History 101

A long, long time ago, the model building hobby took off.  The earliest examples by Hudson Miniatures were made of balsa wood, card stock, wire, pot metal castings and some plastic.  They were crude and depended heavily on builder's skill.  I know, I have one on the WIP bench now.  

With the popularity of injection molding modeling took off.  One of the early companies to get on the bandwagon was Gowland Brothers Toys in England.  After a poor start overseas, Revell joined with Gowland to produce plastic models in the US, called Highway Pioneers.  Their early products were made of an acetate based plastic that was soft, difficult to glue, and warped very easily.  Plastic formulations were refined resulting in the hobby we enjoy today.

Way back before the days of eBay, I used to go to Model Car shows when I saw they were in town.  This was the place to go for innovations, cheap kits, junkyard parts cars, accessories, etc.  They also had 'bargain boxes' with anything under the sun that was related to car modeling.  This is where I began collecting the early kit models.  Heck, they were only 25 or 50 cents a piece back then - built or unbuilt!

A couple of early Highway Pioneer Cadillacs.  The underside is still molded Gowland & Gowland.


3 G&G Stanley Steamers.  Love the old Comical figures.  Notice how the body halves are warped.  This is the acetate plastic.


2 1910 Cadillacs.  Acetate plastic.


1907 Renault Limo and 1911 Rolls Royce.  These are styrene plastic.  The early styrene on the Rolls is very brittle.


3 1908 Buick Model 10's.  After awhile, Revell dropped the comic figures.


1910 Studebaker Electric and 1904 Oldsmobile Bakery Van.


Mercer Raceabout.  Waiting for parts.


1915 Ford Model T Sedan.  Even the window plastic warped.


1915 Fiat Tourer.


1914 Stutz Bearcat and 1915 Ford Model T Sedan.


2 1914 Stutz Bearcats.


2 1914 Stutz Bearcats.  The one on the right is a brittle styrene formulation that is translucent.  


Someone did a nice job on this 1906 Franklin.


1910 Hudson, also brittle, translucent plastic.


A nice 1913 Mercedes.


2 1903 Cadillacs.  Notice the small tab under the radiator of the left model.  That is an Action Miniatures casting by Revell.


1910 Pierce Arrow made of modern styrene.  This one is nice enough for me to try a restoration.  Still looking for better supports for the top.


This was the intent of Revell's remolding of some of the models.  The Action Miniature series.  Prepainted, prebuilt with mechanism.




The car could be dragged by the metal cable, and when you pressed the plunger, it created an action that looked like a backfire where the car would raise in the rear and the driver would lurch forward.


Normal driving position.


Backfire position.  Rear end raised.  Sorry the driver won't stay forward - he jerks forward then returns to normal instantly.


The following are a few of my own builds of the Highway Pioneer series.  I try to build only the good styrene examples.

1895 Duryea.


1913 Mercedes.


Ford Model T.


International Harvester Pickup Truck.  Added the Renault motor from an old Pyro kit.


1907 Sears Buggy.  Added the chains for the chain drive.


I also have a small box of spare parts and bodies waiting for mates as well as unbuilt kits in stash.
I hope I haven't bored you with today's history lesson.

Thanks,
Mike

Very cool! Love the vintage kits and subject matter. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you Mike, very interesting. Some beautiful models there, I love Granpaws Pride!

Very interesting and informative read Mike. Thanks for taking the time and trouble to post it.