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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 1959)
SUNDAY, JUNE 21. 1959 HERALD AND NEWS. KLAMATH FALI,S. OREGON PAGE SEVEN Small Scale Models Are A Large Scale Business By robekt J. skklinu Thanks mainly to Glaser, the I nilrd Prw lntn-nutloaal plastic model industry is now one VENlCEi Calif. UPI) Thanks i of the booming giants of the toy to Lewis H. Glaser, millions of i field. Revell alone grossed more American males (age 60) will than eight million dollars last year spena umigni insuring mi now ioand sold more of its realistic kits attach the left wing of a DC-8 and where to locate the secondary gun batteries of the battleship New Jer sey. Glaser is president of Revell, Inc. world's largest manufacturer of plastic scale models boats, cars, planes, animals, trucks, guns and missiles. Vacationers Have Choice United Press International wondering where to go this va cation season? Here are some special events scheduled for the months ahead: Colorado's 19 5 9 Centennial. "Rush to the Rockies" is the cele bration's motto, and the program u year-long and extensive. Oregon's Centennial Exposition (June 10 to September 17) and in ternational trade fair in Portland during the Centennial's first week Chesapeake Bay Fishing Fair at Rose Haven, Md., in August. The three-state (Vermont, New York, New Jersey) Hudson-Cham- plain Celebration, May through Oc tober, with a special New York City observance, "City of Light,' beginning June 14. Virginia's historic triangle Jamestown, Yorktown, Williams burg commemorates the nation's beginnings in Jamestown Festival Park and nearby centers, begin ning June. Boston's "Freedom Trail," spring and summer-long, points he way to historic buildings and monuments. Seattle's Seafair and Gold Cup Hydroplane races, July 31 to -Au gust . The "foliage" tours of New Eng landapple blossom, harvest, fall colors May through October. In Canada, Vancouver's Interna tional Festival of the Arts, July It to August: new music, world famous conductors, Japanese and bpanish dancers, drama premieres. Chicago's International Trade Fair, July 2-18: also Festival of the Americas, August 3 to Sep tember 7, and Pan American Games, August 27-September 7. New York City Summer Festi val, June through Labor Day; spe cial events include Hudson Cele bration, Shakespeare Festival. US Firms In Top Bracket NEW YORK (UPD The United States has 45 giant corporations in ine binion-dollar-a-year class, ac cording to "News Front," a maga line for management. Among them they produce one-fourth of the nation's entire gross national product. , - Heading the so-called "billion dollar club" is General Motors, followed by Standard Oil of New Jersey, American Telephone k Telegraph, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Ford Mo tors, General Electric. Sears Roe buck, U.S. Steel, Socony Mobil, and Gulf Oil ranked in that order among the top ten. In 1957 there were 47 corpora tions in the billion-dollar category, according to "News Front," but three fell below the magic mark in 158 while one climbed into it. Those which dropped just under the billion mark last year were North American Aviation, which fell from 1,255 million dollars to 904 million dollars, Republic Steel from 1,227 million dollars to 910 million dollars, and Armco Steel irom 1,074 million dollars to 910 million dollars, "News Front" reported. The newcomer to the exclusive billion-dollar rank, the magazine aid, was General Foods whose sales rose from 96 million dollars in 1957 to 1,009 million dollars mm year. than the rest of Uie competition and making elastic scale models is now . the number one hobby of youngsters, surpassing even stamp collecting The Revell success story dates back to 1950, when Glaser i tiny firm was making plastic toys. Gla ser decided to put out a replica of the old Maxwell automobile and then had a brainstorm: why not build it in a "knocked down" form customer could build it him self. The plastic auto kit sold so well that Glaser abandoned the toy field ontiroiv and tnnk the Dlunee into the virgin territory of scale models, j He first put out a line oi antique automobiles, then came up with the biggest-selling kit of them all: the battleship Missouri. - It was an ambitious project. The model was in perfect detail ana even included radar, scout planes and liberty boats. That was in 1952. AS 01 January 1, 1959, Revell had sold 1,750,000 Miccniiri kits and it Still IS the best-selling model on the market. Revell designs its repiicas u actual blueprints furnished by the government and private innustr The armed forces are happy to supply detailed plans tor various planes, guns, ships and missiles: they not only consider them good publicity but use them in military classrooms. ' The same is ' true of airplane manufacturers and the various air lines, who pay Revell a certain fee for the privilege of seeing their insignia and colors used on airliner replicas. rvii insists on complete au thenticity. It was all tooled up to turn out a replica of the DC-8 when Douglas engineers sent word that they had aeciaea to iengu iho iotiinpr's tuseiaee oy two iwi- Revell promptly changed its dies for the miniature to conform to this modification. . rwaeiAttallv Revell has decided to produce a model for which no plans are available. One was the Russiaj) Bison jet bomber (Glaser figures it would be a waste of time to ask the Kremlin for the hi.,nrint). Revell scrounged every available photograph and drawing of the Soviet plane ana niaue w hluenrints. Then it sent a hand-made model of the Bison to aeronautical engineers ana military avnrk for aonroval w. have heard since that we couldn't have made the Bison any mnr authentic if we naa none a from the actual blueprints," a Re ..oil nrrloial HcHnred. Another difficult project was the old Christopher ColumDUS uagsmp, c,i, Maria " Glaser sent a re r,.hr nil the wav to Madrid for a look at the Spanish Admirally archives, which conlainea me on nlnal nlnne u,.ir modern plant, with 700 ivc turns out 30 million kits , nf M to 40 individual mod- els. There are it niuiumg ........ nrnduc ne a kit every setui The molds are the biggest expense item and Revell estimates it costs about $100,000 to bring out the av erage model more in the case of the large, super-detailed replicas ol old sailing ships. Revell has a "new products com whirh decides what new models to put into production. The committee screens suggestions from model builders (40 per cent of Revell's customers are aaun', i armed forces and private industry. It also watches the headlines, which occasionally have supplied a sur prising sales boost. Two years ago, Revell put out a replica of the atomic submarine Nautilus. Sales were only fair, un til the real Nautilus made its record-breaking trip under the North PJ"We got swamped with orders the minute the headlines ap peared." Glaser recalled. Now Revell is going "atomic on a big scale. It is planning to mar ket an atomic merchant ship, an atomic submarine that actually firea the Polaris missile, and a scale model of an atomic reactor plant (with a booklet on aiomn energy included for schoolroom projects). Such projects require at least a year of research, planning a n 6 production before the kits appear in stores. After the blueprints are nnisnea, Keveit experts make hand-made model which is sent to the original manufacturer for ap proval of authenticity. Then the molds are cast for full-scale production. The first models go to a special assembly room where ex perts put together display models for use by the retail outlets (these assemblers are all women, "Be cause they're more patient than men"). Revell has its troubles. It once went ahead with the dies for a cer ain missile when word came that the Defense Department had scrapped the original project. So Time to Freeze STRAWBERRIES! Use YAPO CANS YAPO PLASTIC BAGS At Your Grocers i-f.; mm- fJ'HlBf'if OSw Sw l"VfiT1PT0 H'JiUI did Revell. even though it had vested $75,000 in the dies. Do you wont to SELL your FARM? Whothor It's too bio or too tmoll for you, rcmimbir thot JUST RIGHT for or tk many arotpacts with whom w ora acquainted. SoJIiftf farm oropartiot It our special ty. 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