# Why is Aurora so in demand?



## Disco58 (Apr 10, 2011)

*Why the hype over Aurora?*

I don't want to start a war, but I don't understand the hype/attraction of Aurora kits. I've never been brand conscious of anything, excepting Chevy maybe, but beyond that, no. Like a lot of others, I built the Aurora stuff in the 60's when I was a kid, but they were just models like anything else. Now I see the Draculas, Mummies, Frankensteins, etc, and while I may feel a bit nostalgic I don't get all misty eyed. I look at the sculpt quality of the Dracula against the new Moebius kit (which I hope arrives someday), the Phantoms that everyone seems to routinely replace the heads on, and Kong ( I DO remember what a nightmare that was!), and I don't see anything to write home about. Is it just the nostalgic aspect that's giving everyone the warm fuzzies, or am I missing something? I don't understand the collector mentality either; buying a model (or anything) in the hopes it will increase in value someday to me is pointless. Nothing is worth a penny more than someone else is willing to pay for it, and I see no reason to sit on something just in case. My mother has a buttload of Hummels -- plates, dolls/figures and all that, Dreamsicles, and Svarovski (sp?) and some Japanese company crystal stuff which she said are mine when she croaks. Ok, whatever, they'll be in a box in the attic somewhere. Then when I croak they'll all go to Goodwill.


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## tr7nut (Apr 18, 1999)

*Nostalgia and quality*

Greetings!
You seem to get part of the craze, but not all. Yes, a great deal of the fanfare over the original Monster kits anyway is nostalgia. Also, for their time the kits were incredibly well sculpted, box art was awesome too. Compare the average figure kit in Aurora's lineup to ANYTHING from Revell, Monogram, Pyro, Renwal etc... who were doing figures back then and the differences become far more obvious. From a collectible standpoint, most plastic kits can be re-issued at the drop of a hat, and if not that they can be reverse engineered and put back on the market if demand is high enough. Maybe not a great investment, but who knows. Almost anything is better than letting your money rot in the bank these days!  As far as collecting anything goes, nostalgia is a HUGE factor. Look at the collector car hobby for instance. It's not the fastest car, or the rarest car, or anything of the sort usually that drives the prices so high. It's what people liked, what they wanted, what they dreamed of driving one day that fetches the big bucks. Hope this helps. 
Cliff


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

For me, nostalgia is definitely a factor. It's fun to build these kits again after 40-something years with the skills I've acquired during that time (such as they are). Yeah, the sculpts may not be dead-on accurate to their on-screen counterparts, but the kits do have a certain charm I find appealing. And each kit is a little piece of modeling history.

To be clear, the only original Aurora kits I have are the few I've kept from childhood or got a deal on through evilBay; the rest are reissues.

As for collectors, I can't say I understand the mentality myself. I buy kits to build and enjoy them, not save them in hopes they'll someday be worth more than I paid for them. Besides, you're not going to get rich doing that unless you have an entire warehouse full of rare kits, so there's really not much point to it in my opinion.


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## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

> I don't want to start a war


Too late.


> I've never been brand conscious of anything, excepting Chevy maybe, but beyond that, no.


Do you own, or would you purchase, one of those new Volts?


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

You either 'get it' or you don't.
I've used this analogy before...
...... the Mona Lisa is only canvas and oil paint...
and $100.00 bills are just paper...
Beauty and value are in the eye of the beholder....
and as Chris says, we Aurora collectors have paid hundreds and at times into the thousands for a rarity...
Some guys spend thousands on cars, sports, broads and booze, I know people who spend thousands on gambling (lotteries, etc...)....and at the end of the day have nothing to show for it...
I suppose if it turns your crank do it ...This is a hobby and as such ...you should have some interest in it...
Nostalgia ? For me Yes...big time!
Mcdee


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## Aurora-brat (Oct 23, 2002)

Well Disco58, as others have already said, its sort of the type of thing that either you get it or you don't. Nostalgia plays a very big part of it. And judging from your posting, you don't seem to be the type of person that gets very swept up in nostalgia, not judging mind you just stating an observation. Some people are very nostalgic while others not so much or at all. All good.

Another thing about Aurora is that they pretty much pioneered the figure kit industry and then continuously pushed the envelope. It is pretty safe to say that if there was no Aurora, there would be no Polar Lights, Moebious, Monarch, Altlantis, or any sort of garage kit industry today. Also, their Monster Scenes and Prehistoric Scenes kit lines were the very beginning of the action figure industry as well. So from a purely historical perspective, Aurora is worthy of the respect of those that can appreciate how we got where we are today in this hobby.

Of course, as my screen name implies, I am somewhat biased!

Tory


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Everyone has their own reason to be interested in Aurora, but there are several things involved:

They were one of the pioneering plastic model kit companies

Aurora offered a very diverse, unique product line. Even today, some 60 years later, many of the subjects that Aurora offered have never been done by other companies.

A lot of the Aurora kits were made in small numbers or maybe for a year or two, and became rare very quickly even back when Aurora was still in business.

Many/most of the original molds for the kits have been destroyed, so the kits can not be reissued. 

Aurora made a lot of kits that by the nature of their subject matter, become collectible... like the Universal monster kits. 

There is a nostalgia factor too. I grew up building the Aurora monsters, tanks and WW I planes, for example. 


If you look at other old kits they may/may not have as much value as an Aurora kit for the above reasons. For example, Revell's very first plastic model kit from around 1951 (?) was their USS Missouri battleship. Now, is that kit worth a mint today? Mostly no. Why? Because the kit has been in the Revell catalogue continually since then. Thats 60 years worth of the same kit being run. Yes very first issues are worth some money but by and large the kit is so common it just has no tremendous value. 

I have noticed recently two interesting details: one is that probably based on the economy the value and selling price of most Aurora kits has plummeted to borderline rediculous low levels. At the same time the price of most new kits has skyrocketed. aurora kits are a good bargain to snag up now if you have some extra money and want to own a part of modelling history. You can actually buy an Aurora P-61 Black Widow for less than the current Revell/Monogram kit sells for new. A few years ago the old Aurora kit would have cost twice as much.

Some of my Aurora stash


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## Tim Casey (Dec 4, 2004)

Out of all the things I had when I was a kid, these Aurora figure models were the ones I remember best (next to my Beatles albums). No, they're not great sculpts, but they had absolute killer box art. It's a nostalgia thing, and if you don't get it, you don't get it, pure and simple. And lets face it, they inadvertently launched the garage kit revolution.

The Moebius Forum seems to have turned into a vehicle / spacecraft forum. I myself don't get the attraction to those kinds of models, and frankly they bore me, but then I get a chuckle when I think "boy, these idiots are freaking out over lighting panel decals not being accurate" and then I freak out when I see an Aurora George Washington MIB on eBay for $60 - only $60! - and I realize that the spacecraft model freaks probably can't understand why I'd be so excited over such a find.

To each his own. Hey, I don't understand why everyone thinks Lady Gaga is so great. Other than the freakshow fashion, her music's pretty lame. (Don't let my daughter read this post!)

P.S. It was true about the Washington model - I got it MIB for $60 about two years ago.


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## Hunch (Apr 6, 2003)

I would also like to add that Aurora understood that kids wanted MORE than just a figure. If you look at their original figure kits like the guys and gals of the world or the US soldier, they are very static. Then you see things like the US marshall repackaged with More base (stump, cactus, plant etc) and the future of Auroras greatness becomes very clear. Frankenstein had a fairly basic base, but the Monsters that followed had GREAT bases with all kinds of things going on that seemed to peak with the witch and bride kits! Munsters living room was "Scene" heaven and the later PS scenes (and MS Scenes to a shorter lived degree) really fueled the imagination of kit builders and has always been the reason (to me at least) that these kits are still the best TODAY. Moebius and Monarch seem to understand the "base" thing and are doing well because of it.
So, to me, the elaborate bases made them the best kits available at the time and in most cases STILL the best.
Aurora will never die.
Jim


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

There are some Aurora kits which probably wouldn't float anyone's boat, and sadly some of the best kits have never been reissued and so are not readily available, but the nostalgia appeal is possibly determined by where someone first saw the kits and how old they were (and especially if they couldn't have them) at the time. I agree with the others that you either get it or you don't, and it may be this combination of time and place of the first discovery which decides. 

Like Hunch says, the bases could really fuel the imagination, and pushed Aurora kits way ahead of other manufacturers (if you get it, that is...!)


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

Back when I was a kid in northern New Jersey (when the dinosaurs roamed, Aurora of course) my neighbor worked for Aurora as a maintainance man. Every so often he would bring home a box of Aurora kits that were either defective or missing parts, but I remember building and playing with them He would drive to Long Island (Hempstead I think) every day and I used to wait fot him to get home to see if he had any boxes. Unfortunately age has destroyed my memory so I can't remember specific kits but I do remember small jet aircraft, a ship or two and lots of assorted vehicles. I was around 10 at the time so that would put it around 1960. I am a builder and when I buy a kit I totally intend to build it. I will not pay collector prices for anything and will do without if need be, I loved the old Aurora kits and am thankful for Polar Lights, Moebius,Monarch and Atlantis for the opportunity to build these kits again, correctly!


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## Solium (Apr 24, 2005)

As a kid I was never interested in tanks, airplanes or car models. (Yeah know know Aurora did those as well) But Aurora was the alternative model kit company for me.

Aurora did things other model kit companies didn't do or didn't do often. Figures, television characters, superheros, wild life , monsters, and dino kits. 

Aurora was a master at marketing their kits, They had fancy store display pieces with colorful backdrops that put the models in interesting places. 

The Prehistoric Scenes were made to "connect" together which made them more collectable. The dino kits seemed more like characters than prehistoric beasts. Look at a Pre-scenes kit and many get the fuzzies, look at another generic dino kit and most feel nothing. 

Comic Scenes included little comic books that told a story about the superhero. Connecting a story to the model kit resonates more with the kit builder. 

So I think what makes them special is the diversity of kits and their marketing strategies that gave many kits a back story.


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## rhinooctopus (May 22, 2011)

*Remember when...*

Remember when (if you are old enough) you walked into the local hobby shop (What's a hobby shop?) and saw a new Aurora model sitting on the shelf? You ran home and asked mom and dad if they had any "jobs" around the house that you could do (because they paid you a quarter or 50 cents for doing the job). Then, when you had that 98 cents, you hopped on your bike, rode down to the hobby shop, slapped your 98 cents (what, no sales tax?) on the counter and headed for home.
Remember when you finished building and painting the kit, and you put it on your shelf, stood back and admired what a fine job you did on it?

Remember (seems like only yesterday) when you got home from work, checked the mail and found the model that you ordered on line (or won the bid on Ebay) sitting on the table in the livingroom? You tore open the packaging (being careful not to damaged the kit box inside), ran to your "man-cave" and started working on your new kit. When you finished building and painting it (this time you puttied the seams, used your referance material to get the colors right, etc.) you put that kit on your shelf to admire the great job you did on it.

Model builders never grow up...they just enjoy the hobby!
Now that's nostalgia!

Phil K


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## PF Flyer (Jun 24, 2008)

Lot of good ideas here. I think DJNick and Solium hit on one of the big reasons when they note the wide variety of subjects Aurora offered in "figure kits"--everything from pirates to butterflies of the world to monsters to astronauts to TV and movie characters to soldiers to comic heroes to other toys (Captain Action). The list is just amazing. They appealed to nearly every conceivable interest a ten-year-old boy might have. And they just kept coming up with neat stuff. Some of it sold, some of it didn't, but they kept turning out new models, some of which sadly (like the Great Moments in Sports series) we probably won't see again.

I'm not a collector and I've paid way too much for Aurora kits to build, but as my wife says repeatedly, it's better than giving the money to a cardiologist or a shrink. As long as the new companies keep the re-pops and the new Aurora-like stuff coming out, I'll keep buying and building. Working on a PL re-pop of Dick Tracy right now.


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## rkoenn (Dec 18, 2007)

I remember specifically building the Witch when it was released in 1965 with two buddies who also bought it and we built them, sharing paints, at one of the other guy's houses. We were all about 12/13 at that time. I also remember building Superman and painting him on the front door step. I had many other models but I believe those were the only two Aurora kits. I had lots of show cars and some Silly Surfers which I displayed on a shelf over my bed. My two brothers may have built one or two models but never had any real interest in it like I did. In my teens I moved to model rockets, and some plastic rocket kits, for many years being a very serious model rocketeer. Then about the time I turned 50 a few years back we were in Toys 'r Us and I saw that special Aurora Monstrous Four pack. That definitely brought back memories and I bought it. I think I had started a WW2 airplane around the same time but my love for really geeky stuff, monsters (I loved watching the classic monsters on Shock Theater out of Tampa), scifi, and comic book characters took over my workshop. I have all the repops of the original Aurora monsters and they will get built someday. I also buy every thing new from Moebius and many from Polar Lights as well as resin kits. As a couple of others have said though, I buy them to build them, not collect although if you walked into my workshop you may not think so. And when I complete a kit I scan the directions, take a picture of the box, and then chuck those. Simply no place to store all that stuff. So a big part is nostalgia and a big parts is simply that I never really lost interest, just had it ebb for a while.

Bob K.


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

Wow! Rhinooctopus, you must have been living my life way back then.. I remember all of that and more. Aurora kits were a good part of my youth. I'm really happy to have an opportunity to build theses kits again the right way using my 50 or so years of experience. And no I don't have to ask my wife for little jobs around the house to pay for them.


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

*The"Legendary Train Wreck"*

According to urban legend, when Monogram bought Aurora and their molds, there was supposed to have been a train wreck during their trip to Morton Grove Ill. destroying many of the molds. No one has ever confirmed this and it has become somewhat of a set story in the hobby explaining what might have happened to all these great molds/kits. More realistically, many of these molds were probably in bad condition and unrepairable and were probably sold for scrap (many molds contained copper which was and still is in high demand). This is similar to when Revell and Monogram merged. A tour the Revell facilities in Venice Ca. showed many molds damaged, misplaced and even being used to prop up work benches and equipment. So sad.


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## Mitchellmania (Feb 14, 2002)

Building Aurora models was a big part of my childhood! I loved the monster kits, Seaview flying Sub and Spindrift, and Prehistoric Scenes!!


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## Disco58 (Apr 10, 2011)

frankenstyrene said:


> Too late.
> 
> 
> Do you own, or would you purchase, one of those new Volts?


Given a choice between that and burning bamboo shoots under my fingernails....hmmmm, damn....lemme get back to you on that one. Too much 'cookie cutter' bland these days, regardless of the badge it wears. Actually, I meant back when it was a *CHEVY*, not just a chevrolet. I'd still own a truck, but beyond that.....no. While my first car was a Ford ('64 Galaxie 500), and I had a couple Mustangs (64 1/2 and '66, and Mustangs weren't Fords, they were a breed unto themselves....), I had '66/'67/'70 Chevelle SS, '67/'68 Camaro, '64/'66 Impala SS, '65 Malibu, '79 El Camino SS (my first and only new car), and a '71 C-20, and I miss 'em all like a lost relative. Everything I pushed down the dragstrip was bowtie powered, as are a couple aircraft I've designed. The El Camino was the last vehicle I've owned that I could honestly say I was proud of. But even if the opportunity presented itself, I wouldn't spend the bucks to get one back.


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

How did a post about a Chevy Volt end up here? Did Aurora find a worm hole back in 1963 and travel to the future to look at a Volt? Is there a great lost Aurora kit we don't know about?


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## Disco58 (Apr 10, 2011)

dreadnaught726 said:


> How did a post about a Chevy Volt end up here? Did Aurora find a worm hole back in 1963 and travel to the future to look at a Volt? Is there a great lost Aurora kit we don't know about?


Nope. In my original post I had mentioned not being brand conscious excepting maybe Chevy, then the query was put to me whether or not I owned or would own a new Volt. I'm assuming that meant does my brand affinity apply to cars that don't necessarily live up to former standards.


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## roadskare63 (Apr 14, 2010)

hey disco...neat thread ya started here!
personally i'm on the fence where it comes to the monster models, but i built many a tank model back in the day by aurora...still have the remnants of a few around here somewhere-lol...but as one member stated the prices have flip-flopped on the old A kits and the new ones coming out, so if i had the chance, i'd prolly grab up a few of the oldies i had so much fun building and destroying as well(kids will be stup..i mean kids ya know)

cheers,
carl


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## frankenstyrene (Oct 5, 2006)

Disco58 said:


> Given a choice between that and burning bamboo shoots under my fingernails....hmmmm, damn....lemme get back to you on that one. Too much 'cookie cutter' bland these days, regardless of the badge it wears. Actually, I meant back when it was a *CHEVY*, not just a chevrolet. I'd still own a truck, but beyond that.....no. While my first car was a Ford ('64 Galaxie 500), and I had a couple Mustangs (64 1/2 and '66, and Mustangs weren't Fords, they were a breed unto themselves....), I had '66/'67/'70 Chevelle SS, '67/'68 Camaro, '64/'66 Impala SS, '65 Malibu, '79 El Camino SS (my first and only new car), and a '71 C-20, and I miss 'em all like a lost relative. Everything I pushed down the dragstrip was bowtie powered, as are a couple aircraft I've designed. The El Camino was the last vehicle I've owned that I could honestly say I was proud of. But even if the opportunity presented itself, I wouldn't spend the bucks to get one back.


Just curious, thanks.


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## kangg7 (Jun 21, 2000)

For me it's a simple matter of both nostalgia, and doing the models justice with the better modeling skills I have as an adult. When I was a kid, I wanted to make them look great, but didn't know the right techniques to achieve that goal. Now I'm at least getting closer to the goal.

Model on :wave:

Dave


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## Disco58 (Apr 10, 2011)

Aurora-brat said:


> Well Disco58, as others have already said, its sort of the type of thing that either you get it or you don't...Nostalgia plays a very big part of it...judging from your posting, you don't seem to be the type of person that gets very swept up in nostalgia....


Actually, I am very nostalgic. I've been accused more than once of 'living in the past' (sounds like a good name for a song....:thumbsup. Reading all these replies has been one of the "things that ,make you go, Hmmmm". Oddly enough, I do 'get it', but in a different context. For me, it's the music from the late 60's, 70's and 80's that gives me the warm fuzzies. I remember the models from then, but I'm thinking I don't get misty eyed like you guys because then, like now, my model building consisted of building this or that just to fit in somewhere. My interest was/is marginal at best, and it's just a way to socialize and be part of something. The ADD/ADHD doesn't help either. That must be why my choice of genre keeps changing. I have a basement full of kits that I really don't care about building anymore. Maybe I just like reading about what everyone else is doing, and give advice where I can. Interesting.


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## Tim Casey (Dec 4, 2004)

Disco58 said:


> ..For me, it's the music from the late 60's, 70's and 80's that gives me the warm fuzzies...


That's probably why I recently bought Japanese mini-LP CDs of both "Wonderwall" and "Electronic Sound" by George Harrison. They look just like the original LPs, though I don't think I've ever gotten all the way through "Electronic Sound".... and I bought it anyway... go figure.


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## Mark McGovern (Apr 25, 1999)

I'm definitely a fan because of the "warm fuzzies". Plus, the Aurora kits still make great starting points for fun dioramas and conversions.


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## fantasymodeler (Nov 28, 2004)

*My nickel minus three cents . . .*

Most of you have covered the "Aurora thing" quite well.

For me, it was a time and place thing. In the 60's and 70's, the Universal monster films had been "re-issued" and were playing on TV every weekend with a kooky local horror host (here in San Francisco it was Creature Features with Bob Wilkins). Add to that Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine with it's cool ads for model kits in the back (the only thing I really focused on in the magazines then or now).

Then you walked into a toy store and there was those cool boxes that promised a great kit I could build myself! Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, etc. I'm sure many of us agree that the box art was (much) better than the kits themselves, but the kits were (and are) great also (in reflection, especially well-sculpted were the wildlife kits)!

A side note: the box art of Bama, Kunstler, and the rest was such a huge part of Aurora's success! I'm often surprised that more present-day kit producers don't follow that lead, instead of having actual builds of the kits on the box. I know it's a cost thing, but I'm convinced they'd sell a lot more kits if they had cool artist-generated box art!

We didn't have much money growing up but you didn't need much to purchase an Aurora kit, a tube of Testors glue, and a few bottles of enamel paint. Open the box on a newspaper or cardboard-covered table and you were ready to build your own monster scene.

I didn't have many Aurora's growing up, but do have vivid memories of building the Aurora Hulk kit, which I was finally able to re-purchase a few years ago.

I've attached a (poor) snapshot of my old bedroom in Daly City, CA. If you look carefully, you'll spot 3 Aurora build-ups and 2 boxes. Note also the date: April 1972!

I love Aurora model kits now more than ever. I've been fortunate enough to collect a few, some sealed, some not, and a few build-ups. But I still sit for hours with my worn out Aurora collector books and dream of those elusive kits I want to someday own. I guess the joy is in pursuit of the dream . . . and memories of the happy pursuits of our youth.

Well, I have to go, I'm sending off 98 cents (plus 25 cents postage) to the Captain Company for that new Aurora kit!


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## Kit (Jul 9, 2009)

dreadnaught726 said:


> According to urban legend, when Monogram bought Aurora and their molds, there was supposed to have been a train wreck during their trip to Morton Grove Ill. destroying many of the molds. No one has ever confirmed this and it has become somewhat of a set story in the hobby explaining what might have happened to all these great molds/kits. More realistically, many of these molds were probably in bad condition and unrepairable and were probably sold for scrap (many molds contained copper which was and still is in high demand). This is similar to when Revell and Monogram merged. A tour the Revell facilities in Venice Ca. showed many molds damaged, misplaced and even being used to prop up work benches and equipment. So sad.


I thought this has moved beyond the urban legend stage and was established. It was reported on in Tom Graham's Aurora history book, wasn't it? He's credible. Bill Bruegman's old book recounted the same story. And Cult has it almost directly from the horse's mouth:

http://culttvman.com/main/?p=6365


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## dreadnaught726 (Feb 5, 2011)

Very possible the train wreck story is true but to what extent was the loss? I do know that Revell Monogram did melt down some of the molds for the copper content, perhaps these were the molds that were damamged beyond repair in the wreck. In any case it makes for a good story regarding the history of Aurora and modeling in general.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

The train wreck was real but pretty minor compared to the mythic legend it has become. Aparently the chrome sprues for a couple of the old 1/32 cars were damamged, along with the molds for some of the two seater World War I planes (Halberstadt, Breguet?) and thats about it. Its not like hundreds of molds were destroyed. 

However, when Monogram did receive the molds, they found a lot to be worn out. Aurora had run a lot of their kits non stop for 20 years and the molds were just shot. Monogram also felt a lot of the kits were not sellable to the 1970s market. Aurora themselves knew this... thats why in the last year or so in business they tried partnering with Heller and Esci to get new blood into their aging, stagnant, kit series. By 1977 simple 1/32 cars and display stand style, crude, airplane kits were not marketable compared to the quality stuff coming from Japan, and even Revell. So, with a bunch of crappy molds for kits that would be hard to market, Monogram junked a good bit of the Aurora stuff.


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## Kit (Jul 9, 2009)

It sounds likely that some molds might have been worn out, but again, it's easy to see where there might be exaggeration as to how many were shot beyond repair. After all, molds for the top-seller monsters held up well enough for re-releases in recent years and such kits as the very popular WWI airplanes, which are re-released by Glencoe, are still producing good kits. Maybe a little more flash on them than in the old days, but I bet producers like Glencoe aren't doing major restoration of molds to produce the kits.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Monogram selectively weeded out the molds. They kept the most popular monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein. You can tell today how badly those molds have worn too... real bad. The new kits are about as rough as you can get and still be buildable. 

Aparently some of the World War I kits were kept, but Monogram and Revell have only run the Fokker D-7, Camel and SE-5, all in highly modified form. A couple more were leased to Glencoe. Glencoe aparently did a lot of work on the molds too, whcih is one reason they only popped out the Spad, Pfalz and Nieuport. The rest of the old Aurora molded insignia were removed, and the molds were cleaned up a bit. Glencoe aparently ran out of steam on some of their mold restoration work, as a lot kits they advertized never panned out. The Grumman Goose they promised for 10 years finally came out under the Lindberg name... its the old ITC kit. 

Remember too that at the time the old molds were junked, there was not big nostalgia market like today. Economic downturns in the 70s resulted in companies selling old molds for the metal or recycling them. Monogram scrapped the Rommels Rod, Tijuana Taxi, etc. Its not like only the old Aurora molds were pitched.


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## NTRPRZ (Feb 23, 1999)

Yes, the nostalgia factor is the main reason I collect Aurora kits. Many of the kits I have now, collected through eBay and other collectors (remember John Green?) before eBay were the same ones I had as a kid. I also have many, many more (Jerry West, Jimmy Brown, etc.) that I didn't have as a kid simply because they're Auroras.

Mostly I enjoy buying old, beat up kits, tearing them down, and restoring them. Sometimes it takes two or more eBay purchases to come up with a complete kit, but it's worth it (Hercules and the Lion, Spider-Man, etc.). Taking a glue bomb and fixing it up gives me all sorts of warm fuzzies.

The prime reason I enjoyed Aurora kits as a youngster was that they produced stuff that no one else did. You could go to a strange planet in the Spindrift, rocket to Earth orbit in the Pan Am Space Clipper or explore the sea bottom in the Flying Sub. So what if they weren't pinpoint accurate? You had them, and that's all that counted.

And one last thing. Aurora kits had this -- smell -- that was unique among plastic kits. I still can get a whiff if I open up a long-closed kit that takes up space in my closets.


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## BatToys (Feb 4, 2002)

What are the most valuable Aurora kits now? Sealed?

The cartoon line art (not the painted art) Superman? Bride of Frankenstein?


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

BatToys said:


> What are the most valuable Aurora kits now? Sealed?
> 
> The cartoon line art (not the painted art) Superman? Bride of Frankenstein?


Prices on a lot are wayyyyyyyyy down now. The Q Ship Atlantis, Sea Lab and Castle Frog would bring a mint. The old LiS kits used to be up there. So was the Gold Knight. Some of the Aurora missile kits bring way more money than the more well known but scarce figure kits. Some of the missiles were sold for just one year.


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## Solium (Apr 24, 2005)

djnick66 said:


> Prices on a lot are wayyyyyyyyy down now. The Q Ship Atlantis, Sea Lab and Castle Frog would bring a mint. The old LiS kits used to be up there. So was the Gold Knight. Some of the Aurora missile kits bring way more money than the more well known but scarce figure kits. Some of the missiles were sold for just one year.


Patience is the key on Ebay. After many years of searching and waiting I grabbed Sea Lab for a little under a hundred bucks. (Buy It Now) It wasn't sealed but it was un-built and complete with many parts in original bags. Others in zip lock type bags. It was a steal.


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## 1bluegtx (Aug 13, 2004)

BatToys said:


> What are the most valuable Aurora kits now? Sealed?
> 
> The cartoon line art (not the painted art) Superman? Bride of Frankenstein?


I would say the two monster rods Godzillas gocart and Kongs thronester followed by the mad doctor ,dentist and barber (the last ones i saw at auction went for over two thousand each! ).

BRIAN


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## SpaceCrawler (Mar 22, 2010)

djnick66 said:


> Monogram selectively weeded out the molds. They kept the most popular monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein. You can tell today how badly those molds have worn too... real bad. The new kits are about as rough as you can get and still be buildable.


Are there any side by side comparison pictures of an old kit next to a new kit that show evidence of wear to the mold? It'd be interesting to see any differences.

Sean


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## Auroranut (Jan 12, 2008)

It's really a case of each to their own. I'm not a particularly big fan of scifi but I can appreciate the work that the fans put into their passion.
For me personally I love the nostalgia and the subject matter. There's no other company that produced such a varied selection of figure kits from knights, monsters, humourous,and historical figures. I find it really hard to decide which figures are my favourites though the Castle Creatures stand out for me...
There's also that smell of a boxed Aurora that evokes memories of a time gone by. I've heard it has something to do with the mold release they used but to me it's like some sort of trigger that takes me back to my childhood...
I'm looking at my built Auroras right now and I couldn't imagine not having them around me...

Chris.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

SpaceCrawler said:


> Are there any side by side comparison pictures of an old kit next to a new kit that show evidence of wear to the mold? It'd be interesting to see any differences.
> 
> Sean


I posted some up in another thread although its not really something you can tell on a built model.

If you have unbuilt kits, the current ones have new sprue gates cut or the old ones enlarged. Kits today are run at lower pressure than before so they have more and larger sprues. The new kits have a good bit of flash too. The edges of the parts are not so crisp and dont fit so sharply (not that Aurora ever had super Tamiya like precision). Some parts are blobby too... Dracula's ring is just a total blob of flash and crap on the sprue and you have to essentially carve the ring out of the plastic lump. In the Frankenstein kit, the mold for the base is shot... the holes for the footstones have wallowed out to be twice as big as they should be. The Kong mold is now missing a section too, so some of the tree parts are not included. This is what caused a short run on the Luminators version when they discovered the missing pieces. They are still missing in the Polar Lights reissue. In the Godzilla mold, the teeth in his lower jaw now look like gumdrops but used to be sharp and pointy.


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## Kit (Jul 9, 2009)

It's tough to tell with some flaws what's really old. Those holes in the Frankenstein base? I have a 1960's Aurora issue of Frankenstein and they're already twice as big as they're supposed to be. 

I'll tell you one mold I know for sure shows its age: The Forgotten Prisoner. Polar Lights used the old Aurora molds and the fingers of the new releases look like sausages compared to the old editions.


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## Zombie_61 (Apr 21, 2004)

Kit said:


> I'll tell you one mold I know for sure shows its age: The Forgotten Prisoner. Polar Lights used the old Aurora molds and the fingers of the new releases look like sausages compared to the old editions.


Boy, you aren't kidding! On the last one I built, by the time I was done removing all the flash and carving some of the soft detail back in it felt like I had carved the whole thing from scratch. :freak:


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