Down Time
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Started by building the Mighty Eighth. Now I want to tackle a little known historical aircraft flown by one of histories greatest and well known pilots.
GETTING BACK TO MY BUILDING ROOTS, B-17F
- Thread starter Down Time
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I love building when there's a story behind it- looking forward to watching this!
the Baron
Ich bin ja, Herr, in Deiner Macht
Another story, for this kit: Revell copied Monogram's B-17G to make this kit. The made the necessary modifications to backdate it to a dash F. When it was released, Monogram's executives examined it and found it was just smaller enough to show it came from molds that used their kit as the master. They wrote a letter to Revell to say they weren't going to sue, this time, but warning Revell not to do it again. (Source: Thomas Graham's "Monogram Models" and "Remembering Revell Models")
I have one in my stash to backdate to a -E for my "US Aircraft Used at Midway" collection.
I'll be watching this one with interest!
Best regards,
Brad
Edbert
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Not even suggesting a dispute to this, but...
I thought Revell basically bought Monogram and reboxed/rebranded a lot of their kits. Was that after this story?
Bear43
Well-Known Member
That would have been long after the story. The Monogram B17-G tooling first appears in 1975. The Revell B17-F tooling first appears in 1978. This is according to Scalemates. So, it's a very plausible story.
Jakko
Well-Known Member
Mattel bought Monogram in 1968, then sold it in 1986 to Odyssey Partners, "a New York private equity firm" (so only in it for the money), who also purchased Revell soon after, then merged the two and moved everything to Monogram's facilities. The combined company was sold to first to Hallmark (of the greeting cards) in 1994, then to Alpha International in 2001, Gearbox Toys in 2002 and finally Hobbico in 2007, which went bankrupt in 2018. Kits were sold as "Revell-Monogram" until 2005, when the Monogram name disappeared.
Meanwhile, Revell Germany (which had been a largely independent subsidiary since 1956) became a completely independent company in 2006 but was purchased by Hobbico as well in 2012. The lot was then bought by Quantum Capital Partners in 2018, who — by the looks of it — still own the company.
(The above is essentially a paraphrasing of this and this on Wikipedia.)
the Baron
Ich bin ja, Herr, in Deiner Macht
Exactly, Jakko.
The Revell name was used for the merged company because of its overseas presence.
Revell was never financially strong enough to have bought Monogram. And the merged company was essentially Monogram with Revell's name. Revell's plant was gradually closed and operations were centered on Monogram's facilities in Illinois.
The Revell name was used for the merged company because of its overseas presence.
Revell was never financially strong enough to have bought Monogram. And the merged company was essentially Monogram with Revell's name. Revell's plant was gradually closed and operations were centered on Monogram's facilities in Illinois.
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