Tom Daniel - Most Famous Kit Designer Ever?

[Deano]

Did he actually design the kits, or did he make a concept drawing, on which engineers then made an exploded view deciding on parts breakdown and then blueprints with actual dimensions, to which the tooling model was build.

Wondering...

Well ... he may not have engineered them but they were his designs (call them "concepts" if you will)

[Danger]

This is my favourite Tom Daniel kit.

Danger

[Terry Jessee]

Ken Merker did most of the kit designs based on Tom's three-view drawings. I got to interview Ken when Scale Auto Enthusiast did my story on Tom and his design career. Ken told me that Tom would send in the concept drawings, then Ken would do the engineering. Monogram did 75 Tom Daniel kits.

Tom's first model car commission was the original artwork for the first release of Revell's '57 Chevy hardtop. He got started doing concept drawings for Rod & Custom while he was still in design school. He did full-sized stuff, too, and in fact did the designs for the Surf Woody, the Munsters Koach, and Grampa Munster's Dragula.

He has been an avid model railroader for many years and did background designs that William Walthers Company picked up. Then there's his work from General Motors, North American Aviation (the Apollo program), and Kenworth. Pretty busy guy....

Terry

[Greg Myers]

http://blogs.hotrod.com/monograms-badman-1955-chevy-gasser-comes-alive-at-sema-2013-94171.html

[Scott Colmer]

Let's see how many other kit designers we can name. I'll start.

Jim Keeler (Revell & Aurora)

Bob Paeth (Revell)

Budd Anderson (Revell, AMT & MPC)

Tom West (MPC, Accurate Miniatures & Galaxie)

Tom "PhantomPhan" Montgomery (AMT)

Don't forget our own Jarius Watson. He did the AMT Slammer series. I've built most of these with my sons. Then stole the rims a tires off of them when they were done with them.

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Given the original questioned posed, was he the most famous, I think it is probably safe to say yes.

That does not have to mean that everyone likes his work, or that he was the "best" etc. Like him or not, I would say that most builders on this forum have heard of him.

[High octane]

There's also a 1 : 1 scale "Badman" that was at the latest SEMA Show I believe. I often wondered if Tom Daniel is related to Jack Daniels?

[Greg Myers]

There's also a 1 : 1 scale "Badman" that was at the latest SEMA Show I believe. I often wondered if Tom Daniel is related to Jack Daniels?

Yep http://blogs.hotrod.com/monograms-badman-1955-chevy-gasser-comes-alive-at-sema-2013-94171.html

[Harry P.]

I often wondered if Tom Daniel is related to Jack Daniels?

It's Jack Daniel. Not Daniels.

[Danno]

Jack Daniel is a pretty good designer, too. I get really creative when I've been hanging heavy with him!

[mrknowetall]

My creative inspiration disappears when involved with this Russian spirit...

[Tom Geiger]

My creative inspiration disappears when involved with this Russian spirit...

You're pretty silly stone cold sober!

[Mr mopar]

I love all the T.D. Kits!

[Nova-ss]

I've built some of TD kits.its a little out tnere for me but have enjoyed the ones I've built . through I did even add and change his designs

just using his platform for my own creation.

[sjordan2]

Tom Daniel is the most famous kit designer ever if you're into customs and dragsters, which are not exactly in the mainstream. I say not by a long shot. It's of zero interest to me.

Edited January 14, 2015 by sjordan2

[Casey]

[afx]

TD was a big reason why I feel in love with modeling.  Built every Daniels kits I could find (and afford) as a kid. 

[Khils]

I have too built many of Toms kits also as a kid......this one was definitely my favorite...which my younger brother destroyed while I was at school.........been chasing it since '74.... with help from a fellow member here now have one again!

Read somewhere this rendering to kit was based on a toad that hopped into Toms studio.

[Richard Bartrop]

I can't even think of another kit designer, so I guess he is the most famous.    I remember the "Dot Rods" from when they were in Rod & Custom's track Roadster issue, and a whole bunch of Tom Daniel pictorials from earlier issues of R & C.

[TooOld]

15 hours ago, Khils said:

I have too built many of Toms kits also as a kid......this one was definitely my favorite...which my younger brother destroyed while I was at school.........been chasing it since '74.... with help from a fellow member here now have one again!

Read somewhere this rendering to kit was based on a toad that hopped into Toms studio.

Don't know if that story is true or not .  Here's an original drawing by Tom Daniel .

He also designed many cars for Barris including the Munster's Coach , Dragula , and the Surf Woody .

And he did some of the best Box Art in the early 60's .

Edited September 6, 2018 by TooOld

[Casey]

4 minutes ago, TooOld said:

Don't know if that story is true or not . 

And he did some of the best Box Art in the early 60's .

I'm 99.999% sure he didn't draw the Revell '55 box art-- that was Lloyd Jones IIRC.

According to the story over at www.tomdaniel.com it seems to be on target: http://tomdaniel.com/85_kits/frm_85kits.html

[Mark]

Monogram had it nailed with the Tom Daniel kits.  With the kit molded in the "main" color, they made perfect birthday or Christmas presents for the visiting aunt/uncle/grandparents.  Pick up a kit, grab one of those Testors paint sets with the seven or eight bottles of paint, the cheap paint brush, and a tube of glue, and you're all set.  The kid can paint the minor details with a brush, stick the kit together in one rainy/snowy afternoon, it looks pretty much like the one on the box, and it goes on the shelf next to the others.  Everybody is happy...

[Casey]

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Casey

[Spex84]

I love seeing all of these sketches and renderings. Fantastic stuff! The "Pop Top T" really grabs me...for a couple of reasons! When I was about 13 years old, I drew a "T" Sedan with gullwing doors. I thought it was a genius idea at the time and that I was probably the first person to think of it. So wrong

[styromaniac]

On 9/6/2018 at 2:19 PM, Mark said:

Monogram had it nailed with the Tom Daniel kits.  With the kit molded in the "main" color, they made perfect birthday or Christmas presents for the visiting aunt/uncle/grandparents.  Pick up a kit, grab one of those Testors paint sets with the seven or eight bottles of paint, the cheap paint brush, and a tube of glue, and you're all set.  The kid can paint the minor details with a brush, stick the kit together in one rainy/snowy afternoon, it looks pretty much like the one on the box, and it goes on the shelf next to the others.  Everybody is happy...

I think that about sums up the success story of those kits...ease of assembly, accurate renditions of what's on the box art. ( same winning formula for Monogram"s earlier successes with their Black Widow, Green Hornet, Blue Beetle etc. kits as well as their Starbird kits like the Predicta, Orange Hauler. Somewhat toy like level of detail but simple enough to not frustrate the young builder...molded in body color to minimize painting ...lots of chrome ) . I preferred Revell's "show and go" series of subjects ( Tommy Ivo, Mickey Thompson, Orange Crate, Swindler, all the Roth stuff...for their challenging level of detail...but I don't recall ever finishing one of those kits to my satisfaction.) For me the Tom Daniel subjects were too cartoon like and I had already moved on from the hobby ( "Hippie"-dom beckoned ) but they ushered in a whole other generation of builders to the hobby. Essential hobby history.

Edited January 16, 2019 by styromaniac