The Aurora models story

[@markbellamy349]

The monster kits with the Bama artwork was THE best part of being a kid in rhe 60's and 70's.

[@stanleydomalewski8497]

Fond Memories ! Loved the HO Race Car Sets, and Monsters !

[@happychildhood591]

Thank you Max for this well done presentation! As a kid of the 1950s-60s, I developed my model building skills primarily on Aurora kits. I still build models today at 70 years old and have many vintage and complete Aurora kits in my extensive collection. What I always thought was very unique is the fact that you could find Aurora kits everywhere; not just in hobby shops, but also in corner candy stores, stationery stores, hardware stores, supermarkets, and discount chains. I'm guessing that is because of their low price compared to their competitors. When my beloved Mom told me that we were going to spend the day visiting a relative that I didn't particularly care for, she was smart enough to give my a dollar and instruct me to go out and purchase a model kit in return for my promise to 'be good' during our visit. It always worked! I would spread my model kit out at my aunt's house and proceed to intoxicate my relatives with the smell of pungent polystyrene glue, not to mention the Testor's paints as I became more skilled and graduated to painting my models. Aurora kits will always have a special place in my heart and when I look at my many unbuilt vintage kits, they bring back fond memories of a well spent childhood!

[@lamontprospect9974]

I still have my Aurora original Frightening Lightning Strikes Frankenstein in its original cellophane. I've got an original Bride boxed unbuilt, and at least a dozen more original Aurora monster figures. Before they were reissued, they were hot collectors items. Model building was quite a phenomenon. Of course with the internet and cell phones, I could never see it coming back. That was such a great era. When they came in with the Glow in the Dark monster kits, it was so exciting. Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolfman, Phantom of the Opera, Prisoner of Zenda-- what iconic kits. This model kits, once they were built and painted they just exploded your imagination. I've still got an original factory built Guillotine that was made for in-store display. Building those torture kits was so amazing. I remember that diorama with about six different torture scenes. Don't forget the James Bama artwork.

[@jimbower9268]

I built plenty of Aurora kits back in the day, but the best Christmas present I ever got was a Model Motoring set when I was 14.

[@kennyswonger5227]

I still have my first aurora slot cars race set.got it in 1966.and still have the set .plus other sets from yard sales.many years ago.and I'm 66 they were my best sets to collect

[@jeffreyyeater1780]

Still have a giant slotcar layout . Thunder jets forever !

[@xtalvt]

I am 57. I was cleaning out my mom's attic a few years ago. I still have parts of my "Rat Patrol" and "Anzio Beach" sets laying around. I loved these kits!

[@maxsmodels]

Might be worth some money, especially if compete.

[@LannieLord]

@@maxsmodels People will buy spare parts .

[@martinpennock9430]

I'm 65, and I think I built all of their Monster kits. They were great, and greatly missed today. I also built the John Kennedy fireplace kit.

[@maxsmodels]

cool

[@martinpennock9430]

Thank you Max! The channel is fantastic. Glad to be just another glue trooper.

[@maxsmodels]

@@martinpennock9430 Thanks, it means a lot

[@shawngarratt2887]

Very interesting story about aouroa model makers !

[@steverogers2603]

Great documentary thanks! I had their monster models. Loved them!

[@Tuxon86]

Aurora was my favorite model company when I was a kid! I built most of their monster kits, they're long gone now sadly.

[@davidlarsen-tj4tn]

I had every monster and every prehistoric scenes kits as a kid. I am 55 now and I want to say I got them all between the ages of 5-10 years old. The awesome box art would mesmerize me. I was raised by a single mother with not much money so thinking back these kits all had to be really cheap for me to have them all and some of the PS kits were huge(T-Rex and Wooly Mammoth come to mind) Sadly we moved across town when I was in 5th grade and I’m sure they were all tossed in the garbage. Nice memories and great video

[@chrispacer4231]

Been wanting to see this one. June 1st 2020 my very 1st model kit was the P-40 Flying Tiger. Saw the movie GOD WAS MY CO-PILOT. I saw the kit and bought it for 1.00$ at K-mart. It flew a lot of combat missions through my house. Until it crashed to many times out of my hands and beyond repair. Built some of their tanks. E8 Sherman Panther. King Tiger, Patton , JS 3. Witch I detailed and still sits on my shelf. Have the Japanese tank still in the box 1970 issue. Not going to build it . Ordered the ANZIO BEACH SET, for 2.00$ from the back of a comic book. Still have that. I enjoyed this THANKS

[@patsparks8731]

Very well done Max, with all that’s happened the last two years I missed this video the first time around. I love the Aurora kits. I remember as a kid getting model kits and slot car sets (like AFX) for Christmas as well. I like vintage slot cars and models and collect model kits...the Aurora Monster kits are a wonderful piece of history. Aurora set the bar high with their wonderful box artwork and high quality. Thanks for all the info on the company as I wasn’t aware of the executives and their relationships. Thanks again. 👍

[@LannieLord]

QUESTION: I'm from Long Island and in the early 1980s - there was a HUGE warehouse find of MINT CASES of 1966 Robin model kits . They were being sold BY THE CASE FULL at flea markets . The best thing was-- every case contained a POSTER for store display! It featured all the TV and Superhero kits . Does ANYONE know why this happened ? Other kits that were floating around as "OLDS STOCK" - Captain Action , Dick Tracy , Whoozitz , and a few others . Some of these kits could still be had in 1976 !

[@Ease54]

That 98 cent Frankenstein kit was my most coveted Christmas gift ever.

[@alterman156channel]

I had a couple of Aurora models and they were of commercial jet airliners. One was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10. The other was a Boeing 747. I don't have the models anymore, but I still remember them. We some other Aurora products in the family. One was a simple race car set. The other was a Skittle pool. The plastic for the skittle pool wasn't the sturdiest though. The plastic part that held the pendulum for the cue ball broke on the first try. I either raised it too high, or the piece was faulty. It was repaired and we used it. Many times I simply rolled the cue ball into the other balls.

[@paulbervid1610]

Great historical content. The 571. Me 109 and batman were my favorites. It story was like a train wreck, with a literal train wreck.

[@weseld1]

Being a kid in the 50s, I was in love with Aurora and built nearly all of their airplane, ships and knight kits. I wish one of them had survived my leaving for college in 1963... my younger cousins loved getting them, but did not take good care of them! P.S. I love your soundtrack rock and roll.

[@rogers.5153]

I still have my completed and painted set of Planet of the Apes models in their original boxes including Cornelius, Zira, Dr. Zaius, General Urko, Caesar and General Aldo. I built all of the Prehistoric Scenes kits as well except for the T-Rex (I never could find it anywhere). Aurora provided me with many hours of entertainment back in the day.

[@morlockmeat]

Around 98 cents would get you a model kit, way back when. These kits ARE gone. With the prices they are now, they might as well not exist at all. It's a shame. But thanks for this mini-doc. Thoroughly enjoyed it and a blast from the past!

[@antimatter4444]

Great vid btw! Thanks for all the time you put into all these model company histories, most enjoyable!

[@andyroper1613]

A friend has all the original Universal Monsters and the early 70's 'Glow in the dark' (Woolworths) kits. I love the (Irwin Allen) Flying Sub and the 'saucer from' The Invaders'. Another favourite was the 1/48 Royal /King Tiger (with a peep sight in the turret with a transparency of a '+' & an 💥.. does anyone else remember that issue? (Woolworths again - in a big sq box) Sherman was nice too.

[@JohnHill-qo3hb]

As a red blooded Canadian kid, at one time I would have traded my sole for two kits, CF-100 Canuk and the CF-105 Arrow, both collectors items now commanding obscene prices up here. Yet another great video Max, thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[@manlymcstud8588]

not sure of the prices or how hard they are to get, but these moulds often got leased or sold to other companies who reproduced them under their name. if you still want them, maybe check out if those re-issues are out there. :)

[@antimatter4444]

Fond memories of Aurora as a Canadian, both kits and slots. Still have unbuilt knight kits rotting in a box somewhere! I think I traded those for the two man from UNCLE kits, damn...

[@michaelnaven213]

I cut my modeling teeth with Aurora. I built the Zero, the Me-109 and the Fw-190. I believe the plastic colors were yellow, red and black in that order. The plastic was thick but I had a lot of fun with them. In the end they were all blow up with black cat fireworks.

[@modelermark172]

I have a lot of fond memories building Aurora kits. The recent Atlantis reissues of old Aurora kits are bringing back some of those memories. I hope that we'll see the F-90 as one of them, (or the old HAWK one from Round 2.)

[@SaturnCanuck]

I remember the monster ones. Canadian here. Always saw them in Kmart. For me though it was the Sci Fi. Orion, Seaview, Flying Sub, Spindrft and more.

[@tomt373]

What is not told are the short cuts they took with a couple of WW I kits. Some of the more major ones were: 1. Flat under-wings, instead of showing the ribbing as with the upper sides until they introduced the Sopwith Triplane. 2. Their "SPAD XIII" was really a SPAD VII (the 13's had curved wing tips as well as the trailing edge of the rudder was arched, not straight), with their deciding to cut out a panel and put in two Vickers machine guns instead of one the VII had. 3.Their Sopwith Camel's upper wing was non-standard. It was from a Camel night fighter, where twin Lewis machine guns were supposed to be mounted, with no Vickers guns in front of the pilot to blind him with their muzzle flashes at night. 4. Their Bleriot 14 lacked the bomb racks that were added for the bombing versions, not actually cutting out the windows in the fuselage sides, as well as twin Lewis guns instead of a single. On the plus side, THEY WERE BUILDIBLE without a special jig, etc., to keep the upper and lower biplane wings in alignment, such as connectors for the interplane struts until the glue fully set up. Unlike Revell's 1/28th scale kit, their Fokker Triplane used a single interplane strut for all three wings to facilitate this. And unlike most kits today, you could actually finish them in a single afternoon/evening.

[@seansky2721]

Neat Video! Fun to watch! I built all the box-scale Aurora US Navy CVA kits. Anyone else remember the horrible Navy aircraft in those kits? Aurora's 1/72 Piper Cherokee 180 is still the best model of one of my Dad's airplanes. They're a might pricier than back it the halcyon days of Aurora.

[@lancerevell5979]

I have built many Aurora kits over the last five decades. Some Russian companies, like Novo, acquired old molds from Aurora, Frog, Hawk and others. Lately, Atlantis, an American company, is rereleasing some old Aurora kits. They are available on Amazon. I am hoping some of my favorites survived the train derailment, and may resurface in the near future. Sure, these old kits lack the detail of modern kits, but they allow us to revisit our childhoods, enjoy old memories of simpler times, and just have fun. Which is what modeling is all about.

[@manlymcstud8588]

in 1957, the 'shock!' package of 52 universal horror movies was released for syndication (followed the next year with 'son of shock,' adding another 20 movies). that's why there are so many 'shock theatre' programs we grew up on, mine from the late 70's/early 80's was hosted by dr. creep in the dayton, OH, area. some might remember 'creature features,' which was kind of the same idea, i think, starting in the 60's, with a much broader scope and featuring a far wider selection of studios. whatever 'theatre' is was called rather died out by the mid-80's as kids didn't watch as much and cable made the broadcast rights more expensive. mine was basically the last generation that grew up on this stuff as a kid.

[@jeffreyyeater1780]

In cleveland we had goulardi then hoolihan and Big chuck. Excellent entertainment . That show went for 30 years . Terrible movies . Lol

[@LannieLord]

Lots of those Monster Movie packages were dead by the mid-1970s.

[@JAGRAFX]

In the dynamic year 1957 a rag-tag bunch of model enthusiasts then in Junior High School began to use a variety of power cutting devises to remove the hull bottoms below water line on the US Navy ship series models coming from Revell. We would then affix a homemade bottom plate along with a few ounces of ballast. When complete; the new "water line" model was generally better in appearence -- since we discovered through the use of J.A.N.E.S. Fighting Ships that more than often the hull-bottoms were not to scale anyway. As a part of the finish; we would generally spray-paint a monotone flat color or period camouflage on to the now waterline scale model. The finished example had the look and feel of the Authenticast brand all-metal model ships except in a much larger scale. Lead ballast would be added to give a more weighty feel for the finished product.

[@alamocannon3791]

I had a couple of the monster kits as a kid, They had glow in the dark face`s and hands, Frank and Drac.

[@manlymcstud8588]

frightening lightnings, i think those came out in 1969 if i recall correctly.

[@69Applekrate]

Interesting. as a kid, I had an aunt who worked there. She would send me their catalogs and I could get their products at half price. Not mentioned here, but, aurora also had their O slot cars, I think around 1970, they started their more advanced "A/FX" slot cars, have some of them too. Also, Aurora had N gauge trains. as far as kits, I remember they also had commerical air liners and I had several of them too. they had tanks, ships. their cars, as I remember were 50s and very early 60s hot rods. They did not have any muscle car ( mid-late 60s) stuff and those were the kits that were hot- MPC, AMT seemed to be the leaders there. anyway, enjoyed this doc. I wonder where the info for it came from. thanks

[@orangelion03]

Time warp indeed. Again... The New Jersey kit was the only Aurora model I ever purchased and actually built. I think it ended up a molten blob at the bottom of an uncompleted swimming pool. I also had their 1/72 737 in my stash for 20 years with vague plans to make a T-43 out of it, but ended up giving it away. Props to the Missus for her musical choices! =D

[@furtherdefinitions1]

I had so many Aurora models when I was a kid

[@Paladin1873]

I had that T-37 kit at 5:49 and the F9F Panther at 17:15. I member the Seaview kit, but don't recall if I ever owned it.

[@johnbockelie3899]

ACME box Co. do you box dynamite ?.

[@d.pierce.6820]

I liked the Knight kits best of all, but I also liked the WW1 planes Aurora made-no one else seemed to make kits of these planes.

[@richgustafson9613]

I remember building the Pushme- Pullyou from Dr. Doolittle. Wish I could find another one.

[@GRPhotography2222]

Great video. They released a diorama of Anzio beach. Is there any information on why they would release a diorama on such are somewhat obscure battle?

[@bigcharliesmodelgarage296]

Cool thanks for sharing

[@rjj1965]

Excellent

[@NYCBluesTRio]

I guess I was about eleven years old. I had a friend that was a few years older and something of a schemer. He cooked up the idea that we should go to the Aurora plant. I don't remember what the goal was. Factory tour? Free stuff? So we took the bus to West Hempstead and showed up unannounced. We got to see the inside of the office for maybe five minutes before it was "Get lost kid! You bother me."

[@HistoryMovieCritic]

Good video but how could you not mention the Prehistoric Scenes line of models? They were awesome! Fantastic sculpting. Great detail and all the moving parts. Best models ever made.

[@maxsmodels]

Had to cull a few things ot this would be an hour long.

[@emexduzentos]

Thanks for posting! Here in Brazil we never heard about some of these brands but man how cool it is! The only thing I don't get is the "1/4 scale" writen in some boxes, can you explain please?

[@larryaldrich4351]

What I didn't spend of my allowance on candy and comic books went into AMT, Monogram, and Aurora kits.

[@HootOwl513]

I still have some of my Model Motoring slot tracks and cars. Not in any great shap though. Two or 3 years after getting into slot cars, girls came along. A newer and much more expensive toy system.

[@johnbockelie3899]

I have the SEAVIEW. I built it in 1978. I was.18 then. I still have it in 2020. I'll be 6o soon. ( it's the 8 windowed version from 1961 movie)

[@theBaron0530]

@1:42 Acme Box Company? That's where the Coyote got his boxes, too! Of course, in Philly, they called it "Ak-a-me Box Comp'ny"

[@sadams12345678]

I think the only Aurora models I ever built when I was a kid in the mid 70s were the 1/144 scale airliner models that they produced.

[@Android-rz8mb]

What were some of the Molds that were destroyed in the train wreck I seen a lot of Aurora kids being re-issued but there still a few that I haven’t seen like the penguin(Batman)

[@johngallagher7680]

Hey Max my name is John I just wanted to tell you you did a story on the Aurora Black beauty well I wanted to tell you I know this is a long story but I do have the set of the convertible and the original Black beauty used in The Green hornet

[@jackcann360]

Who now owns the molds for model motoring and AFX slot cars?

[@jeffreyyeater1780]

Theyre all available on line butdont know about the molds .

[@Rabblewitz]

I have to say that other than the figure kits, I'm not really familiar with the Aurora models. Granted, it was the 70's when I started building kits. But I do remember my uncle building some of the monster figure kits in the 60's, and a decade later, I built a few as well.

[@MrCenturion13]

Yes.... yes... but... who was the key grip? I followed this entire video and did not see a single mention. Someone had to schlep the camera for all those shots!

[@avlisk]

Aurora was always slot cars for me, until Atlas came out with ones that reversed! I still have them all in a box, unused for over 50 years. I had the monsters, too, but didn't remember that they were also Aurora. By the way, Max, you need a new proof reader, (but I'm sure you know this). Ken b.1951.

[@harryhathaway1086]

I cant believe model building is not D-Funkette. However, I think it hasn't , mainly because of Asian countries like Japan. There are some ridiculously talented builders out there !

[@tyronemarcucci8395]

My very first plastic model was a Hawk Howard Ike..

[@kentbrockman8837]

Why no mention of the snap together dinosaur and other prehistoric kits?

[@rogers.5153]

The Prehistoric Scenes models were my favorites. I built them all except for the T-Rex, I never was able to find it way back then. I was hoping that the video would have talked about them a little too.

[@robertdavila3780]

Great video but could've done without the repetitious background music, found it distracting. Frankenstein model came out in 1961 not 62, I still have the model displayed along with 7 other classic universal monster models, they were my passion when I was a kid. Love everything Aurora, thanks for the rare information.👍

[@THEEND123321]

Aurora still the best still the most expensive and hot to get box model complete,..

[@danilozasimowicz2387]

The best part in this video are the end credits...lol

[@maxsmodels]

thanks

[@Miatacrosser]

Me and my friends used to build Aurora kits for our live battle diaramas. In otherwords, they were expendable💣

[@maxsmodels]

You blew up a small fortune in kits today. But then, didn't we all?

[@Miatacrosser]

@@maxsmodels you have no idea how many models we blew up or burned. Our favorite thing to do was dive bomb our army men and vehicles that were conveniantly soaked in Testor's glue with wooden matches that we launched right off the striker. Oops this isn't gonna help these modeler utube channels from getting COPPA'D. I'm glad I grew up in a sane time😂😂

[@lancerevell5979]

Yep, my old Aurora Tiger II and MBT-70 tanks fell to firecrackers, by me and my cousin. I fervently hope Atlantis brings them back. I have recently built a few Atlantis repops of these clasdic Aurora tanks. And NO firecrackers this time around!

[@orangelion03]

My New Jersey was floated in the puddle at the bottom of an in-construction swimming pool, hull filled with lighter fluid, and lit. Melted hissing blob sank most satisfactorily.

[@robertschildt306]

It would actually be nice if who ever owns the mold for the structures for the ho slot car layouts would bring them back like the dual pit stops and all! Dont like that photo cardboard structures give me the plastic!

[@michaellerner1369]

The curved bleachers have been reproduced. They go around $10 on eBay.

[@jeffreyyeater1780]

I agree . I found all the buildings new in the box 5 years ago . Bought em all.

[@DavidRLentz-b7i]

Someone asked if he had spelt correctly the word "self-aggrandizement".

[@CheshireTomcat68]

proof reeding indeed :-)

[@alexanderbellus1378]

Their decals in the 1950s were terrible.

[@ryanbarker5217]

animal trainer max kohnke security max kohnke make-up artist mrs. kohnke assistant to the regional manager max kohnke special effects/CGI max kohnke deadly uranium handler max kohnke max kohnke max kohnke

[@13thBear]

The models were great fun, the video interesting, but the ego at the end by Max is excessive and truly boorish.

[@starcityofva]

13thBear I disagree I thought the end credits are a great spoof on movie credits. Max put all the work, time, and effort into creating this for us to enjoy and I appreciate it.

[@jeffreyyeater1780]

Your just joking ....right .