# Aurora JFK...Ancient Promo question...



## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Any of you guys know anything about this, as it seems to be a Canadian exclusive... I just got this from ebay.... I grew up in Ottawa Ontario and vaguely remember my buddy getting a separate Portrait of JFK when he bought his Aurora JFK model back in 64/65. I saw this kit on ebay a few weeks ago and got it... here are the photos of the JFK kit with the added Portrait and paperwork that came with my ebay purchase. It is the same size as the Box art but the Mort Kunstler signature is visible and not cropped off by the Aurora graphics. On the paperwork it starts off by saying "Enclosed in each carton you will find 24 authentic memorial JFK Portraits". So I'm thinking these came in with a Carton of Aurora JFK kits and the storekeep would hand one out to you if you bought the kit. That would explain my memory of my childhood friend getting this with the kit. We used to buy all our kits from a Smoke Shop and the Store owner knew us by name (back then) So I imagine this was a sort of promo and by the time I bought my kit... it was long over...
Until I saw this on ebay I had totally forgotten about my childhood friend getting this portrait with the kit. Do you have any knowledge of this promo from waaaaay back then. I've not seen it mentioned in any Aurora books I've picked up over the years??? I 'm hoping some of you could shed some light on it. 
I'm an Aurora collector also but I can't find any info on this .










The kit is mint and all this came in with it...
Denis


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## RMC (Aug 11, 2004)

wanna sell or trade for it ?????????


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Not really I just got it and I'm trying to research everything I can on it, I've not seen it in any Aurora book or ever mentioned anywhere, but it is real... maybe Thomas Graham knows something about this... I'll ask him, he's a member here...
Denis

Update....Just sent Thomas a PM, I await his reply...


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## Bone (May 12, 2006)

Can you also show some photos of the model itself?

What an interesting subject, never heard of it ...


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## Tim Casey (Dec 4, 2004)

Here's my buildup of it:










Aurora had a series of Presidents planned, but they only did JFK and Washington:










They also had a sketch of a Lincoln model, but it was never produced. He was standing next to a podium. I've seen it on the web, but I can't seem to locate it right now.


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## Buc (Jan 20, 1999)

a scratchbuilt Lincoln was made... as well as a box to go w/ it by someone.
http://www.bucwheat.com/lincoln1.jpg


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## Bone (May 12, 2006)

Thanks a lot for the photos!

The washington diorama is outstanding.
I wonder if a line of some of the more recent presidents would sell well ...


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Here is the Lincoln sketch 

....and here is what the Box Art probably would have been, also painted by Mort Kunstler

Denis


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## docplastic (May 10, 2003)

*Kennedy print*

This is news to me. Looks like a Canada special offer to dealers.

As for me: I'm back to doing Florida History. One of my historian friends got a phone call for Tom Graham the model guy, and she was sure that it was a big mistake. I had a hard time convincing her the model guy really was me.
Tom


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Thanks for the input Tom, I've also Posted this on the FB' Make my kit Aurora' Forum and came up with this...It looks like it was offered by Aurora in the USA through this offer...




The source of this info was from the following excerpt from the Facebook discussion:
Kenneth Kwilinskisaid " From what I found out. The ad was placed in all kind of Aurora models. Car models, figure models, ship models, plane models. But not in every one. Probably every 25th or more, seeing how seldom it shows up in a kit. The ad was also shipped with Aurora catalogs, but again not with every catalog. I wonder why they did it that way?"

Denis


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Just noticed the P.O Box addy at the bottom of this page( for the picture frame offer) is the same addy for the Canadian Rexdale, Toronto Ontario plant..




Denis


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## Marko (Jul 11, 2002)

Hey Denis, That is some very interesting Aurora history for sure. Having bought most kits myself, I didn't know you could buy those pictures for a dollar. I wonder how many were bought and if any are still around. Very cool, thanks for posting. I did have a few of the JFK kits built up. But that was it.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Hi Marko...Well except for the one my buddy had back in the mid 1960's, which I had totally forgotten about, this one I just got is the only one I've ever seen. I haven't ever even read about its' existence until I saw this auction...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/AURORA-JOHN...j3ygy94vRE4NQvCGu7eQs%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

and the auction itself didn't even mention this Portrait...You can just barely see it and the paperwork in the kit box itself...
Denis


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## Zorro (Jun 22, 1999)

mcdougall said:


> Thanks for the input Tom, I've also Posted this on the FB' Make my kit Aurora' Forum and came up with this...It looks like it was offered by Aurora in the USA through this offer...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I vaguely remember these inserts. I also remember having no interest whatsoever. $1.00 was the cost of an Aurora figure and I would much rather spend that money on a kit! 

I did have the JFK and George Washington as well as the Iwo Jima kit. I actually got some kind of Cub Scout merit badge for building and displaying the latter two.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Yeah 3 for a buck or all 18 for $5.00....hmmmmm
For $5.00 I could have bought Big Frankie !....and if I had 5 bucks back then that's what I would have done:thumbsup:
....but I didn't and that's that.
Yep my money went for the kits and paint
Probably why you don't see any of these around.... 
Denis


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

Fantastic find Denis. I've seen the picture ads, but have never seen an actual print from the offer. Interesting that it was included in the Canadian release, but not packed in American Cases of kits. 
As I've said many a' time, I am always learning so ething new on these boards.
Thanks for sharing.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Thanks Chris...Yeah it's pretty cool....You know, it's really odd that here 50 years later we are still discovering cool stuff concerning Aurora... Here I thought I knew it all lol.... 
Makes you wonder what else might be discovered from our hobby's past history?
Cheers
Denis


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

mcdougall said:


> Thanks Chris...Yeah it's pretty cool....You know, it's really odd that here 50 years later we are still discovering cool stuff concerning Aurora... Here I thought I knew it all lol....
> Makes you wonder what else might be discovered from our hobby's past history?
> Cheers
> Denis


I know what you mean. I just saw this insert for the first time about a year and a half ago.









High quality images can be found on this page of my site.
http://www.tylisaari.com/prehistoricscenes/maps.html

10 years + spent searching the net, ebay, and everywhere else for anything PS related.
And suddenly out of no where, something I'd never even heard of shows up on ebay.


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## mcdougall (Oct 28, 2007)

Cool Trevor, I guess you never know...
Odd though that in our circles and knowing the desirability of Aurora items...
You 'd think that this stuff would have been outed or at least made mention of some time in the past 50 years...
Sure is cool though...
I even asked the Seller of the JFK kit if he had any background on this Portrait print and his response was...
Denis 
I'm not sure, it may be a premium, I don't know too much about these
Thanks
Adam

So who knows???
Denis


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

That's the thing. Back in the day, not many people really knew what was 'rare' to even take note of it.
And no one ever really thought about this stuff as being collectible.
So they didn't hang on to it.
And those that did, did so more for sentimental reasons. So they don't really research it to realize "Hey, I've got something really unusual here."

Heck. I had another lightbulb moment like a year or so ago.
For more than 10 years I had a statement on my website about the flying reptile.
And how the instructions said to use the enclosed string to hang it from the hook on it's back.
And how that must have been a mistake as there wan't any string.

Turns out they do come with string. Or at least some do.
I'd never seen it in any I've looked at or owned. But then again, I've never cracked a sealed one. But you would think that at least one auction over the years would have a picture of one with a string. None did, until someone sent me this pic.


Still haven't found one for myself yet. And I've been looking extra hard since I got that picture.


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## ChrisW (Jan 1, 1970)

Verry interresting!


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## bigdaddydaveh (Jul 20, 2007)

That's a really neat promo. Congrats on the auction win! What a nice bonus! I've never heard of those before. Thanks for posting this.


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