first plastic kit? Do you remember what it was and how old you were and where the kit came from? Why did you get into this hobby, did someone inspire you to? For me, it was a Pyro '57 Chevy, 1/32nd scale, and I hadn't started first grade in school yet. 

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My first model was an AMT when I was 6 or 7, I believe it was a Mercedes but not 100 percent sure. I do remember brush painting the interior red and brush painting ?‍? the body silver.  What a mess I had with silver paint all over me. My mom took me to skippy’s on Lovett st . He sold models and comic books. I think I built a few planes after that and never painted them. My dad God bless him would walk to the drug store buy me a plane ✈️ or a Matchbox car. They had the round display he would turn to let you pick one out. Back then you could buy model just about any  type store.