# Photos of Derek Brand?



## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

Does anybody have any pictures of Derek Brand, other than these two?
(The upper one is not positively verified as Brand yet)








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Thanks,

-- D


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## Grandcheapskate (Jan 5, 2006)

I don't. But I see a T-Jet sitting on the desk in the first picture.

Joe


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

Grandcheapskate said:


> I don't. But I see a T-Jet sitting on the desk in the first picture.


That's not all that's in the picture, Joe. :thumbsup: 
Here's the whole thing:










Check *the "...strangest of places" thread* in the *Modeling and Customizing* section for some discussion. The picture's from a manual on drafting that Slotto found. The guy isn't positively identified, but the workplace appears to be Aurora, and he looks so much like the later picture of Derek Brand in the Greenberg book by Thomas Graham, that I have a hard time believing it could be anyone else.

It made me wonder if anybody has any other pictures of him.

-- D


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

*How about INFO on Brand?*

I've done some contributing to Wikipedia, including writing most of the Slot Car entry. 

For some years I've wanted to do a Wikipedia entry on Derek Brand, but I'm not able to find much solid information on him. 

He was born in 1926, in Britain.
He moved to the US in 1948.
He is credited with designing the first plastic kit, a Model A, for Gowland & Gowland, and sculpted the bodies for their "Highway Pioneers" kit series, later produced by Revell, and some of the ship kits
He designed the vibrator motor for Playcraft's small slotcars, later produced by Aurora, and sculpted the originals for many of the early HO slotcar bodies
While working for Aurora, he designed the Thunderjet chassis, and a number of other products and slotcar developments.
He later designed at least one of the Tyco cars (I'd have to look it up - possibly the 440).

Does anyone have further information on Brand?

I once said of him that he "deserves to be ranked with Joshua Lionel Cowen, A.C. Gilbert, Frank Hornby, and Louis Marx as one of the great benefactors to boyhood in the 20th Century." I'd like to see him get wider recognition, and a Wikipedia article is the _*least*_ that he deserves for his many contributions.

-- D


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## sidejobjon (Jun 3, 2010)

*Tyco & aurora*

http://www.google.com/patents?id=P7EBAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
I never new this. So if Derek invented this for Aurora, They:thumbsup: might still be around?
He was amazing. VIB, TJET, 440 wow what a line up.
Very interesting Tread
SJJ


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Wow, this is amazing info. Brand truly revolutionized HO slot cars.



sidejobjon said:


> http://www.google.com/patents?id=P7EBAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
> I never new this. So if Derek invented this for Aurora, They:thumbsup: might still be around?
> He was amazing. VIB, TJET, 440 wow what a line up.
> Very interesting Tread
> SJJ


I found another pic of Derek Brand...


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

NTxSlotCars said:


> Wow, this is amazing info. Brand truly revolutionized HO slot cars.
> ...
> I found another pic of Derek Brand...


Yeah. Jobs _*wishes*_.

-- D


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

bump up for reference


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## hojoe (Dec 1, 2004)

found this on facebook.
hojoe


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

*Another Picture*










I found this great pic in Ralph Rosson's *Pre 70 HO Slotcars Only* page on Facebook. The date of the post is June 12, 2015, with another post on April 14. So far, no info on the book title.


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## A/FX Nut (May 28, 2004)

Dslot said:


> Does anybody have any pictures of Derek Brand, other than these two?
> (The upper one is not positively verified as Brand yet)
> 
> 
> ...



Maybe it's his son. But I haven't read anything on his son working at Aurora. When Derek left Aurora, he and his son started their own toy design company according to "Greenberg's Guide to Aurora Slot Cars".


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## Rich Dumas (Sep 3, 2008)

Derek Brand is mentioned at the beginning of Bob Beers' book. He also worked on the original Aurora AFX and Tyco 440 cars. One interesting thing that is mentioned in the book is that the cars were intended to be the English OO model railroad scale, which is 1/76th scale, not HO, which is 1/87th scale.
I don't know if Bob ever spoke to Derek Brand, I will ask about that the next time that we meet.


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## Ralphthe3rd (Feb 24, 2011)

*Derek Brand photo*

FYI- the pic of Derek Brand in my Facebook Group is not rare, and has been used in many publications over the decades, as an example- it's found in the Thomas Graham "Aurora Slot Cars" collectors book. 



Dslot said:


> I found this great pic in Ralph Rosson's *Pre 70 HO Slotcars Only* page on Facebook. The date of the post is June 12, 2015, with another post on April 14. So far, no info on the book title.


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

Thanks, Ralph, but it's not in my 1995 Greenberg's edition of Graham's _*Aurora Slot Cars*_. Perhaps a later edition. 

Or maybe you're thinking of the Bob Beers book (which I don't have), or a different one.

-- D


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