I'm looking forward to long winter nights under a craft lamp.
I plan to fix a few toys and make a few models.
Reader Rananculus has kindly donated a slew of Japanese toys and kits and these have been patiently waiting for play time.
I've also got a box of battered oldtimer kits to sort out including a lovely Aurora Red Knight of Vienna.
I've had in and sold on a good number of Aurora kits over the years and remember being thrilled one Sunday to find a mint boxed Black Fury at a car boot sale. It was complete and untouched and came home. It looked great on my toy stall.
My later issue square box looked like this example on Ebay.
Like many Aurora models, Black Fury was re-bridled for other kits and he was essentially the house horse for Aurora. At least three or four more kis had this same horse like The Gold Knight of Nice
and King Arthur including his the wittily titled Knight in Shining Armour incarnation as seen here on an old Worthpoint auction.
Black Fury also galloped off as part of Aurora's Apache Warrior and Confederate Raider kits, the latter pictured here from Ebay.
I adored this kit's box art simply because it featured in the first vintage toy mail order catalogue I ever got way back in 1991 from Andy Foley's brilliant TV Toy Zone.
The Confederate Raider box art shows a different horse to Fury but it's Fury inside as you can see from this later re-issue by Meobius - as seen recently on the Bay.
Have you any Aurora Black Fury models or any of their kits or modern day re-issues?
Sounds like the perfect cosy night in, with model kits, glue and paints, Woodsy. Aurora were a big part of the childhood experience for me. I still have an unassembled glow in the dark Dracula in its original box. They produced a brilliant range of kits... something for everyone. You mentioned the Visible Man in a previous post. That's another nice display piece of anatomical imagination :)
ReplyDeleteYep Tone, I agree. Aurora were simply brilliant and captured the moment especially with monsters. That drac kit sounds ace. Resting in his coffin!
DeleteHey there! Yup - love the Aurora wildlife kits and have almost all; some boxed, some built. I have the American Buffalo, White Tail Deer, White Stallion (same horse used in Aurora's Lone Ranger and Zorro kits) Thoroughbred Race Horse (a.k.a. "Yearling Horse"), Black Bear & Cubs, Cougar & Fawn and Big Horn Sheep. The only one I don't have is...Black Fury! (But I do have an original Gold Knight of Nice and the Revell re-issue) Fun fact: The 1972 "Cave Bear", part of their Prehistoric Scenes line was originally supposed to be another wildlife kit, the Grizzly Bear. Delightful kits all!
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Ed Dietrich
Queens, NY
Superb Ed! What a collection! A zoo of Aurora kits on your shelf! I don't think anyone has come close to the coolness of Aurora when it comes to kits. Even non-modellers like me in the Sixties thought Aurora monsters were the neatest things I'd ever seen and I became an Aurora fan. I'm still not a modeller but appreciate everything Aurora. Yep, alas I sold Black Fury years ago. I have two really great books with Aurora kits in, Bill Breugman's Aurora book and Classic Plastic by Rick Polizzi. Much thumbed, I love those books! Have you get them? Thanks for the Cave Bear tip. New to me. If you ever want to show off your models and boxes then drop me a line and I'll post them here for you. My email is below at the bottom ...moonbasecentral@...... or maybe you're already showcasing them on the net? PS. I watch King of Queens most weekday mornings! is it popular in Queens?
DeleteI do not have the two books you mention, but I do have Aurora Model Kits by Thomas Graham, Schiffer, 2004. An earlier edition was published as Greenberg's Guide to Aurora Model Kits, Kalmbach Books, 1998. The author has also done books on Revell and Monogram.
ReplyDeleteI did not have any Aurora kits, I can not even recall seeing any in NZ in the 1970s. Just some of the later reissues. I do have a reissued Creature From the Black Lagoon, unbuilt. Looking through the photos, I can see why Aurora were so highly regarded and loved, the range of subjects was amazing, even thought I was not into horror monsters at the time, there are plenty of other subjects I would have liked to have built.
I like Schiffer books too Paul. I have a few. I have books by John Marshall about vintage toys and action figures too. What's Trade Me like for vintage toys?
DeleteSorry, I have no idea what Trade Me is like. I have not tried any of these auction sites, just bought a few books and a couple o DVDs from the major retailers such as Book Depository and Amazon UK. I get most of my old models at fairs, and there is still one model shop in Auckland that carries second-hand models, that way I get to actually see the models before buying. I am very old fashioned.
ReplyDelete