An Aviation Enthusiast´s Kit Collection

Home How it All Began Plastic Kits
50´s & 60´s		 Plastic Kits
1970 up		 Various Topics Books
50´s & 60´s		 Contact

 Aircraft
1959 		 Aircraft
 1960s  		 Aircraft 1:72
1960s  		 Catalogues S ps back to   Plastic Kits  50´s & 60´s       

Revell Plastic Kits of the 50´s and 60´s

Introduction

My engagement with Revell may be divided into the following main subjects.

1. Memories of the 1959 Catalog of Revell Germany.

Browsing this catalogue ever and ever again in my youth has been one of the key experiences shaping my interest in aviation.  
< more >

2. The six 1950's and early 1960's "odd scale" kits "I remember".

I remember to have built the following kits in my youth, which belong to my second phase of modelling:
The 1950's issues of XSL-01 Manned Space Ship, the aircraft carrier U.S.S Essex, and the historical ship Bounty.
Early 1960's issues of the Sikorsky HOAS-1 Helicopter, the  Bell X-5 and Bell P-39 Airacobra Racer. Possibly as seventh, the Douglas Skywarrior.
< more >

3. The series of 1/72 scale WW 1 and WW 2 fighter kits Revell introduced in 1963.

This series gave me the feeling to start serious modelling at about fourteen. They  belong to my third phase of modelling in my youth.
< more >

4. The Collection of Revell´s 1950s Type "S" kits just for the boxart.

There is no relation to my early modelling days apart from beeing listed in the German 1959 catalog (see subject 1 above).
I discovered their collectability  very early after starting to search generally for kits I remember in 2003.
< more >

5. Revell's Early Toys and Kits.

Studying the chapters on Revell´s early history in Thomas Graham´s Remembering Revell Model Kits [1] the first time thoroughly in November 2013  I got addicted to this subject and started to buy the toys and kits reviewed there.
< more >

History of Revell

Revell issued their first plastic kits in 1951: the 1/16 scale 1913 Maxwell antique car and a series of five 1/32 scale antique cars.  After various changes of ownership, Revell Inc. was purchased by Hobbico in 2007 and ist still prospering today as its subsidiary. [3]

Generally I do not rewrite the history of well known and researched brands like Revell in my website. Opposite to what I started to do with lesser known kits like Aeros and  Progresswerk for example, where there is not much information on the net and even less in the printed media.

For an in-depth history of Revell up to the 1070's I refer to Thomas Graham´s Remembering Revell Model Kits [ 1 ]  which is highly recommended. Much shorter treatments can be found in John Burn's PAK-20 [ 2 ], and on Revell's website [ 3 ].

  



 Revell 1960's issue of  Sikorsky HOAS-1 © cjk
 


 Two examples of the series of 1:72 kits of he 1960's © cjk



Revell  Lockheed Electra. A typical example of the Type "S" boxart © cjk



Revell 1/16 scale 1913 Maxwell, Revell´s first plastic kit issued in 1951. © cjk
_____________

Sources

[ 1 ] Graham, Thomas: Remembering Revell Model Kits.
Atglen: Schiffer, 2002. ISBN: 0-7643-1696-6

[ 2 ] Burns, John W.:PAK-20. Plastic Aircraft Kits ofthe Twentieth Centurs (And Beyond). 1st Edition 2003. Published by the author.

[ 3  ] Hobbico Revell Inc. website, About Us section.
Remark

As the title of this page implies, Revell kits issued new from 1970 onward will not be treated here. But I may well deal with certain post 1970 reissues of the original 1950´s kits.
 

 Aircraft
1959 		 Aircraft
 1960s  		 Aircraft 1:72
1960s  		 Catalogues S ps back to   Plastic Kits  50´s & 60´s       

Home How it All Began Plastic Kits
50´s & 60´s		 Plastic Kits
1970 up		 Various Topics Books
50´s & 60´s		 Contact

Started: 2004 Revised: 10.11.2013, 19.06.2014, 08.09.2014 Author: cjk  © cjk