Adams, Snap, UPC, Life-Like

[@patricklozito7042]

I built practically all of the ADAMS and RENWAL models. 2 years ago I bought a complete, unassembled ADAMS Atomic Cannon kit. It was not cheap. Every now and then, I open the box and just look. There could not be a better time machine.

[@jaman878]

My Father-in-Law was a rear driver on the Atomic Cannon at the time of the Berlin Crisis. He bought the lit back in the day. He gave it to me to build I got stuck. Short shot and a few missing parts. I gave it to a friend of mine who is an excellent modeler. He scratched the missing parts, fixed the short shot so you can't tell. He got rid of the many toy-like feature and scratched the shell ramp. I bought an expensive case for it and Gave it back to my FIL He was THRILLED!

[@patricklozito7042]

@@jaman878 I worked for a fellow that grew up in Brussels Belgium. He remembers, as a child, that they would periodically drive the Atomic Cannon (M65) around the city, mostly as a show for the Russians. In all likelihood your Father-in-Law was driving it.

[@gijoeimmortal1868]

I can remember the "Honest John" kit at Woolworth's as a kid. I didn't build it but I remember asking my Dad about why they gave it the name. Nothing honest about blowing thy foe to tiny bits! He said we had a missile site on the outskirts of our city with those.

[@calvingifford9442]

Glad to hear Glencoe is still around!

[@tomdye5900]

Thanks for doing this one! The 1/40th scale kits remain my very favorite and besides mine from the 60's, I have collected ever since. The jeep and infantry have been (and remains) the most difficult to obtain. I sure hope Glencoe decide to bring these back. Am already collecting the western wagons as they come out. Again, thank you for doing this show as it cleared up some historical ownership issues I had always wondered about. Hats off to those who were willing to take the risk and enter in to the plastic kit business in the 50's and 60's. May God Bless them all!

[@maxsmodels]

Glencoe only has a few of the molds I think.

[@tomdye5900]

@@maxsmodels I had heard that ma few were destroyed in a train wreck either coming or going to Mexico. never learned which ones were damaged/lost. I always found it "interesting" that both Monogram and Revell infantry figures were reproduced my Roco Minitanks in the 1960's. Paqnograph no doubt back then. They were really nice, clean and crisp castings. Even the clear plastic bases were modelled from the Revell G.I. running with the M=1, full pack and with bayonet!

[@hertzair1186]

Glencoe reissued the Adams Thor and Vanguard a few years ago...i got one of each. Love Glencoe for their bringing back these old gems of kits.

[@maxsmodels]

Nick is an ACE!

[@cammobunker]

Never heard of any of these companies...I'm just here for the music :)

[@luislealsantos]

As always great music. Thanks Max

[@normanhumphrey9695]

That was a really interesting and informative video, thanks so much for putting it together. I sure hope you do get to interview the folks from Glencoe as it sounds as if they may produce some very interesting and desirable kits in the future. Thanks again, really appreciate your doing these. Take good care, be well and stay safe.

[@mbryson2899]

I had several Life-Like HO scale buildings. Aaahh, memories!

[@kl0wnkiller912]

I still have a few old Glencoe kits and even Pyro in my stash including an old Glencoe Army 'flying banana" helicopter.

[@smitty560]

Some of those Kits made Me think Adams had Something to Do with Renwall Back in the Day....Final Song Brought Back MEMORIES...My Dad was a Korea 'Chosen Few' Vet....Hadn't Heard Any Version of THAT in Eons....Thanks....

[@jamesperrin3762]

I think Life-Like got the Inpact (UK) moulds from Pyro who first acquired them. ADAMS' "80 days" balloon would make a nice companion to Inpact's "Those Marvellous Men in their Flying Machines" kits.

[@ronaldetherington480]

I built several of these(the Savannaha, Winnie the Whale(amtrac) and several others The quality was very good, had no complaints. Oh to have these now with my higher detail and skill level...thanks for the trip back.

[@Wild-Dad]

I will look forward to the vid on Glencoe.

[@jamesdziendziel9187]

I remember walking to my local Ben Franklin Store in the seventies with my hard earned lawn mowing money in my pocket to purchase Life-Like's military models. I still have a broken Long Tom around here somewhere. Thanks Max!

[@kenty2831]

the Johnny Quest cartoon series reference brought a smile, thank you for the "whimsey". takes me right back to an imaginative time

[@Merylstreep1949]

I would like to see a kit using the stagecoach hauling the missiles or the atomic rifle gun,lol too much lol

[@maxsmodels]

Some PLEASE accept this man's challenge! I would if I had the kits!

[@hertzair1186]

....it could be done....perhaps creating a whole new modeling category

[@garfieldsmith332]

Yes. It could be called the Wild Wild West series. Modern weapons back in the 1800's used by a pair of secret agents.

[@farpointgamingdirect]

That song is funny as hell! Oscar Brand was a Canadian American folk artist. He used to have a show on radio that ran for about 70 years, and holds the record for the longest-running radio show with only one host

[@maxsmodels]

he was a talent to be sure

[@farpointgamingdirect]

@@maxsmodels Ranks right up there with Allan Sherman

[@Paladin1873]

Those 1940s and 50s vintage military kits look really cool. I know I loved my Renwal M-47 Patton II. Team it up with a Walker Bulldog, M24 Chaffee, Easy Eight Sherman, Honest John, Thor, Hawk, Skysweeper, the Atomic cannon, etc., and place them in a diorama that recreates a secret DoD research facility in the southwest desert. Add in some F-90 fighters in Blackhawk markings and Sky King's Songbird, then throw in Godzilla and a few of his buds in the background, along with Dr. Zinn's robot spy. Round it out with Race Bannon and the M.A.R.S. Patrol, and you have the makings of quite an interesting adventure, circa 1958 - 1964.

[@Paladin1873]

Oh yea, and you need an Ontos.

[@maxsmodels]

That would the most awesome diorama ever!

[@maxsmodels]

Oh crap....I just had a really bad idea.....

[@maxsmodels]

Well, another one that is

[@Paladin1873]

@@maxsmodels What is it? Share the crappiness.

[@chrispacer4231]

Had a lifelike buffalo, good detail. Added more detail. Good figures.

[@modelermark172]

Thanks for another informative and entertaining video on the history of plastic model kits! A few months back, I got the Glencoe reissue of the Roman Chariot (A Triumph Chariot, I think; not a Racing Chariot.) But in any event, it was fun to build! Though the tooling has got to be almost 70 years old, the kit is as intricate and detailed as anything being made today. I hope we'll see more of the original Miniature Masterpieces reissued, soon . . . .

[@mrkairam]

Great video, Max. Just got the Covered Wagon by Glencoe last month and hoping to get the Chariot soon. Glad there are some companies that are reissuing these classics kits.

[@joelblashka4309]

I just found your Adams history. Very informative, thank you. I would like to add something if I may. In that brief period after the demise of Adams and the repackaging of their kits by UPC you touched on the SNAP kits. While they did produce the Adams military models they did not do the Miniature Masterpieces/Revell western wagons. In 1962 they were picked up by Athearn, a company known for their model trains. The line of six kits retailed for 49 cents each. In addition to the covered wagon, ranch wagon, Chuck wagon and stage coach they also manufactured the western figures kit and the medicine wagon. Both were originally sold by Revell and then by Adams. The box art was pretty much the same as the Adams kits but with the Athearn logo in the upper left corner.

[@FastSports-ScaleCarGarage]

Another great video! UPC had some great 1/32 scale cars, a Chaparral and a Cheetah that made great slot cars! Keep 'em coming!

[@maxsmodels]

Thanks

[@WAL_DC-6B]

I spoke to Nick Argento of Glencoe Models about 10 years ago, maybe longer, when I found out the mold for the "Cruver Thermoplastics Co." Douglas DC-7 model might be available to purchase (Cruver, a Chicago based company no longer in business, is probably best known for making all those black 1/72 scale I.D. model planes out of acetate cellulite plastic during WWII for pilot friend-foe training). Cruver was contracted by United Airlines about 1954 to make factory assembled and finished 1/50 scale plastic models of their then new DC-7 propeller airliner to be used in UAL ticket offices and private travel agencies. I have this model (Mainliner San Francisco) on it's half egg shaped pivot stand along with an earlier made Cruver 1/72 UAL Douglas DC-6 and DC-3. To make a long story short, Nick found out the DC-7 mold was no longer available and was apparently scrapped years earlier. One last thing, I was told by a former Cruver employee that Cruver did try to interest Monogram Models in the mold after it had completed the United contract. Monogram turned down the offer which is too bad as the DC-7 is a fairly large and nicely accurate representation of the real thing.

[@maxsmodels]

that is awesome

[@redshirtmodels5757]

I love Glenco, i try to get their offerings over others, when ever possible.

[@buzzawuzza3743]

cool video, never saw an adams kit before

[@randyherbrechtsmeier4796]

Adam's had slick shiney plastic like ITC

[@maxsmodels]

interesting

[@garfieldsmith332]

Even though they were reboxed UPC had a great line of kits and they were good. They even may have reboxed some FROG kits as they produced 3 or 4 British WW2 warships that were molded in England. I built a bunch of them. Never saw an Adams or SNAP kit. Thanks for the information.

[@maxsmodels]

If you do see a real Adams or SNAP kit...grab it!

[@garfieldsmith332]

@@maxsmodels Will do. Those military kits look great. Summer soon be here and all the yard sales will appear, and perhaps some model kits.

[@robingray1302]

Great stuff as always, my abiding memory of selling LikeLike kits back in the day was the high incedence of missing parts, still got a couple of incomplete kits in my stash waiting for parts.....

[@maxsmodels]

did not know that

[@p40f20]

The Thor and Vanguard kits were put out by Glenco a few years ago.

[@fucqtheworld]

I have one of each. They should be fairly easy to find at a reasonable price on eVil Bay.

[@richardlott8349]

Again have several sailing ships by pyro and Life like. Love them hope to get them built after almost 40 years.

[@barrysteinlage6888]

I was looking at one of your previous episodes of your managed, did I catch a glimpse of a Mattel vac-uform machine on the upper shelf. I had one back in the 60's

[@maxsmodels]

handy for canopies and such

[@barrysteinlage6888]

@@maxsmodels DI d you get it new or Ebay? I'm binge watching watching and I was up til 3:30 thid morning

[@stuartclemmons3832]

Glad to see Glenco is still around, thought they went belly up like so many other model companies.

[@rickzinck9326]

Thanks again Max. Great information.

[@rq83]

Thanks again, such great work

[@kennyswonger5227]

Thanks max for some more history lessons.but I do know the revell name.and keep the music comming.hi from geauga county.Ohio.

[@maxsmodels]

I assume folks do but that is my assumption, I have been known to be wrong once or twice per ......

[@paintnamer6403]

The raccoons have ripped down my suet cages and dragged them off under the neighbors deck, that's what happens in Geauga Co.

[@kennyswonger5227]

Paintnamer .I don't know who you are.but what you say about your raccoons.has nothing to do about model planes.call your pest control.don't be a pest.and don't knock about my county.so don't be a pest.you sound like a bully.

[@lancerevell5979]

I'd go for the Vanguard and Thor rocket kits too, if Glencoe gets them released.

[@model-man7802]

Had/ still have Life Like and Pyros Monitor and Merrimac.Glencos Grumman's Duck.👍

[@use5555]

I have probably built every military kit that they made. I thought they were easy to assemble ,accurate and looked cool. I wish I had the two atomic cannons that I built as a kid. I look for one on EBAY all the time. Very collectable and very hard to find. I would love to see a podcast with Glencoe as well as Atlantis. Good job.

[@maxsmodels]

I hope to get them dome but those guys are very busy

[@tatocorvette]

Geez! Now I want one of those helicopters! Thank you! Great content as usual.

[@maxsmodels]

I saw one on Ebay for $90. That is the best deal I have seen in a while.

[@jorgel.fernandeziii8278]

I believe the Glenco US Coast Guard 1/48 scale rescue boats from the early 20s to late 50s and I opened up the midsection and used a real canvas where the real canvas was supposed to be and I put a six cylinder Mercedes-Benz engine inside of it wired it up !!! Looked like a marine engine should look !! But, like an idiot, I sold it at a trade show at the George R Brown convention Center I believe for much less than what it was truly worth !!! :( I put a lot of time and money in that little US Coast Guard skiff ): !!! 🌊🐺

[@jorgel.fernandeziii8278]

I did go ahead and buy another one and I do have another Mercedes six cylinder 1/48 scale motor to place inside like I did the other !!! And this time I will not sell it ! I need it for my Florida East Coast water scenes ! I can’t wait till I have the space time and the wood to build the left of my dreams but I Gotta know how to paint a beach and I got a quarter a bunch of Coconut and palm trees ! Wouldn’t mind finding another much bascule bridge style of gauge bridge they put out that not quite like Lionel’s but it does manually go up and down but I’ve only got one if I had two might be better off for the layout that I’m literally dreaming about right now ! Beaches for partygoers to the right hand side of the back in towards the left-hand side closer to the middle got a support with cranes unloading shrimp boats lobster boats all kinds of boats !!! Funny thing is that I’m trying to buy everything that I can get my hands on O gauge I tried to duplicate it in HO and N and now in Z scale !!! It’s taking me a long time but I have been doing so for the past 30 years and I’ve developed quite a collection to the point where I’m just doing the Florida East Coast but I’ve actually been able to venture into seaboard airline in O, HO, & N Scale ! New to Z Scale but nothing’s stopping me from getting the job done !!!! Need to finish My M.A.S.H. Unit ASAP !!!! Still to much to do !!!🌊🐺

[@CAPNMAC82]

Wow, bought a bunch of the 1/40 kits in Plainview, Texas, back in the day (probably from Gibson's). I want to remember they were in Life-Like boxes, though. Ok, having flipped through Scalemates, they wer in the 1974 reboxed Life-Like boxes.

[@andyrichardsvideovlogs8835]

NS Savannah intrigues me. Revell had the Savannah in its range in the early 60s but I was never able to get one. Was this the Adams tooling or did Revell do their own? Quite surprised you didn't use the Addams Family theme, or would that have been too obvious? Maybe next time then?

[@jujenho]

It was very unfortunate that Adams/Revell abandoned their military kit line. They had a very high quality for the ‘fifties. I am also hoping that Glencoe releases the Thor and Vanguard rocket/missiles. There is no connection between the military kits of Adams and Renwal because they have different scales (supposing that they did not copy the products of the other).

[@maxsmodels]

yes they did

[@HootOwl513]

I built a couple of old UPC kits: A Raiden ''Jack'' and a Bf109. I wasn't impressed with the ''subscale'' [compared to 1/72]. The kits were simple and had crappy decals that blew away after application. They were cheap enough.

[@mrains100]

Thank you very much.

[@bluetopguitar1104]

I have a couple of lifelike n scale locomotives. An Amtrak fp40 and an RS3 freight loco. Pretty decent for the money. I used to have a 8x3 foot n scale model railway. Unfortunately had to take it down after a second move.

[@maxsmodels]

darn it

[@kurthirschfield7596]

Was that BSA box a misprint, "Lighting" Rocket?

[@maxsmodels]

By GOLLY it IS! Good eye. I'll bet someone did a carpet-dance over that one.

[@gregorymitchell4588]

I also can't wait for the release of the Vangurad and Thor rockets and will be buying them. I wish someone would re-release the Long Tom and Tractor is the molds are still around.

[@monkeybuttslap]

www.amazon.com/s?srs=8895993011 Not much left though.

[@modelrailpreservation]

What was the quality of the Life-Like kits back then? The trains were so-so, but like the kits, they were old molds, Life-Like bought up much of Varney's old molds and continued to use them for decades, long after they were considered too crudely detailed to be taken seriously as an actual model. I wonder if their model kits were any good though?

[@johnwilliams7102]

If Ken Burns did model kit history he could not top your videos.

[@maxsmodels]

thanks

[@CAPNMAC82]

And, of course, that's a bit fuzzy, as I also remember, maybe a decade later, buying up a bunch of the Testors reboxed 1/35 missile kits, like Mace and its ilk.

[@richardwillett]

Life Like also made Styrofoam coolers!

[@maxsmodels]

That is actually where they made their biggest fortune I believe

[@fenderpicker57]

Have you done the following companies yet? Doyusha, Eldon, Galaxie, Gunze Sangyo, Hubley, Moebius and Yodel.

[@chrispacer4231]

Have a glencoe spirit of St. Louis and Wright brothers kitty hawk combo kit 1/100 th scale , I think

[@garfieldsmith332]

Reve;;/Renwal did a re-pop of their AC in 1/32 scale. That kit is now expensive as well.

[@joeshmoe9978]

Interesting

[@davidnickels3325]

I thought Atlas trains purchased the Adams molds and was running them for UPC and later Life Like

[@maxsmodels]

Maybe some of them, I know Glenoce finally bought a few from the family

[@mpetersen6]

Seems a pretty risky and expensive business to break into. Especially if you cutting new molds. Granted CNC hard milling helps. But it still isn't cheap. Then you have to find a price point. The ones from Wingnuts look amazing. I'm just not sure how big the market is.

[@orbitalair2103]

Yeah, wingnuts is gone.

[@mpetersen6]

@@orbitalair2103 Gone, or on hiatus. Be a damn shame given they look ready to expand beyond WWI aircraft. If their 1/32nd Lancaster matches the CAD drawingsand renders it will be amazing.

[@Spindrift-id1ez]

When I see that box art of the Atomic Cannon model I still can't believe the Army actually considered such a ridiculous weapon.Yes Soldier, Lets fire an atomic bomb from a cannon that has us within the radiation fall out zone.... Dumb!

[@mongolike513]

Spindrift2018 look it up on KZbin and be amazed.

[@garfieldsmith332]

Check out youtube. They have a video of the thing firing and the nuke detonating. The Atomic Cannon was produced after the scientist managed to make a nuclear device small enough to fit in an artillery hell. Before the ICBMs were developed the USA was going to deploy the Cannon in Europe as a front line nuclear defense.

[@Spindrift-id1ez]

@@garfieldsmith332Oh ya , I've seen the video of it being fired.. Crazy!

[@maxsmodels]

if you think that is bad look up the Davy Crockett nuke

[@garfieldsmith332]

@@maxsmodels Did a check up on it. Scary. Designed to be deployed in Europe or Korea. Not for home land militia. And the German prime minister game support for battalions of 40 to 50 of these things in the hands of combat troops.

[@trappenweisseguy27]

The Adams helicopter kit.....back in the days when you could just bald faced lie to kids 🤨.

[@owenb9370]

I’m scandalized! I loved UPC as a kid. Now I find they are all re-pops.

[@maxsmodels]

I do not think they ever cut their own molds but some of the molds say new tool so who knows?

[@Slickboot21]

Aerial Missile transporter... You want one? You'll have to make your own...like my '94 Toyota T100, which I may never find...anywhere. Boo

[@maxsmodels]

Found 3 but they are expensive and one has been started

[@Slickboot21]

@@maxsmodels Found 3 of what? The Aerial Missile transporter or the '94 Toyota T-100...

[@chrislongbeard]

Revell put out the Pyro/LifeLike duelling pistols in the late 80s early 90s. Built them back then.

[@davidfifer4729]

I can't say definitively, but I'm fairly confident the Revell Hawk missile @3:47 was indeed the Adams 1/40 plastic. Revell purchased Renwal molds much later and issued the ex-Renwal 1/32 Hawk for the first time in 1982. See also Scalemates www.scalemates.com/kits/revell-h548-hawk--1265641

[@maxsmodels]

That was the HAWK I meant. I failed to be clear. Bad Max...bad!

[@michaeldilley4384]

David, I have both the Revell and Adams Hawk missile kits and also the Renwal version. They are all different kits. Revell and Renwal include a triple launcher and radar wagon, whilst Adams also includes a tracked reloading vehicle. I think the Adams one is by far the best.

[@kevinnazario1015]

Does anyone knows were the upc tiger tank came from? I have one. Is the worst tank kit ever. No doubt. Compress and stretched so much that actually looks like a t-34.