Hi Woodsy
The ITC, later Glencoe, kit of the Piasecki VZ-8P Aerial-Jeep has been mentioned before on Moonbase Central. I recently came across some photos of the kit, and noticed a few odd things about the box art.
First up, the artist managed to get the colours of the US national insignia on the fin wrong. How do you do that - working only from a black and white photo, and knowing nothing about aircraft markings ?
The Star and Bar (post 1947 version) is shown as blue and white only. The central stripe in the side bars should be red, not blue, matching the stripes of the US flag.
However, the decal sheet in the kit is correct.
Next, the tank supporting the group of US infantrymen is a British Centurion. Six road wheels per side, the shape of the side plates over the tracks, and the angular stowage box on the side of the turret, all confirm it is a Centurion.
Why a British tank like this?
The artwork was later changed. The actual Aerial-Jeep image stays the same – and the national insignia is still the wrong colour – but the crew figures have been revised.
The crewman who was previously firing a rifle, is now looking through a pair of binoculars, and the others have also been slightly changed. The background painting is also different, and those now look to be US tanks in action.
This version is a lot rarer than the 'Centurion' box, at least judging from the listings for the Aerial Jeep on Worthpoint. Both box styles were numbered No.3674-98, and sold for 98 cents.
The address on the box is ITC, Hollis, New York. It does not appear the Aerial Jeep was re-issued by Ringo Toys in the 1960s, although they released many other ex-ITC kits.
The VZ-8P was later re-issued by Glencoe Models, but the name had been changed to Piasecki VZ-8P Airgeep. I assume so they did not have to pay to use the Jeep name ?
There were two styles of box art, with either a large or small version of the Airgeep in flight. Oddly, these have different kit numbers.
The large image is 05202, while the small image is 05203. In addition to the three original crewmen, at least some versions of this kit included a small bag of six one-piece US Army figures.
Eight Photographs from Worthpoint
Paul Adams from New Zealand
