HAWK/Testors Model company
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- čas přidán 15. 03. 2020
- Credit to oldmodelkits for the use of their images.
www.oldmodelkits.com
A brief history of the HAWK model company and its buy-out by Testors in 1970. Also a quick look at Testors. Many HAWK kits are still in periodic production by other companies besides Testors (like Glencoe ).
Music: is a karaoke version of Sweet's Fox on the run. - Zábava
I built them all. I have literally been in aviation all of my life having been raised on Naval Air Stations during my Dads 30 year Navy career. I did 20 as an aircraft mechanic myself. At 68 years of age I still work on aircraft for the USCG as a senior structural mechanic on the C-144 and C-27 aircraft and will be retiring in 1 year and 9 months. I really enjoyed this presentation.
1974. Thirteenth birthday. The 1/48 F2H Banshee! Loved the box art so much I kept it as a wall picture. it was the one where it was bombing a road of some sort...smoke and fire all over..
Thanks for cutting out the unnecessary "music".
This is not a musical channel, but A VERY GOOD one, and we the aviation lovers, are here to listen to YOU and aircraft.!!!
Thanks again...
Hawk kits were fun when I was a kid. Some of the old molds are pretty accurate. The Corsair and Dauntless come to mind. These days I’m into scratch building cockpits and modifying airframes, Hawk kits fit the bill!
I bought Hawk kits as a kid, collect them now and still build them. This video was really interesting as Hawk not talked about a whole lot when getting into model makers history. I love all your model videos. THANK YOU for a super job!
I built Freddy Flameout around 1966, and one of the cars, but I'm an airplane guy, too. I have several planes models, still, but most didn't survive all my cross-country moves. I still have the Hawk Douglass dive bomber, uh, modified to look like a racer (done when I got a little older). I think my earliest models were Hawk kits, until I moved on to Revell and Monogram. Love your videos, glad I discovered your channel.
thanks
I liked Hawk's T-33 kit as well as their space station and atomic airplane kits. I still have some parts from Freddie Flame Out tucked away in cigar boxes. Thanks for a video that answers questions I've had about some of these old companies.
That P-47D was one of my favorites. Built one when I was about 11!
Thanks for the video!
I really love this kind of content, thank you so much for this. I’m glad to have found your channel. I’m also on the music-less crowd :) Hope you could do a piece like this on other makers, like Matchbox .
Ah I get it now. My uncle loved Bill Campbells stuff, he often drew similar style sketches. Thanks for these, I enjoy the history a lot.
Hi, I really like all those historic documents about the famous companies that made these great model kits since I was 10 years old in the 50's. Paul Hooft Netherlands, Europe.
Testor's paint and glue...the smell of my bedroom back in the day. Explains why I'm this way today...
Found it. May 25 2020. Did a Hawk P-51 Detailed it as much as I new how. Used Micro- scale decals. I have the Hawk 1/48 Westland Lysander. It’s a cool plane. Have photo-etch detail set and SQUADRON vacuform canopy for it
I had hawk's u-2 spy plane (chrome plated), and v-1 rocket, ohka "baka" bomb. they were pretty true to the original. I also had freddy flameout. all good quality
It's the artwork on the 1960's era kits that hooked me. Beautiful artwork.
Same with Airfix 72 Box Art!
Lindberg artwork, fantastic !
In the late fifties and early sixties Hayek kits were sold here in Brasil rebadged by ATMA and some with brasilian decals. I' ve built some of them at the time.
I built a Hawk HH-43 Huskie helicopter in 1/48 scale. It had intermeshing rotors and was motorized. Those were the good ‘ole days of modeling!
Building these and other models certainly helped me as an illustrator. I can visualise things in three dimensions, and think of perspective as well as physical detail.
I enjoyed the Testors U-2 kit quite a bit. I was in middle school at the time. I remember the Hawk kits, but the artwork made them look "old" and in my mind old meant less detail and some physical inaccuracy that might be noticeable. I was really heavily into Monogram 1/48th scale WWII aircraft kits. No jets for me, thank you. Well, there *was* that U-2. Okay, and an F-4J. And a 1/72nd scale B-1 - but I digress. I was *really* intrigued by the MRC/Tamiya kits a brand new hobby shop (within bicycle distance of my house) was featuring. They were like nothing I had ever seen up to that point.
Thanks for the memories. I had not thought about that U-2 and the very slick-looking Testors box it came in. I was taken in by this a lot, it seems - old kit repackaged with and sold with a lot of hype. I had no idea I had purchased so many Hawk kits through this sales tactic. Dumb kid… :-)
As youngsters, HAWK and Monogram were my brother and I's favorites (though we built plenty of other brands). I must have built at least four each of their P-51 and F-104 kits. I still have the little clear-red plastic flame from their Me-163 kit in one of my spares boxes.
Hey There Orange Lion!! Didn't the V-1 come with one of those clear-red plastic flames too? Or is my 64 year old brain playing tricks on me,,,,again!
@@kevinaguilar4487 My 63 year old brain says you are correct! The flame came in both. Maybe the "Baka" kit too.
@@orangelion03 I had to do a google search on the V-1,,, and there is a pic there showing a built V-1, and Baka,,, and those tail pipe flames!
@@kevinaguilar4487 Maybe like me, you have a "spares" box...all those left over parts, or parts from uncompleted or damaged kits. I can pull out a part and 95% of the time I can tell exactly what kit it came from 50 years later! But I cant remember where I left my keys...
@@kevinaguilar4487 yup
Excellent series on Modeling - Long time builder here and the history of these companies is great to see, I remember all the brands as a kid.
Plastic Models is still vibrant today with new manufacturers getting into the game.
Thank you SOooo very much. Very great work in your segments. Please, please, please make more-!!!!
I just discovered your videos today and this is the sixth one I've watched. I enjoyed your soundtracks.
The Hawk 1930s racers, I still have my built models and I building some again for a second time. They always felt like really old kits to me, but I didn't mind since I was fascinated with the prototype racers and they really achieved as much detail as I needed, especially with wire rigging added and good airbrushed paint jobs.
Good Job, Max! A 7-11 store up the street sold Hawk kits, when I was a wee lad. Bought the planes & ships. What fun...
Big investor in 60s models. Wow they were mom and pops. Biz. Amazing
Thanks for your video. Like many others who have commented here I built almost all of the WWII aircraft and would hang them from my bedroom ceiling. Whenever one fell victim to my mother's dusting efforts, I'd take it to the park, blow it up with firecrackers (readily available to 1960's kids), go buy another kit and repeat the cycle. Still have an unopened Graf Zeppelin kit in its original Hawk box.
I really enjoy your videos, they take me back.
The music is good, too. :)
Thanks, Max, for another delightful stroll down memory lane. I have a Testor's Mr. Mulligan on my shelf now. When I built this as an adult, I was rather surprised at how hard it was to get such a simple kit to come out well. I had to do a lot of bracing and supporting while the cement dried to keep the landing gear struts properly aligned. I bet I'd find a Gee Bee in a box in the garage if I looked, too! Thanks again!
joebobshouse If you have Amazon Prime, you can get their channel. I’ve been watching “First Flights”. It’s host is none other then Neil by god Armstrong! One segment today was on early airplane racing. Check it out. The whole channel is good and worth the money for Prime membership. I never knew they HAD a channel...
Max, I’m sad to say I just found your site a few days ago, but man I’m I glad I did. Thank you for sharing this with us. It brings back great memories for me. My mother got me into model building when I was a young boy back in the Sixties. I only got away from it when I moved to NY and a lot of my stuff got misplaced or destroyed. I really appreciate you taking the time to put together these videos. Great job....👍🏽🤙🏽👍🏽
Great job! Thanks for sharing - still got quite a few Hawk/Testors/Glencoe kits in the stash! BTW, I am currently working on restoring an F4U Corsair that was in that "AU-1" disguise!
I like these videos (even with the music!)! Keep it up! I had a lot of great memories with Testors models, particularly the 1/72 Corsair, Texan, and Dauntless. I still enjoy them today.
Thank you. Your narration is all that is needed.
Wonderful video. My very first model was the Cessna sky Master. My dad bought it for me. This was the summer of 1974. About 2 years ago I found the Testors version at Hobby Town and wondered if it might be the same kit. Your video has confirmed that thank you.
Loved Testors for their SR-71, OV-10 Bronco and Karman Huskie intermeshing rotor rescue helicopter molded in flawless aluminum.
Thanks for posting this very interesting history of HAWK! In addition to the aircraft, HAWK also had some very good model car kits (such as the 1902 Rambler and the 1909 Hupmobile) that I remember buying at the then-new Target store when I was about eight or nine. I wouldn't mind seeing those, again.
In addition to those kits, I wish Round 2 would reissue the Beta-1 Bomber and the Manned Orbiting Laboratory as well as the classic "Hawk Atlas ICBM" shown in the lower right hand corner at 2:40.
Thanks for posting the histories. Neat thing to follow how the hobby has changed. I was big into it in the 80s, and now with my kids getting back into it.
Thanks I enjoyed your video, I was a kid of the 50's and 60's and built a lot of the kits. Great times!
Hawk always had a great line of models.
Great video! I am 61 and was an avid modeller back in my teens. I wish someone would make a video on how the plastic molds are made, all that fine detail and scale accuracy, that must have been a tricky art.
AS a kid, I loved Hawk's 50 cent plastic kits. Thanks!!
Just started watching your videos. Love um! Lots of great stuff. Lots of great model info.
This one on Hawk Models has something missing. One think you left out. And it seems everyone doesn’t know about Hawk buying or acquiring. Not really sure myself. There was a company in Chicago, Illinois called Totem Industries Division of Leeds Sweete Products, Inc., 362 W. Erie St. This company made wooden totems and other wood items. These sold mostly to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. The “Pine Wood Derby/Raingutter Regatta” stuff. This was in the early 50’s and still continues today. At some point Hawk took them over. Hawk started making plastic Totem models in 1966 using some of the same decals that came with the wooden kits of the past. I don’t know if the wooden cars the scouts build today are still from a Hawk line or If someone else took them over. Just another thing to look into.
A fan of your model videos. Keep the music at the end. Gives me time to look up the next thing to watch.🙂
interesting
@@maxsmodels I have one of the Totem Industry models if you ever need a photo or info about them.
Nice, informative review and the music at the end wasn't bad at all. Yeah, props to Hawk for producing kits no one else would! I'm fascinated by the Travelaire Mystery Ship and the other 1930s era racing planes!!
Great videos !!! I also love Sweet !
Thanks for another well told story about an American model company - and good humor :-)
You never mentioned the clear orange flames that came in many Hawk kits like the V-1 and Baka Bomb. They were my favorites, no other model company had anything like them. I got the Beta I Bomber when I was five and spent forever adjusting the flames so they dried straight. It was awesome. Later in '66-7 there was a store- Chicago Factory Outlet- that sold Hawk models for half price! I could get a Mustang or Thunderbolt for 49 cents! Chromed ones cost 98 cents! I must have built the Mustang ten times, there wasn't a lot of variety at that price. I still own some old Hawk kits- race planes in tiny boxes and some Weird-o's. I remember judging how good a model builder someone was by their Weird-o's- if they painted the blood vessels in the eyeballs they were very good!
When i was a " kid ," i got 50 cents for allowance. I went to my hobby store, but could only walk around, and look at them : ( , as i did nt have enough money. Now i do the same thing, but the cost is just so highhhhhhhhhhhh. I now have to buy 2 of the same kits, as to make one, and then replace them, is too much, so i buy what i can. Your show, and comment s are GREAT.......Thxs for making an " old guy "a young kid, again.
I remember Hawk kits. I too focused mostly on airplanes after being originally given a Monogram MGA at about 5 or 6. My first Hawk model was the Supermarine Swift, followed by the Convair 880 and the De Havilland Comet, and all the air racers. You possibly hung airplanes all over the ceiling of your room, like I did?I am curious if you know what happened to their Bonneville racer series? Not real complicated to build, but with the rubber band motor, it had lots of play value.
I certainly had models all over my ceiling as a kid. Would have had them all around the house had my parents allowed me to. My 9yr old son has his ceiling covered in models. We both would have them all around the house if my wife would let us. The more things change the more they stay the same 😂
Built a lot of the Hawk kits---GeeBee, Spirit of St Louis, Komet........building models helped develop my creativity and resulted in me going to art school.....the models also sent me to the library researching.....as I recall, I got into trouble for simulating a bad Komet landing by enhancing it with lighter fluid. :)
Kinda remember the very 1st model kit I ever built was a Hawk Jaguar XK-E. It was molded in yellow and silver grey plastic with clear windshield and headlights. The wheels and tires were on piece and the axles were as thick as a sprue!!! I was 6 or 7 years old. It was glue city!!! No matter how hard I tried to make the car look good, my previously non-existent glue skills prevented that!!! Testors glue everywhere!! Especially joining the top and bottom halves of the body together!!! The clear parts didn't stand a chance!!!
Most likely built on a Saturday morning after breakfast, watching 1962-64 Saturday Morning Cartoons!!!!
BTW - please correct me if my model wasn't a Hawk model. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of plastic model history!! Something I've wondered about for the past 57 or so years!!!
Another great video..!
Million thanks for sharing once again..
Bought this kit of the U-2. It came with 2 right wings, no left. Made it tough to build.
Mine had two left wings. Hmm…
Holton 345 : two ships passing in the night...
After more than 50 years I still have the chrome plated F-84 kit. My older brother pointed out the better more detailed kits that were coming out but often times I wanted something to play with or more appropriately war game with. Even if it was against Godzilla and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
The F-84 would cream the monster from the Black Lagoon but we have already seen what happens when jets go up against the Big-G. :)
Again, EXCELLENT video, very well explained story of Hawk. When Hawk released the U-2 in 1961, it was not a top seller. it catched up much later, perhaps when Testors took over the moulds and converted to the Powers incident version of the U-2C. This model is available again from Round" and they have a fantastic kit.
Can't wait to see your rendition of the Lindberg Line story and Paulette Lindberg, Paul Lindberg's beautiful daughter appearing on the cover of several issues of Playboy. Greetings from Colombia. EDUARDO
I saw on a thread where everyone wanted you to post that article, boys will be boys. Que tenga buen dia Eduardo.
@@maxsmodels Hi, can you tell me which thread please? Mil gracias y espero tus videos
EDUARDO
Nice info on Testors ,,,, "SWEET" MUSIC too !!!!!
I've actually got two Hawk kits in my stash awaiting building, both are the same 1/72 Spitfire Mk.22, the unique thing about the Hawk version is that they show the aircraft as it was originally built with the early Mk.XIV style fin and rudder and not with the later Spiteful style of fin and rudder that every other model manufacturer makes, it's strange just how many of these Hawk Spitfires are readily available on E-Bay at very reasonable prices.
Thank you! Good to see all my favorites were yours too.
I have a few of those old kits. They were not common here in the UK. I did have the chrome plated Bearcat. I used a little polish on a bit of the interior and it really shon. Did it on the outside and it rubbed off the plating on part of one wing upper surface. Ruined it. It got painted navy blue instead. I have the Vanguard rocket on my 'to build' pile.
I built nearly half of the Hawk/Testor airplane kits you showed. Your Dad once met Matty Laird (famed early aviation pioneer and designer/builder of the Laid Super Solution race plane) at an airshow in Florida in the 1970s. When he heard the aviator's name, his first words to him were, "I thought you were dead."
I was there, I met him too along with one of the old race pilots who was sadly confined to a wheelchair. His name might have been Clem. It was 1977. I stupidly chose a $10 ride in a helicopter (Hughes 500C) instead of a Ford tri-motor. Harold Watson told me I would regret that someday. I do.
As I recall the V-1 model you made had a little reddish translucent flame that you could stick out of the back of the motor. Silly but also kind of cool. Funny the details we remember.
Really, I can't believe what people complain about. The music gives it a little humor and fun. Music is life. I vote to keep the music.
thank you
I love this video formate! Very good compilation!
That Hawk 1/72 AU-1 was the first Corsair kit I ever built.
Excellent work sir
Great choice of music!
"If I had found one on the shelf". So many kits were not widely distributed.
At first, the Hawk brand name didn't ring a bell, then I saw the box art for The Spirit of St. Louis and the memories came flooding back. By the time the Weird-Oh plastic models arrived, I was in high school, and plastic model glue was for "sniffers" seeking a cheap, dangerous high.
I recall using many bottles of Testors plastic model paint, and later, Dope for .010-.049 inch powered Balsa wood and tissue paper model airplanes.
What, no theme music? Even the greenest first time CZcams video poster uses music to pace their narration (if any). A video without music is just another DIY or how-to lecture, which I get from photography related channels.
Enjoy your end-music montages. But - background music seems to always signal my brain "whatever this narrator is saying can be safely ignored" - quiet seems to work better.
Remember having the Hawk Dauntless ('68 or '69) and how sturdy the plastic seemed.
That Aurora Frankenstein: remember my mom built and painted this for us ( we were only 5-7 years old) along with other monsters in the series; Phantom of the Opera scared me....
Thanks for omitting the music. I think it was the right choice. Keep up the good work.
I have that Mystery Ship in a square Testors box. The plastic and waterslide decals inside are identical to the Hawk kit shown here.
I had a Hawk McDonnell F2H. Along with the all chromed Cessna 337. I quickly discovered that all chromed models were no fun to put together. I had to scrape and sand off the chrome plating where I would join the parts so the glue would stick.
Hi again.I remember some of the hawk models & weird-oh models.and I still buy a lot of testors prodects.and don't stop ✋ the music.it makes a good ending.
thx
My wife and I met in San Francisco, so for our 20th anniversary i decided to build her a cable car model, and found a 1987 new-in-box release by Testors on the 'Bay. Good quality kit, but the decals didn't age well, leaving me to piece together some lettering, and a few parts were slightly bowed. When I opened the kit, I was surprised to see the underside of the cable car floor etched with "Hawk Model Company (c), Made in USA." Since it appears to be hand-written with some kind of etching tool, I'm wondering if the kit was manufactured pre-1970 and then repackaged in 1987(?). If not, did Testors just re-release the kit with the Hawk name still on the mold, not bothering to delete it? I did snap a pic of the underside before construction. The bonus was the kit was packaged with a "new for 1987" catalog!
During the lockdown my shop has been busy completing some kits that were in deep stash. A Dragon Apollo 17 diorama, a Tamiya Ford Zakspeed Capri, and the aforementioned Powell & Hyde cable car. Right now I'm tackling the Trumpeter 1/35 STRV-103C Swedish MBT; I also got the workable track links and BOTH sets of Eduard PE parts. It's been maddeningly fun!
So glad I found these videos on the history behind familiar model companies a lot of us grew up with. Would love to hear any thoughts on the cable car manufacture as noted above.
Same here, between my brother and I, we built damn near every kit they made. I even belonged to the Hawk model kit club
Another little gem - thanks Max. I'm old enough to remember the Weird-Oh style kits coming here to the UK but I don't remember them being much of a hit this side of the pond.
Re: the Hawk Comet box art, shown at least twice in your film, I noticed that BOAC is spelled BOCA on it. You didn't mention this and I can't find a comment here that does either. It's a tiny detail I know, but I wonder whether it was a mistake by Hawk or deliberate.
Thanks for the memories. I too remember the Hawk kits as "heavy". Also big rivets and seams. Despite the failings, I bought a lot of them. As you pointed out, they had move varied selection than the others. I remember assembling the AU-1, R3C, Supermarine S6, and the Baka (with the red flames). Perhaps it was one-upmanship. You've got a Spitfire ? I built it's ancestor, the S6. F4U? Did you know about the last Corsair, the AU-1? P6E? It came from the R3C-1. I think I built Revell most often but it was always Hawk for the unusual.
I love these obscure or prototype aircraft kits. Some of those early supersonic concepts look badass. not to mention the MOL.
and who knew the Corsair could still look sexy painted in Cold War colors?
As a 10yr old I walked past a mom and pop store called John's place in Norfolk,Va.Inside this tiny store was candy and various other things for the house.A tiny little section had six small Hawk models.I chose the German recon plane called the "owl".I built it and used it to bomb my Army Men.
so did the Luftwaffe 🤣
I built nearly all of the air racer series when it was sold by Testors, along with the Lysander and some others, not to mention tons of Monogram, Revell, and other kits. Was and still am into model railroading, but HO Scale, so I never encountered Hawk in model railroading.
Tough part about the metal plated models is that you had to scrap the chrome off before gluing; otherwise, the model cement would not work on metal.
I exclusively used Testors glue and paints until the '80's. For awhile, toluene glue was not available. The replacement was totally inadequate.
Ahh yes, the non toxic crap..I remember the package of one said "Smells like lemons, sticks like crazy!" I remember it sticking not at all, and it didn't really harden either..Was a sad purchase!
@@Oldbmwr100rs Yeah, that was the day I had to quit sniffing glue, even accidentally.
@@sillyone52062 Yeah, when that crap came out it seems i lost that "special feeling" when building models and I never felt that need to keep building them anymore.
Another GREAT video! Thanks!
👍👍 Loved it! Keep em coming!
311 thumbs up and 0 thumbs down - a compliment to your lovely video
PS The end track was 'Fox on the run' by 'The Sweet"
Surely you remember the Hawk model car kits which were made to look like Bonneville Salt Flats racers? They were 1/32 scale, molded in translucent white, had only a few parts, and were sold in just about every five-and-dime store in the mid-1970s. I can't even find those kits on Ebay nowadays.
At 2:53, the “Beta”-1 Atomic Powered Bomber. My dad bought me that model. One of the coolest planes an 8 yr could ever want.
You do not want to know what an intact kits is worth today.
It’s amazing to see the percentage of the models I built in this total series. I still have last version of the visible Mustang with retractable landing gear and motorized prop. Btw, if you like the music, leave it in. Great series and enjoy the credits!
Cool history.
Would like to see a video on Comet models. Had some good ones like the Boeing 707 prototype.
eventually I hope to
I still have a original Hawk Mr. Mulligan kit, new in the box.
I did the freddy flame out kit & the out house hot rod . They were fun
Hawk was more than silly cartoons. The authenti-plate issues were like jewels and deserve a whole chapter.
Good job, I believe ID models was a common term for spotter models.
I remember my cousin and I building Hawk Bonneville racers. Nothing complicated about them. The rubber band motors would spin the polystyrene wheel/ axle sets, which was okay, but something grippier for tires might have made them fly.
I loved the soundtrack. Who doesn't like The Who? Keep up the great music :-)
It was" Sweet" from the UK, 1974.
It was Sweets fox on the run.
Love the kit mfg. bios.... how about next doing...Lindberg?
they r next
maxsmodels: thanks Max!
I picked up a couple of Hawk Lockheed F-90's and Beta "I" Atomic Bombers on ebay back when the prices weren't through the roof yet. I'm going to build the ones that were already started and save the unbuilt ones as an investment.
growing up in the Chicago burbs, I built many HAWK models during my youth, mostly planes of the WWII vareity.
I saw som "Weird-ohs" kits at Dollar Tree the other day.
Those didnt last long, but if you need some your local (if your lucky to have one) hobby shop can get them. Dont know why there on the Lindbergh price sheet and not Hawks, but they come in Hawk boxes. My little shop stocks them
Found a Freddy Flameout at a flea market. Finished building it October ,2019
Thanks max 🤙👊
Weren't Hawk kits typically cast much thicker and heavier than others? I recall doing a couple of planes as a kid and noting how heavy the parts were compared to the Airfix kits my local drug store (!) stocked. I thought that was Hawk.