1973 - 2000 The Story of Matchbox Kits

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Multi-colored Matchbox kits have been produced up to 1990, but Revell continued the range and revamped it during their ten year lease period. Matchbox set up its own plastic kit division in the UK around 1972/73. Concentrating on 1:72 scale military aircraft and 1:76 military vehicles, it competed with the then-dominant Airfix company. The Matchbox kits had a distinctive appearance, the parts in each kit were produced in two or three colours compared to the single colour plastic of Airfix. The boxes were also more colourful and included clear windows so the contents could be seen. In addition, unlike Airfix's military vehicle kits, the Matchbox military vehicle kits all came with a small diorama base. Though the former model may therefore be found relatively ubiquitously in British or American households, often it was either played with (i.e. the condition is poor) or it has a particular "treasure"-like sentimental value (often the case with, for example, horse-drawn models), so that the model will be kept "forever", even by those who do not collect. Thus it becomes harder to find in good condition on the collectors market, while the less popular model can still be found mint-boxed in large quantities. And as it is likely that the sports car's initial popularity remains In the 1970's I probably built most of the basic range of 1.72 aircraft. We had a newsagent about a mile from home that sold only Matchbox kits and die-cast '75' cars. Each week I'd alternate and get a kit, then a die-cast car. I still have the cars and most of them boxed too! (I was a very carefull driver) The Matchbox kits were well made, with modern tooling and techniques, but critics felt that the kits were too coarsely detailed [9] in comparison with other models on the market, and too "toy-like". Yet they were still just as complex and time consuming to construct as any other kit, which limited their appeal to more casual model builders. The company was unable to fully satisfy either the casual or serious model building market, and was one of the first companies to abandon model kits when the hobby started its decline, [ when?] selling AMT to the Ertl Company and shutting down its own kit division less than twenty years after starting it.

Unfortunately, early marketing concepts of metallic-painted tanks and bright-coloured ships were not consistent with market demands, and the models, many of which were quite well made for the money, were generally not successful. Second editions of the Battle Kings and Sky Busters series were painted in more realistic colours and were well-received but, by this time, general economic factors were seriously affecting the ability of the company to make a profit on toys manufactured in England. In our guided tours section a topic has been added to show an overview of the PK-2008 display as it was seen at Scale Model World, November 15 and 16 2008 at Telford UK. It was his job as project engineer to come up with subjects which could be found, measured and photographed.For a short period in the 1970s/1980s, Lesney also produced or licensed Matchbox production in other countries. Having started by developing several model variants in England specifically for the Japanese market, they later produced four Superfast models in Japan, based on Japanese prototypes. Dies and tooling were later also licensed to groups in Hungary and Bulgaria ( Mikro'67), in an attempt to gain a foothold in the Communist bloc countries. Although only standard models were produced there, there were numerous colour variations, some of which are very rare today. A live-action film adaptation produced by Mattel Films was announced in January 2022. [14] Later that year, Skydance Media joined in making the film with Mattel Films. [15] Matchbox collectors [ edit ] In 1991 Revell bought the molds for the whole range of kits and got a ten year lease to use the Matchbox brand name We have added a separate section on Revell's ten year lease period. All kits released with a 40000 number belong to this period. Moulds or dies are changed at times. This is commonly due to weaknesses in the final die-cast product, or to difficulties in production caused by the die. Often, the changes are very minor, even minute, and may occur in places that are not clearly visible at first glance. Especially in cases where e.g. a weakness was detected early in the production run, the numbers of early versions reaching the market are often quite low.

Puddicombe, Daniel (15 April 2021). "Matchbox cars to be 100% recycled – starting with new Tesla Roadster". Motoring Research . Retrieved 15 July 2021. Use the categories on the left to browse through the various ranges of kits. The search box is handy to find information about specific kits or models. In a few years time the model range had grown to over 30 models in the two-colored purple range and extended into many other ranges A whole new category has been added for the purple aircraft range that we somehow completely missed out before... Some models from the 1:125 series, fltr: Ferrari Berlinetta, Skoda 130 LR, Snow-Trac, SRN6 Hovercraft, Weasel and Scammell Snow PloughAlso in the late 1970s, Matchbox produced a small range of 1:32 and 1:76 Second World War toy soldiers in direct competition to Airfix. These sets included British, German and American infantry, the British 8th Army and the German Afrika Korps and British Commandos. Though Matchbox's sets featured fewer figures than comparable Airfix sets (15 vs. 29 in 1:32), they included weapons that Airfix did not model (flame-throwers, heavy machine guns), and Montgomery and Rommel figures in the Desert War sets. The figures were popular for their high-quality molding and their different extra weapons and poses as compared to the more common Airfix sets.

Although the company was no longer British-owned, limited production continued in England until the mid-1980s, re-using many of the old Lesney castings, but most production and tooling was moved to Macau. It was during this period that Matchbox acquired the rights to the venerated Dinky brand, perhaps the "mother of all toy car collectibles", and united two of the most important names in die-cast under one roof. New models were created (sometimes dies were also bought from competing companies), and the Dinky Collection was born. Dinky models tended to be of more recent classics (particularly the 1950s), while Yesteryears tended to concentrate on older vintages. It was also during the Universal era that the "Matchbox Collectibles" concept was developed (see below, "Matchbox Collectibles"). By 1992, Universal was also seeking a buyer. In May 1992, it sold the brand to Tyco Toys, the toy division of which was bought out in turn by Mattel in 1997, uniting Matchbox with its longtime rival Hot Wheels under the same corporate banner. [2] Under Mattel, the name "Matchbox International Ltd." was terminated. We reconfigured some of our material around reissues in the Aircraft Orange area. Just compare the following:

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Donnelly, Matt (28 January 2022). "Barbie and Beyond: How Mattel Studios Executive Robbie Brenner Brings Beloved Toys to Screen". Variety . Retrieved 24 May 2022. As there have been multiple reference catalogues over the years, there is no complete consensus on the coding of a model. However, a standard code might read as such: Y-15 A 6. This would mean the 6th variation of the first ("A") release of model no. Y-15. And the tanks... same deal, only with the diorama base! How cool was that? Matchbox really did bring something new to the party. The earlier Sky Busters were produced in 1973 from London, England. During the 1970s, Skybusters competed against Dyna-Flytes, produced by San Diego based Zee Toys and the Ertl Company distributed-Hong Kong manufactured Lintoy.

Products currently marketed under the Matchbox name include scale model plastic and die-cast vehicles, and toy garages.Catalogues - the English version of the 1979/80 catalogue and improved pictures of the English version of the 1982/83 catalogue. Many thanks to Asoka Indrasoma. from 1991 up to 2001. See our guided tours section for more details. Under Revell-Matchbox you find all kits released in this period. The catalogue range has been expanded extensively, ranging to the AMT/Matchbox merger up to the last catalogue produced under licence by Revell in 1998. This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. And last but not least Vintage Sprue shares in Guided tour #14 his research into the possible origins of the boxart of: