Aurora Plastics Corporation

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Aurora Plastics Corporation
Industry Hobbies
Founded 1950
Headquarters Brooklyn, New York
United States
Products Model kits
Website auroraplasticscorp.com

The Aurora Plastics Corporation is a U.S. toy and hobby manufacturing and marketing company. It is known primarily for its production of plastic model kits of airplanes, automobiles, and TV and movie figures in the 1960s.

History

Aurora Plastics Corporation was founded in March, 1950 by engineer Joseph E. Giammarino (1916–1992) and businessman Abe Shikes (1908–1997) in Brooklyn, New York (moving to West Hempstead, Long Island in 1954), as a contract manufacturer of injection molded plastics (Giammarino 2007; Graham 2007, pp. 1–2).

With the hiring in 1952 of salesman John Cuomo (1901–1971), the company began the manufacture of its own line of plastic model kits. These kits were marketed to young hobbyists, as were the kits of rivals Monogram and Revell. Aurora profitably targeted to a younger demographic than their competitors, creating smaller-sized, less detailed models at a lower price point (Bussie 2007; O'Connor 2006).

The first kits came in late 1952 and were 1:48 scale aircraft models. One was a F9F Panther jet and the other an F90 Lockheed (Bussie 2007). The Aurora logo at this time appeared in narrow white letters and in a semi-circular form across the top of the script. The more recognized Aurora oval did not appear until 1957 (Bussie 2007). Boxes were a simply illustrated orange color. The slogan under the Aurora logo was "U - Ma - Kit" (You Make It) (Bussie 2007). Aurora's market approach was to make kits simple, thus undercutting the competition. Along these lines these first two kits appear to have been Hawk kits measured and copied to Aurora's own molds (Bussie 2007).

By 1953, six more dies had been made for new airplanes: the Curtiss P-40E Warhawk, Messerschmitt Me-109, Russian Yak-25 (Mig-19), Lockheed F-86D, and the Lockheed P-38L Lightning. Lastly was the Mitsubishi Zero, rather unflatteringly called the "Jap Zero" on the box flaps (Bussie 2007). With the first two Hawk copies, this collection was called the "Brooklyn Eight" (Busie 2007).

Product range

Aircraft mainstay

Aurora Plastic's first kits were aircraft and this was a backbone of sales through the 1950s and 1960s. From early on the company's Famous Fighters line was popular. Included were World War I, World War II, jet age aircraft and a variety of whirlybirds. A series of aircraft from the 1930s were also offered. Sailing ships, warships, tanks and other military vehicles were available as well (DeHavilland 1957). One WWI airplane was the DeHavilland Airco DH.4. Many planes, like the Blue Angel F-4J, McDonnell-Douglas Phantom II and the LTV A-7D Corsair II, were offered in a larger 1/48 scale. Others were smaller scale such as the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker in about 1:100, because it would have been over two feet long in 1/48. Others were smaller, like the Convair B-58 Hustler bomber in a diminutive 1:200 scale, or about 6 inches long.

Automotive kits

By 1965, Aurora had many automobile kits in 1:32 "slot car" scale including the Triumph TR3, MG-TD, Jaguar XK120, Austin-Healey 3000, Alfa Romeo GT convertible, Mercedes-Benz 300 SL convertible, 1958 Ford "Squarebird" Thunderbird, the American Cunningham, and a few Indianapolis 500 winners, like the Monroe Special, and the Fuel Injection Special.

Media tie-ins

Some would say, however, that Aurora became most famous for, and had their biggest success with, their figure kits. There was a series of popular historical knights in armor figures, and other still life buildings, animals, boats, a clown, the Liberty Bell and other intriguing objects. Guys and Gals of all Nations were also seen and included Dutch, Chinese, Indian and Scottish figures (DeHaviland 1957).

Aurora acquired a license from Universal Studios to create a line of kits based on Universal monsters, which became the company’s most popular offerings. Aurora's kit of Frankenstein appeared in 1961. Giant Frankenstein was an all-plastic kit that, when assembled, created a 19-inch tall model.[1] This was followed by twelve other monster figures that were issued and reissued in various versions through the early 1970s (Castile 1996). Licensed models based on characters from movies, TV shows and comic books were also introduced. Batman was a regular offering as was the Hulk, so both DC and Marvel characters were represented. Model kits from Twelve O'Clock High, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Mod Squad, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (the larger Seaview sub and a separate kit of its flying sub), The Invaders, Lost in Space, Land of the Giants and Star Trek appeared. These kits were often a television related scene where heroes battled some kind of large monster, alien, or animal. Aurora’s figure kits continue to be highly valued by collectors. Aurora used artist James Bama for some of their box art.

Model motoring

In the late 1950s, Aurora acquired the rights to the Model Motoring slot car racing system from U.K. toy manufacturer Playcraft. Aurora's first HO-gauge racing sets appeared in the fall of 1960.

The cars originally were driven by a unique, vibrator drive system based on a door "buzzer." This motor comprised a wire coil around a vertical iron plunger which very quickly opened and closed a contact which fed power to the coil, and also drove a reed up and down that engaged a toothed drum on the rear axle, causing it to turn. When these early cars ran down the track they produced a loud "buzz," which many users found irritating. The vibrator car was produced until 1963 when the Thunderjet pancake motor, or T-jet, replaced it. Following improvements in the chassis with the Thunderjet and A/FX series and the adoption of popular racing car body styles, Aurora's Model Motoring race sets became top sellers, with over 25,000,000 cars sold by 1965 (HO Slot Car Racing 1999-2011).

By the end of the 1970s, however, the slot car craze had passed and modeling in general was on the decline (HO Slot Car Racing 1999-2011). One website attributes the decline to both the maturing of the baby-boom generation along with the fragile economics of the slot car industry and the closing of many slot car shops as toy companies offered smaller sets to be used at home (Slotblog 2007).

Cigarbox competes with Hot Wheels

File:CigarboxAurora.jpg
Earlier cars were simpler plastic like this 1967 Ford Galaxie, while Later ones like the De Tomaso Mangusta had a shinier finish and sportier wheels, in competition with Mattel.

In 1968, Aurora introduced its Cigarbox miniature cars and the timing could not have been worse. These were developed to compete with Matchbox in the year that Mattel's Hot Wheels premiered. The Cigarbox car line was a combination of rather bland plastic slot car bodies with metal chassis (Ragan 2000, p. 38). Models were claimed to be HO scale, but though cars were larger than HO scale, they were a bit smaller than Hot Wheels.

Cigarbox cars were packaged in small yellow cigar-like boxes which had red lettering and gold trim. The boxes were slightly larger and more rectangular than those of Matchbox, measuring 4" x 2.75" x just over 1" deep (Breithaupt no date). If Lesney could have "Match" boxes, Aurora figured it could have "Cigar" boxes - though today the idea skirts the boundaries of the politically acceptable - was Aurora promoting smoking to children? (Ragan 2000, p. 38-39). Today, a company would never present such an idea to adults, much less youth. The popular rumor was that Matchbox took Aurora to court for copyright infringement over the similar marketing approach - but that is not certain. In any event, later issues were sold on blister cards under the Speedline name - Cigarbox was no longer mentioned. The Speedline cars were also offered as "Hop-Up Kits" to be assembled.

File:Cigar Box Lola.jpg
This Cigar Box Lola racing coupe had wheels without any chrome highlights.

Some of the cars offered, however, were unique and not often seen in miniature - like the 1967 Ford Galaxie 500, the 1963 Buick Riviera, the Mako Shark Corvette concept, the Cheetah Chevy, the Lola GT racing coupe, and the Porsche 904 (Ragan 2000, p. 39). Cigarbox also offered several Formula 1 cars in the series (Southwest Spirit Antiques 1998-2011).

Initially, most cars were offered in normal unpainted plastic bodies with unattractive high friction ('squeaky') wheels though their rubber tires were more authentic than hard plastic. The early wheel selection, then, was somewhat similar to Matchbox. Some of the cars like the De Tomaso Mangusta, had working steering. Later, thinner, slicker low-friction wheels (some chrome high lit and some not) and striped chrome-like paint finishes were rushed in making the cars flashy, but competition was keen and financial troubles loomed. It was too late for Cigarbox; by whichever name, the line was gone by 1970.

Logo Use and Retooling

Aurora’s founders retired in the late 1960s and the company was sold to outside investors in 1969. After expanding into the toys and games market with limited success, the new owners sold the company to Nabisco in 1971. Nabisco in turn sold the model kit division in 1977 to Aurora’s one-time rival Monogram.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, toy and hobby company Playing Mantis created a division called Polar Lights (as a reference to Aurora) which reissued some of Aurora’s most popular kits. Other companies following in Aurora's shoes have reissued earlier Aurora kits. These include Moebius, Atlantis and Monarch, which mostly have focused on the Aurora trend of sci-fi and horror TV and movie figures and scenes. For example, Moebius, started by a former distributor of Polar Lights models in Glenwood, Florida, has reissued the large kit of the submarine Seaview from the 1960s Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea TV show and the old Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde kit (Moebius Models website). Monarch models is based in London, Ontario, Canada - started by a doctor (Powell 2009; Monarch Models website 2011). Atlantis Models is based in East Northport, New York, and though also making sci-fi figures, has equal focus on animal dioramas (Atlantis Models website; Powell 2010). Polar Lights, Monarch and Moebius all use an oval logo very similar in shape to that of the original Aurora style. The Atlantis (see Zorro re-issue) logo uses a more abstract, though nostalgic, oval broken into six sections.

In the 1990s, the family of Joseph Giammarino announced the return of Aurora Plastics Corporation as a manufacturer of hobby kits under the name LAPCO, or Lost Aurora Plastics Corporation, with a product line to include reverse engineered reissues of long gone kits. Nothing came of this. Again in 2007, Giammarino's family announced the return of Aurora, with their first offerings stated to include aircraft and figure kits from their original 1960s line (Giammarino 2007). This web site lists products to be made available in May–June 2012, but as of March 2015, none are available to order and the site appears to have not been updated.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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