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Art & Inspiration HOW MANY CAUGHT THE OLD CAR BUG FROM AMT?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by BuckeyeBuicks, Jul 17, 2019.

  1. 41 GMC K-18
    Joined: Jun 27, 2019
    Posts: 3,561

    41 GMC K-18
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Warning Slightly OT!
    Way cool Mr. Lumpy, then you know how cool it is to be at any function that happens over at Squeeks, to me, he is one hell of a true blue hot rodder, his shop and bar and all of the stuff in that building is the ultimate shrine to the good old days! Thanks for the acknowledgement !
    squeeks piss up.JPG
     
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  2. 270283
    Joined: Jun 11, 2006
    Posts: 423

    270283

    This is really nice. Did it come in that color combination, or did you paint it?


    [​IMG]
     
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  3. stanlow69
    Joined: Feb 21, 2010
    Posts: 7,348

    stanlow69
    Member Emeritus

    I got the car bug before I got any model cars. I suck at building models. Most of the 30 that I do have are still not finished. Even after 35-40 years later. Maybe when I retire, I will finish them.
     
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  4. aircap
    Joined: Mar 10, 2011
    Posts: 1,748

    aircap
    Member

    I didn't catch the old car bug from AMT, but they certainly reinforced it.
     
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  5. Chrisbcritter
    Joined: Sep 11, 2011
    Posts: 1,970

    Chrisbcritter
    Member

    Thank you! It came in that color combo of Sierra Gold and Arctic White; I did do some touchups with DecoArt craft paint - the color "Old Penny" was an excellent match.
     
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  6. edcodesign
    Joined: Mar 30, 2007
    Posts: 4,716

    edcodesign
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

  7. I built model cars from probably 1965 to 1979...loved it back in the day...I have tried it since but the full-scale stuff is so much more fun to tinker with...
    I even still have a 1937 Chevy coupe half built into a Northeast style modified stock car on a bench in my basement...

    thanks for the flashbacks...

    MikeC
     
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  8. All that....and the smell of the styrene glue. Just a whiff brings back a lot of childhood memories.
     
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  9. I started building Airfix model planes at about 8yrs old, discovered model cars had chrome bits and rubber tyres at about 10 or 11 yrs of age, after chopping up plastic, ie, AMT, Revell, Monogram and JoHan for a few years I got my first 1:1 scale car at 15, haven't looked back since......still build models at 65 yrs of age, even had my own hobby shop specialising in plastic cars, trucks and planes for 20 years till 2016.......lol.............andyd
     

    Attached Files:

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  10. Although we all lived in different parts of the country/world as members here it seems we all shared the joys of model building. For me it was the beginning of an education in hot rods and cars in general. Model building taught you how to build and how to paint. It allowed your imagination to run with ideas and pointed out the parts on the instructions. It didn't take long for one to see a part and identify it and stash all the extra parts in the model boxes. My favorite were the AMT 3 in 1 kits. I still remember the 58 Chevy kit . The plastic was light blue and the tires and slicks were the soft rubber. It is amazing how much our lives were impacted by those times. Sometimes I wish I could go back and relive those times of hobby shops , the excitement and anticipation of waiting for the paint to dry, and unfortunately the times of blowing up the not so favorite builds with firecrackers. It was an inspirational time growing up. I remember sitting with Dad as he built the metal models of the 30's , I believe they were "Hubley"? Anyway he explained how the fenders were painted black and the body a color. He also told me stories of the same cars he had growing up. I truly miss all those days but am grateful all those times molded me into the older guy I am having had the chance to grow up in that era. The hobby never left me it only got more expensive ...lol. I have a few unopened kits that have become a display .....maybe in my second childhood I will try to find some glue ....lol. Great thread and thanks to all for sharing your story.
     
  11. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,752

    Deuces

    I'll post a few this weekend... How that be????... :)
     
  12. .........................We will be waiting patiently.:D;) AArZ6ns.jpg
     
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  13. Gizzy
    Joined: Jan 20, 2008
    Posts: 761

    Gizzy
    Member
    from N.W,Ohio

    I definitely did...still have quite a few.I'm 64 so its in my blood
     
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  14. KevKo
    Joined: Jun 25, 2009
    Posts: 926

    KevKo
    Member
    from Motown

    I'm glad that the model designers cared enough to make the parts accurate. I enjoy recognizing old parts at swap meets because of building models.
    As for inspiration, I remember the old AMT instruction sheets had tips for "Advanced Builders" on the back. Basically kit-bashing. But those drawings were so cool they made me want to be an "Advanced Builder". And it worked as I never, ever, built anything out of the box. I always swapped parts. In my adult years I started chopping tops, sectioning, etc. No resin for me.
     
  15. BuckeyeBuicks
    Joined: Jan 4, 2010
    Posts: 2,705

    BuckeyeBuicks
    Member
    from ohio

    I am glad this post has brought up so many good memories of the good old days when kids were into something besides smart phones and video games. I was going through some of my older model boxes the other night when I came on an AMT 62 Corvair box with some extra parts in it. I remembered exactly when and where I bought it. We were on a family camping trip to Lake Erie and went into Port Clinton shopping. I headed for the local drug store and as I was walking down the sidewalk I spotted a $10 bill in the gutter. As luck would have it the drug store was having a sale and all the model cars were .99 cents! All the popular stuff was gone of course but I scored the 62 Corvair, an Imperial, a Lincoln and a 61 Mercury. Then I hit the magazine stand for 3 or 4 car magazines. I got yelled at for spending so much of my new found riches but it was worth it. I couldn't wait to get the camping trip over so I could get back home to start building . Its funny how a running across something from so long ago can trigger so many good times of your childhood.
     
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  16. The Revell-Gowland Highway Pioneers got me started in the early fifties. However the AMT-SMP 3in 1’s in 1958, are what made me a hot rod and kustom enthusiast for life. The next step in the addiction was Hot Rod Magazine in the sixties, and getting my first car (a Model A hot rod) running and on the road.
     
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  17. xhotrodder
    Joined: Jul 2, 2009
    Posts: 1,665

    xhotrodder
    Member

    Me. Started building at age 11 and continued until I was 18. Gave my model collection to my girlfriends little brother., he was 11. Little shit took one of my models to a local contest, poured lighter fluid on it melted it, and put a sign by it that said speed kills. Took 1st place with it beating me out for 2nd place with a model I had worked on for over a week, and put about $30 in it. I gave that one to him also, and said here you may as well set this one on fire too. He would sell them off to his friends for $5 each. God did I want to kill him.
     
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  18. .........Hope the girlfriend made it worthwhile for you.:D
     
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  19. BuckeyeBuicks
    Joined: Jan 4, 2010
    Posts: 2,705

    BuckeyeBuicks
    Member
    from ohio

    I saw a neighbor kid blowing some of his model cars up with firecrackers one day. When I told him what a dumbass he was we got into a hell of a fist fight. After that I bought all his model stuff for pocket change and we became pretty good friends. To me, destroying a model car was like kicking your dog or spitting on your grandma!
     
  20. ..............I always knew how much work I did selling newspapers, produce and washing relatives cars when I was a kid to buy model kits to turn around and blow them up after I spent countless hours building them. I guess I respected my own hard work a little too much to destroy them.
     
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  21. I think AMT was around 14 & Stephenson. I am sure it was in Troy and I think 14 & Stephenson is in Troy around what is now the Oakland Mall. I remember it being a modern 50's looking building back then.
     
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  22. Before I discovered model cars my brother and I regularly had the Battle of the Atlantic using the Airfix 1:600 scale Bismark, Hood, and King George V battleships.........gently lifting the deck to install leftover fireworks, metho soaked pieces of tissue and gunpowder from old fireworks, then light a wick and send the model ship out into Muddy Creek to explode and burn down to the waterline, the Battle of Britain was replayed via tying old 1/72 scale Spitfires, Hurricanes and Me 109's to a few skyrockets ........Vooosh!!.....Kabang!..........lol..........we had grown a little by the time we discovered model cars.......lol........andyd
     
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  23. 0NE BAD 51 MERC
    Joined: Nov 12, 2010
    Posts: 1,782

    0NE BAD 51 MERC
    Member

    My Dad gave me Starbird's Predicta in 1962 when I was seven. I built models till I was 15 then Dad gave me moms old 63 Bonneville convert to keep me out of trouble with drinking and drugs. Developed a life time addiction to hot rods and customs. Funny thing is Dad was never a car guy. Larry
     
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  24. 55Belairman
    Joined: Jan 11, 2013
    Posts: 445

    55Belairman
    Member

    Oakland Mall is at 14 and John R. That property was at one time the land that my Grandmother grew up on. Her step-father sold the farm property to the mall developer. Made millions, didn't give her a dime. My Mother said he was the meanest man that ever lived. Ok, back the the real reason for this thread.
     
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  25. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,709

    BamaMav
    Member
    from Berry, AL

    I built a few AMT kits, but there weren't many available in my area, Revell was top dog, and I built a bunch of them. I really liked the tri-5 kits with opening doors, hood, and trunk lids, had all three plus a 54 Chevy. Didn't really care much for the Monogram kits, the details on them didn't seem to be as crisp as some of the others. I remember one kit I had, don't know who made it, was Ohio George Montgomery's 69 or 70 Malco Mustang gasser, it had a clear body. like the dumbass kid I was I painted it! But I painted it on the inside, so it looked like it had a hell of a clear coat! I've never seen that kit anywhere since.

    I kit bashed like everybody else, buying partially built kits from my friends, changing wheels, tires, engines, etc. Got pretty good brush painting, really did better with that than I did the little spray cans of Pactra model paint.

    When I left home to get married, I left all my stuff at Mom's house, she gave some of it to a younger cousin of mine. I had already started playing with real cars and women and models were for kids in my mind. When my two boys got to be around 10 or 12, we , but mostly I, built a few kits, I still have a few of them stashed here and there, missing some parts that fell off over the years. I'm gonna hang on to them, when the Grandson gets older and won't mess with them, I'll put them on display again. Oh, and the Grandson and me will be building a few hopefully too, if we can find them. About the only store I've found that still carries kits are Hobby Lobby, and some older stuff on eBay.
     
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  26. For me it started in the mid-'60s watching my cousins building AMT kits while I had to settle for the cheap 1/32-scale Palmer kits around '67-'68, though I lusted after the AMT kits (I especially remember wanting the kit of "My Mother the Car" when I was 6) at the local variety store in my little home town and at the Ben Franklin's in Wahoo. Then I caught the space bug and spent my allowance on rockets and space capsules - Revell's Mercury/Redstone, for example. Finally for Christmas '68 my father got us "real" 1/25-scale annual kits of a '68 Wildcat and a '68 Torino GT fastback, which were utterly botched builds. Between building Apollo command and lunar modules, WWII fighters and cars, along with our HO slot car/model railroad setup in the basement, we did pretty good, though my father chided us for not whittling our on models out of wood like he did at our age in Germany during WWII. So when my parents opened a snack shop in our little town in '73 we sold model car kits and 1/35-scale Tamiya military miniatures like tanks and half-tracks - going to the warehouse distributor in Omaha to pick out what to sell was a monthly ritual I loved to do during the summer. Bel-Air Hobby in Omaha was our 'go-to' place while mom was buying groceries at Food City, we'd walk up the hill and spend an hour going through all the car, plane and tank kits along with the slot cars and model RR stuff. And it just so happened there was a speed shop just a few stores away from the hobby shop, where by '76-'77, when I was turning 16, I'd check out the car books and hop-up goodies I saw in my younger brother's "Hot Rod" magazines, and then building '32 Ford phaeton and '40 Ford coupe and Tudor kits. And so, from that point on it was all-in with my '63 Galaxie HT before I graduated high school, which then led to getting my '40 Tudor, which then led to my '63 T-bird and '55 Victoria, which then led to collecting promo models, which are all now consuming my spare time and potential retirement savings...damn you, AMT.
     
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  27. BamaMav..........that OGM Malco Mustang was reissued as a street machine kit a few times then in the past 4 or 5 years it was reissued as the OGM Malco Mustang in both the clear and white plastic body versions......the original kit was by MPC, which was bought by AMT in the 1980s, the recent reissued kit is under the MPC banner and I'm pretty sure is still available thru Spotlight Hobbies in Grand Rapids Michigan plus I suppose your local hobby shop....its a neat kit BTW, as is the AMT OGM Malco 33 Willys kit, also reissued recently.............andyd
     
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  28. X-cpe
    Joined: Mar 9, 2018
    Posts: 1,958

    X-cpe

    Was cleaning out a desk drawer the other day and came across a shortened '32 grill shell painted turquoise with a black insert. Last model I ever built. Home on Christmas leave in '64. Channeled roadster on a Z'd frame done by putting it in boiling water. Painted it turquoise with silver trim. Started with model airplanes but the creativity of modifying cars was way more interesting and fun. I'm thinking about that color scheme for my coupster. The hot rod primer black that has been always been on my mind is just too close to the color of pavement and in a car with all the protection of a tissue box I need every advantage I can get.
     
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  29. It was AMT that got me hooked back in '74, still have most of them (and some other brands) on display now. JW
     
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  30. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,709

    BamaMav
    Member
    from Berry, AL

    Wow, good info there! I haven't kept up with any of them in years, didn't know they had reissued it. I had forgotten about MPC, they were big in my area at that time, too. I might have to look around and see if I can come up with one of those in clear just for old times sake. Don't know of any hobby shops around here other than aforementioned Hobby Lobby, and I haven't been in one of those in years.
     
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