Reading – Aurora Model Kits

Aurora Model Kits* is a 176-page book all about the old Aurora company that produced model kits (and some toys) during the 50s, 60s, and 70s. As many of you know, the reissued Aurora monster model kits (mentioned here) have captured my attention and I keep resisting the urge to order a couple of the kits. (Where would I find the time to assemble and paint them?)

Fortunately, even if I don’t have time to devote to assembling and painting model kits I did have time to read the second edition of Thomas Graham’s Aurora Model Kits. And it’s a fun enough read that I’ve gotta tell you guys all about it.

A History Lesson

The first 99 pages of the book cover the formation, growth, and death of the Aurora company. With several photos on every spread, the book’s as much fun to look through as it is to read. Graham’s writing is clear and conversational, and it’s obvious that he spent hundreds of hours researching the history or Aurora and the primary people behind the company. (In the book Graham mentions spending a dozen years on research; I can believe it.)

Frustrating At Times

I found the section on box art (in chapter one) a bit frustrating. It has always been Aurora’s box art that caught my attention (even back in the eighties, when I would sometimes run across a superhero or monster model kit in the dusty corned or an old store) but Graham spends a little too much time talking about the box conversion and wrapping process and not nearly enough time discussing the actual art that was printed on the box wraps. To be fair, I may feel this was a bit dull since I’ve had quite a bit of experience with box printing/converting. It’s possible those without print experience will find this fun, but I suspect everyone would have rather heard more about the artists.

Organizationally Challenged

The art surfaces again later in the book, when Graham writes:

“Much of the success of Aurora’s monster model kits — indeed all its kits — can be attributed to the fabulous illustrations that went on the lids of Aurora kit boxes. New York City was the center of commercial art in America, and Aurora had access to some of the best illustrator’s in the country. The company’s contact with the art community was Si Friedman, an artist himself who ran a graphic design company in Manhattan. Friedman knew the artists on a personal basis and easily made deals with them to supply Aurora with great art at low prices.”

This one subject — the artwork on Aurora’s boxes — clearly shows my single complaint with Aurora Model Kits: The book skips around a little too much and information is widely distributed — and often feels out of order — and feels unorganized at times. There’s a lot of great stuff in here, but a heavy editing (or even a liberal use of page references and an index) would have made the book more enjoyable. It’s not a reason to skip the book — in fact, I recommend that anyone interested in model kits and the history of the industry grab a copy — but the disorganized presentation is sometimes frustrating.

Price Guides Should Never Appear in Books

Books and magazines, please stop printing price guides. The internet, with the ability to update information constantly, is a far better vehicle for distributing values of items. The last 76 pages of the book are devoted to a price guide of all of the Aurora kits, and if it wasn’t for the fantastic photos and short descriptions of the contents of each kit this section of the book would be wasted space.

Fortunately, the photos save this price guide and make it a blast to flip through. Aurora manufactured more kits than I had ever realized, and seeing the box art (and some assembled and painted kits) in one place is a real treat.

Great Fun!

Despite the questionable organization (the last chapter skips from the 90s to the 80s for reasons I can’t understand) I’ve gotta say that Aurora Model Kits was a fun read and it’s one of those books I can see myself pulling down whenever I want to lay back and enjoy cool photos and a fun read. Graham’s history or Aurora is informative and engaging (the birth of the monster kits, with Bill Silverstein relentless in getting the Aurora team to test his theory that kids would love monster models, launches chapter four in such a way that you wanna keep reading), and the fantastic photos keep you flipping the pages.

Highly recommended! But be careful, read this and you’ll probably find yourself looking at the Monster Scenes and Moebius Models websites. And that might lead to you ordering a monster model kit or two. And then you can kiss your free time goodbye.

*Affiliate link: Orders using this link earn battlegrip.com cash, which is applied to buying toys.