slot car . 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 . its principal competition in modeling were revell and monogram models . citation needed contents 1 history 2 product range 2.1 aircraft mainstay 2.2 automotive kits 2.3 media tie ins 2.4 model motoring 2.5 cigarbox competes with hot wheels 3 logo use and retooling 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit 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 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 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 edit aircraft mainstay edit 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 edit 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 edit 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 a clown the liberty bell and other intriguing objects . guys and gals of all nations were also produced 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 edit 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 . an aurora thunderjet or t jet chassis . 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 edit 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 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 but a bit smaller than hot wheels . cigarbox cars were packaged in small yellow cigar like boxes which had fancy red 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 . this cigarbox lola racing coupe had wheels without any chrome highlights . some of the cars offered 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 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 . 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 paint finishes were introduce 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 edit 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 edit airfix esci frog hasegawa heller italeri matchbox monogram revell tamiya references edit coopee todd . gigantic frankenstein . toytales.ca . atlantis models . no