Palmer and Pyro plastics: a brief history

[@rundoetx]

Another great and entertaining video. Thanks Max

[@stephenmiller9124]

Most enjoyable and informative. Thank you, Max!

[@markfortin421]

I wonder if we could get Round 2 to buy F.W. Woolworth's, and then re-issue it to us. I really miss that place....wooden floors, glass partitions in the counters, and the lunch counter with swivel stools. AND, don't forget the "Fresh, Hot Peanuts" ✌😀

[@robingray1302]

In the UK Woolworth's were synoymous with Airfix kits through the 1960's, happy memories !!!

[@farpointgamingdirect]

I miss the lunch counter at J.J. Newberry & Co. Great banana splits!

[@jenniferwhitewolf3784]

I'm ready! Great soft drink floats too.. the counter was affordable and made good memories.. I would much rather have a Woolworths with the counter than the modern era Dollar Store or Dollar General that strictly low budget, and have no food service. Woolworth had a good balance of items

[@markfortin421]

@@jenniferwhitewolf3784 Hi! Enjoyed unlocking the memory vault...hope Max isn't 😠 mad (Mad Max?) 😂😉

[@THEEND123321]

and the cool toys too!

[@fredhettesheimer404]

Another Great video and History lesson Max a Brooklyn and a Union NJ model company. The Pheasant and Mallard Duck kits look like and interesting builds.

[@geraldstephens8791]

See! The live action format is great. You are more interesting to look at than just static stuff. Keep up the good work.

[@bobbob4652]

I had a plastic army in the 70s. Never knew who made em. Thanks Pyro. And thanks Max.👍

[@Paladin1873]

The birds at 8:15 - 8:26 have a Mark Trail logo on them. Mark Trail was and remains a popular comic strip in newspapers around the country since 1946. It tells the ongoing adventures of a wildlife magazine writer and photographer named, appropriately, Mark Trail. No doubt the reason for the bird models has something to do with the comic strip itself. My guess is the strip was used to promote the model, though vice-versa may be true.

[@dmflynn962]

Thank you for making the video. I am learning a lot. I had 3 Pyro kits when I was a kid: USS Olympia, USS North Carolina, and the Yamato. The Olympia was really pretty good quality. The other two were part of series of about 20 at 1/1200 scale, albeit some of them were from the same molds. Those were crude, but just for nostalgia I built one a few years ago.

[@martinwild2087]

Thanks for the channel Max. It really is most uplifting. I grew up in the 50s in the UK so my memories are somewhat different, but seeing a glimpse of what you kids had available in the US makes my mouth water!

[@jefferyrichards3165]

Thanks Mr. Max models, really enjoy the personalities that you talk about its nice to see who was driving the industry, cheers.

[@trappenweisseguy27]

I have a few of the Pyro branded pre WW1 aircraft kits boxed up in the basement. I think the popularity of the movie “those magnificent men and their flying machines” really drove this genre for a good 10-15 years.

[@scottuehlinger7887]

Dear Trappen, that movie remains one of my Favorites! Fortunately living next to the Golden Age Air Museum in Midway, PA, I get to see the Real Thing sometimes! If you want to get rid of those basement kits, you can send them to me - I promise to build them! Lindberg has recently re-issued at least some of those old kits -they apparently build up pretty nicely..

[@trappenweisseguy27]

I highly recommend the Smithsonian museums, especially the air and space museum, post Covid. I only had one day, but an entire week would be well spent. The kits are quite good for their days. I would probably replace a lot of parts with scratch built pieces though. If a kit has good bones you can always improve them. The large 1/27-28th Revell Sopwith Camel and Fokker Dr1 for example, can be made up into first class models. I did the Fokker 20 years ago. The basic bones were good enough to modify , but the entire interior had to be scratch built. Fortunately there is enough reference material around to do that.

[@xtalvt]

My dad owned a small family shoe store on Main St in our town. He would use the plastic guns for window displays (I have the old truck "treasure chest" that he had in the window with them). When he sold he store he hung them up in the rec-room for many years. Bet they are still in the rafters at my mom's place. Your videos always bring back great memories!

[@adriarose295]

even though they were a good 50 years ahead of my time by the time I found out about them, Ive been collecting palmers for years. The box art is great, and even some of the kits themselves build nice. Nice to see someone put out a good video answering some of my questions on the brand.

[@ronaldplesz7994]

Pyro Plastics made nice car kits for their price point. Bought a lot of them at Woolworths. Round2 has the tooling now and reissued them as Lindberg 1/32 kits. The 57 Chevrolet convertible & 49 Ford are my favorites. Again, Thank You for the nice Video on these companies. Nice memories.

[@williamkinkopf7125]

Built the PYRO USS Olyimpia and Maine , remember buying Palmer model cars with high hopes but was always disappointed.Just finished Lindberg Coronado boat kit ,think it was originally a Premier or Palmer.always look forward to your videos Thanks

[@maxsmodels]

It was www.scalemates.com/kits/palmer-plastics-1960-century-coronado-twenty-one--1090187

[@williamkinkopf7125]

@@maxsmodels Thanks for the reply. kit went together fairly well considering the age of the molds and it even has a rather rudimentary engine.

[@lauranceemory4448]

I built the Olympia too. About 25 yrs ago I got an unassembled kit of Olympia at an shop that sold all sorts oddities. I think it is at my friends house (I live in Thailand now).. I'd have to run down all the right paint etc. Side note: what the heck is "Pla" as in Testor's Pla paint?

[@larrydee8859]

Thanks again Max for a great video! Once again; Wonderful memories of Woolworths comes to mind, when purchasing Pyro plastic models, (among others, as well). Multiple times I recall seeing a large collection of pyro ship models, that seemed like a very small scale, (seemingly approaching the neighborhood of 1/1200). Thanks however you're right, I don't ever recall seeing a set scale on the tiny ship models. I believe I remember building the Warspite, among others. Recalling as a kid, the kind of Civil War centennial, flurry of toy soldiers, and those Pyro models of the gateling gun, and pre molded two color cannons. Thanks again for bringing back those modeling memories, Max.

[@jerryrip]

Thanks so much for this series on modelmaking companies! Every video I watch is a glimpse into my past and all of the different models I either purchased or saw. I know I had at least the gatling gun and heart models. I'm finding myself going online to find some of these other kits that I wasnt aware of too!

[@Wild-Dad]

Nice brief histories. Never saw Palmer but saw the Pyro branded models (the Santa Maria). I was given that for picking up the mail for a family that had been quarantined due to measles.

[@timothymorris1925]

Built the Columbus ships for a school project in '67. Got an A.

[@Thekarlskorner]

I did build some of their gun kits. The 1861 Colt Army and a Winchester '73. Also some of the skin covered World War I airplanes, Willie Gaberial's Fokker DVII comes to mind. Thank you for reminding some good memories.

[@NTSCuser]

Living in England I built Pyro's Cutty Sark as soon as it became available here. From memory it was a very easy build. A much older neighbour built some of the replica firearms and let me play with them. The Winchester and Colt .44 I particularly remember.

[@JeffFrmJoisey]

Fun-tastic!! I remember Pyro kits, or at least their boxes. A 5 Star Dad Joke Award Winner!!! Your Bloopers were hilarious!!! Thanks for the info and laughs!!!! Loved the format!!!!

[@patricklozito7042]

We share the same opinion of golf. Finally I can see where my tinnitus comes from. Your videos just get better and better.

[@normanlong2191]

Wow Max i NEED one of those ray guns! Great entertainment …..as usual ! i pray Round two get to release some of those unique subjects one day keep up the fantastic work buddy !

[@mbryson2899]

Thanks a lot Mr. Max, now "Wolf Creek Pass" is lodged in my ear! Excellent presentation, as usual. I built a ton of Life-Like snaps, and sold TONS of them as well. I know that at least until 1983 they were commonly available from wholesalers in Chicagoland. Health to you and yours.

[@maxsmodels]

thanks again

[@ASTRON3100]

Great video as usual..i

[@roberthill3207]

Excellent video have a great day love the music.

[@johnclendinning1189]

I just built Lindberg's 1948 Lincoln Continental kit, which was a Pyro. Multi-piece body, bad fit, etc. But it was still fun, and rather nostalogic.

[@bigcharliesmodelgarage296]

Awesome show

[@damianstellabott1952]

Fun fact: some of the prop firearms scattered around Pirates of the Carribean at Disneyland are Pyro kits.

[@maxsmodels]

cool

[@stiffrichard2816]

I have a Palmer Brontosaurus skeleton. Very old. They were sold at the New York Museum of Natural History. There was also a Woolly Mammoth, maybe others.

[@artsmodeldockyard8718]

Love this History, sometimes the history of these companies are just as important as the kits themselves. Keep up the great work and research, btw I am nearly finished building the Pyro kit Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai and have recently purchased Lindbergs Blackbeard and Flying Dutchman ( aka Sovereign of the Seas and La Flore/Jolly Roger respectively).

[@timsacco6g694]

The first model I ever built at 4 years old in 1968 was a Pyro 39 or 40 Ford convertible molded in red, even the wheels, when I was done , I used so much glue it resembled a red blob, but that's how I learned!

[@richardklug822]

I still have the 1940 Ford kit. It's in 1/32 scale, like many of today's WWII aircraft kits. I plan to build and park it next to Hasegawa's P-40 kit...someday.

[@plasticbutcher]

Another great video Max, thank you, I have built a few pyro kits mainly the "historic" highway pioneers, really liking the blooper reels lol Rick B aka Plastic butcher

[@bradleisure8339]

I was hoping you would cover these subjects! I have quite a collection of both Pyro and Palmer kits. Mostly their Mopar, Cadillac and Studebaker kits. They produced some interesting subjects not covered by other kit manufacturers. Premier was by far the worst at detail and proportion but they had some Studebaker kits that are sought after. Especially the Champ Pick-up. And don't forget the Corvair 95 Rampside pick-up. All of these kits were difficult to put together, thereby giving the builder a greater sense of accomplishment when he finished. I know this first hand because I grew up on Pyro kits and AMT Jr. Craftsman kits. Among my prized possessions back then were the Pyro '52 Chevy station wagon and the Craftsman '60 Chevy wagon. I guess I had a thing for wagons. I came by it naturally, my dad had a red and white '55 Chevy Bel-Air wagon. Thank you for producing this video. Great nostalgia. And that ray-gun is too cool!

[@Tree_Dee]

I can vaguely remember drooling over the Gatling gun & the Luger models. I'm thinking because of my limited Kid Funding. I am channeling days gone by, and I'm getting back that they were relatively pricey.

[@joeshmoe9978]

Just like how modern 1/35 military kits run in the $40-$100+ range. 💰

[@johnashley-smith4987]

Pyro is a name I had forgotten, but I remember the .44 1860 Army revolver I built around 1982. I don't even remember where I got it! I was surprised how massive that pistol is! I still have the old Monitor and Merrimac set. I Look at it now and again and realize I don't feel like taking on that much work! Didn't these guys also do model railroad accessories? Anyway, thanks for another entertaining and informative " Hobby history" video. I really appreciate the work and enthusiasm you put into these! Rock on buddy!

[@Curtiz2008]

Really hitting my childhood now. I built all of the Palmer cannon kits, and still getting them. I also built the Palmer Spanish Conquistador which had plated armor and helmet. I built a number of the Pyro figures, including the cowboy with the saddle. I would love to see these reissued. The Pyro anatomical kits have been reissued by Lindberg. My current project is the Lindberg reissue of the Columbus ships. Simple, but fun. Thanks for this installment.

[@georgecoventry8441]

Great! I bought and built most of the Pyro naval ships and sailing vessels, a few of the smaller antique pistols, and of course a huge number of those little plastic soldier figures.

[@donaldotsu8959]

Thanks Max for covering a lot of the old plastic model companies . Since I was a kit collector up to around 6 years ago ; I collected mostly military kits... Could you cover more in detail Life Like and Adams ...Were they before Aurora?

[@joakimkarlsson9255]

I have the Lindberg reissue/reboxing of the Pyro Tuna Clipper. Still a pretty nice kit with lots of potential. Also i did have the Pyro kit of the Laird Turner Meteor 1/32 racing plane (also Lindberg rebox). That one was so terrible that it ended up in the bin, only keeping the decal sheet.

[@scottkellogg3502]

I remember the hobby shop at the old Army base at Fort Monmouth used to sell the Pyro antique firearm kits. They also sold the old Early aircraft from the Early days of flight, like those featured in "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines." Interesting about the Robert E. Lee kit. I think Lindberg picked that one up.

[@richardklug822]

In the 1980's I drove past a/the Lifelike factory in Baltimore MD twice a day. It was an old industrial building marked with a large sign, above a curve on the Jones Falls Exp., one of the main commuter routes into town. Always meant to get off the highway and visit it, but never did.

[@iagmscalemodelling3401]

My father is Pulmonologist so last Christmas a gave him a Lung Pyro kit, great model.

[@cammobunker]

"I did not know there was a "Plastics Hall of Fame"...was my EXACT reaction to that. Anyway, I remember making some of the gun kits. I seem to remember doing the Pirate pistol and maybe a P38? I KNOW I did the 1860 Army kit, I was really into cowboy stuff when I was a kid (early 70's) .

[@alvinprettyman1802]

i remember the palmer kits with the multi piece bodies ... thanks for the research

[@lancerevell5979]

I had three 1:1 pistol kits - the P08 Luger, Artillery Luger and Walther P38. Very realistic. I don't recall if they were Pyro kits though.

[@billhuber2964]

The p-38 was fun to to build.

[@markfrench8892]

OMG! I had one of those Gatlin Guns that I got from Woolworths back when I was a kid. I'd forgotten all about it until this video came out. Now I'm gonna want to find one somewhere.

[@robertobrien9706]

The firecracker comment is appropriate. In the early '60s one of my favorite cars was the Jaguar XKE. (Wasn't it everyone's ?) The only model I ever found of that car was a Palmer or Premier, probably in 1963 or '64. Like the "Corvette" shown in the video, its proportions were off, and it looked like a piece of junk. Firecrackers were illegal in Pennsylvania, but some cousins of neighbors lived in West Virginia and brought me a cherry bomb on one of their visits. That seemed like a fitting tribute to that distorted XKE, so I removed the gear shift lever, drilled the hole through the bottom of the model, and threaded the fuse up through the hole. With the XKE convertible sitting atop the cherry bomb, I placed the model in the middle of our driveway turnaround (probably about 35' x 35'), lit the top of the new "gear shift," and everyone took shelter. After the explosion, only one tire remained, blown about 15 feet away. We never even found any tiny bits of plastic.

[@maxsmodels]

boom

[@pauladams286]

Kleeware was a British company whose kit line seemed to consist entirely of models from various American ranges, including many Pyro kits. The range seems to have included the Pyro Bird kits, although I have only seen a photo of the Pheasant box.

[@1QU1CK1]

Thanks again for the memories! I had some Palmer 1/32 cars which were Revell and some Pyro 1/48 airplanes which were Inpact from England. The Inpact kits were very fine, still the best available in many cases even now. I still have a Bristol Bulldog in a Life Like box. The Life Like "press-cals" were ahead of their time and nearly worthless. Life Like did an extensive range of HO Railway buildings. They did exact copies of famous chains like McDonalds and later had to change them because they never got permission- some before and after photos of the boxes would be hilarious. I did build some Bird kits when I was a kid, also insects and Dr.Seuss- I wonder who made them? As for the various ship scales, we had nomenclature for them in the hobby store biz. They were called FTB or Fit the Box scale. Revell also did a lot of FTB scale ships.

[@rd4in37]

Have a Pyro Bristol Bulldog...itz old but seems well made.. great box art..also had the Bunker Hill pistol when I waz Kid......

[@HootOwl513]

I built a naval 24 pounder gun kit, with metal-plated barrel. It still exists, since I gave it to my Dad who put it on his dresser top. So it stayed out of range of firecrackers . Didn't recall the maker, but possibly same as the Gatling kit.

[@64fury]

Thanks for the video on Pyro. Two Pyro custom car kits, the Texan and the Jersey Bounce (I think), were later released by Life-Like and then somehow ended up being issued in East Germany under the brand name MK Modelle. I would love to know how those two molds ended up in East Germany and why.

[@Edubarca46]

Although I have been in plastics since the 50s, I never knew Pyro made so many model types like human eye, lung, and other items etc which I think they were later released by Lindberg. I built some of their ships, good, accurate and attractive. Lindberg made them for a long time and Round2 are still making some.

[@ghrey8282]

Currently building a Pyro/Revell/Lindberg Fishing trawler.... Can you picture the kit?

[@joeshmoe9978]

Didn't they issue that as a "spy ship" also. I'm not sure though...

[@maxsmodels]

how do you lie it?

[@lancerevell5979]

I have that Fishing Trawler now, still boxed. Looks like it'll be a fun build

[@ghrey8282]

@@maxsmodels it has, despite a few interesting alignment issues, long been a favorite kit. I have built several over the years. This one will get a radio, and modern electronics. I may do lights, I haven't decided just how far I want to take it.

[@ghrey8282]

@@joeshmoe9978 "Russian spy trawler", yes. I believe there was even a glow in the dark version at one time.

[@Reindeer911]

Pyro - Setting your hobby on fire since 195x...

[@waldostakes1432]

Have a pyro design a plane set. I still play with it from time to time.

[@danielhurley7047]

Hello Max, thank you for your videos, I really enjoy them. Palmer also did a couple of prehistoric animal skeletons. In my collection, on the pile waiting to someday get built, I have their Brontosaurus and Mastadon kits. They are very nice models, not toys. I hope you'll do a video on Nichimo some day. Along with some aircraft, they did a great series of Japanese warships in 1/200 scale.

[@andyrichardsvideovlogs8835]

Pyro cars in 1/32 were great and Round2 has re-popped a few of those.

[@smokymountainmodeler3054]

I currently have a Pyro 1932 Plymouth convertible in my collection.

[@jamesdziendziel9187]

looking forward to life-like. i built a lot of their kits, including the long tom cannon and the chuck wagon. leewards stores carried a lot of their kits.

[@michaelkupchik3974]

Loved vintage brass cars - I built then as a kid and still available on eBay.

[@PfalzD3]

I used to build the Life-like Purple dinosaur kits. I bought some of them recently. Feeling nostalgic.

[@owenb9370]

Pyro had a range of 1930’s kit. Bristol Bulldog for example. 1/48 I believe. Really nice kits on a rare topic. I built some. A good buy.

[@chuckw1113]

The Pyro Table Top series of British and German ships made in the early ‘60s were originally manufactured by a British company called Eaglewall, and later Eagle models. The original Eaglewall series (1/1200 scale) included many additional models, including more British cruisers, destroyers, escort ships, and freighters (for convoys). It also included German destroyers, escorts and support ships, and, perhaps u-boats. Great models, and often sell for a significant price on eBay, when they occasionally crop up. Lindbergh has marketed some of these in their twin kits, like Bismarck/Prinz Eugen, Prince of Wales/Norfolk and the two Pyro sets, Yamato/Shokaku and North Carolina/Essex (which we’re NOT Eaglewall). The latter were also NOT 1/1200 kits.

[@johnray7311]

What you said regarding dime store bin toys was intriguing. Back in the 60s my grandfather would take us to Ben Franklin. They had particularly well molded B-25 and B-29 red plastic toys. Propellers turned great when you hung them out the car windows driving home. Wonder who made those? BTW, great series you have created. Thanks!!!

[@lancerevell5979]

I remember as a young kid, went with Mom to the Jitney Jungle grocery store. They had an aisle bin of cheap model kits. Mostly Hawk models. I talked her into buying me the 1/72 F4U Corsair and F4D Skyray. The bin didn't last though. Likely didn't sell well in a grocery store.

[@joeshmoe9978]

I have a life-like 1/48 scale Hawker Fury, still in the box. I've never seen the Kentucky rifle kit, but it sure would be neat to build one.

[@jettoscranda]

I am looking for some palmer corvette model kits, but they seem impossible to find, I never seen one, but their box art is what sold me in an instant, their draweings look super slick, and the cars look lowered, and sexy.

[@kennethwelty1190]

It was neat seeing the Elsie Gloucester Schooner. I grew up in Gloucester.

[@wall-e3313]

I have the Lindberg reissue of the '48 Lincoln Continental. I remember a hobby shop near me in the mid '70s having one on a very high shelf, and never for sale with the rest of his kits. Now that I have one, I see the differences in detail with other kits of that time. Looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of resin casting and scratch building utilizing Ford kits from that era. Or I might want to use a Monogram Continental, if I can find one at a decent price.

[@scottuehlinger7887]

I. remember at one stage really Jonesing for those Firearms (my Dad was a Cop and Firearms Instructor, so ...). I did get two of them.....the Wheel-Lock - which was molded in blue plastic, but really needed to be painted, as it was VERY ornate - and the Dual Set of a Derringer and Pepperbox "revolver". The Derringer was the model that John Wilkes Booth used to shoot Lincoln.... If I am not mistaken, I still may have those completed models - I will have to verify....

[@stevenleibson2188]

I built the Eiffel Tower and, until today, I would not have been able to name the kit manufacturer. Thanks Max!

[@joeshmoe9978]

That was a big kit!

[@bkmodelcars]

Love this series have learned a lot remember a lot

[@20july1944]

Pyro had 4-5 dinosaur models in the early-mid 60s: tyrannosaurus, brontosaurus, stegosaurus, triceratops and maybe ankylosaurus. They were available at the gift shop of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where I was born and raised.

[@kennyswonger5227]

I probley seen them when I was younger.but i don't recall.I rember the toy soldiers.at the 5 & 10 store.I still have some small cars .that was never built. Thanks again.

[@johnmacnabb7562]

I rember the artwork on many of those kits as a boy.

[@michaelgautreaux3168]

Thanx Max. Fab as usual Hey, w/ the Palmer cars, I remember I guess 1/32, but we're any of their cars in 1/24. I am now suspessious of Revell's Eldorado, Club de mer, & Futura. What gives? Have 2 Pyro- impact Furys. They match up well with my Airfix fury. The Pyros are Lindberg issue. Be safe

[@michaelgautreaux3168]

Maximum "Mad" Max, U're (Big2) awesome. A privilege, yes?!!! U 're valued & appropriated. Me , I'm a squirrel that WILL NOT COLOR IN THE LINES (not yelling, just emphasizing) to😮😆🤣! U da 💣. These 2 emojis really fit, considering what I did in the Army, ready 🎱🦊, again, from my family 2 U'res, best of the very best. More Zevon, Ahooooooh, LMAO!

[@Anlushac11]

Did Pyro do a CSS Virginia kit? I remember building one when I was young and was thinking it was a Pyro kit.

[@maxsmodels]

I think so

[@billhuber2964]

The green army men as well the grey German army men were very fun to play with.

[@ronaldplesz7994]

I did a ton of Palmer kits from the 29 cent kits.to the larger ones I got for 68 cents. Palmer kits were hit and miss but defintely a cut above Premier's. My favorites are 63 Buick Riviera, 62 - 63 Tbird 65 - 66 Ford, 67 - 68 Cougar. I. Used to put hot water in a bowl to put. Their generic wheelcovers into their extremely hard plastic tires!

[@Crediblesport]

I remember pyro ship models with wooden masts and vac u form sails.

[@richardtallent8175]

I remember the pyro dinosaur kits, my older cousins built some. As a side note, have you, or will you be doing a video on Peerless max kits? They had some armor kits. Some still being done by Italeri, thank you.

[@raymerriam]

The Peerless Max kits were originally created by a new company in Japan called, what else, MAX. Here's a bit of model history you don't know about: In 1968 I started a WWII history magazine (long gone), small and run by myself, and by 1975 I had acquired two business partners (we were all young, early 20s). The magazine business was actually part-time, I had a factory job to keep food on the table and a roof over my head. One of my partners had some contacts in Japan and one of them was one of the guys that founded MAX and did the figures for these kits. He offered us the rights to import and sell the MAX kits. This was a few months before the 1975 IPMS convention in Washington, DC, which we were planning to attend. The partner who was in touch with the Japanese guy lived in Silver Spring, MD, so his parents house was our home base while we attended the convention (we actually went down the beginning of that week and myself and the other partner spent two days in the Army's photo agency when it was located in the Pentagon and then a day at the National Archives, then we set up our table at the convention, just outside the room where most of the dealers were set up as well as the models that were to be judged. The IPMS Canada gang also had their table outside the hall, right next to ours. Our partner in Silver Spring worked out a deal with his Japanese MAX contact and they shipped him a ton of the MAX kits, filling his parent's garage. While I was hawking the magazine at the convention, my two partners were busy with the kits and we did a pretty good business that weekend (it helped having the IPMS Canada gang right next to us; if you have ever been to an IPMS convention, you know about their reputation at such meetings!). Of course, we still had quite a few kits left, so we started advertising them in our magazine. Maybe a year or so later, I got a letter from the Peerless lawyers to cease and desist selling the MAX kits as they had bought exclusive rights to market the MAX kits in the US under their name, hence Peerless/MAX. We informed them that these were the original MAX kits we bought long before Peerless hooked up with MAX and they could go pound sand. They eventually sent us a letter advising us that they would "let us" sell off the kits (nice guys, right, but they had no choice) we had and we could not buy or sell any more - unless we wanted to buy the kits from them (yeah, right...). So, you'd think I would have gotten one each of those MAX kits, right? Nope, I only got one (the British 6pdr Portee truck), and I did build it and enjoyed it. I did recently, in a sudden wave of nostalgia, buy a couple of the Peerless/MAX kits and a Testors re-pop of the 155mm howitzer. I'll keep looking for the others, don't care of they are MAX, Peerless/MAX, Testors, Italerei, whoever, although I'd prefer the original MAX ones. I started building model kits when I was six years old (1957), the Revell Fletcher class destroyer and in the next ten years I built over 700 models (I am not kidding - one day in the early '70s I started making a list, utilizing old model kit catalogs from the manufacturer as well as dealers and got to just over 700 and I know I missed some; some I built more than once) of just about everything you can imagine (aircraft, tanks, ships, cars, animals...), although mostly WWII subjects as I am a dyed-in-the-wool WWII history nut. I have since built many more kits and I am probably close to if not over the 1,000 mark. All the the ones I built in those first ten years are gone. Some got broken (we did play with them back then), and I had to throw away many of them when we moved to another state (very few of my friends and family were into models so I couldn't even give most of them away). I currently have a closet full of unbuilt models, probably 40+, some are large scale - 1/18, 1/16, 1/9, 1/6 and some 1/72 ships - all military and mostly WWII. Haven't started any just yet, I am working at clearing up a corner of my office (I continued publishing military history, mostly WWII, and still am) and awaiting a desk and other items to get set up to begin building. My wife passed away two years ago and while she wouldn't have minded me doing a kit now and then we had other things to do. But now I have the time and the ability to indulge in my favorite pastime and bring back a lot of the memories I had as a kid - I also picked up quite a few old models (oldmodelkits.com, naturally, and a couple others) like Revell's Scissor Bridge (which I built back in the early '60s; original not a re-pop), their NY Firefighter boat (which I never built back then but a friend did and I thought that was really neat; also original, not a re-pop) and Adams Atomic Cannon, Atlantis Everything is Go (which I built the Revell original in the early '60s which got thrown away by accident, not by me), Lindberg Bobtail Cruiser and USS Hazard, and UPC LVT (I had the Life-Like re-pop back in the '70s which got broken in a move), and many new kits. I also had the Pyro Design-A-Plane when I was 8 or 9, I remember that well, I had a lot of fun with that, building crazy aircraft, take them apart and do different ones; I could not remember the name of the manufacturer so when I saw the boxtop in your video I went nuts! I built the Gatling gun when I was about 10. So many models, so many memories. Thanks for those videos of the model companies.

[@raymerriam]

Forgot to add that the letter from the Peerless lawyers actually told us that the kits we had were THEIR property and they wanted us to ship them to Peerless! Well we didn't and they didn't have a leg to stand on once we told them exactly how we had bought these direct from MAX and we were the first importer/distributor of the MAX line.

[@richardlott8349]

still have most of my pyro and life like sailing kits, namely the staten jacht, the The Revenge, Gouda, etc. Though it has been over 40 years I hope to build them someday.

[@mrains100]

Very interesting and thank you.

[@kl0wnkiller912]

I built many of the firearm replicas when i was a kid. I still have several old Pyro kits in my stash. Someday when I just want to punish myself I may even try to build one or two of them...

[@davehopwood2068]

Really enjoying the series Max and learning a lot more! Brings back memories of many hours of happy glue ball making! I've viewed most of your model company reviews and haven't noticed Fujimi. Have I missed it or is on your up coming list? How do we buy you a beer for all your efforts?

[@maxsmodels]

upcoming

[@lauranceemory4448]

Fun stuff. I had a sweet spot for Pyro... didn't they have those smallish sailing ships for about 50 cents? Good in a puddle. We like lighter fluids over firecrackers. I had one of those brass plated guns, maybe Gatling gun. May have real plated little chains too

[@kayb9979]

I remember buying the Palmer Brontosaurus and Mastodon skeletons in the mid 1960's.

[@nitropfunk]

Love the info

[@nanorider426]

I think I remember the local hobby store in the 80's - that now is closed - having a flintlock pistol in the window. It was a model. It may have been a Pyro. What is ironic about that is that when the owner of the hobby store retired the son took over. He was shot a year later by a burglar in the store - 14 days before getting married. That is about 25 years ago. Normann's Hobby - it was famous in Denmark for having the largest inventory and the widest range of models of every company in Denmark. RIP. :(

[@doctordirk6316]

Columbus's ships were the'Santa Maria', the 'Nina' and the'Pinta'. I know this because it's written in the Nina kit instructions which I bought and biult back in seventy- somthing!. Great to see that box art again.

[@jorgel.fernandeziii8278]

Hey Max I just happen to have a Limburg catalog and it also has a lot of those Pyro models in it ! I specifically remember the dinosaurs the human anatomy and the guns as well as the Roberty Lee and the other ships but I don’t see those were the same ! But I can definitely remember Linberg had a robbery and like I said I do have the catalog for the best year of that company when they sold the most models !!! I’m just gonna need to find it ! 🌊🐺

[@brittboyette461]

Did you ever do a follow on video of Life Like or Impact Models?

[@christopherkroussoratsky2014]

Hey Max, i recently acquired a Palmer 1971 Dodge Challenger, it's in 1/25 scale. What was immediately obvious is that it looks exactly like an MPC kit of the same era, moulded the same way an MPC kit was. Even the box that it comes in is the same size as what the majority of MPC car kits were packaged in. I was surprised that Palmer did cars in 1/25, can you shed light on this at all?

[@norherman]

I grew up in Minn. Don't recall ever seeing these kits. Not saying they were never sold here. Just never saw them in the shops I visited .

[@DocMoonlight]

Didn't Palmer do a "Spirit of '76" kit based on the famous painting of the three Revolutionary War soldiers? I remember having one and really liking it, but even at 8 years old I could tell the quality was bad. I remember breaking the piccolo when I was taking it off the sprue.

[@Spawn-td8bf]

You described golf to a .... wait for it... TEE. Yes, the pun club is huge. Take care and God Bless from Florida.

[@survivingworldsteam]

I built the cannon, the Gatling Gun, and a WWI field piece which they also offered but you did not include. I built most of the small sailing ship models; I had the impression from reading books that they were less than accurate, but still great fun to build and rig with thread.

[@CaptLiberator]

Remember building The Robert E Lee, the Gloster fishing boat and a couple of the pistol kits.