So true! I retired in 2020 and proceeded to buy several plastic model kits that I remember building in the 60s and early 70s. Some are rare, hard to get. I will begin building them this year, around 30 of them. Fond memories!

Im 64 years old, originally from Long Island, NY and I have the exact same memories.

They have value

@@maxsmodels It's the art work on the boxes that are cool.You know at my age physical items don't mean much to me.

​@@scottouellette9411 Of course they're yours to do with as you wish, hopefully they'll end up in someone else's hands that appreciate them as well before you go. Hear too many stories of families being left with pieces like these that end up in the garbage because they don't know, or care, what they're worth or the burden of having to try to get rid of them.

You are an American treasure. Thank you

@@maxsmodels I don't know about that but it was fun to work there. I could not believe the work that went into making a model.

I had the Enterprise and the phaser, communicator, & tricorder kits. I noticed the Star Trek utility belt toy's accessories were the same scale as the model's and the communicator in both were basically the same thing and at one time I repaired my toy communicator with the same model glue I used to build the model communicator.

@@JohnFourtyTwo There were wood model makers who made the parts out of wood first to make sure the parts fit before they made the dies. When they were done they said I could have them but I was young and did not want them. Was I stupid. It would be worth bucks today.

Was there ever a factory in New Jersey ???

FIND THEM...they are probably worth a small fortune...

I would like to mention that in a later video if it is OK with you.

@@maxsmodels I don't mind. If you're serious I will look for those Enterprise shots.

I just posted the MPC video.

They were $2.50 for me as well. AMT built some good stuff. I remember after watching this video that I had a model of the Star Trek ship and a Klingon Battle Cruiser. I remember those tractor trailer kits were $5 which was a ton of money for a kid. I remember how disappointed my dad was after he found out I spent my hard earned $5 on a truck. I thought about it for a long time after that and realized that purchase was not a good one.

Thanks. I need to do some more.

Well, I must have put together many models with her work inside. Always perfect, I loved opening the boxes & seeing all the chrome parts "Trees" - the best part! Like works of art, sometimes I felt bad separating the pieces -

@@rsstrazz6261 llllllll Hey how are you

And if she had wheels she'd be a wagon 😀

If she had wheels she'd be a '57 Belair 2-dr hardtop, 283/283 fuelie, 3-speed O/D in Dusk Pearl -"Sweet, Smooth & Sassy"

That model got me excited too. This i used two shades of PollyS green. Around '81.

That is exactly like me! Except I was in 3rd grade! Awesome!

That Exploration kit was one of the hardest to find I don't think the stores had any idea how much we wanted to have copies of the tools they used on the show. Me and my friends and cousins did this same thing.

@@rickycollins4633 Your right! They were very hard to find and there weren't that many on the shelf. In fact if I remember that first time there were only 2-3 kits on the shelf. A year or two later I bought another kit and that was it after that. Always waited for them to re-release it but that is the only kit I think they never did. Don't know why. I have an Art Asylum Phaser I bought years ago somewhere. Always gotta have a Phaser.

I still pretend my finger is a phaser...pew pew! Ugh my grandkids got me again!

Which drug store? We probably went to the same one LOL

we've talked about the un-opened/assembled kits on here. Sure, they'd be worth a fortune now but as a kid, we wouldn't have had the enjoyment and skill building of the process. Same as dinky, corgi and matchbox. I have some that would be worth thousands if they were pristine. But I literally spent hundreds of hours playing with them and that in and of itself is worth more than the dollars I'd get today.

I still remember the hard white plastic AMT used.

Most of the cars were $1.65. Some were $2.00 I thought they were an easier build than Revell or Monogram.

I switched to real cars in my late teens but as I near retirement, switching back to models! Way easier on my body. I still have more than 20 new kits I bought many years ago.

@@CarsandCats same here. Restored many a car and it is very hard on the body. I had a hard time concentrating as a kid, so my dad would have me build scale cars with him. It improved my concentration and sharpened my eye sight as well as steady my hands. I think that is why I never gave it up. It is a lot of fun and very rewarding because you can put them on display and track your progress over the years by comparing newer finished kits to your previous ones.

I am building their AMT and MPC GTOs right now

Trash???, my parents would never see me again, I have a truck hobby that is a perfect mind set, I can be creative without owning the real thing, sorry for your loss,

I have a desktop magnifier that works for my eyes, my shaking is another matter. I do the best I can.

Yep fire crackers and the BB gun. Models made great targets.

Yep, I am finishing AMT's '53 Studebaker now. Built it as a kid, now I can enjoy it again decades later in retirement. It provides two complete motors and lots of optional parts. I am building the stock version. AMT still rocks!

@@lancerevell5979 53 stude with twin blowers! I think that engine ended up in three or four different models before I was done

@@davidstoyanoff ..Yep..the big engine with 2 blowers sittin at 45* angle's...in the 1953 Studebaker Hawk " The Salty Dog"...I bought one around 1968 at the Five & Dime store ,cost $ 2.00...and Ive still got it in almost perfect condition, I took it apart and rebuilt it a time or two..LOL...Im sure you remember doin that too..Heck it was just as much fun to redo em it was to build em the first time..those are precious memories brother...Ive still got most all of my old models from 60s..70s..80s...about 200 of em...Im glad you still have that passion and the time now to enjoy it again...I feel your inspiration,.feels good..thank you man..

@@outlaw5094 I had the same Studie!

Phils Obsession did you keep any of them?

CycolacFan yeah lots of half built stuff, will go back to it one day

I was more a revell guy but I saw a few AMTs I built too. I think back to the kits I made: glue finger prints on the glass, stuff glued on crooked, paint slapped on. Back then I was more about the finish line than the process. It took me until my 20's when I started in design that I became more process oriented than finish line. I actually had a boss complain to me that I was too fixated on the process lol.... To tell you how bad I got: I was working on a wooden ship model and I didn't like the way the kit made straps to hold the mast stays in place. So I got some 10 gauge copper wire and hammered it flat and shaped it to produce better looking straps haha. Took me about a year to finish that one.

I'm 63, still building kits....I built a ton back in the 60's and believe it, I kept almost all of them, but they have fallen apart. in the storage boxes...creating the largest 3d puzzle ever...but I like to build still, keeps my fine motor skills in tune. The shops that sell them claim that about roughly 25% of the buyers are people under 20....I thought it would be less, but these kits are really for the boomers, trying to re-capture their youth....kinda cool

I'm glad someone else liked those metal axel AMT cars. When I was in high school jacked up cars like Nova's, Chevelle's an others it was easy to jack those AMT models I just glued that 3 hole little block where the metal axel would go two hole downs with the 3rd hole to put those axels through, looked real good jacket up, an for Red line tires I used a red ink pen to color the white walls.

When I got tired of looking at them I would stuff firecrackers in them squirt lighter fluid in also, ignite them and roll them down the driveway. 🤣

Mine was about 1969. The son of the store owner next to our family store had one with a little Playboy bunny rabbit on the back (even then I knew what that was). I passed it for weeks before I asked about it. My dad was concerned about a teenager in a Corvette taking his 9 year old (because no teenager ever did anything stupid in a sports car to show off in front of kids). So my dad curled up in the area behind the seats to chaperone us. It was still a huge thrill. It might have been a 64 because I seem to recall the bunny was in the back window. Oh the details fade but the memory is bright.

too cool

You need to start a covert cell of underground model builders.

@@maxsmodels - 😂😂😂😂😂 My wife isnt opposed to my modeling per se. She didn't want the chemical smells like those from spray paint, zap-a-gap and such in our first home (an apt) with our baby girls. What I didn't know (mainly because neither my wife nor mom were much into makeup), is the smell that comes from nail polish/polish remover. Something I got introduced to once my girls got older. LOL Now 20 years later, I want to get back into building again but it is soooooo expensive now. That comment you made in the AMT video about the auto companies now charging royalities - thus the reason to go from the promotional models to the consumer market - is way too crazy now. $40.00 +/- for a car model that I know is the same mold of a model I had bought even 15 years ago for $10-$15! Inflation hasn't been that bad! I know models are not sold like they used to be. I've worked in two different hobby stores - once in the 70's and again in the 00's and the market isn't there anymore. Too many other activities like this medium to take kids from the hobby. However, once exposed, I know they get interested in it - I almost got my girls in it but other influences were stronger. ☹😕

@@Wild-Dad My wife and I agreed that I would have a 12 x 12 shed built in the backyard for those reasons. I also use to reload ammo so it was safer to keep the power out there. Still using it today...but I just bulk by ammo.

@@maxsmodels - more power to you Max! What ever happens, I have enjoyed coming upon and viewing every video you've created. Take care and keep well!

agree