Aurora Plastics Corporation

The Aurora Plastics Corporation is a U.S. toy and hobby manufacturing company. It is known primarily for its production of plastic model kits of airplanes, automobiles, and TV and movie figures in the 1960s. Its principal competition in modeling were various other plastic modeling firms like Revell and Monogram.

Aurora AFX AMC Matador slot car
Aurora Plastics Corporation
IndustryHobbies
Founded1950
HeadquartersBrooklyn, New York
United States
ProductsModel kits
Websiteauroraplasticscorp.com

History

Aurora Plastics Corporation was founded in March 1950 by engineer Joseph E. Giammarino (1916–1992) and businessman Abe Shikes (1908–1986) 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, efficiently marketed with a skeleton staff (Gosson 2015, pp. 68–69). The target market were young hobbyists, similar to the kits of the rival companies, Monogram and Revell. Aurora profitably targeted a younger demographic than their competitors, creating smaller-sized, less detailed models at a lower price (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, North American F-86D, and the Lockheed P-38L Lightning, and a fictitious Russian "Yak-25" (later sold as "Mig-19") (Globalsecurity, no date). Lastly was the Mitsubishi Zero, called the "Jap Zero" on the box flaps (Bussie 2007). With the first two Hawk copies, this collection was called the "Brooklyn Eight" (Bussie 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 World War I 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; and even 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

Aurora probably had their biggest success with their kits of figures. These included a series of popular historical knights in armor, and other still life buildings, animals, boats, and other intriguing objects. Guys and Gals of all Nations were also produced and included Dutch, Chinese, Indian, Scottish and Mexican figures (DeHaviland 1957).

Aurora acquired a license from Universal Studios to create a line of kits based on the 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 (Coopee 2015). This was followed by twelve other monster figures that were issued and reissued in various versions through the early 1970s (Castile 1996). After this monster vehicles such as Dracula's Dragster, Frankenstein's Flivver, Godzilla's Go-Cart, King Kong's Thronester, Mummy's Chariot and Wolfman's Wagon were introduced, fortifying the company's car offerings (Gosson 2015, p. 69).

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
An Aurora Thunderjet, or T-jet, chassis.

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 were originally 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

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 were introduced. 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 the cars were larger than HO – yet a bit smaller than Hot Wheels.

Cigarbox cars were packaged in small yellow cigar-like boxes which had fancy red serif lettering and gold trim. The boxes were slightly larger, flatter 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. The popular rumor was that Matchbox took Aurora to court for copyright infringement over the similar marketing approach. Today the idea skirts the boundaries of the culturally acceptable. Was smoking being promoted? In any event, the Cigarbox marque soon disappeared (Ragan 2000, p. 38–39).

Some of the cars offered, however, were unique and not often seen in miniature, such as the 1967 Ford Galaxie 500, 1963 Buick Riviera, Mako Shark Corvette concept, Cheetah Chevy, Lola GT racing coupe, and the Porsche 904 (Ragan 2000, p. 39). Several Formula 1 cars were also offered in the series (Southwest Spirit Antiques 1998–2011). Initially, most cars were offered in rather plain colored plastic bodies with high friction ('squeaky') wheels, though their rubber tires were more authentic than hard plastic – making them somewhat similar to Matchbox tradition. Some of the cars, such as the De Tomaso Mangusta, had working steering. Eventually, thinner, low-friction wheels (some chromed and some not) were added and chrome-like shiny paint finishes were introduced, making the cars flashy, but competition was keen and financial troubles loomed. These improved versions were sold under the Speed Line name, and also as slot car bodies and in kit form, but the line was discontinued 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 received unwanted publicity when Aurora introduced a line of “Monster Scenes” which included torture devices and a scantily clad female victim; newspapers reported negatively on the line, and the National Organization for Women voiced their objection (Rossen 2016). Seven years after their acquisition, Nabisco sold the company to the Anglo-US toy company Dunbee-Combex-Marx who also owned the Scalextric racing system and Frog (models) kits for $11.5m. Aurora had been loss-making for a number of years but Dunbee-Combex-Marx failed to turn Aurora around and ended up failing itself in 1980.

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 kits (Gosson 2015, p. 72). These companies include Moebius, Atlantis and Monarch, which mostly have focused on the Aurora 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 as 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 Deer Park, New York, and though also making sci-fi figures, has equal focus on animal dioramas. In 2018 Atlantis Purchased most of the Aurora Tooling that remained at Revell Monogram in Elk Grove. (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 November 2018, none are available to order and the site appears to have not been updated.

References

Bibliography
  • Gosson, Scotty. 2015. Show Rod Model Kits. A Showcase of America's Wildest Model Kits. Forest Lake, Minnesota: CarTech Publishing. ISBN 978-1613251560
  • Graham, Thomas. 2007. Aurora Model Kits, 2nd edition. Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 0-7643-2518-3
  • Ragan, Mac. 2000. Diecast Cars of the 1960s. Osceola, Wisconsin: MBI Publishing. ISBN 0-7603-0719-9.

Online sources
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