Ok some of you “old timers” like me. I remember Revell offering box art of ship paintings “suitable for framing” Some of those paintings were memorable. I believe the artist’s last name was Steele or Steel. Does any one know anything about him or if he did any work other than the Revell box art? Are any of his paintings available? The ones I remember vividly are the USS Pennsylvania, PT 212, TheUSS Pine Island and the USS Montrose. Those images were of real hard working ships and it was like a I was really there. I would be interested in acquiring some work of his other than just the reproductions on a cardboard box .
I have found samples on the net of the boxes but very little about the artist himself.
Actually, John Steele did most of the artwork for Aurora as well as Revell. He painted the artwork for that horrible Aurora Bismarck that showed her in a camouflage pattern she never wore, the old KGV, Graf Spee, and USS St. Paul. He also did the original work on the U-505. He might have done others, but I still have these boxes showing his signature quite clearly.
So was his name Steel or Steele? and were there / are there any original paintings of the “Picture Fleet” boxes? Does anyone know if there are where they can be found? I have found pictures of the box art etc on the net but they don’t refernce purchasing the original artwork.
BTW thanks everyone for your information and thoughts. Do you think a poll on which of the paintings on the boxes is a favorite would go anywhere? I’ve also had my memory jogged into remembering that aircraft and armor were also represented by Mr Steel / Steele and others as well
It’s “Steel.” I googled “John steel revell” and got quite a bit of interesting info.
My earliest memory of his paintings is of the first Revell “Picture Fleet” kits, in the late fifties. Those kits were reboxings of the very first Revell warships- the Iowa-class battleship, Midway-class carrier, Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, and Fletcher-class destroyer. All of them, of course, had appeared earlier with box art by other people. Steel did lots of other paintings for Revell after that - ships, aircraft, and armor. I don’t remember whether he did any cars or trucks.
I read somewhere that he worked extremely fast, cranking out a painting every two or three days - on an easel propped up in his kitchen.
He did lots of paintings for Aurora - mainly reissues (including the famous WWI airplanes, the 1/600 warships, and the 1/48 tanks. And quite a few for Lindberg.
I’ve got the FSM cd set; I’ll see if I can find that article.
When I was a kid, I had the idea to cut the box lids apart and try to frame the cover art. Of course, as a kid, I butchered them, including cutting the side panel pictures to keep like trading cards. I’m trying something similar these days, with a little more experience behind me.
I used to cut the box picture out and had them framed with cheap wooden and plastic frames all over my room’s walls. I also had models of a B-24, B-17, ME 109 and a P-51 (all in the same scale) hanging from my ceiling with orange thread simulating tracers! Those were the days!
It is interesting watching Antique Roadshow how the value of the originals of advertising art has blossomed in price! Many were originally done in oils. I assume they were then photographed and went through various photo-optical techniques to create the printing masters. Sure would be nice to luck into some of the originals for model box art
I sometimes wonder where they get those figures too . They told a guy his " Texaco Tanker Toy ship " With wheels was worth $ 1,000.00 bucks .They also said the one he had that was motorized without wheels , was worth about ten bucks .I Was offered $1,200.00 for mine in the box !
I took it too! I still have two originals and they are in the box. One motorized and one not .They are part of my estate inventory .
I also have some I bought at flea markets and yard sales .I used the hulls for R.C. Vessels.
