An Aviation Enthusiast's Kit Collection

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        Selection of FALLER Kits back to 50's & 60's  

FALLER

1.Introduction

The first aircraft kits I built in my youth were from AIRFIX and the German manfacturer FALLER (see How it All Began). I remember to have build the Piper Cub in copper plastic reminiscent  to the Burda livery, the Messerschmitt Me-262 ( with that clumsy unrealistically array of 24 underwing rockets), the Junkers Ju-87 Stuka ( tank buster version  G, with that pair of 37 canons slung beneath the wings) the Republic F-84 Thunderjet, with that stunning photograph in the instructon sheet depicting the choice of external weapons, (see picture below right) and some more, which I cannot remember clearly (possibly the Fokker D.R. I triplane, the Fieseler Storch , the Ju-88 or He-111). These kits were rather basic and it seems that even im my early days I had recognized that their accuracy was not good enough for serious modelling . That still holds today, but nontheless I rate FALLER aircraft as very interesting from the collector´s resp. historian´s point of view.

I'm currently (March 2015) updating all pages of this website. That implies mostly standardizing the format and eliminating programming bugs. This is to the expense of updating this page with new findings.

2. List of FALLER Kits

In my Selection of FALLER Kits I list kits I remember to have built in my youth as well as kits I found interesting and bought since 2003.

2. History

The FALLER company was founded by the brothers Edwin und Hermann FALLER in Germany in 1946 [4]. They started with HO scale railroad buildings and accessoires made from wood and cardboard first , later in the mid 50´s they were made from plastic and also offered as kits.

According to [1] the first plastic construction kit a model of a 'stone viaduct' first appeared in 1954. At the Nuernberg Toy Fair in 1956 , along with their growing range of railway accessoires, FALER exibited their 1/100 scale plastic kit range. But consider this as a secondary source.

The earliest date of issue given for some kits is 1956 in the website [W 2] . Obviously the dates are validated by catlogs and leaflets. I found a leaflet from 1957 and a catlog from 1958 depicted there.

According to the listing in [2]  production ended in the 1965's.

According to the listing in [5 ] they were at least sold into the 1970`'s.

There is  stated in [2] that FALLER kits have been available as well in the USA as Europe until the late 60´s - early 70´s when the supply dried up.

The moulds for the Me-109, Me-262, Ju-87, Convair CV-440 and Viscount were scrapped. The rest of the moulds were aquired by Mr. Dahlmann [ 3 ]. He produces and sells these kits packed in new boxes since the mid 1990 under the DAHLMANN brand.


[1] Ward (2004 ) Ward, Arthur : Classic Kits. London : Collins, 2004 ISBN 0 00 717695 3
[2]   Elliott, Kerry : FALLER Aircraft Models in Kit Collector´s Clearinghouse Vol 32 No. 4 August 2005 pp3
[3]   Personal letter from Mr. Dahlmann dated 13.10.2005
[4] FALLER  Ueber uns (about us). There is nothing told about aircraft kits
[5] Wimmer  FALLER / Dahlmann
FALLER





FALLER Burda Piper. ©cjk



FALLER Messerchmitt Me 262.  ©cjk



FALLER Junkers JU-87.  ©cjk



FALLER Republic Thundertreak instruction sheet. ©cjk

        Selection of FALLER Kits back to  50's & 60's   
Home How it All Began 50's & 60's 1970 up Various Topics Books Contact

Started: 2003 Revised: 23.11.2005  / March 2015 Author: cjk © cjk