Plastic kit models history

Credit to oldmodelkits for the use of their images.

This video is a brief history of plastic kit models and the current state of the industry.
A few notes:
Here is a big error as H0 isn't '1:96', it is indeed 1:87, hence all those cars and trucks made in this scale!
The Frog Lancaster shown is not a cellulose acetate Penguin era kit. I just used it as WW2 imagery.
Revell, AMT, Airfix and many othe rmodel companies started in the 1940s under different names making ither products. They rebranded or got into plastic kit models following WW2.
Novo wasn't a 'Russian' company (or at that time it would have been 'Soviet'), it was actually a British company. Novo was set up by DCM (Dunbee-Combex-Marx) that acquired the assets of Frog's parent company, Tri-ang, when it went into liquidation in 1972. Novo was entirely a British company - it just moulded in the Soviet Union!
Really the most popular scale for cars is 1:24, not 1:25. (OK, except for real purists - and there are some! - most treat them the same.)
06.19 The Military scales of 1:32 vs 1:35 is a minefield. Whereas 1:32 is a logical imperial engineering scale (as most model scales are), 1:35 isn't. 1:25 for cars (as against the engineering 1:24) can be explained.
The British 00 gauge is 1:76 BUT it runs on H0 gauge track.. Then '0 Gauge' is 1:43.5 in Britain; 1:45 in Continental Europe and 1:48 in the US! (The US scale to me is the most convenient as at least that ties in with many aircraft and car kits!!) .
I pictured a Flying Saucer in an Atlantis box - which was a Lindberg kit, not Aurora. There have been several 'New Aurora' companies - Polar Lights; Moebius; Pegasus Hobbies; X-Plus; even Monarch - and then Atlantis primarily as it got many Aurora tools when R-M's owners (Hobbico) when bust in 2018 and the new owners in Germany (Blitz) didn't what many older R-M, Renwal & Aurora moulds. Fortunately for all of us, Pete & Rick stepped in!
, I might have masid "8 million" -but meant "8 BILLION" people on Earth!
I saw that in 2018 Revell was sold by Hobbico to a German firm called Blitz. It is based near Munich. Blitz also bought Hobbico Germany. Blitz put the offices at Revell Germany in charge of both companies. They got it for a song, both companies together were valued at something like $18million, and was purchased for less than 1/4 of that, appox. $4million, a large chunk of that to purchase inventory at Revell USA. Looking at the numbers on paper, Revell Germany as a whole was bought for just under $1million, the tooling at Revell USA (worth approx. $3.5million) was on paper purchased for the tidy sum of $50000, licensing, trademarks and copyrights made up a bulk of the remaining costs of purchase.
Now just called "Revell", Revell Germany side of the business, kits are still produced in Poland, and the Revell USA side of the business kits are still produced in China, with the same usual cross pollination of ROG and RUSA kits winding up in each other's boxes for different markets.
Revell in the US was slow to get back off the ground, basically ended up being a warehouse with one employee where the RUSA and ROG kits would come into, and then sent back out to distributors. They have since expanded their footprint in the US, by bringing back Ed Sexton into the fold, and that is basically where we are at today.
Most of the Aurora and Renwal molds, as well as some of the older Revell and Monogram tools, have since be sold to Atlantis Models, whom are having a grand time reissuing them. Subsequently the line of Monogram Nascar kits (most of them) were sold to Salvino JR Models (through Atlantis), and are living on today.
Just thought it would be prudent to tell everyone that how the video ends, is not the end of the story.
Lastly, I hear things are shaking up at Revell but do not h ave the skinny.

[simaro]

I'm 16 and I build modelkits for over 7 years. I can still remember my first modelkit that i had build with my dad (Revell 1:72 Fokker Dr1). Sadly i don't have my first modelkit. I don't really build alot because I have to do homework, sport and I play games with my friends. So I only build like 3-4 kits a year and i have 20+ modelkits in my stach to build. For my painting i use an airbrush with vallejo model air paints. For decalling I use micro set, sol (dont forget clear coat) . For weathering I use florrymodels washes or tamiya washes, I also add some chipping. I will never stop building modelkits and I hope you guys are still enjoying your builds.

[dangannon]

I am 25, and recently got into modeling. It has helped me get sober and reclaim my life. I find it therapeutic.

[thetourettesgamer]

Well I’m 17 and have been making models for a few years now and I’m hooked. It’s such an amazing hobby and it’s a shame more people don’t do it

[happychildhood]

Thank you for this great video. I was introduced to model building in the late 1950s by and older cousin. In addition to kits by Aurora, Revell, Monogram, Lindberg, and AMT, I also built kits from some of smaller brands such as Hawk, Renwal, and Pyro. Money to buy the kits, glue, and paints came from my allowance, collecting soda deposit bottles, and later, my paper route. Model building not only taught me the art of craftsmanship, but also fostered a love of history and cars. It also instilled in me a great sense of pride when my kit was painted and finished. At sixty-seven years old, I am still building models today and have a very large collection of 1950s-1970s kits unbuilt and mint in their boxes. I love this hobby!

[jamiesale]

I'm 72 and I re-entered the hobby after 50+ years. Lots has changed and I'm re-learning-learning. Great fun and satisfaction (and some frustration too.)

[mariusbaumgartner]

I still remember the excitement of going into the hobby shop in my early teens spending most my pocket money on kits while fellow class mates always talked about the latest game or console, to say I felt a bit out of place is an understatement. Looking back at it now I am so glad I stuck with it and am still modelling to this day age 20

[klwnkiller]

Like many kids I built models but around the time girls and real cars became an interest my model building days ended. Then during a year-long layoff in 2004 I found an old kit box in the attic and started building kits again only now I took my time instead of hurrying up so i could play with it. Now I build all sorts of kits and have several hundred stashed in various areas in my house, many of the kits shown in the video are in my collection (lol). I have kits and articles featured in several major modeling magazines and really enjoy the hobby. Max is definitely right though in saying that it is mostly a hobby for us older guys anymore. Some of the kits I have cost hundreds of dollars and even that cost was way overshadowed by the resin, photoetch and other 'add-ons' that I bought for the kit. One of these high dollar knits I have around $1600 in if you count all the add-ons! Personally, I think the future of modeling lies in the 3D printing world. Some day you will not buy a kit, you will just buy a one-time license with the designs and you will print the parts on your 3D printer, at least that is my belief. Resin kits are another medium that is making inroads on the plastic kit market. I have many resin kits, particularly Sci-Fi kits. Anyway, interesting video. Thanks for that.

[dansotelo]

I'm 63. At a young age I was immersed in airplane model building till 1986 when I got married. I than picked up flying scale RC. Now financially very stable I started collecting a wish list of dream plastic models to build when I retired and called it my heart attack collection, so I can build them as I recovered from some heart attack or similar. My collection was incredible, as online became popular and I could now find just about anything ever made. The most expensive model I ever bought was a very rare, limited edition, Hasagawa F-86. The owner of a major hobby shop had one in his personal collection and every week-end I would call him to see if he would part with it. Finally one day I just started throwing numbers at him in $50 dollar increments. When I hit $500 dollars he said OK. This F-86 was my Jem of my collection and was going to be built to sheer perfection.


Sadly I was renting a temperature controlled storage near Seattle, and the building where I was storing my model collection was burglarized, and my entire model collection, including all my high tech model building tools vanished along with a couple of German violins that were 200 yrs old.


Of all the things I lost in my life, that really hurt... God I love scale model building and my Hero is this new Russian guy called Plasmo on YouTube. This guy is amazing.

[brucemaclennan]

To lifelong model constructors like myself this is a very interesting video. I am an old geezer (in England) so I can recall the wood/balsa kits, which, as a 12 year old tested my patience to the limit. I was overjoyed when the first plastic kits appeared in hobby shops and can recall building my first one which was an F.86 Sabre by Frog, and my second was an Airfix Spitfire. In my teens I lived awhile in Hong Kong where I built several Revell models. Thank you for nudging my oldest memories and filling me with nostalgia!

[jeffdelbarba]

Thank you, Max for the great video. I'm 63 years old and I've been building models since I was 5. My first model was a Monogram M-48 Patton tank. 3 years ago I built the M-48 again for a model contest based on a Monogram models. I was able to find and build the 1959 model of the M-48. The year I was born. Thanks again for all your videos.

[bobmaclaughlin]

I'm 79, still building and enjoyed your short video. At present I have a 1:144th scale of the HMCS Snowberry, a Flower Class Corvette to do and then there's a few more in storage to do as well. I Hope I've got time left to get them done.

[dennislambert]

Man, that brought back many memories of my childhood.
I am 67 years old and still remember building plastic model kits as if were yesterday. Thanks for the memories!

[hertzair]

Highlight of my youth in the 60’s-70’s was building plastic model kits...Revell, Monogram, Aurora, Lindberg, Hawk, we’re almost weekly purchases with odd-job work money. Back then I couldn’t have dreamt of the variety of kits available now...

[kpkndusa]

I'm going the other direction, I started building kits in the late 60's, now I do mostly if not all scratch building. This video did bring back good memories though, like the smell of hobby shops, testors paint and glue. thanks.

[gsxerwhite]

YouTube is probably helping keep interest alive. I don’t build but I enjoy watching people on here who are really talented at it. My Dad tried to get me into building back in the 80’s, I was more into drawing though. But it’s fun to watch people who know all the tricks to the craft.

[tossedsaladandscrambledegg]

Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting. I am 55 now and greatly enjoyed building as a kid. I have started to build again and add kits for my retirement stash. I don't know about the rest of the folks but I do enjoy cracking open a new kit. The familiar nostalgic rush from my younger years is a good thing. I hope folks keep building. What's old is new again. Except for the price of kits that is. : )

[shannonchurchill]

Kind of surprised that you didn’t touch on the massive market of aftermarket parts, from etched metal to resin upgrades and detail kits, metallic decals, carbon composite decals, the list goes on and on. It blew me away when I got back into it and started building 1/12 racing motorcycles 5 years ago how the landscape had changed for scale modeling.

[manthony]

The success of video gaming has always astounded me. As someone who went to work in the Silicon Valley in 1974, I remember the beginning of home computers and electronic games. I tell people it was just a distraction, because many of us worked up to 70 hour weeks with these start up companies. i remember one year giving everyone in the family "Pong, " because the company was down the street, and I could get them wholesale. But it became a lifestyle for my children's generation. Unfortunately hobby shops, like speed shops and record stores are pretty much an anachronism.

[hawkeye]

Man what a great song to round out your video!! And I’m not even a big Seger fan!!
I’m a 56 year old kid still building plastic model kits with wreck less abandon. It’s been 48 years since my first kit, an Aurora Japanese zero.
Since then with pauses here and there I’ve always come back to this past time. I guess I was lucky to have grown up when I did. Thanks for the vid.

[RWildekrav]

I'm going to be 65 this year and I still get a thrill about going into the " model shop " just holding the boxes gives me memories that will never be forgotten . My favorite was the F4UCorsair and the P 40 Warhawk. I could and would daydream about flying these planes into combat with any plans that I had just built. Thanks for you channel