Posted By Dan Greenfield on Dec 25, 2023 | 12 comments

It’s the TOYHEM finale!

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Welcome to TOYHEM! For the fifth straight holiday season, we’re bringing you a series of features and columns celebrating the toys of our youth, which often made for the best memories this time of year. Click here to check out the complete index of stories — and have a Merry Christmas, a Happy Chanukah and Happy Holidays! — Dan

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By JIM BEARD

Every time I start one of these toy articles, I worry that I’m repeating myself. Phrases like “most favorite” and “oh, how I loved ____” pop into my mind, but then I realize how many times I’ve said those and other phrases. I wonder if readers think everything I ever had as a kid was my “most favorite” and “oh, how I loved” it all.

But you know what? That’s kind of true. I loved toys as a kid and still do, and I had a lot of cool stuff then that today I feel extremely fortunate for having. Model kits are one of those things.

Model kits are also so old-school. Don’t get me wrong; I know they’re still around and there are still shops for them, but the heyday of kids walking into a Hobby Center in a mall to gaze lovingly at the model kit aisle is gone. And while it’s a shame, I understand it. Model kits take some effort and work and even some skill, and they’re just not for everybody.

I myself had a kind-of love/hate relationship with them.

See, I loved picking them out, getting them, eating up the box art like candy, and smelling the plastic parts on their sprues, but when it came to building them, well, I pretty much sucked at that. Not to say I ruined model kits, but I built them in a fury and didn’t let glue dry in my haste to have the complete thing and kid-swore one too many times in my frustration.

I also, true story, almost never painted model kits.

Painting was something that took some time and ability and there was no instant gratification in it. I wanted that model now, darn it, because it wasn’t just a model that went on a shelf—it was also a toy. That’s right, as much as possible, I played with my models. They were miniature representations of cool things, like my GI Joes and Marx plastic figures and Hot Wheels, etc. I couldn’t just look at them, I needed to work them into my play. And so I did, and many models did not survive.

I also kit-bashed my models once the bloom was off the rose, but that’s probably fodder for a whole ’nuther article. This article is about the kits I loved the most during my halcyon model kit period of about 1971 to 1975 or so.

NOTE: This is a very personal list. You will say “Where this?” and “Where’s that?” but you will be somewhat wrong in asking, because this is just my list, not an overall best-of-what-was-available. Get it?

All right, let’s take the shrink-wrap off, open the box, lay out the trees, and ready our lemon-scented non-toxic glue—we’ve got some models to build!

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Comic Scenes Superman (Aurora, 1974). Aurora dominated my model-building days, and the presence of my favorite superheroes in their line only endeared them to me even more. This kit was a re-issue of one from about 10 years earlier, but as a ’70s kid I got the extra bonus of a Curt Swan comic book story with my edition.

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Gigantics Praying Mantis (Fundimensions, 1975). Fundimensions had pretty cool kits that included things like Six Million Dollar Man and Space: 1999, but it was their four giant insect kits that really excited my eyes. I only had this one, but there were also sets with a tarantula, scorpion, and wasp.

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S’Cool Bus (Monogram, 1973). My brother and I were Hot Wheels fans and when we learned there were Monogram models of the cool Hot Wheels dragsters we loved, we just had to have ’em. This bus-dragster was a Tom Daniel design. You’ll see that name again as we move along here.

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Prehistoric Scenes Allosaur (Aurora, 1971). In 1971 I loved dinosaurs and Aurora saw fit to produce my most-favorite models of all time the same year with their “Prehistoric Scenes” series. The Allosaur was most likely the first kit I ever owned, and to this day I rank the box art for the entire series as the very best I’ve ever seen.

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Comic Scenes Spider-Man (Aurora, 1974). Like Superman, Spidey got a comic book with his ’74 Aurora re-issue, but by writer Len Wein and artist John Romita. I remember how intrigued I was by the staircase in the kit, and how the webslinger sat on its railing… as well as the prone figure of Kraven below on the floor.

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Paddy Wagon (Monogram, 1973). Another of those Tom Daniel “show cars” that my brother and I also owned the Hot Wheels version. I think this was my favorite of them all.

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Flying Saucer (Aurora, 1975). Whew, Aurora’s really dominating this list, aren’t they? But hey, they dominated the model scene back then, too. This kit was the UFO from The Invaders, and I had the ’70s re-issue. Best part about it was the interior you could see when the top of the saucer was taken off. And it had gorgeous box art.

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Godzilla (Aurora, 1972). Another ’70s re-issue of a ’60s kit, but as a kid I either didn’t know or care about that. This was my Main Man in all his plastic, “Glows in the Dark” glory. Funny thing is, even then I wondered why Aurora had gone with the Big G’s look from King Kong vs Godzilla, which was only used once in the movies. Still, it was a great kit and I played with it until it fell apart.

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Prehistoric Scenes Cave (Aurora, 1971). If you’re not familiar with Prehistoric Scenes, you may well be saying, “It’s a cave…so what?” I will counter that with, “Yes, it is!” This was like a playset for model kit figures, and it remains my all-time favorite from the series. Additional fact: If you bought two Caves, they would fit together to form one big, huge Cave.

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Rocket Transport Spindrift (Aurora, 1975). Yes, Aurora made everything, including my dreams come true. The ship from Land of the Giants remains my favorite science-fiction model and it occupies that spot mostly for the amazing interior the kit had… plus that way-out design that was unlike any other spaceship on TV or in movies.

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Comic Scenes Batman (Aurora, 1974). Listen, was there any kid in the ’60s or ’70s that didn’t have this one? This is the gold standard of the Comic Scenes sets. It came with a comic story by Len Wein and Dick Giordano.

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Red Baron (Monogram, 1973). The third and last of the Monogram kits my brother and I had that duplicated Hot Wheels cars. That giant silver helmet is a dazzling doozy.

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Monsters of the Movies Ghidrah (Aurora, 1975). I remember the day I stumbled on this one (and its Rodan brother) at Hobby Center and had my 10-year-old mind blown. I never got Rodan, but that’s OK because this three-headed loverboy was enough Monster to satisfy me. I only wish they had produced a Godzilla for this particular series.

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MORE

— The Complete TOYHEM INDEX of Stories and Features. Click here.

— Dig These 13 Stupendous SUPERHERO BOARD GAMES. Click here.

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When JIM BEARD’s not editing and publishing through his two houses, Flinch Books and Becky Books, he’s pounding out adventure fiction with both original and licensed characters. In fact, he’s put words in the mouths of Luke Skywalker, Superman, Fox Mulder, Carl Kolchak, Peter Venkman and the Green Hornet… and lived to tell about it.

He’s also published novels about a character very much like GI Joe: DC Jones – Adventure Command International.