The Miracle of Life in an Eggshell
H-1554-598 (Hobby kit number 1554, retail price $5.98)
Plastic "REAL LIFE" model kit
*
In the late 1950s and early 1960s many educational kits were released, often covering anatomical subjects. Such kits were aimed at both boys and girls, and some box tops showed a school-age boy and girl studying the completed model, surrounded by books.
Clear parts allowed the internal skeleton and organs of various creatures to be viewed, and studied. Frogs were a very popular subject. The use of these kits in schools and school projects was heavily promoted in advertising. Renwal had their Visible Man, Visible Woman, Visible Pigeon, Visible Trout, and others. Superior Plastics had a number of human anatomy kits. Several firms also released models showing the interior and workings of various engines. Revell even had a Westinghouse Atomic Power Plant, with interior detail.
In the early 1960s Revell decided to enter the anatomy kit field. Their first effort being Chicken Little - The Miracle of Life in an Eggshell. It was planned to be the first kit in a series of such educational kits, but poor sales meant there would be no further models, and even Chicken Little had a short life. The kit lasted only a year or two, and it appears it has never been re-issued.
Multi-coloured parts showed the development of a chicken from a newly laid egg, to a three-day old chick. Clear plastic parts allowed a view inside the egg.
I had never heard of this kit until Max from Max's Models mentioned it in one of his videos. Clearly, a kit this obscure needed to be investigated.
Max's Models Coffee 8/24/22
This kit is not mentioned on Scalemates
I could not find a full copy of the 1961 Revell catalogue, so I am not sure if it is listed.
It gets a vertical half-page in the 1962 catalogue - on the same page as the Chrysler Slant Six engine kit - both being in the Science series. This states that the kit was 'Developed under the supervision of one of the nation's leading embryologists.'
It is listed, but not illustrated, in the 1963 catalogue.
The 1962 and 1963 catalogues can be found on the Box Art Den.
Remembering Revell Model Kits, Thomas Graham, Schiffer Publishing, 2002 and 2004.
Chicken Little is mentioned on p.52, and listed on p.164, but not illustrated
According to this, the kit was the idea of Royle Glaser, wife of company founder Lew Glaser. She later ran the company after her husband's death.
Graham states that the sculptor was Plummer, with box art by Jack Leynnwood, who is best known for his aircraft kits.
Advertised in Boys' Life (US magazine for members of the Boy Scouts), December 1961
Given this date, it appears that the kit was released around late 1961. The Graham book says 1961-62, but it was still listed in the 1963 Revell catalogue, so possibly 1961-63.
The US retail price was $5.98, three times the price of the other Revell animal kits available at the time (squirrel, koala, kitten, and puppy).
The side of the box states: Easy to assemble kit. Parts can be taken apart and reassembled for "fun while learning". This was a standard feature of most anatomy kits.
The box also refers to Revell Type S Cement, for Styrene plastic.
As with many of these educational kits, the box included a booklet: Chicken Little - Miracle in an Eggshell, by William H. Crocker, Instructor, Inglewood Unified School District, Inglewood, California.
Unusually for the period, the assembly instructions were in colour. The front of the instructions says © 1961 Revell Inc., Venice, California, U.S.A.
There were five complete eggs (half clear, half opaque), one broken egg with the chick emerging, and one young chick after hatching.
The parts were moulded in several colours, to reduce the amount of painting required. Most parts were injection moulded, like a normal kit, but some look to have been vac-formed. The clear vac-from parts had red and blue lines, for blood vessels, already applied. I am not sure how this was done.
White for the rear half of the eggshells.
Clear for the front of the eggshells.
Yellow for the developing chick,
Blue for the stands that held the eggs upright. These could be linked together to display the development cycle of the chick in the correct order.
Decals for the front of the stands, identifying the stages of development.
The description of the stages on the box top are different to the descriptions on the decal sheet.
Box Decal
Stage One: The Fertile Egg Fertile Egg (at laying)
Stage Two: 2-3 Day Development 2 to 3 Days
Stage Three: 6-8 Day Development 6 to 8 Days
Stage Four: 10-12 Day Development 10 to 12 Days
Stage Five: 14-16 Day Development 14 to 16 Days
Stage Six: The Chick Emerges 21 Days [egg hatching]
Stage Seven: The Baby Chick 3 Day Old Chick
Planned, but not released were further Science kits showing the life cycle of a frog, H-1555; and an aquarium with fish, H1556. Following poor sales of the Chicken Little kit, these models were dropped, although they had been shown at the 1962 Toy Fair. This being a toy and hobby industry event, at which new kits, toys, and product lines were announced and promoted. If a line did not attract enough interest from the industry: distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, it might well be dropped by the manufacturer at this stage, rather than waste further money on a line that was not going to sell.
This is everything I have found on this kit so far.
Four photographs from Worthpoint.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
