Beach Bunny Catchin' Rays 1964

A beach bunny was a young woman who spent her free time at the beach.  Catchin' rays means getting a suntan.  This is a great kit, and I have seen a lot of customized versions over the years including an X-Rated one in an old issue of Kit Builders and Glue Sniffers magazine.  Love this kit!

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Hot Dogger Hangin' Ten 1963

Hanging ten is when the surfer positions the surfboard in

 such a way that the back of it is covered by the wave and 

the wave rider is free to walk to the front of the board and 

hang all ten toes over the front of the board.  If that is not the 

very definition of a show off, a show boater, a Hot Dogger if 

you will, I do not know what is.  This can only be 

accomplished by the very best surfers.  Or at least the ones 

with really big heads compared to their bodies :)

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Hodad Makin' the Scene with a Six Pack 1963

This was a cool kit and was the first one where I started printing stuff for the kits.  I made a pretty decent six pack using packaging images from the time period.  A Hodad was a non-surfer who frequents the beach and only pretends to be a surfer.  

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Woodie on a Surfari 1963

Above and beyond anything else I have to say, remember, this entire line is, as of this writing, currently available for very reasonable prices on Amazon.com and ebay and possibly your local hobby shop can order them from their distributor.  

This is the most complicated kit out of the Silly Surfers series and the hardest to pose.  It can be kinda hard to get almost half the vehicle to hang in the air.  That being said, it is a fine kit and a lot of fun.  Love this entire series.

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Sling Rave Curvette 1963

The Darling of the Bleachers.  Sling Rave is the Number One Fan of all the Weird-Ohs.  You can always find her hanging out around the stands, always with at least one sports magazine she needs autographed.  Not started yet, but she should be seen in all her glory sooner rather than later.  My 100th post and the last of the Weird-Ohs at the same time.  Odd Co-Inky-Dink.  Next up, the Silly Surfers!

Original box:

2016 Hot Wheels Recent Finds

Well, it is called "and stuff" so here is some stuff.  I am not a big Hot Wheels collector as I only have probably 3000 or so.  If that sounds like a lot, you just don't know any "real" HW collectors.  Some of these guys have MASSIVE collections.  

I was recently in a local Walmart and I found all six of the Camouflage series of cars and trucks.  There seemed to be plenty of most of them, but only a couple of Tail Draggers.  I think they are all pretty cool.  Mattel Including the re-tool of Rodger Dodger in the series was most appreciated.

Across the street at Target I saw a few of the 2016 models I want.  I really like the snowflake motif they have going on the packaging.  Makes them really stand out.  I don't buy everything they issue each year, but I do try to buy all my favorites each year.  I especially try to grab any new versions of the Twinmill, since that is my favorite Hot Wheels car of all time.  

Hawk Wade A Minut 1963

The Timeless Time Keeper.  The Wild Starter.  No matter what you call him, Wade was intended to keep track of all the goings on no matter which sport he was judging or refereeing at the time.  

Another kit I have not started on but hope to be able to post a built up in a reasonable amount of time.  Wade was also used as the illustration for the bubble gum card packages.

Original box:

Hawk Francis the Foul 1963

Continuing their take on sports, Hawk produced the Francis basketball kit.  There should have been a baseball kit and maybe even a hockey kit, but that is neither here nor there.  The Way Out Dribbler was number 10 in the Weird-Ohs series.  I have also not built this kit, but hopefully one day soon.

Original box:

Hawk Killer McBash 1963

OK, I have not really built this one.  Yet.  I have been playing around with who I want to have on the field.  I was thinking the Saints and the Vikings, but then everyone in this area suddenly became a Saints fan for exactly one season and that felt a little too much like a bandwagon thing at the time.  So, I finally decided on the first Superbowl.  The uniform of the Green Bay Packers for Killer and a Kansas City Chiefs uniform for the poor shmuck getting his head bashed.  As is evident from the lack of a built up, I haven't really started on this one yet.  Soon...

Original box:

Hawk Endsville Eddie 1963

The Smashing Sixties when everything ended in ville.  Coolsville.  Dullsville.  Eddie was a rather interesting kit including as it did an anchor and every other means of stopping a car in front of a brick wall including stomping the brake hard enough to punch through the front of the car.  This is Eddie hoping it is not really Endsville!

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Leaky Boat Louie 1963

We have lots of cars and a plane, guess it was time for us to have the other tradition in plastic models, a boat.  The Vulgar Boatman was a really fun kit to build and working on the water got me ready to tackle the Silly Surfers.

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Huey's Hut Rod 1963

Well, the title can say hut, but a hut is a small facility for something like camping or ice fishing.  This is an outhouse on wheels.  Wooden wheels at that.  Actually the sub title says it all:  The Way Outhouse Bomb.  Could be an early version of an alcohol engine judging from the brown jug the fuel is being pumped from.  Another very creative kit from Hawk.

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Drag Hag 1963

I went a little nuts with Drag Hag, too.  My youngest daughter and I used to go to yard sales together, before we started pretty much exclusively going to estate sales.  The Mother of Drag sparked that little creative urge in me and pretty soon she was headed for the local yard sales where you can always find plenty of baby clothes on a Saturday morning.

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Freddy Flame Out 1963

For those not in the know, a flame out is the extinction of  flame in the combustion chamber of a jet engine.  In the case of an aircraft in flight, it means gravity is not the pilot's friend and things are about to get real dicey.  Freddy is a great kit, but it had two issues.  One, it did not (at least my copy of the kit) come with the tongue hanging out of the plane's mouth, and, Two, the balloons look a lot like Tootsie Roll Pops.  I have never claimed to be a sculptor, but I did add a tongue and then I added little tie-offs to the lollipops so they look more like balloons.  Rather than the 1950's silver and black aircraft scheme, I went with a Viet Nam era camo job.

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Daddy 1963

Daddy, the Swinging Suburbanite.  Running back and forth to job, home, job, home, job...endlessly working himself into an early grave trying to keep up with the Joneses or the Auroras or maybe even the Revells.  His car is even made from his own coffin!  I could not help but notice between the coffin car and the martini on the hood, Aurora's Dracula's Dragster kinda resembles this one.  But this one came first.

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Davey 1963

Hawk Davy The Way-Out Cyclist.  I went a bit off book on this one.  Davy displays the only real issue I have with these kits.  The bases are thin enough they really do not support a vehicle popping a wheelie.  This is the kit makes that little failing most evident.  I still love it, though.

Original box:

My built up:

Hawk Models and the Weird-Ohs and Interstate Batteries Chevy

Hawk started producing wooden airplane models in 1928 and is known as The World's Oldest Model Company.  Flash forward to the 1960's and make the announcement I love the Weird-Ohs, the Silly Surfers and the Frantics.  These kits, most designed by Bill Campbell, have all the class, style and creativity one could ever want from a Car-iky-ture.  IMHO, these models have everything the Aurora Monster Rods are missing.  These all fit together well and they are not limited by a partially predetermined design.  These are designed to be one thing:  FUN!  OK, they were also designed to make money, and they are still doing that now.  Virtually the entire line of kits is still available for reasonable prices online. 
They were also licensed for everything from record albums to bubble gum cards, and, yes, they really did used to put truly awful bubble gum in the package which normally ruined the card it was next to with a big icky stain.  Look below to see some examples of ads, album cover, etc.  Next time, we will start with my first Weird-Ohs kit.

The Second Section

So, when I get the urge to go round the pro circuit, I reach up on the shelf and pull down one of my NASCAR vehicles and start heating up the track.  Here is my kit of the Interstate Batteries Chevy Monte Carlo SS driven by Bobby Labonte.  I think the reason I did this one at the time was because I happen to have an action figure to pose behind it.  That just struck me as all kinds of neat.

Monsters of the Movies Rodan 1975 and Betsy's Diner

We get to the last of the Aurora kits I want for my collection.  We are nowhere near the end of my collection of model kits, just the end of Aurora.  This kit represents the end of Aurora in more ways than one, as this was the last figure kit released by Aurora before their parent company of the time closed the doors for the final time.  The last kit is another Toho monster with a minuscule population center being smashed beneath his feet.  

Original box:

My built up:

The Second Section

Another scratchbuilt HO scale building based on the O Scale work of Troels Kirk.  This is Betsy's, a diner in an old streetcar with the kitchen built onto the back.  Troels is just fantastically talented.  Aside from the model railroad, he is also a professional artist.  You can see just how wonderful his art is at https://www.facebook.com/Troels-Kirk-artist-painter-230178530338024/  

Monsters of the Movies Ghidrah 1975 and Model RR House

Now we get back to fun bases.  Love the tiny towns in this type of kit being smashed under foot.  For the last two Monsters of the Movies kits Aurora went with two more Tokyo Titans although they had several designs available to them including King Kong, Fay Wray and the Metaluna Mutant.  And that is before we even get to the truly great Phantom kit which was never released.

Monsters of the Movies box:

My built up:

The Second Section

A scratchbuilt HO version of an O Scale original of a piano salesman's home and shop.  The original was made by my friend Troels Kirk who has a model railroad in Norway based on 1920's Maine narrow gauge train lines.  His stuff is beyond belief!  You can read the entire history of the Coast Line On30 Railroad at this link

Coast Line RR

Monsters of the Movies Mr Hyde 1975 and Moebius Green Goblin

Another rather uninspiring base, it is just Hyde standing next to a lamp post.  I also do not own this kit, yet, but plan on buying the new Monarch re-pop when it is released.  The Jekyll and Hyde kits were released in Canada as part of the Monster Scenes line at the same time as Dracula.

Monster Scenes box:

Monsters of the Movies box:

And  my built up will someday go here:

The Second Section

Moebius Green Goblin, the companion piece to the Moebius Spider-man, also called the Spider Sense Spider-Man.  This is another awesome kit that just demands to be washed and dry-brushed and detailed all day and half the night!

Monsters of the Movies Dr Jekyll 1975 and Moebius Spider-Man

Speaking of uninspiring bases, which I was even if you were not, we come to the fifth in Aurora's series of Monsters of the Movies figure kits.  He is literally standing on a flat base with the little table thing beside him.  I don't own this one yet, but I plan to very soon.  At least I will own the Monarch re-pop which will be fine by me.  

Original box:

The Second Section

The Moebius Spider-Man is another great kit.  Lots of companies are making really great kits nowadays and this is just one of them.  It combines with the next kit I will be displaying to form a really large combo kit.

Hawk Digger 1963

Hawk started issuing the Weird-Ohs in 1963 with Digger - The Daredevil Drag Nut.  Great kit.  What your kit looks like all depends on your style and your paint job.  Mine is based on the box art, but that does not mean yours has to be.  I really love these kits.  The fit is great and the concept is awesome.

Original box:

My built up: