Aurora Plastics Corporation

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 in the 1960s.

History

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. ^{[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 to a younger demographic than their competitors, creating smaller-sized, less detailed models at a lower price point.^[3]

Although their first offerings were aircraft kits in a "Famous Fighters" line,^[2] it is with their figure kits that Aurora is most associated and had their biggest success. Following a series of "knights in armor" and historical figures, 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, and was followed by twelve other monster figures that were issued and reissued in various versions through the early 1970s.^[4] Together with their other licensed models based on characters from movies, TV shows and comic books, Aurora’s figure kits continue to be highly valued by collectors.^[3] Aurora used artist James Bama for some of their box art.

Model Motoring

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. Following improvements in the chassis 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.^[5]

Changes and resurgence

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.^[3]

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 many of Aurora’s most popular monster figure kits.

In 2007, the family of Joseph Giammarino announced the return of Aurora Plastics Corporation as a manufacturer of hobby kits. Their first offerings were stated to include aircraft and figure kits from their original 1960s line. ^[1] But as of yet, the models have not come to pass and the phone number for the company has been disconnected. The website has not been updated since 2007. [1]

Notes

Bibliography

• Graham, Thomas. Aurora Model Kits (Schiffer, July 2007, 2nd Edition). ISBN 0764325183

External links

• Aurora Plastics Corporation – reorganized company website
• Aurora 1976 Hobby Kits Catalog
• Aurora history at OldModelKits.com
• Aurora monster model fan site
• Aurora monster model package images
• Original Issue Aurora Godzilla's Go Cart 1966 Considered the Holy Grail of Model Kits
• Aurora Stunt and Drag Race Set Commercial, Public Domain, Prelinger Archives.
• Aurora/AFX Formula 1 HO Slot Cars
• Vintage Aurora Slot Car Catalog collection from the Front Range HO Slot Car Racing Club of Colorado.
• 1973 Aurora AFX slot car print ad
• Kollectible Spotlight: Moebius MONSTER SCENES Model Kits

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