Woodsy,
Your recent post about old toy stores, and vintage toy stores like Uncle Tim’s, reminded me of one of the most enjoyable aspects of visiting your local toy or hobby shop back in the day - seeing row upon row of mouth-watering boxes for stuff you certainly wanted, but most of which you never got.
That’s the main reason I save most of my boxes after a model is built, so I can put it on the shelf and recreate the look of a dream hobby shop from the 60s-70s. Here are a few snaps of my model boxes on the shelf, a combination of built and unbuilt kits.
Rob C
USA
Your post really hits the nail on the head!
ReplyDeleteWe all have dream hobby/toy shops in our memories and it's nice to bring them back into the real world!
I'm currently renovating a Marx Mike Hazard figure, which I never had as a kid. I remember him in the window of Fantasia Toys in Richmond high Street in the mid 60s.
One of the displays inside this shop was a glazed wall cabinet with a blue painted frame.
I'm currently channelling this look for my Marx Toys display!
Like your kit box collection, it's a fragment of a personal world, long past but not forgotten.
I love your comment, "a fragment of a personal world, long past but not forgotten." Here! Here!
DeleteTo this day, I have a recurring dream where I am lost in a toy shop, somewhere in the world (sometimes the U.S., sometimes Japan, sometimes France or Germany) and in some different time period, from the early 1950s through the late 1970s, and there are so many amazing exotic toys I would never encounter in my waking state. A sacred alternative universe, I'd say.
Good luck with the Mike Hazard project, and pass along pix if you care to!
WOW. What a set.
ReplyDeleteSo many fabulous Japanese kits that I've never seen before, but wish I had.
It's like an alternative universe of Andersonesque vehicles.
You're a lucky guy Rob.
That's a lifetime of collecting, and (misspent?) funds, plus a lot of lucky breaks. I love the Japanese parallel universe of Andersonesque Sci-Fi models, it really is another world entirely. The Anderson influence, plus early pulp magazine cover art from the 30s and 40s, plus a touch of Japanese folk art influence, makes Japan SF an aesthetic world like no other.
DeleteWhat a great selection of SF kits, and a few real world types as well. Now can we please see the box tops ?
ReplyDeleteBox tops? Not a bad idea! I'm on it!
DeleteI've got all my original boxes for the 80's wave of Imai Macross and Xabungle kits - plus the models themselves. What is the kit on the first photo, left side, three boxes down - a sleek grey delta ?
ReplyDeleteSuch an enviable collection of rare and unusual kits too!
That kit is one of three in the "Getter" series from Bandai, mid-1980s I think. The yellow ship above it is another "Getter," but for some reason I didn't save the box on the third in the series. Actually, there is a small picture of that "Getter" built up in the last photo, the blue vehicle in the middle. I added the enclosed treads, because if you can turn any SF vehicle into a space tank, of course, I do!
DeleteI will send Woodsy better pix of the "Getter" series, they are another nice generic SF "knock-off" kit series from Japan, which I don't think were based on an Anime.
Cheers Zigg. What a stash you have!
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