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.
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