What was your first model car?

[thegeneralbushdiy]

A '69 Mustang. It was a real beauty, all shiny and detailed. I remember spending hours putting it together, carefully painting each part to make it look just right.

[thegeneralbushdiy]

A '69 Mustang. It was a real beauty, all shiny and detailed. I remember spending hours putting it together, carefully painting each part to make it look just right.

[Nosferatu]

I think it was this. I wish I still had it. I may still have the Indian head radiator cap.

[Can-Con]

I remember my Dad and uncle George putting together one of the Rolls Royce kits and giving it to me when I was very young but the first one I can remember actually having for myself was an aurora "Demolition Demon". Can't say I remember if I glued it or not myself but I think I did.

I do remember [kinda] gluing together a couple Lindberg "Sparkle Speedsters" myself. This would have been right around the time I started school so I'd have been around 6.

I don't remember exactly which one it was but I do vividly remember that sparkly plastic.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Can-Con

[Mike C.]

The first was the Revell Thames panel gasser but I do remember this Dodge van. Never built it but I used lots of the parts on other stuff. Everything was "Bi-Centennial* themed back then.

 

[jacko]

Mine was one of the Gowland and Gowland Highway Pioneers. I had several, mainly because my Dad and Uncles liked them. I think the first was an Oldsmobile from the 1900's. I got to glue them together after the parts were painted (Pactra 'Namel).

[pack rat]

My first kit sitting under the Christmas tree in '62; a first issue AMT '57 T-bird Junior Trophy kit. 

Edited July 29, 2023 by pack rat

[OldNYJim]

On 7/18/2023 at 9:34 AM, Nosferatu said:

I think it was this. I wish I still had it. I may still have the Indian head radiator cap.

Lordy Lordy, that interior ?

[stitchdup]

The year was around 1988 or 89 and i was in the last year of primary school. There was a tv movie called venus peter being made locally and i was almost going to be the kid that had some lines in the movie because i had a close relationship with my grandfather and that was one of the themes of the film. I got to miss school for a month and got my first taste of chilli from the food van, but as my grandfather passed away shortly before filming started the role went to another kid and i was just one of the background folk. It was a fun experience all the same, i got to climb inside an anamatronic whale!! which was fascinating and i used almost all the money i earned to buy a peterbuilt 359? kit out of the local toy shop. It cost me about £30 i think and would have been italeri or revell kit. I still have some parts of it. I dont have any memory of building it myself so i might have got my dad to build it for me. It was brush painted matt black and i think i picked the truck as i had recently seen the convoy movie. I think the plastic on the truck chassis may have been brown or red. I've still only seen small parts of the movie and have never seen the whole thing and being nit was a tv movie its not available on dvd or to stream

[deuces wild]

It was this one when it first came out in late 1970 er early 1971...

Now I have 2 more that I bought a few years ago...

Edited August 3, 2023 by deuces wild

[Paul Payne]

AMT 3 in 1 boat kit. 1959. Six years old.

[W Humble]

I had the Revell Buick and '56 Ford; and still have a few bits and decals from 'em!  But in concentrating on the question,  it was probably the Revell 'Old Timers' Model T kit, one we ostensibly bought as a Father's Day present for my late Dad about 1955.  We also bought him a R-R and a few others, which I graciously glued together for him, good helpful son that I was!  I still remember trying to secure the wheels on the plastic axles by the kit-recommended method of heating a screw-driver blade with his Ronson, then pressing it against the excess axle stub -- and half the time getting it so hot it fused solid!  Aaugh.  Dad passed in 1958; coronary.

The Buick and Ford were hard to build for a ten-year-old, but I LOVED the idea of customizing them, and began to wean myself away from aircraft, ships, and tanks.  My first AMT 3-in-1 was the '60 Edsel ragtop, but I (again!) built a '59 Ford for my lil' brother.  When open hoods with engines began to appear, that was the best!!  I had all the Spotlite model books; wish I had some now!

I had the Mono duece kit, and some others, plus some decals for 'em yet.  A lot went by the wayside when I packed them away in 1969 upon being inducted into the Army; wa''nt sure I was coming back.  The big carton got crushed, and half the cars broken pretty severely, tho all the good ones are repaired now.  Still a few from 60 years ago unfinished, but... !  Wick

[Camaro lover]

My first glue kit was the Monogram green hornet. But I’m fairly certain my first kit overall was a Hubley model A ford. 

[oldscool]

My first model was the AMT 1/32 scale stars 63 Corvette. Got it for my fifth birthday.

[doctor phillips]

My first was in 1959. (pictured) It took two months to save up the $1.49. It took about fifteen minutes to completely mess it up.  ?

[W Humble]

Likewise, and I still have some of the decal set!  Wick

[Sledsel]

First snap kit   

 

First glue kit 

 

  Believe it or not, both have more accurate body lines than the current Revell 57's!! 

[Sledsel]

Hmmm............ I see a pattern up there ^  

[Rodent]

I wish Atlantis would bring back the 1/32 Ford and Chevy (if they wound up with the molds).

[W Humble]

Andy, I picked up a new Revell Ranchero kit in the mid-eighties at a discount store, and eventually built it as an '80s pastel turqouise surf rig, almost chrom-eless (Meteor grille), with a basket handle roll-bar, Targa style.  It reminded me how glad I am that they don't still make glue-together kits like that; it fit pretty well, but sticking the body sides to a central tub and then having to fill the glue seams, etc. was a pain.  I put a SBF from a '62 Comet kit AMT in it, with the old COBRA valve covers, etc.  Did you notice that the thing has '59 front bumper?  Turn sigs on it, etc.  Looks okay, but not stock at all.  

My daughter and hubby are building a '57 Custom '6B' business coupe 1/1 currently, T-BIrd 5.0, like that.  Can't afford '55 Chevys any more!  Wick

[Sledsel]

43 minutes ago, W Humble said:

Andy, I picked up a new Revell Ranchero kit in the mid-eighties at a discount store, and eventually built it as an '80s pastel turqouise surf rig, almost chrom-eless (Meteor grille), with a basket handle roll-bar, Targa style.  It reminded me how glad I am that they don't still make glue-together kits like that; it fit pretty well, but sticking the body sides to a central tub and then having to fill the glue seams, etc. was a pain.  I put a SBF from a '62 Comet kit AMT in it, with the old COBRA valve covers, etc.  Did you notice that the thing has '59 front bumper?  Turn sigs on it, etc.  Looks okay, but not stock at all.  

My daughter and hubby are building a '57 Custom '6B' business coupe 1/1 currently, T-BIrd 5.0, like that.  Can't afford '55 Chevys any more!  Wick

Yes, I know the body was a pain then, but I have since bought another of the same issue and if you assemble the body first (using the chassis plate as a jig) it goes together like a normal kit. Did the same with the 59 Retractable. Yes, I knew and know the front is incorrect but the AMT '57 parts fix that.

I have a 1:1 '57 Fairlane 500 in the garage.  

[W Humble]

Nice ride, Andy!  The kids are going very subtle with steel rims and Audi Nardo Gray paint (maybe by me!).  They're putting on a '58 hood, and using 4-dr seats as the car had none; the front bench back can be tilted forward. It's a budget build!  It has I think a GM 609 power steering, and Grenada front discs.  The business coupes were pretty rare; about 6K built in '57, I believe.  Very popular model/body right now!  Does someone make a kit of the 2-dr sedan?  

I'm working on a '62 LeMans ragtop kit (rare find, in both cases!) of a car we sold last year, and converting a '63 rag to coupe.  The Tempest/LeMans coupe roof (there were two!) is very hard to find, and I may have to section a GM big-car roof -- if I can find one.  In '63 I built a SD 421 representation which I still have, but ragtop, which they didn't do back then.  Though the Tempest Y-body came topless in '62 and '63, PMD never made a hard-top (pillarless) though Olds and Buick did!  However, Pontiac raced their little cars, and I don't believe the others did.  My current project is a '61 Tempest coupe, with the rare (2,006) Buick alloy V-8; not well supported by the aftermarket or hobby! 

 

[Stanward VonDiederichs]

My very first was an old Jaguar roadster that I put together with white glue. Don't ask me what kid it was cuz I don't remember I was too young I was about four or five years old early 50s after that I had a thing for buying the revelle 1/32 jalopy Derby cars and in 56 the revelle 1/32 Ford p/u it was a neighbor teenager that taught me how to drop the front end on one of those kits leave off the springs in the front and glue the axle to the frame that would dump it. ???

[Stanward VonDiederichs]

On 3/21/2024 at 8:54 AM, doctor phillips said:

My first was in 1959. (pictured) It took two months to save up the $1.49. It took about fifteen minutes to completely mess it up.  ?

I remember this kit ? the first car AMT produced of the old car series the next what's the five window coupe they always made me mad that they never made a three window because that's what I wanted and I'll tell you I only bought them for a dollar. ??? I made a mess of these along with the 40s I have in my collection the 32 roadster five window and the 40 Ford brand new never been built.

[Stanward VonDiederichs]

On 3/22/2024 at 2:00 PM, Sledsel said:

First snap kit   

 

First glue kit 

 

  Believe it or not, both have more accurate body lines than the current Revell 57's!! 

I wish at that time somebody made an Edsel so I could use the tail lights on a 57 Ford.