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Vintage Military Model Kits
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Even though injection-molded plastic had been around since its invention by brothers John and Isaiah Hyatt in 1872, it was not until the postwar decades of the 1950s and '60s that the technology became synonymous with model kits. And in the...
Even though injection-molded plastic had been around since its invention by brothers John and Isaiah Hyatt in 1872, it was not until the postwar decades of the 1950s and '60s that the technology became synonymous with model kits. And in the prosperity and patriotism that followed World War II, it was natural that companies such as AMT, Monogram, Aurora, and Revell would produce everything from tanks to fighter jets for hobby modelers.
First, though, there was Varney, whose model kit of an LST ("Landing Ship, Tank") made of wood, metal, and a type of plastic called tenite, was released after LSTs helped land troops and tanks at Normandy. By 1946, Varney was selling an all-tenite 1:240-scale submarine, considered by many to be the first all-plastic model kit, as well as a PT-17 training aircraft and a PT boat, which would later become associated with John F. Kennedy. Other companies to get an early start on military model kits were Hawk and O-lin, which made model-airplane kits of Curtiss Racers and P-80 Shooting Stars.
The military models introduced by Monogram in the late 1940s followed in the footsteps of Vareny, et al. Its "Speedee-Bilt" kits featured mostly pre-cut wooden parts, along with a few plastic and celluloid pieces. But by 1954, Monogram was firmly in the world of injection-molded models, beginning with its Midget Racer and Hot Rod model cars, as well as a P-26 Invader bomber. These were also the first of the "Four-Star" kits, which is a name used by collectors to identify kits with four stars above the Monogram logo on the box.
Revell got into the military-model-kit business a little bit earlier in 1952, when it released a model kit of the USS Missouri, the vessel used for surrender ceremonies with Japan at the end of the war. From then on, Revell produced scores of scale-model warships, including the New Jersey and Los Angeles, as well as military aircraft like Grumman Cougars, Chance Vought Cutlasses, Lockheed Starfires, and Boeing B-29 Giant Superfortresses. And like Varney, Revell sold models of submarines, most famously the nuclear-powered USS Nautilus, which it was selling to hobbyists in 1953 before the sub was commissioned in 1954.
With a war to recover from, Japanese model manufacturers took longer to get their products to market. The first was Marusan, which introduced its first all-plastic model kit in 1958. Until then, the postwar Marusan had been producing tinplate cars such as Cadillacs, but in 1958, the company introduced its own version of the Nautilus, along with a P-47N Thunderbolt fighter.
Continue readingEven though injection-molded plastic had been around since its invention by brothers John and Isaiah Hyatt in 1872, it was not until the postwar decades of the 1950s and '60s that the technology became synonymous with model kits. And in the prosperity and patriotism that followed World War II, it was natural that companies such as AMT, Monogram, Aurora, and Revell would produce everything from tanks to fighter jets for hobby modelers.
First, though, there was Varney, whose model kit of an LST ("Landing Ship, Tank") made of wood, metal, and a type of plastic called tenite, was released after LSTs helped land troops and tanks at Normandy. By 1946, Varney was selling an all-tenite 1:240-scale submarine, considered by many to be the first all-plastic model kit, as well as a PT-17 training aircraft and a PT boat, which would later become associated with John F. Kennedy. Other companies to get an early start on military model kits were Hawk and O-lin, which made model-airplane kits of Curtiss Racers and P-80 Shooting Stars.
The military models introduced by Monogram in the late 1940s followed in the footsteps of Vareny, et al. Its "Speedee-Bilt" kits featured mostly pre-cut wooden parts, along with a few plastic and celluloid pieces. But by 1954, Monogram was firmly in the world of injection-molded models, beginning with its Midget Racer and Hot Rod model cars, as well as a P-26 Invader bomber. These were also the first of the "Four-Star" kits, which is a name used by collectors to identify kits with four stars above the Monogram logo on the box.
Revell got into the military-model-kit business a little bit earlier in 1952, when it released a model kit of the USS Missouri, the vessel used for surrender ceremonies with Japan at the end of the war. From then on, Revell produced scores of scale-model warships, including the New Jersey and Los Angeles, as well as military aircraft like Grumman Cougars, Chance Vought Cutlasses, Lockheed Starfires, and Boeing B-29...
Even though injection-molded plastic had been around since its invention by brothers John and Isaiah Hyatt in 1872, it was not until the postwar decades of the 1950s and '60s that the technology became synonymous with model kits. And in the prosperity and patriotism that followed World War II, it was natural that companies such as AMT, Monogram, Aurora, and Revell would produce everything from tanks to fighter jets for hobby modelers.
First, though, there was Varney, whose model kit of an LST ("Landing Ship, Tank") made of wood, metal, and a type of plastic called tenite, was released after LSTs helped land troops and tanks at Normandy. By 1946, Varney was selling an all-tenite 1:240-scale submarine, considered by many to be the first all-plastic model kit, as well as a PT-17 training aircraft and a PT boat, which would later become associated with John F. Kennedy. Other companies to get an early start on military model kits were Hawk and O-lin, which made model-airplane kits of Curtiss Racers and P-80 Shooting Stars.
The military models introduced by Monogram in the late 1940s followed in the footsteps of Vareny, et al. Its "Speedee-Bilt" kits featured mostly pre-cut wooden parts, along with a few plastic and celluloid pieces. But by 1954, Monogram was firmly in the world of injection-molded models, beginning with its Midget Racer and Hot Rod model cars, as well as a P-26 Invader bomber. These were also the first of the "Four-Star" kits, which is a name used by collectors to identify kits with four stars above the Monogram logo on the box.
Revell got into the military-model-kit business a little bit earlier in 1952, when it released a model kit of the USS Missouri, the vessel used for surrender ceremonies with Japan at the end of the war. From then on, Revell produced scores of scale-model warships, including the New Jersey and Los Angeles, as well as military aircraft like Grumman Cougars, Chance Vought Cutlasses, Lockheed Starfires, and Boeing B-29 Giant Superfortresses. And like Varney, Revell sold models of submarines, most famously the nuclear-powered USS Nautilus, which it was selling to hobbyists in 1953 before the sub was commissioned in 1954.
With a war to recover from, Japanese model manufacturers took longer to get their products to market. The first was Marusan, which introduced its first all-plastic model kit in 1958. Until then, the postwar Marusan had been producing tinplate cars such as Cadillacs, but in 1958, the company introduced its own version of the Nautilus, along with a P-47N Thunderbolt fighter.
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