The Monogram Models story
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- čas přidán 27. 09. 2019
- Credit to oldmodelkits for the use of their images. www.oldmodelkits.com
This is a brief history of the Monogram models company which is NOT GONE!!!. After this was made I got the following reply from Scott Millican which adds considerable follow-up information.
A German Investment group created the company Blitz for the purpose of buying Revell USA and Revell Germany. This happened in April of 2018 when the companies of Hobbico were divested through liquidation. Blitz put the offices at Revell Germany in charge of both companies. They got it for a song, both companies together were valued at something like $18million, and was purchased for less than 1/4 of that, appox. $4million, a large chunk of that to purchase inventory at Revell USA. Looking at the numbers on paper, Revell Germany as a whole was bought for just under $1million, the tooling at Revell USA (worth approx. $3.5million) was on paper purchased for the tidy sum of $50000, licensing, trademarks and copyrights made up a bulk of the remaining costs of purchase.
Now just called "Revell", Revell Germany side of the business, kits are still produced in Poland, and the Revell USA side of the business kits are still produced in China, with the same usual cross pollination of ROG and RUSA kits winding up in each other's boxes for different markets.
Revell in the US was slow to get back off the ground, basically ended up being a warehouse with one employee where the RUSA and ROG kits would come into, and then sent back out to distributors. They have since expanded their footprint in the US, by bringing back Ed Sexton into the fold, and that is basically where we are at today.
Most of the Aurora and Renwal molds, as well as some of the older Revell and Monogram tools, have since be sold to Atlantis Models, whom are having a grand time reissuing them. Subsequently the line of Monogram Nascar kits (most of them) were sold to Salvino JR Models (through Atlantis), and are living on today.
Just thought it would be prudent to tell everyone that how the video ends, is not the end of the story. :) - Zábava
I remember those kits in my local Kmart. Man....i look back and makes me cry. Kids today dont have and idea of what they missed. I have been building models since 1983. Now i teach my son with many old monogram, revell and mpc kits.
I was one of those "four out of five boys" who made models. Now I'm a 55 year old manufacturing engineer and I've spent my whole career working out how to build things. All of the hobby shops in my area are long gone and it seems like now 9 out of 10 boys have never built anything.
At least I who is 11 build models and a lot of stuff
Interesting. Target and other such big box stores may have Gunpla, but those fly off the shelves quickly.
Hey! I'm 64 now, and I understand how you feel about hobby stores and also about how you feel about young people is no longer building scale kits. About 20 years ago, I noticed how scale models sales were plummeting. Here in Mexico, almost all hobby stores went out of business and remained only a handful of them. For a place like Mexico city, with millions of people, was ridiculous to exist only 3 places to go and find scale models, paints, decals and brush. I would say that video games is the reason for it. I've tried my older son who is 30 to build a model since he was a kid but he ran away every time. The latest try was a week ago and resulted the same with a big NO! 😂😂 scale modeling to me is almost like an art, something magic. I'm engineer and commercial pilot in retirement since 2020. I'm still in love with my models and with model building. My current project is AMT's the 1929 woody pickup in 1/25. I look at my stash and think how fortunate I am, and pray for this art never to die. It has been refreshing to run into someone with the same lovely hobby. Thank you for sharing your experience.....and keep building models!😊
I spent my childhood building these model aeroplanes they encouraged a life long love of aviation, I'm a commercial chief flying instructor now, still building models too.
Ditto
Monogram wasn't Tamyia, but they were damn good models. Always fit well and a pleasure to build. I don't build plastic models any more but I had a ball when I did. Thanks for the video story and more importantly, the memories.
Loved Monogram from the 60's on through the 70's. Many happy hours of building and super detailing. I miss them.
The Phantom Mustang still holds it own now 60 years on. I recently bought a new re-release version to relive my childhood and Christmas 1963 when I was given one.
That beautiful giant B-29 kit in 1/48 scale. It was glorious to me around 1978.
For me personally the Monogram 1/48 B-17G takes the cake! And when Shepard Paine got involved man oh man did I become one styrene addicted Youngman, in fact 40yrs later I still am.
My first model kit I built was the Monogram 1/48 scale Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VIII that was back in 1969, I remember it was one of the "action" models with retractable landing gear, man I'd played with that plane for about a month before the struts broke off from over work, then I went and built the 1/48 P-38 Lightning that was when I was addicted to modeling I couldn't get enough, and my Dad didn't help much with my addiction he too loved to build models, by the time I joined the USAF we had built over 400 models and displayed them in my bedroom. The kits i wanted the most was Monograms, then later it turned to Hasegawa now it's Tamiya but I still buy those classic Monograms because of their great interior detailing and no one yet has produced those 1/48 WWII US bombers that Monogram has done and at the same cost!
I had dozens of their kits...aircraft and WW 2 vehicles. My favorite kit was the 1/48 scale B-24. It had rotating turrets on both ends and on top and bottom. This was .the largest model I've ever built. Having no room on the shelf, I decided to suspend it from the ceiling. Many nights, I would see the plane drifting in the moonlight. Until one night, it fell on top of me! Ouch!
david hough I had that B-24, and it was a huge model to this 13 year old. I remember those articulated turrets!
darn those nightfigthers!
@@jamesdziendziel9187 🤣😂
A very important story well and truly told by a person, who like many of us grew up building plastic model kits. Monogram was center stage throughout my formative modeling years during mid 1950s through 1969 when I went off to college. I greatly enjoyed every minute of this informative and fun video. Thank you Max!
I bought and built kits from all the companies mentioned but lacked the artistry skills to make them look like they did in my head. I had a few dozen models by the time I moved on to playing guitar and performing with local rock groups (1964). Most of my scale models were aircraft but there were ships, armored vehicles, a few rockets and a few cars. I was always bothered by the lack of a standard scale. When my jet fighter models were larger than my bombers, it always made me wonder what they would look like on the ground beside each other. I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to sniff the glue I used, but even as a young person I took my health seriously. I fell back in love with scale models around 2000 but had limited room to display them. By 2007 I had more room and bought pre-assembled and pre-painted scale models. They were, and are, amazing to me. The available scales were more standardized by then, which eased my mind. I love my scale model collection and movie merchandise items which make me smile. I went back to collecting around the time the VA FINALLY diagnosed and began treatment for PTSD from combat in Vietnam, 1968-69. I liked that little boy who built crappy scale models more than the person who came home from war in 1969. It has been a long strange trip. I have been retired for over a decade and only keep things around me which bring me joy. I always smile when I see names like Monogram, Revell, Aurora, etc. Thanks for the memories and good times.
In 1964 I was a nine year old putting together .29cent Lindeberg Line models, they only had about 8 or 10 parts. Nobody I knew 'Huffed'...yet. When I was 13 I got into HO Trains, then cars, then girls, then life. The life part has been the hardest, yet there is always so much to smile about. Happy times to you!
I grew up in the 60s in Atlanta, GA building mostly Monogram models. I saw several images of kit boxes of some of them I built. Thank you for this great video and telling the story.
I had a paper route from 1975 to 1980. 75% of my income went to the model shop, buying Monogram models.
Some favorites: The Grumman Avenger with folding wings, dropping torpedo and retractable landing gear. Ah, the Douglas SBD with operating dive flaps, landing gear and bomb drop. My ultimate was the 1/48 scale B-17.
But all that detail in the interior? Invisible.
That Avenger really tested my patience. Ultimately i built it with fixed wings, retracted gear and an open bomb bay,
Me too. I cut yards in the summertime for mine.
..my dad's business partner was a radioman on an Avenger..he gave my brother, Tim, the Monogram kit one Christmas..I helped him assemble the folding wing mechanism...he also built the Dauntless and Helldiver ...
My teenage years were spent building Monogram kits. Despite Tamiya being the # 1 brand here in the Philippines during the 80s, Monogram kits were sturdy and easier to finish. Thanks for this trip down memory lane.
Even as a newly married man, the only kits I would uild were Monogram WWII kits. At one time I had a Corsair,a P-40, P-51, Spitfire, Zero and I think I remember a P-38. They were destroyed with an errant swing of a broom by my wife. I built only Monogram becasue of the moving parts. Especcially the Corsair, whose wheels retracted exactly like it's namesake. I miss them all.
Monogram produced a series of WWII carrier planes around 1960 that were wonderful kits.
Awesome video! Bring back childhood memories of models that I have built, and lost. I remember Monogram having quality made parts with very little casting flash, and parts halves like wings, fuel tanks, radiators, seats, etc. always had a perfect fit with little sanding and trimming. Today's models are cool, but they don't seem to have the quality manufacturing that I once remembered.
That's because of mostly being made in the PRC
Interesting video. I lived about a minute and a half away from the Monogram factory. I got to take a tour of it with the cub scouts in the mid 90s. It was so damn cool seeing how they made it all...and they gave us a bunch of free stuff! I still have it all, even the safety glasses we had to wear on the factory floor. Where the factory was is all condos today.
I have built all the Monogram planes during the 70's here in France. I was like in transe each time.
It's now 30 years that i am a professional modeler in architecture , surely thanks to Monogram.
Revell en remet présentement plusieurs classiques monogram au 1/48 sur le marché. B-17,b-24,b-25,p-61 ,dauntless, corsair,p-40 etc... Un pur plaisir. Salutations d'outre-mer !
Great video and good history! I cut my modeling teeth on Monogram kits back in the '70's, so watching this video was like a reunuion with a beloved member of the family. Well done!
I remember when Mongram came out with their 1/48 F-4, F-15 and F-16 kits. Those were nice models to build. At the time that F-4 kit was the best on the market.
Hasegawa finally came out some beautiful F-4 kits in 1/48, but they cost almost twice as much.
These kits were the best thing going as kid in the 60's and 70's. Monogram kits were highly detailed including the pilots. The parts fit well too. The 1/48 collection was awesome. We often built the same kit three or four times. It was a lot of fun to have everyone bring the same scale kits over to set up an airfield on the driveway, thirty or more "Warbirds" on the flight line. I still have a few kits I bought a few years ago for when I'm off the treadmill and can find time to re-live a bit of my childhood. The fondest of memories!
I have been building models all my life. It was sad to hear that Monogram went out of business. They were excellent and affordable kits that everyone could build and enjoy.
Thanks for sharing the story of Monogram models. Since 1962 I had bought almost exclusively Mongram models with some sprinkling of Revell and Frog. But my favourite was scale 1/48 warplanes that me dream so much. I really miss those shops with so much models to make me stay for hours just looking around...
The first really good model I built and was proud of was the Monogram 1/72(?) P40N. It was epic and I still remember it fondly. I'm sorry Monogram is in hiding
Many, many Monogram kits hung from my ceiling, frozen in dogfights over airspace.
They were my 'comfort food' builds.
Even today I still keep an eye out for one or two I'd love to build again, now the skill set can deal with any issue.
Only last month I picked up a 1/48 PBY-5 in auction, for virtually a song. When other kits are hitting $110+.
My favourites, though, were the WW1 planes.
An era of chivalry and airmanship attributed the colourful schemes an aura lost in later conflicts.
The 'jewellery' kits from Tamiya, Hasegawa and their ilk were/are great.
But as a 'kit-basher' I have greater enjoyment wrasslin' that hog into submission!
I built alot of model kits from the late 70s to late 80s, Monogram was my favorite brand.
I am 57 ... when I was a kid in the late 60's, I had the Phantom Mustang. I LOVED IT. A few years ago when it was re-released, I bought another. Been building a house for the past few years ... the kit is still sitting wrapped in plastic waiting to be built.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I built enough Monogram models to outfit a small country's military. :)
Tom Andrews me too...
Yep!
Welcome to my world .
I built the TBD Devastator last summer after ordering it on Ebay. I updated the decals because the 1970s decals were in rough shape.
The kits I remember most are the Tom Daniels series of the late 60's and early 70's. They were hugely popular and every kid on the block built the Red Baron, Bad Man, Beer Wagon, Paddy Wagon, S'Cool Bus and Garbage Truck amongst others. Paydirt for toy and hobby departments as parents could not go wrong putting one under the XMAS tree. They were very build friendly and fitment was excellent. Many are so legendary, they made it into the world of diecast collecting in a variety of scales. Autoworld even brought out a few in their line 1/64 of slot cars.
I might do a segment just on him. His stuff was big.
Great story...I have so many memories of my Monogram military models. They were outstanding....but then built some Tamiya Models where the tracks really spun on the wheels of tanks. But for the price and fun? I'd go to the store with mom and spend the entire time in Toys - Models looking at all the Monogram opportunities. The picture on the box made the sale. It may never look quite the same but the dreams were there. (I quit models when the No Glue Required came out.) Thanks for a great video of the past!
I began model building as a kid in the 1960s, and am still at it as an old retiree now. I have a lot of Monogram and Revell kits under my belt. I just finished Monogram's old classic 1/48 Spitfire MK.IX kit. Shows it's age, but it still looks good, and brings back memories. Sad to see Monogram out of business, but likely they'll be back under new ownership again.
I do hope you are correct! Monogram’s were my favorite kits. Their quality and ‘feel’ eclipsed all others.
I loved the working landing gear and folding wing's
I have only built the plastic models from Monogram but they were the best kits under the Christmas tree ever. Even if some had raised panel lines and, what we now see as misses in scale, they went together great and was a pure modelling joy.
Thanks for the story!
The part about wood vs. plastic in the early days of the hobby brings to mind a story from my own childhood. I was almost 10 in the summer of 1969, and I remember perusing the toy section of our local Target store, (with almost TWO DOLLARS to work with!!!) In those days, about two isles were devoted to model kits. As I tried to make up my mind, an "old" man, (about my age, now,) commented to me that all-plastic kits weren't "real models," and that I should consider carving my projects out of solid wood using cardboard templates cut from plans.
Less than a year ago, I saw some kids about 10 years old watching a demonstration of a 3D Printer at a local hobby shop. I had to bite my tongue to keep from admonishing them that 3D Printing ". . . wasn't really model building."
Thanks for both the video, AND the trip down memory lane!
Haha, that sure is how it work! Super sweet story, thanks for sharing!
Very nicely done ! As a very long time modeler, I always preferred Monogram models because of the superior detail and overall quality, as you pointed out. It was interesting to see the business side of it, as through the years, I only saw box top & logo changes, very sad that they may be gone.
Nice video, well done. I'll have to let my friend Jim Peterik know his song Eye of the Tiger was in there.
Oh, the stories I could tell about the things that went down during my 12 years there. But if I did, I'd probably get sued. Ha!
Also- Jack Besser never forgave Bob Reder for not standing up for him when he was fired by Mattel. And the irony is, Jack still owned the Morton Grove building after he was fired. He would only come in on Saturdays to inspect the grounds because he couldn't stomach seeing anyone there during the work week. A very sad situation all around.
That happens so often. Fast forward to Schaper Toys, Mpls when Tyco bought them in 1986 and dumped the operation team. Stomper 4x4 trucks etc became a thing of the past in only two years of Tyco "leadership".
I greatly enjoyed this. I am a modeler, but mainly interested in 1/32nd slot cars. Monogram went heavily into slot cars and this part of the story is missing. I wonder if the rise and fall of slot cars affected the company. Monogram made some of the most accurate slot cars of the era. More information on this chapter in their history would be great. Thanks for this video!
Thanks for sharing this story. I have been building models for 48 years now and have built several Monogram kits, and may have a few in my stash. I really enjoyed the Pro Modeler series as this put Monogram alongside the quality of the Japanese kits. I am glad that Atlantis is starting to re-pop some of the kits that were before my time, giving me an opportunity to build them as an adult. One of my next projects will likely be one of the 1/72 scale Navy biplanes with some aftermarket resin and photoetched items.
Loved the Shep Paine diorama examples that were shown in their 1/32 armor models.
Wowwwwwww... that was a great story, and the voice, was very soothing, as it was a pain to listen to many of the slow deaths. I lived in sunny California, and not far from Venica. I m still " sniffing the glue," but with TAMIYA.
always loved their quality over Revelle's
My Dad was a pilot. He thought models were silly, but it is HIS responsibility for making me the Airplane Nut I am today. Monogram kits were my favorite. For many years I bought no other brands, as a much younger child.
"No models were harmed during the making of this video. Some were humiliated." Too Funny! Thanks for the walk down memory lane! Model Mojo is now high here in my humble, rural home! Awesome story, told by another model maniac!
PS, I liked my Skystick. My 1/48 P-51B flew endless missions (in front of a box fan) escorting "12 O'Clock High" B-17's over The Third Reich in our living room. Colonel Savage was well pleased. HA!
Cannot eve find a sky stick today. Made my own as a kid or as I called it, my combat training simulator.
I Ioved the moving parts offered by Monogram in their 1:48 scale series WWII aircraft. I still have a few around waiting in my stash to be built. Sweet memories!
I built a lot of Monogram models 1/48, 1/35, 1/32, 1/24, and 1/24 scale kits . The 1/24 scale UH -1B Bell Huey helicopter . Thank you .
I built so many models as a kid, and the monogram‘s were my favorites . They were the most detailed of all the car models.
I just purchased a Monogram B17 1/48th scale kit from Hobby Lobby and Its dated 2017. Huge plane and looks very accurate also gives several different paint schemes from acutal planes that flew in ww2. I will get the paints soon and get statred hopefully I can get looking decent. Only paid $13.00 with 40% off coupon. Crazy good deal!
Fond memories of top quality models, over 45years ago. I still have the Rolls Royce and the Mercedes models tucked away under the house ready to display when l can no longer play with my full scale model cars!
I also built many Revell kits as well . 1/48 and 1/32 scale kits . Thank you
Nicely produced history. Thank you for posting 😘
I enjoyed that. Brought back many happy memories. Sorry to see the end of Monogram
I love the history lesson, almost as much as building the models.
I was a child of the '70's with plastic models on the brain.
Esp car models.
Was always curious about the people and companies behind the kits.
Never dreamed someone would some day lay it all out for me.
Way to go Maxx.
Thank you
Wonderful documentary, thank you very much
WWII Monogram fighters and bombers - so many great memories. Nothing compares to a B-17. Thanks for the videos!!!
In the mid 60s I've built and painted many planes and ships fm the 1, and 2nd wars. Reading the directions (blue prints) helped later in life with blue prints on the jobs I worked. 🇺🇸😎
2023: It seems Revell has now become Carrera-Revell. They are still producing many of the Revell U.S. and a few of the Monogram kits.
I started building models in the mid 60's
and always looked for Monogram kits to build.
They also ventured into RC CARS in the 80’s. They were rebranded other brands but were great RC’s.
it kind breaks your heart, when in the fifties it was the thing my best friend and i loved to do after school.
I'm 63 years old and I still build and collect many different scale models from several model companies. My collection of pre-built and self-built car and truck models has become so large, that it fills a room 12' x 20'. Yes, I am very proud to say that I still play with cars. I have been building model cars since I was 4 years old in 1965.
Presently assembling a 1983 1/48 scale Monogram AD-6 Skyraider that I bought on Ebay.
I remember good moments of my life with Monogram Kits.
In the late 40s the Monogram "Speedee Built" line was the last of their
Balsa "Flying Scale" models. I loved building them as a kid and was
disappointed when they went to plastic static. Great video thank you
for the research and info.
I always liked the Monogram models. Back in the 1970's I built most of them, mostly aircraft, but some armor. I liked the German grizzly bear tank and the half-track. One thing that was important to me were the operating features - retractable wheels, bombs that dropped, etc. Now I am more concerned with detail like the Dornier 335 and the Bell P-39 models had. They had good models to me.
The B-52D must be one of my favorites!
Being imports and also larger scale, Monogram were horrendously expensive where I lived as a kid. To make things worse, the shop which sold them was on my daily route to school. All I could do was stop every morning outside the shop window and drool over what I might have had if I had the money or indeed the skill to complete one.
I have always enjoyed building Monogram models, boy I wish I still had my Predicta, Futurista, all the versions of the Panzer IV, Lee and Grant tanks, and sooooo many aircraft models. You’re right, kids lost interest in models when video games started dissolving their brains. Shame really, the hobby taught us patience and how to follow instructions, how to use tools and how to paint. All skills that kept you focused and working toward a goal. And the Shep Paine tip sheets were such a bonus! I built a Panzer IV to match his diorama.
Monogram built many great kits. At the time they were my favorites.
I loved Monogram Kits specially their TWA DC-3 I think it was 1/90 scale. They made wonderful kits.
I loved building Monogram models during my childhood and teenage years. Growing up in Tidewater, Virginia, my favorite models were of course U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and planes; the actual ships and aircraft types were stationed at nearby Norfolk Naval Base and Naval Air Station Oceana. Thanks for sharing this magnificent documentary!
I got a couple of Monogram Germany 1/48 kits from the late 1970s and was really surprised at the quality, fit and accuracy overall. The canopies were a little thick but overall I'm very proud of my Spitfire and Fw-190 models.
I built every Monogram aircraft kit I could find. Probably missed a few but not many. I still have at least 30+ kits in a box and they will be more cherished after seeing this. Many of my childhood memories are tied to Monogram models which was ALWAYS superior to Aurora, AirFix and Revell. The fit and detail was head and hands better on the Monogram kits. My grandmother bought me the Phantom Mustang for my 12th birthday and I was enthralled. They were good, solid kits for a more than fair price for a lot of decades. Oh sure, Tamiya and Hasegawa took modeling to the next level, but there was something about Monogram that you knew the quality and where you stood. Saw the above addendum about Renwal…. wow.. forgot about them and FROG... I never liked them.
If you are still reading... I would be THRILLED to hear the story of the guys that created Accurate Miniatures, and what happened with them. I heard all the rumors, but I would really love to know the REAL story. FANTASTIC kits... new mold technology... but no boxes... would really love to hear the story on them if such a thing is possible.
HOORAH for Monogram models, from a 25,000 hour pilot not yet retired that loves airplanes more than anything else, and Monogram played no small part in that.
Thanks to all and any that made them possible. A LOT of us loved your work.
Bob Johnson from Accurate Miniatures is still around. I'm sure he could tell you some interesting stories.
Same here
I remember when models were sold in drug stores, hardware stores, five and dime stores and big department stores as well as hobby shops. There was a time, in Indianapolis, when there was at least eight hobby shops up and running. There was even a TV repair shop on west Washington Street that sold kits.
Sadly, there is only one mom n' pop hobby shop left and only a couple of big retailers that sell models now days.
Although I've built a few of their airplane models over the years, my primary love was model cars and I've always had mixed emotions about Monogram models. As a young modeler, I liked the fact that they came molded in color, and you could build a really decent-looking model with little or no detail painting. The problem was, so could all of your friends. Then, Monogram was great as long as you wanted to build the version on the box, because you didn't get any extra parts to build any other version. I guess I was spoiled by AMT and MPC 3-in-1 kits where you could mix stock, custom and race parts to get your own unique build. Monogram also usually only offered one kind of custom wheel and tire combination at a time in many of their kits, so you couldn't even mix the wheels from different Monogram kits to get something different (I'm thinking of all of the Early Iron hot rod series when they updated their '60s hot rod kits by giving them all slotted aluminum mags, then later when just about everything came with Cragar Super Tricks). That, and the 1/24 scale meant you could only swap parts from other Monogram kits. Overall, I like them because they are pretty easy, straight-forward kits to build and the finished model looks great sitting on the shelf.
I recently purchased their 1959 Cadillac car kit. What a great kit. The detail is unbeatable. I had only build one Monagram kit back in the 70s and didnt like it. So j was surprised at this kit.
You can build it as a hard top or as a convertible. It comes molded in pink for the body and interior and black for the engine and chassis. I originally was going to paint it in a candy cherry red but decided on painting it pink. I used Testors pink enamel paint. I don't like using enamel paint but I loved the pink color. The kit went together very well and I am tempted to build another.
This was my youth with my father .
I always liked monogram the best they were the easiest models with the best fitting parts
My uncle Bob got me started in model car building, in fact he gave me all his collection of built model cars which were all monogram kits.
My uncle bought me the monogram ford roadster in 1/32 scale to build, he told me to build on my own and if it comes out good then he would get me a kit in 1/24 scale of my choice, unfortunately it wasn't a monogram kit, it was the ala kart double kit by amt.
Very interesting how it all got started. I loved there Impala line very detailed especially to us Lowriders builders. Thank you for taking us back in history where it all got started.
Great video - brings back the memories of my childhood.
Yeah. I really liked the Monogram kits and built a number of them when I was younger. Always wondered what happened to them.
.
Thanks for making this. When I was first building models, it did not seem to me that Monogram made better models than Revell or Aurora. My first Monogram models were the B-26 and the PBY. They were fine, but not better than a Revell P-40 or F4F. After a couple of years my friend bought a 1/48 Monogram Hurricane, and it was much better than other plane models we had. Then Monogram came out with a 1/72 P-51B. It was light-years ahead of Revell's P-51D. Great contours, nice detail, decals, etc. When Monogram came out with a few ship models (other than the 2 Viet Nam boats) I had high expectations, but then they were a little disappointing. The detail (especially on the superstructure sides) was great, but the fit was a little off. Plus, there was no consistent scale. All in all, good models. Thanks again.
These stories of companies with humble beginnings started by some clever person or a duo of clever persons seem to always have a sad ending.
I got my start in plastic modeling building Monogram 1/48 scale aircraft!
Love monogram models.They were always something special.Ok they mostly had raised panel lines.But some of the detail was amazing and so far ahead of its time,even would fit today.Also Monogram’s range was varied and daring.Its only now that some big kits that monogram did are done by other companies.But who’s doing or dare to do kits like the 1/72 Hustler and B-52(ok this one done now by others.But monogram was the only one for so long).The 1/48 B-26,B-24 and the mighty B-29..Be great if they did.!
But I still can’t help thinking back to the 80’s when I found monogram kits.Remembering happily building monograms 1/48 P-40E or there great F-105D and loving it.
Remembered the transparant P-51 kit, such a great end result...
Monogram was my favorite for aircraft models in the 70s. I had most of the 48th line built, including 3 of their huge B-17s, by 1980. I still have a few unbuilt kits around, including Yet another B-17G and Do-335. I finished a Monogram Skyraider last year, and a 72nd Bearcat. Still solid kits.
Great models. Outstanding video and presentation.
Had some Monogram cars in 1/24th, few planes (B 17 in 48th scale, back then a dream!) and a German armoured 8-wheel-recce and they were pretty good in terms of accuracy, fit, detail and overall appearance.
I was a lover of all 3 major US makers, however, in the mid-80s, I discovered the stunning accurate Airliner series from the Japanese maker, Hasegawa. I could not get enough of these kits. I would love to see the history of this company.
The quality and detail from Tamiya models ( Jap Zero, etc.) was also rather stunning.
Being a collector of model kits I love the Monogram Tom Daniel model kits he had some neat customs. Great review thanks.😊
I built a lot of the tanks which also came with a full colour diorama sheet from Sheppard Paine.
Thanks for this! I learned a lot that I never knew!
So many memories attached to Monogram. Their kits were always my favorite. Better than Revell, Tamiya, Airfix and Heller. I’d mow lawns on Saturdays then go to the local hobby shop and buy a couple of Monogram 1/48 aircraft kits. And even to this day, Monogram is still on record as producing some of the most iconic kits in the history of scale modelling hobby.
Nice job, good documentary.
I had several Monogram Models, 1/48 B17G, Which I painted it in Olive Drab w/ a parcial red tail, 1/48 P40B painted and decaled as a Royal South African Air Force Fighter, 1/48 P38J, 1/35 Halftrack personnel carrier (3), (1) Armored Halftrack, M13MGMC, Even if it doesn't say so.
As a kid in the '60s, Monogram was the best name in models for me-far above companies like Aurora. I didn't like Revell models as well as Monogram,either.
It was the large scale wooden bucks that got me hooked on large scale car models wish they did more large scale cars and trucks
Starting in about the late 1960s Monogram also made a series of incredibly detailed, classic cars in 1/24 scale: a '30s-vintage Rolls, Packard boat tail speedster, V-16 Cadillac and a '41 Lincoln Continental are a few I remember. A gorgeous '55 Bel Air also sticks in my mind, molded in red and white. All were incredibly detailed kits and definitely not for beginners. I'm 62, and still have a few of them tucked away. I tried for years to get my 3 grandsons interested in the hobby, but the lure and satisfaction of actually building something beautiful just couldn't compete with computer games and a fast-paced world that preaches instant gratification. When the hobby (which I think was just one aspect of the postwar DIY boom) declined we really lost something as a culture. Dads: Turn off the devices, set up a home workshop and teach your kids to MAKE something!!
amen