Aurora's Monster Models
Monsters Anyone?
By Dick Engar
By Dick Engar
My entry into the hobby started on a rainy Saturday afternoon at age eight when my father and I built the Revell box-scale kit of the hospital ship “Haven.” After that, I was on my own, and the next subject I built was a French Poodle manufactured by ITC (Ideal Toy Corporation). Then what? It is hard to recall what I built right after the poodle was finished.
I do remember that my mother, who did not seem to enjoy my newly discovered hobby (did she know my father triggered it??), preferred that I not make a big mess by painting my models. Of course, all we had in the 1960s that would stick to plastic well were the enamel paints that required cleanup with turpentine. Remember the little bottles of Testors paint that you could buy for ten cents each? I started to accrue them along with the Revell or Testors tube glue that was easily procured via a bike ride to the reliable Rexall corner Drugstore about a half-mile from the house. My mother knew I was good at spilling things and she did not like the residual odor of paint thinners volatizing on the carpet of my recently remodeled bedroom. Eventually, though, I discovered the Aurora monster model kits and started out with The Creature, which needed some paint to spruce it up even though it was molded in green.
I do remember that my mother, who did not seem to enjoy my newly discovered hobby (did she know my father triggered it??), preferred that I not make a big mess by painting my models. Of course, all we had in the 1960s that would stick to plastic well were the enamel paints that required cleanup with turpentine. Remember the little bottles of Testors paint that you could buy for ten cents each? I started to accrue them along with the Revell or Testors tube glue that was easily procured via a bike ride to the reliable Rexall corner Drugstore about a half-mile from the house. My mother knew I was good at spilling things and she did not like the residual odor of paint thinners volatizing on the carpet of my recently remodeled bedroom. Eventually, though, I discovered the Aurora monster model kits and started out with The Creature, which needed some paint to spruce it up even though it was molded in green.
