# Dr. Suess kits



## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

Anyone know if Revell still owns the molds for these? Anyone know how many there are? Love to see them reissued.


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## veedubb67 (Jul 11, 2003)

Found this online.

In 1959 Theodore Geisel (aka Dr Seuss) authorized Revell to make a series of "animals" that snapped together rather than being glued together, and could be assembled, disassembled and re-assembled "in thousands" of ways. The series was called the "Dr. Seuss Zoo" and included Gowdy the Dowdy Grackle, Norval the Bashful Blinket, Tingo the Noodle Topped Stroodle and Roscoe the Many Footed Lion. The basic body parts were the same and all were interchangeable, and so it was possible for children to combine parts from various characters in essentially unlimited ways in creating their own animal characters (Revell encouraged this by selling Gowdy, Norval and Tingo together in a "Gift Set" as well as individually). Revell also made a conventional glue-together "beginner's kit" of The Cat in the Hat.

Rob
Iwata Padawan


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

They also did a beauty of a kit of The Cat in the Hat in 59.Seems to me I had a bird-like critter that was holding a birthday cake when I was a kid.Anyone know the name of that kit?


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## NeilUnreal (Feb 17, 2001)

I had a Dr. Suess birthday cake kit as a kid, but I don't recall the name of it.

-Neil


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## veedubb67 (Jul 11, 2003)

bizzarobrian said:


> Seems to me I had a bird-like critter that was holding a birthday cake when I was a kid.Anyone know the name of that kit?


Birthday Bird

http://www.jeffpidgeon.com/2008/03/toy-otd-revell-dr-seuss-birthday-bird.html

Rob
Iwata Padawan


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

veedubb67 said:


> Birthday Bird
> 
> http://www.jeffpidgeon.com/2008/03/toy-otd-revell-dr-seuss-birthday-bird.html
> 
> ...


Wow!! memories!


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## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

Wow indeed! Needs reissuing! NOW!!!


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## 1bluegtx (Aug 13, 2004)

z-2000 The Cat in the hat
z-2001 Tingo the Noodle Topped Stroodle
z-2002 Gowdy the Dowdy Grackle
z-2003 Norval the Bashful Blinket
z-2004 Roscoe the Many-Footed Lion
z-2005 Grickily the Gractus
z-2006 Busby the Tasselated Yak
z-2050 Cat in the Hat with Thing 1 and Thing 2
z-2051 Birthday Bird
z-2052 Horton the Elephant
z-2100 The Game of the Yertle

also did two gift sets 
g-2080 included z-2001,z-2002 and z-2003
g-2081 included z-2004,z-2005 and z-2006

BRIAN


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

1bluegtx said:


> z-2000 The Cat in the hat
> z-2001 Tingo the Noodle Topped Stroodle
> z-2002 Gowdy the Dowdy Grackle
> z-2003 Norval the Bashful Blinket
> ...


Thanx Bro!


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## deadmanincfan (Mar 11, 2008)

You're a font of information, Brian! Thanks!


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## Marko (Jul 11, 2002)

I would love to see these kits re-issued too. Very pricey if you want to try to get the originals. I thought maybe when the movies were out several years ago, we might see the kits again. Didn't happen.


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

Would be cool to see these kits our again.
But I doubt it will happen.
First, who knows what condition the molds are in, if they even still exist.

But the bigger hurdle I think would be licensing.
Is the Seuss estate even licensing anything right now?
I don't remember seing anything on store shelves in a looooong time.


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

I think bigger problems were that the kits sucked 50 years ago and Revell probably did not keep the molds. A friend of mine has a Cat in the Hat, and its far from impressive. Revell figures were NOT Aurora for sure. I don't see these kits being very marketable today. They are very simplistic, but not snap together, and the likeness of the plastic kits to the cartoon/book characters is not the best. IF someone were to reissue them I don't think it would be Revell... One seemingly simple problem I can see too is the Cat in the Hat had at least three seperate molds since parts were cast in blue/black, red and white. The red and white parts were just for his hat, IIRC. Little molds like that had a habit of getting lost. Thats what happened to the face plate for the Neil Armstrong astronaut kit... one little clear yellow part kept the kit from being reissued for 30 years.


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

djnick66 said:


> I think bigger problems were that the kits sucked 50 years ago and Revell probably did not keep the molds. A friend of mine has a Cat in the Hat, and its far from impressive. Revell figures were NOT Aurora for sure. I don't see these kits being very marketable today. They are very simplistic, but not snap together, and the likeness of the plastic kits to the cartoon/book characters is not the best. IF someone were to reissue them I don't think it would be Revell... One seemingly simple problem I can see too is the Cat in the Hat had at least three seperate molds since parts were cast in blue/black, red and white. The red and white parts were just for his hat, IIRC. Little molds like that had a habit of getting lost. Thats what happened to the face plate for the Neil Armstrong astronaut kit... one little clear yellow part kept the kit from being reissued for 30 years.


I think that Cat in the Hat looked pretty sweet.


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

TAY666 said:


> Would be cool to see these kits our again.
> But I doubt it will happen.
> First, who knows what condition the molds are in, if they even still exist.
> 
> ...


They can make them without the molds by scanning parts & making new molds.


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

Marko said:


> I would love to see these kits re-issued too. Very pricey if you want to try to get the originals. I thought maybe when the movies were out several years ago, we might see the kits again. Didn't happen.


There was a builtup Cat in the Hat available on Ebay.It was only missing the tie.


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## Scary Terry (Jul 8, 2009)

I think the Birthday Bird and Horton kits are particularly nice designs -- they REALLY look like the Seuss illustrations. I'd buy reissues in a heartbeat.


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

Never seen the Horton kit but I love the Cat in the Hat kit.


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## aurora fan (Jan 18, 1999)

I never thought of it before but a Suess inspired line of kits seem like an instant winner! I never knew these kits exisited!


...from there to here and here to there, funny things are everywhere...


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## TAY666 (Jan 8, 2000)

bizzarobrian said:


> They can make them without the molds by scanning parts & making new molds.



True.
But that adds a whole lot more cost to he project.
And the more it costs, the less likely it is to happen.


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

TAY666 said:


> True.
> But that adds a whole lot more cost to he project.
> And the more it costs, the less likely it is to happen.


There`s been some pretty obscure stuff being repopped these days.The 3 glow heads,Bigfoot are a couple of examples.Who would have ever thought that Captain Action would pop out again? I think the Seuss kits would be well received.Kids would buy these.


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## BatToys (Feb 4, 2002)

I asked my neighbor who works in Production at Revell about the Seuss kits. He said they would like to reissue them but the royalties are too high. Now royalties have to be paid in advance.


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

It`s such a great way to get kids involved in the hobby.
Here`s a pic of Horton I found on the net.Anyone with a pic of The Cat in the Hat?


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## OzyMandias (Dec 29, 2004)

I love Horton. The kit looks really cute. I think he and the Cat in the Hat with Thing 1&2 would be great. The Horton movie from a few years back was hilarious.


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## bizzarobrian (Oct 4, 2009)

When they again released The Cat in the Hat it came with Thing#1 & Thing#2 !


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## rlbrown63 (Mar 12, 2014)

Hi, I have the Birthday Bird hobby kit by Dr. Seuss. It is in pretty good condition. Does anyone know how I could find out what this may be worth? I saw another Dr. Seuss kid on E-bay for almost $400.

Thanks in advance


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

Ebay is what its worth. Not what people may ask but what it actually sells for. If you can't sell it on eBay, its pretty much worthless. And, by and large, you aren't going to get more for something anywhere else either.

Most of the kits seem to sell for $200 - $300ish in the box. Some very nice, complete build ups of Cat in the Hat and Thing 1/2 were only something like $125.


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## rlbrown63 (Mar 12, 2014)

Thanks- that's what I thought. I can remember my mom putting it together on my youngest brothers birthday cake. Think I will just keep it in the family.

Have a great day and thanks for the info


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## djnick66 (May 2, 2008)

In the pre eBay days these things were mega super rare. Nowdays they are, actually, fairly common. There are a lot of other kits that bring more money and that you NEVER ever see. For example a Revell jet gift set just sold for nearly $1,700...


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## Marko (Jul 11, 2002)

The Cat is a very well made kit. You can find them on ebay built up for decent prices. This one was missing the umbrella, so I made one.


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