Hammer

Introduction

I became aware of the Hammer oil-rig depicted right in a thread on Hammer kits in the Airfix Collecting Forum [1]. It arose my interest, beeing a  rather obscure kit of an unusual subject, from a company which is commonly known for its premium articles and model toy cars. Later the kit of an oil tanker was also posted in the thread.

In December 2016 I suceeded to win the Hammer Oil Rig kit in an auction. I do not remember if I searched for it explicitely or found it by chance looking for other kits.

History

In my research I did not find a consistent and reliable history of the Hammer company in the  the printed media and in the internet. So I can only compile fragmentary data.

Initially Artur Hammer produced cheap plastic articles like premiums for oat flakes and detergents. Only later Hammer went to produce model toys, cars trucks and busses for the toy trade.
. Hammer models never gained hold against the main competitors Wiking and Siku. As one clung desperately to beat the competition by distinctly low prices soon earned Hammer the image of a Cheap Jack. That was completely justified as one could not keep up in quality. The scale policy was unsuccessful, too. [2]

Picture 3 below shows an ad with the product range in 1958and an early logo.

Sources dealing with the model car product line are quoted in [3]

A dealer catalog from 1967  reveals the company was registered as an unincorporated firm bearing just the name of the owner Artur Hammer. The brand name seems to be Hammer-Plastik. Headquarter is Luedenscheid, Germany [4].  A circular letter from January 1977 .with sales documents attached reveals that the company name is now Artur Hammer KG with a redesigned logo. "KG" stands for a limited partnership comany [5] .

In the 1980's the Hammer company came to an end. Some moulds of the car models went to the German manufacturer Jean Hoefler and were produced with their own label. [7] The clearance of products which were already finished was undertaken by Heira in Luedenscheid. They mostly sold them as kits [6], see picture 4,

As far as I know until now only the two kits reviewed here were issued, obviously in the 1970's [7]. Apart from the pseudo kits from Heira, see above.

Review of the Hammer Kits

For the Oil Rig kit  there may be confirmed a package variant as box instead of a blister pack. See this picture (courtesy to Paolo).

The scale  1/100 for the Oil Rig is confirmed by the lettering on the blister pack. I cannot make out the lettering on the small size photos of the Oil-Tanker which are available to me. It is given as 1/650 in [7].

 At least for the Oil Rig there isnconfirmed a boxed issue, se picture 5, below. No catalogue number is found on the blister pack resp. box of the Oil-Rig.

Oil Rig Parts

Front view

Side view

Rear view showing included cement

Detail of cement tube

My copy is missing the instruction sheet as seen on the pictures of the Oil Tanker below.

Oil-Tanker Parts with instruction sheet
From an 2012 auction ©wrichardw536.

Front View

Rear View




Picture 5: Hammer Oli Rig, boxed issue. (Courtesy to Paolo)