Let’s see your oldest surviving builds

[atomicholiday]

I was thinking about my “roots” in model car building and what the oldest build I still have is.



What I’m looking for here is the OLDEST, UNRESTORED, untouched build you did that’s still intact. I’m sure these won’t be the prettiest things we’ve seen on the forum. And that’s a big part of their history and ours. I’m expecting to see glue bombs and orange peel galore. No shame in that!👍



Let’s also hear a little of the history that you remember about the builds.







These aren’t the first cars I did, far from it. But everything prior to these didn’t survive my early teens. I’m starting off with two because I really don’t know which is older. Both would have been built around ‘86 give or take. (I started around ‘77)



This first one is the Monogram ‘85 corvette. I had seen a 1:1 in this color and for some reason at the time loved it. Now I can’t stand the color!😂. Just a box stock build here.






I was really proud of this next one. The Monogram ‘69 Camaro. Still my all time favorite kit! This was built to replicate a friends car. It was the first time I tried any kind of kit-bashing/scratch building. The exhaust was made up of parts from other kits because I didn’t want side pipes. At that time, this build was a benchmark for me.





So there you go. A little history from the atomic holiday hobby room! Now let’s see some of yours!👍

[tcoat]

Well now...

I stopped building in 1973 so these survivors of the Great BB Gun Wars of 1972 were all built between 1965 and then.

A couple of Aurora 1/48 that made it. I had the whole lineup back in the day.







Some Tamiya's from '69








And a BUNCH of stuff that barely qualifies.















This poor guys still bears wounds from the BB Gun war. He is lucky he did not tangle with the firecracker squad or he would not still exist

[atomicholiday]

“The Great BB Gun War of ‘72”
I love it!😂
Mine was the great demolition derby of ‘84.👍

[tcoat]

Dec 10, 2023 13:02:52 GMT -5 atomicholiday said:

“The Great BB Gun War of ‘72”
I love it!😂
Mine was the great demolition derby of ‘84.👍

There were many MANY casualties!

[kyledehart5]

I'll jump in here. I started building at about 7 or 8 with snap kits from wal mart. Then around 10 I started doing glue kits for 4H. Probably 1998ish. But the Oldest one still in one piece, would be this Monogram 1959 Cadillac. I'd say this is early 2000s. Build I did for 4H as a teenager or pre-teen maybe. I can't remember the specific year but I'm guessing around 2004 or 2005 just based off the build quality. Box stock, of course, and certainly not a great build. I was happy with it at the time though and I've never touched it since. Time capsule for me. I have some bits and pieces of other builds from the time period. I would have two more builds but they were destroyed inadvertently by my Mom. I know they're still complete but they are shattered. She knocked a '40 Ford off the top of the cabinet to the floor and then threw her purse on top of my 1959 Impala, utterly destroying both. lol. 

[reserve]

2011 is as early as I have left, that's when I started the current modeling iteration. Too much time and too many miles for any of the old stuff as life was very unsettled from the nineties to 2005 or so therefore none of the pre 2011 stuff survived.

The oldest. Dragon Panzer III tropical with a Verlinden fighting/driver's compartment. Upon completion I was quite disappointed at how little of it could be seen


Academy Honey and HobbyBoss Sdkfz 222. The hits depicted on the tank are very accurate as I found a very good picture to work off of. The 222 was a very fiddly kit that suffered from a very fine flash everywhere but with persiverance built up into an acceptable model.


Around late 2012 or so we had a post apocalyptic group build which I notice has been deleted from the site. This was my first project, the 1/32 Revell snap tite Mack R-600 which I had to use more glue on than a regular glue together kit. Lots of scratching on this one








Ha the good old days

[TJ]

Dec 10, 2023 15:54:36 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

I'll jump in here. I started building at about 7 or 8 with snap kits from wal mart. Then around 10 I started doing glue kits for 4H. Probably 1998ish. But the Oldest one still in one piece, would be this Monogram 1959 Cadillac. I'd say this is early 2000s. Build I did for 4H as a teenager or pre-teen maybe. I can't remember the specific year but I'm guessing around 2004 or 2005 just based off the build quality. Box stock, of course, and certainly not a great build. I was happy with it at the time though and I've never touched it since. Time capsule for me. I have some bits and pieces of other builds from the time period. I would have two more builds but they were destroyed inadvertently by my Mom. I know they're still complete but they are shattered. She knocked a '40 Ford off the top of the cabinet to the floor and then threw her purse on top of my 1959 Impala, utterly destroying both. lol. 

Good grief I graduated high school when you were born

[TJ]

I'll play, the P-51B in the front if this pic is from 1993. The only reason I remember is because I built it right after I got married. Hasegawa 1/72

[kyledehart5]

Dec 10, 2023 20:13:58 GMT -5 TJ said:

Dec 10, 2023 15:54:36 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

I'll jump in here. I started building at about 7 or 8 with snap kits from wal mart. Then around 10 I started doing glue kits for 4H. Probably 1998ish. But the Oldest one still in one piece, would be this Monogram 1959 Cadillac. I'd say this is early 2000s. Build I did for 4H as a teenager or pre-teen maybe. I can't remember the specific year but I'm guessing around 2004 or 2005 just based off the build quality. Box stock, of course, and certainly not a great build. I was happy with it at the time though and I've never touched it since. Time capsule for me. I have some bits and pieces of other builds from the time period. I would have two more builds but they were destroyed inadvertently by my Mom. I know they're still complete but they are shattered. She knocked a '40 Ford off the top of the cabinet to the floor and then threw her purse on top of my 1959 Impala, utterly destroying both. lol. 

Good grief I graduated high school when you were born

1988. Lol. Don’t even know why I picked up model building. No one else in my family has ever done it.

[reserve]

Do you need a reason?

[Real G]

Heh heh, the next thread could be “How Freaking Old Are You?” In 1988, I was starting my first job out of college. I was born in the analog and proto-hippie 1960s, I’m sure there are a bunch that can top me by 10-20 years easily.

My oldest surviving kits were my first two Gundam kits, built in 1983.





All the aircraft and armor kits disappeared in the Great Closet Purge of 1994. The BB Gun Wars from 1977 to 1983 also took their toll, along with the annual Big Fire Event every New Year’s Eve.

[kyledehart5]

Dec 10, 2023 21:03:48 GMT -5 reserve said:

Do you need a reason?

not at all. Just reminiscing. Clearly something about it caught my eye. I just know a lot of people picked it up from dads or uncles or brothers.

[kyledehart5]

Dec 10, 2023 21:06:23 GMT -5 Real G said:

Heh heh, the next thread could be “How Freaking Old Are You?” In 1988, I was starting my first job out of college. I was born in the analog and proto-hippie 1960s, I’m sure there are a bunch that can top me by 10-20 years easily.

My oldest surviving kits were my first two Gundam kits, built in 1983. All the aircraft and armor kits disappeared in the Great Closet Purge of 1994. The BB Gun Wars from 1977 to 1983 also took their toll, along with the annual Big Fire Event every New Year’s Eve.

See. Nobody told me about the BB gun wars. And I never even got to blow any of my builds up with firecrackers. I missed out. Lol

[stikpusher]

These two are my oldest... not sure which one is older though... both built roughly around 1973, then rebuilt around 1988



Tamiya 1/32 StuH.42



Monogram 1/32 Stug.IV

Then  these others came along later... again built in the mid 70's or early 80's (pre 1983) and rebuilt in the later 80's or early 90's... some becoming my early test mules for my then new Badger 350 airbrush
 


Monogram 1/32 Jagdpanzer IV



Monogram 1/32 Flakpanzer IV Ostwind



Monogram 1/32 Grant



Monogram 1/32 M4A1, turret swap with Monogram M4 during rebuild to make early production M4A1 DV



Monogram 1/32 M4 turret swap with M4A1 to make later M4 DV



Monogram 1/35 M43A2 Patton... no rebuild



Tamiya 1/35 Sdkfz.250/3 



Testors/Italeri 1/35 M7B1 Preist



Testors/Italeri 1/35 Willys Jeep w/cargo trailer



Tamiya 1/35 M3 Stuart 



Testors/Italeri 1/35 M4A1 76mm - currently under late war up armor rebuild

[406 Silverado]

Dec 10, 2023 21:59:47 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Dec 10, 2023 21:03:48 GMT -5 reserve said:

Do you need a reason?

not at all. Just reminiscing. Clearly something about it caught my eye. I just know a lot of people picked it up from dads or uncles or brothers.

If you're like me, I needed something to fill the time void as there was not just a whole lot to do inside when it was raining or when my best friend next door was out of pocket. I bought my very first model kit when I was around 11 years old, which was the old Monogram Dauntless Dive Bomber. Such a cool kit and I have very fond memories of building it. 

[406 Silverado]

This is such a cool thread seeing all of these beginnings in modeling. Just goes to show that we all started somewhere.

Here's my oldest surviving model of the bunch. The Monogram Z/28 Camaro as it was a few years ago untouched and an all original build. Engine was gone so it sat on my shelf for years like this.





And then after the revamp. I turned it into an SS396





Then there's the Dodge Challenger that I built for my brother when I was 14 some where in the early 80's. At the time, this was my best to date with a gloss coat that just went on and looked great!! This is a picture of how it looked in 2013.





The Challenger was another one that I would come back to and revamp and .....would go on to win a Best Auto of Show award in 2015 at my first IPMS show in YEARS.....





Then there is my untouched and all original MPC 1974 Cuda Pro Street. This is as it was when I first built it at 15 years old

[kyledehart5]

Dec 11, 2023 5:53:35 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Dec 10, 2023 21:59:47 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

not at all. Just reminiscing. Clearly something about it caught my eye. I just know a lot of people picked it up from dads or uncles or brothers.

If you're like me, I needed something to fill the time void as there was not just a whole lot to do inside when it was raining or when my best friend next door was out of pocket. I bought my very first model kit when I was around 11 years old, which was the old Monogram Dauntless Dive Bomber. Such a cool kit and I have very fond memories of building it. 

Thats awesome. Love me some old Monogram. This is a good point and probably the catalyst for me too. I grew up in a cornfield. So I wasn’t going to any friends houses unless Mom took me. So I did have a lot of free time by myself. And you’re right. Nothing to do when it’s raining.

[tcoat]

Dec 11, 2023 7:20:13 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Dec 11, 2023 5:53:35 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Thats awesome. Love me some old Monogram. This is a good point and probably the catalyst for me too. I grew up in a cornfield. So I wasn’t going to any friends houses unless Mom took me. So I did have a lot of free time by myself. And you’re right. Nothing to do when it’s raining.

[Medicman71]

I built kits as a teenager but I have no pics of any of them. I got back into the hobby in 2010 and the first one I built was the Italeri MV-22 Osprey. Still have it too.

[Tojo72]

My earliest stuff goes back about 20 years,I'm pretty sure these two were pretty early.

Hasegawa 1/48 Me-109 Hans Joachim Marseille






I think this is also Hasegawa

[Steve Zuleski]

Believe it or not, I still have this on my shelf in the bunker. Looks like we all have come a longgggg way from our tweeny years, Lol.

[tcoat]

Some of you guy's old survivors are better than my stuff today!

I will defend mine in that I was 6 to 10 years old when most of mine were built. By the time I was 13 I had my first real car to work on and the type of "models" I liked to look at were no longer plastic (well less plastic at any rate).

[406 Silverado]

Dec 11, 2023 11:28:06 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Some of you guy's old survivors are better than my stuff today!

I will defend mine in that I was 6 to 10 years old when most of mine were built. By the time I was 13 I had my first real car to work on and the type of "models" I liked to look at were no longer plastic (well less plastic at any rate).

I resemble that remark but I was around 16 when I bought my first 1:1 scale ride.

1966 Plymouth Barracuda

 

This was once model money that I used to build this engine here with:

[kyledehart5]

Dec 11, 2023 8:10:22 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Dec 11, 2023 7:20:13 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Thats awesome. Love me some old Monogram. This is a good point and probably the catalyst for me too. I grew up in a cornfield. So I wasn’t going to any friends houses unless Mom took me. So I did have a lot of free time by myself. And you’re right. Nothing to do when it’s raining.

Looks just like one of our home movies from when I was a kid…

[2whl]

My oldest surviving builds are all from the mid to late 90's.  At that time I worked for a Rick Hendrick car dealership.  So almost all of the builds are NASCAR.

[Tojo72]

Dec 11, 2023 12:40:33 GMT -5 2whl said:

My oldest surviving builds are all from the mid to late 90's.  At that time I worked for a Rick Hendrick car dealership.  So almost all of the builds are NASCAR.

That's a great collection there

[kyledehart5]

Dec 11, 2023 12:40:33 GMT -5 2whl said:

My oldest surviving builds are all from the mid to late 90's.  At that time I worked for a Rick Hendrick car dealership.  So almost all of the builds are NASCAR.

Very cool

[406 Silverado]

Dec 11, 2023 12:40:33 GMT -5 2whl said:

My oldest surviving builds are all from the mid to late 90's.  At that time I worked for a Rick Hendrick car dealership.  So almost all of the builds are NASCAR.

Man that's awesome right there Paul. I've gotta get one of those man!!!

[tcoat]

Dec 11, 2023 11:39:41 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Dec 11, 2023 11:28:06 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Some of you guy's old survivors are better than my stuff today!

I will defend mine in that I was 6 to 10 years old when most of mine were built. By the time I was 13 I had my first real car to work on and the type of "models" I liked to look at were no longer plastic (well less plastic at any rate).

I resemble that remark but I was around 16 when I bought my first 1:1 scale ride.

1966 Plymouth Barracuda

 

This was once model money that I used to build this engine here with:

When I was 13 I used the money I earned pumping gas to buy a '56 Chevy 210 Sport Sedan (4 door hardtop) that had been sitting in a field for about 15 years. It was pretty much toast with no floor a seized solid engine and not an inch of brake line left but I only paid $20 for it. My dad scored an mid sixties 327 and four speed tranny that came out of a stock car that a local junkyard used to run and in it went. I have a picture someplace of the car with that engine sitting in front of it. After many square feet of tin, several thousand pop rivets and about a 5 gallon pail of tar it had a "floor" and I made up all new brake lines out of some sort of tubing that probably wasn't rated for brakes. Took about 2 years but I actually got it drivable. I drove it for about a year on plates from my mother's T-Bird. Yes I was only 15 but you could get away with that back then. One day I went over some railway tracks a little fast and the whole car just buckled in the middle. Apparently my frame welding skills were still sub par. I took the plates off on the side of the road and walked away. No idea what happened to the car. 

This story is on topic since it explains one reason why I stopped building models at 13!

[Real G]

Dec 10, 2023 22:01:02 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Dec 10, 2023 21:06:23 GMT -5 Real G said:

Heh heh, the next thread could be “How Freaking Old Are You?” In 1988, I was starting my first job out of college. I was born in the analog and proto-hippie 1960s, I’m sure there are a bunch that can top me by 10-20 years easily.

My oldest surviving kits were my first two Gundam kits, built in 1983. All the aircraft and armor kits disappeared in the Great Closet Purge of 1994. The BB Gun Wars from 1977 to 1983 also took their toll, along with the annual Big Fire Event every New Year’s Eve.

See. Nobody told me about the BB gun wars. And I never even got to blow any of my builds up with firecrackers. I missed out. Lol

Awwwww, you missed out!  We were crazy kids back in the day.  We even used gasoline and paper wadding to enhance the big fire.