Odd (to me that is) kits

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Hi, I’m Tom. This is my first post; I joined today, though I’ve been reading here for some time. Lots of knowledge here, therefore, to my ulterior motive - to ask a question.

Today I recieved from an ebay seller 5 Aurora Famous Fighter type kits, of the sort I used to build when they were on the market - late 50’s/early 60’s. They were sold in a 1 3/8" X 4" X 10" box, artwork by Joe Kotula and others. I have a dozen or so, and all are as I remember them, some in rougher-than-investment-grade condition, if you know what I mean. I’m sure you do. Except the ones I got today.

Since I already have examples of all these, I was able to make A/B comparisons for all; here’s what I noticed;

Boxes, instructions, and decals are perfect, not what you’d expect in a 40+ year old kit. In addition, while not sealed in cellophane, there aren’t even any tape remains on the boxes. I remember that they used cellophane tape before the shrink wrap was used, to “seal” the kit boxes.

Plastic colors are wrong; The (2) Albatross DIII’s are molded in red (originals were dark green), Nieuport II is silver (not O.D. as was the original), Fokker DVII med. green (not dark green, though of course it has the the original tasteless flaming death scene box art as the original did), and SE-5 molded in tan instead of O.D.

No price codes on the end panels, included in the kit number, as are all my other examples.

Side by side comparisons with the old kits look so exact, even the printed overlays on the boxes are a bit off-location. I’ve never seen such exact or pointless copying, and beg to ask if anybody knows of counterfeit kits being in existance, or maybe these are just brand new kits imported from a parallel universe. I thought they’d all been out of production for decades, and re-issues were in different styled boxes, or marketed under different manufacturers, like K&B, and therefore recognizable. I think it’d be funny as hell if somebody were wasting time duplicating vintage model kits; the prices were reasonable, to say the least.

Looking forward to whatever insulting responses you may have.

Tom

2

Hi Tom and welcome[#welcome]…my first thought is you bought some re-pops of old kits distributed by another manufacturer. I ran into the same thing after just getting back into modeling. I got wised up by others here at FSM.

Boxes change…decals can change and kit parts can change (hopefully all for the better!)

You will see much more knowledgable posts about this and they will nail down all your concerns I am sure!

3

Hi Tom and welcome to the boards.

If you’re saying that the prices are reasonable, I’d suspect that foul play was out of the question. No sense in making replica or counterfeit pieces if you’re not going to gouge people with the “rare and out of production” angle.

My guess, the manufacturer refired up the molds after decomissioning them the first time. Maybe they thought there was more money to be made by re-releasing the kits again - most manufacturers do it. It would go a lot towards explaining the differences in color as well as the slight offsets in the box pictures.

But that’s just my guess.

-Fred

4

Post up some pictures so we can see!

5

Hi, thanks for the welcomes. This seems like a pretty good group.

I hardly suspect foul play myself, Fred, though it’d reinforce my belief that criminals are basically dumb, however clever they may happen to be. It’s difficult to imagine some supercriminal twisting his mustache and cackling insanely over the ill-gotten gains, the destruction of western civilization, as we know it.

However, what little I know of Aurora, these kits were reissued in the 70’s or 80’s with improved detail and new boxes; photos of the models were used, instead of the old artists’ renditions. Also, from the Old Model Kits website, I learned Aurora went out of business in '77, being acquired by (Was it Nabisco, Frito-Lay…I forget. Maybe the evil Pillsbury Doughboy is at the bottom of all this). The kits I just got could’ve been manufactured a month ago, they look so new.

I don’t think the ones I’ve got are too important, forged or not, but some of the old Aurora kits fetch pretty high prices; the “Jap” Zero, for example.

Tom

6

Hi Gerald, photos will be forthcoming, as soon as my camera batteries are charged up, and the delivery I was really waiting for is opened up and marveled over (a bunch of new end mills and misc. junk for my CNC machine)

Tom

7

Kind of curious, but why would you be expecting insulting responses? Kind of a bonehead statement for a newbie.

8

Hi Tom, welcome to the forums!

I too would like to see pics of those kits when you get a chance. I enjoy those old vintage kits- very nostalgic!

Does sound like you’ve got a bit of a mystery on your hands as to the lineage of those kits. Be neat to hear if you find out more.

9

I have not heard that it has actually happened yet, but a relation of one of the original owners of Aurora has been working on producing many of the old Aurora kits again. I had contact with them by e-mail earlier this year and asked them which kits they were planning on doing, and they said all of them. I doubt the ones you have bought are new issue, but one can hope. I’m wishing for the XF-90, X-13 and the XFV-1, among others.

10

Here goes…

In both photos, the old kits are on the left, the oddball kits on the right. On my monitor, I see only partial photos, until I click on the photo, then the enlargement is the complete shot. I’d overlooked the fact that the SE-5 and Nieuport II are not directly comparable, in my initial post. These 5 cost me just a bit under $10.00 each, being sold as a lot.

What would help date them, would have been price extensions on the kit numbers. The “real” Albatross DIII number, for example, has a 1.00 suffix, which I believe to be the cost. Even if they were made as late as '77, I find it hard to accept they’d have stayed in such good shape. Giving the matter some more thought, it’s possible these kits were at one time shrink wrapped, and then had the wrapping removed. That’d at least account for the lack of tape, and maybe would indicate the reason they’re so well preserved.

Tom

11

I’d say they are the same kits. However the printing was outsourced to a different vendor so there would be a slight difference in the end product.

As far as the styrene color, well that too probably has something to do with the batch they were running at the time. It is hard to switch colors without some major effort. They probably got a deal on what ever they used at the time.

They could have been producted six years apart or six months, its hard to tell.

I’ve go a recent repop of an old kit and the instructions are so faded they are no longer legible. Looks as if the master were lost and they used copies of copies to run the sheets. Of course with digital technology today, having copies of master proofs is no big deal. Back then they were probably metal plates.

12

Thanks Gerald.

Tom

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I wasn’t expecting anything really acrimonious, but thought that my lack of knowledge would be readily evident. It was just my way of saying I could take it if this turned out to be the sort of naive question new members ask so frequently that you veterans were tired of answering it.

Tom

14

Don’t worry about it. Every one makes boneheaded statements. If you don’t believe me, just ask my wife.

15

Below is a web address I found; looks like their releases are limited and a bit pricey. At $24.95 for the triplane kits, it’s got me pondering inflation; the later “newspaper clipping” example I have was priced at $1.00. Also, no activity since Oct. '07 is indicated, from what I could see.

http://www.auroraplasticscorp.com/

The vampire girl is kind of cute, though.

Tom

16

This is a pretty rum group tr4252…very few posters that are rude for the sake of being rude.

I do however have a problem reconciling the fact that you are a guy when you have that great avatar on your ID![(-D]

17

My avatars do tend to represent what I like, rather than what I am. The cigarette ad featuring Joan Bennett just looked good to me, so I’ve been using it on one or two other forums. The one below is my all time favorite; that’s my uncle Joe, circa 1929; used it on TalkBlade for quite a while. Maybe I’ll change the avatar later.

or, some of my guitars

Tom

18

Hi, Tom, welcome to the forum!

Looking at the five “newer” kits, I’d say that they’re from the mid-70’s, perhaps? I’m stretching my memory, but the logo and the printing is comparable to other Aurora kits that I was building back then, like the movie monsters, and the ships.

As to the different colors, well, the others have posted about that, and I agree, too. They used different color plastic at various times, for the same casting. I’ve got a couple of Boeing F4B-4s from that series, in gray, but in various shades of gray. They did the same mold as the Boeing P-12, just in dark olive drab or brown plastic.

Then there’s the possibility that the kits and boxes were not originally together. That is, they are indeed Aurora moldings, and Aurora boxes, but maybe the moldings are from runs made by the “successors” to Aurora, like K&S, Fuji (I think I have those names right, but correct me, please), Entex, and maybe others, that sold the Aurora moldings in their packaging.

Either way, have fun building them, that’s what it’s about!

Regards,

Brad

19

Thanks Brad,

Your comments all make sense, and the possibility that the kits might be from newer releases with older boxes hadn’t occurred to me. If indeed these are from a period of transition, inventories of boxes and kits could’ve concievably been mixed up in the interest of using up old stock (boxes for example).

I’d like to thank everyone for your advice, and am enjoying this forum a lot.

Tom

20

Hello there Tom,
No such thing as a dumb question, there are plenty of dumb answers though.
“If you don’t know something, ask”, was a fave quote of my Grandfather.
Hope you have fun building the models, pedigree notwithstanding [:D]
Mick C.