As *spoon* as Arch comes back from vacation Hepcat will still be Hepcat. 8 8

[sagii]

Cool movie monster Kits 

Perfectly timed with 'King Kong' Journal posts (shameless plug  )

[AJD]

Those kits look to be in very nice condition. Nothing that a bit of glue and paint couldn't fix though.

I've got no idea about the market for monster kits, but I've noticed that the guide values for aeroplane kits are way above the actual eBay sales. I think there are more kicking around than is generally appreciated. That said, it's rare to see old kits in that state of preservation.

[Hepcat]

5 hours ago, AJD said:

I've got no idea about the market for monster kits, but I've noticed that the guide values for aeroplane kits are way above the actual eBay sales. 

 

What's your favourite price guide or guides for model kits these days?

[Hepcat]

 

The Classic Plastic book by Rick Polizzi also contains the following estimate of prices for boxed Hawk Weird-Oh model kits:

Weirdsville Customizing Set $500
Killer McBash $135
Leaky Boat Louie $100
Daddy $80
Davey $80
Digger $80
Drag Hag $75
Francis the Foul $65
Freddie Flameout $65
Endsville Eddy $60
Huey's Hut Rod $55
Sling Rave Curvette $30
Wade A. Minit $30

Here are pictures of some of the ones from my collection:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 10, 2017 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

It's actually no wonder that the Aurora monster model kits were a smash hit with youngsters. Check out these ads that appeared on the back covers of DC comics that hit the newsstands on these respective dates:

 

September 1963

 

January 1964

 

September 1964

 

December 1964

 

August 1965

 

Combined with the fabulous box art by James Bama, young fellows didn't stand a chance of resisting these kits on store shelves!

And it wasn't just the monster kits. Back in 1964 I was really excited to see this ad for the new Superman kit on the back cover of the DC comics on the newsstand:

 

 

July 1964

 

 

 

 

And then this one:

 

 

January 1965

 

 

Then there were the ads for the Batman kit:

 

May 1965

 

 

This means that the Batman model kit was already in stores by early 1965. But the first episode of the TV show didn't air until 12 January 1966. Aurora must therefore have reaped an incredible sales bonanza that month since the Batman kit would have been about the only Batman licensed product that could be found on store shelves until everybody else got up to speed in the next few months!

 

Sales of the Batman kit in 1966 could well have rivaled those of Aurora's Frankenstein model when it hit store shelves in 1961. Retailers could not keep up with the demand for the Frankenstein kit when it was first released and Aurora added a second line to its manufacturing plant to increase production to 8000 Frankenstein kits per day!

 

Aurora therefore quickly ran another ad for the Batman kit on the back cover of DC comic mags:

 

 

June 1966

 

 

 

Aurora then rushed several more Batman related kits into production to take advantage of the Bat-mania spawned by the TV show. Here's another ad that ran on the back cover of DC comic mags:  

 

 

October 1966

 

 

 

 

Edited March 17, 2017 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

I'm really getting angry with this stupid new program. Why does it auto format pictures some of the time, but only some of the time?

 

Edited March 17, 2017 by Hepcat

[Duffman_Comics]

3 hours ago, Hepcat said:

 

 

 

 

Then there were the ads for the Batman kit:

 

May 1965

 

 

This means that the Batman model kit was already in stores by early 1965. But the first episode of the TV show didn't air until 12 January 1966. Aurora must therefore have reaped an incredible sales bonanza that month since the Batman kit would have been about the only Batman licensed product that could be found on store shelves until everybody else got up to speed in the next few months!

 

Sales of the Batman kit in 1966 could well have rivaled those of Aurora's Frankenstein model when it hit store shelves in 1961. Retailers could not keep up with the demand for the Frankenstein kit when it was first released and Aurora added a second line to its manufacturing plant to increase production to 8000 Frankenstein kits per day!

 

Aurora therefore quickly ran another ad for the Batman kit on the back cover of DC comic mags:

 

 

June 1966

 

 

 

Aurora then rushed several more Batman related kits into production to take advantage of the Bat-mania spawned by the TV show. Here's another ad that ran on the back cover of DC comic mags:  

 

 

October 1966

 

 

 

 

Now that is interesting. I had always assumed the kits were a by-product of the 1960's Batmania rather than an outlier before the wave hit.

And I'll give you a +1 on the difficulties in coming to terms with the New Boards . . .

[Hepcat]

We're not the only ones. I've noticed that traffic is way down from January levels.

 

[Hepcat]

Rick Polizzi's book also contains the following estimate of prices for boxed Revell "Big Daddy" Roth kits:

 

Outlaw with Robbin' Hood Fink $450

Tweedy Pie with Boss Fink $450

Scuz-Fink with Dingbat $300

Super Fink $300

Fink Eliminator $215

Angel Fink $180

Drag Nut $150

Surfink $150

Mr. Gasser $140

Mr. Gasser in BRM (slot car) $120

Rat Fink in Lotus Ford (slot car) $110

Rat Fink $90Mother's Worry $75

Brother Rat Fink $65

 

My biggest disagreement with Polizzi's ranking is that the Rat Fink in Lotus Ford kit should be up there in the top five when it comes to relative scarcity. Here are pictures of some of the ones from my collection:

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2017 by Hepcat

[1950's war comics]

I loved CARtoons  as a kid !!!!

[AJD]

On 10/03/2017 at 3:44 AM, Hepcat said:

 

What's your favourite price guide or guides for model kits these days?

I was basing my comment on the price guide for early Airfix kits in the back of Arthur Ward's Model World of Airfix book. I don't have a more general guide for aircraft kits - and i don't recal ever coming across one.

[Hepcat]

On 3/23/2017 at 8:08 PM, 1950's war comics said:

I loved CARtoons  as a kid !!!!

 

Here just for you then are scans of my earliest Petersen Publishing CARtoons magazines:

 

3

4

 

The first four issues of  CAR'toons were digest sized.

6

7

8

9

10

 

The CARtoons, Hot Rod Cartoons, Cycletoons, Surftoons and Drag Cartoons magazines though are all harder to find in comic shops than hen's teeth. Most comic dealers just respond with a dumb look when asked about them. Pity because they're great.

 

Edited March 28, 2017 by Hepcat

[1950's war comics]

Those are AWESOME !!

[Hepcat]

Okay! Here then are scans of a few more:

 

11

12

13

14

15

16

18

19

20

 

Edited April 3, 2017 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

The first DC superhero comic I can specifically remember reading was Green Lantern 11 in April of 1962 which a buddy of mine on a farm outside of London had:

 

 

I still remember how it filled me with a sense of awe and wonder at the time. Now I know that it prompted me to check out the comics at the newsstand of Les' Variety at the time. But I just don't remember which comics I saw there on the stand. I suspect therefore that the only superhero comics I encountered on the stand that day were Superman family titles. These never intrigued me as much as those devoted to the lesser known heroes which would explain why I don't remember the comics I saw at the time.

But I do remember the ads within the DC comics I saw at the time!

 

 

I recall being captivated by the exotic Atom and Hawkman characters I was seeing for the first time in the latter two ads. And I know for a fact that it was in the spring of 1962 that I first encountered that house ad for Atom 1. When I saw basically the same ad reprinted for Atom 2 a couple of months later, I remember thinking that it was a pity that it was no longer exactly the same ad for Atom 1 I'd seen before since it meant that I had missed out on getting Atom 1 with the cool Venus flytrap cover! Therefore I must have seen the Atom 1 ad previously.

But if anything the house ads on the inside front and back covers impressed me even more strongly:

 

 

Wow, so cool and mysterious that Hawkman, and who were these Metal Men anyway? Since I very clearly remember knowing nothing about the Atom, Hawkman and Metal Men at the time, I must have viewed those ads for the first time in the spring of 1962.

The Tomorrow's Stars Appear Today ad is still one of my very favourite DC ads of all time despite, or perhaps precisely because, it was in B&W. But because these ads were so compelling, over the years I've periodically wondered why I didn't start looking for and buying some of the comics that must have been on other comic racks only a few blocks away. I mean how could I have resisted covers such as these?

 

 

Well the answer lies in another ad from that month I clearly remember seeing:

 

 

Wow! Baseball Coins! Just like the Shirriff/Salada Hockey Coins that had been so popular with young boys in Canada over the previous two winters. Here are scans of a few of these coins from my present day set:

 

I wondered immediately though whether they'd just be offered in the States, but within a week or so I found out that they'd not only showed up in bags of Shirriff Potato Chips as well as Shirriff Jelly Desserts in local store shelves, but that Mike M. from just down the street already had some! Mike being over a year older than me was always into the cool stuff first it seemed. Well I had to start collecting the Shirriff Baseball Coins and I did, but I didn't get beyond four or five before Hostess Potato Chips and Jell-O launched their own competing promotion (well they weren't just going to stand idly by while Shirriff carved into their market share), an absolutely fabulous set of 200 Aircraft Wheels! Here are scans from my present day set:

 

 

But, but, but, I couldn't collect both! It cost a whole dime to get a bag of potato chips with one of these little treasures and my ability to accumulate these Coins/Wheels was severely limited by cash flow considerations. Since I was already collecting the 1962 Topps Baseball cards (mercifully limited that year to the first three series totalling 264 cards since O-Pee-Chee didn't seem very good at convincing retailers to order the higher numbered series once the end of spring approached):

 

And eating Sugar Crisp cereal to collect the Canadian issue of the Post Baseball cards:

 

 

I therefore chose to collect the Aircraft Wheels thus contributing to the profits of the Hostess Potato Chip Company even though Shirriff made slightly better chips. (Mmmmmm, so delicious as well as nutritious whatever the brand!) Going with the Hostess turned out to be a wise decision since the Hostess/Jell-O Aircraft Wheels I accumulated that spring and summer are among the very few items that  somehow survived in my possession from my childhood to the present day.

But of course cash flow constraints prevented me from buying any comics as well - until late June anyway!

 

[AJD]

Great stuff Hep! I really like those aircraft wheels. (Well, there's a surprise...)

But I was also struck by your comment about the GL "I still remember how it filled me with a sense of awe and wonder at the time." That pretty much describes my recollections of the Legion/Fatal Five story with the Sun Eater and the death of Ferro Lad in Adventure 352/353. (Actually, it would have been in an Australian reprint - I have no idea which one.) The Legion of Super Heroes was my favourite super hero thing. Of course, I had limited funds, and if I had to choose between Disney and DC, the tight tights brigade usually missed out.

[Hepcat]

On 6/9/2017 at 9:57 PM, AJD said:

Great stuff Hep! I really like those aircraft wheels. (Well, there's a surprise...)

 

 

 

Given that they were issued in both the then leading potato chip brand in Canada as well as in Jell-O, were enormously popular with kids and were capable of standing up to normal handling, they're still easily found these days. If you're interested you should be able to get a complete set with a holder like the one below for no more than about $200.

 

 

Here's a fantastic write-up on one fellow's experiences collecting these Aircraft Wheels back in 1962:

 

http://www.vintagewings.ca/VintageNews/Stories/tabid/116/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/185/Boys-Will-Dream--collecting-Airplane-coins.aspx

 

This set of twenty Fightin' Warship coins issued in the spring/summer of 1963{?) by Krun-Chee, Schuler's and Hunter's Potato Chips may also be of interest to you:

 

 

It included ten American vessels, four British, three Canadian and three Soviet. A complete set of Krun-Chee or Schuler's Warships fetches about $75.

Hunter's Potato Chips might not have been sold outside of Manitoba though. Therefore after 35 years of collecting this kind of stuff. I've only managed to acquire one Hunter's Warship coin. You'd have to be a real eccentric (like me) to pay a premium for the Hunter's coins though.

 

Edited June 13, 2017 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

On 6/9/2017 at 9:57 PM, AJD said:

Great stuff Hep! I really like those aircraft wheels. (Well, there's a surprise...)

But I was also struck by your comment about the GL "I still remember how it filled me with a sense of awe and wonder at the time." That pretty much describes my recollections of the Legion/Fatal Five story with the Sun Eater and the death of Ferro Lad in Adventure 352/353. (Actually, it would have been in an Australian reprint - I have no idea which one.)

 

So does the cover of Adventure Comics 353 or the splash page of the Legion of Super-Heroes story look familiar to you?

 

 

Edited June 13, 2017 by Hepcat

[Duffman_Comics]

I had a poke around the GCD, and AJD's memory is likely Superman Supacomic #104 with which, helpfully, the GCD has a big hole in its database.

I say #104 as the next (reprinted) issue here was #105 and that reprinted Adventure #353 - unfortunately, no GCD cover scan.

I say likely, but the reprinting of DC's here courtesy Murray/Gordon & Gotch was chaotic to say the least. Many multi-part stories were only ever partially reprinted, leaving readers in limbo many, many times.

[AJD]

On 13/06/2017 at 4:18 AM, Hepcat said:

8 hours ago, Hepcat said:

 

So does the cover of Adventure Comics 353 or the splash page of the Legion of Super-Heroes story look familiar to you?

 

 

 

Yes, that's the story. I would have seen it reprinted in black and white, and not with that cover (which I'm pretty sure I'd recall). Duffman is right that the story was reprinted in Supacomic #104 (as Ausreprints shows) - though that issue isn't one I ever had. It must have been reprinted again in another comic, probably a few years later judging by the timeline. Who knows, I might stumble on it again one day.