i thought matchbox folded in the 90's? the hl in vegas keeps putting matchbox kits on their shelves. i found a bf110 one month, this month they had 2 heyfords. the cashier said they sold 4. hr fifn't know where they came from because he "was just a cashier". any ideas?
I seem to recall that some or all of the Matchbox molds were purchased by Revell Germany...some have been rereleased under the RG label...
I don't know if you are seeing a "new box" or if you are simply seeing someones "old stock" that is just now hitting the shelves. The copyright marks on the box should tell you if it is actually a RG rerelease
Yes, some of the latest releases of Matchbox kits in actual Matchbox boxes actually had Revell's name in the fine print. A lot of the soldier/vehicle sets Revell initially released had a Matchbox kit inside with some Revell vinyl figures.
The fact that Revell has release about 10 Matchbox kits in Revell boxes and labeled them 1/76 confirms that they at least control the molds now. Rob Gronovius Modern US armor at
comes in 3 colors and is exactly the same except for a small sticker that says made in china. the bf 119 and heyford are a good start. hope they do more.
If I got the story right Matchbox went under in the early '90s. The diecast business was bought up by Mattel. The plastic kit moulds went to Revell AG with the proviso that the kits had to appear in Matchbox boxings for a certain number of years. The easiest way to tell if the kit was produced after the Revell takeover is the kit number. I've built Gladiators with PK-8 (original Matchbox) and 40008 (Revell) numbers. The certain number of years has passed and many M-box kits are in the regular Revell AG line. I'm guessing that those that Revell doesn't think are to their standards are still being boxed under the Matchbox name. As far as being China-made, I'd bet quite a lot of their product is no matter the name on the box.
It's an interesting subject. The Revell release of the MB Wellington was made in China, yet other Revell MB releases are moulded in Europe.
My undersatnding is that Revell control the moulds and had rights to use the MB name for 10 years. That fell in about 2000.
There have been a lot of MB kits appearing out of China. I suspect that these are intended for the Chinese domestic market, and are still controlled by Revell (Presumably the MB name has more sales potential than Revell)
there was a suspicion that these kits were counterfeit from the original moulds, but that hasn't been confirmed.
The Wellington mould had obviously suffered some corrosion and had it polished out - the excellent geodesic effect on one wing had been polished off.
Dave Don't reply to the btconnect address - and remove nospam!!
Speaking of Matchbox kits, I happened to pick up a 1/72 Matchbox Hawker Fury kit just yesterday. This was the first of Matchbox's 1/72 kits, No. PK-1, released in 1972 (at least according to the date on the box). I have a few of the kits in this range so now I'm seriously debating whether I need to go on a quest to collect ALL the Matchbox
i picked up 5 some time ago, i found a guy on ebay from HK? who has stacks of them dirt cheap, i get a min of 2 each time, that was the only source for a load of Hawk 200 single seaters, i took the last but only got 4 which i need.
this minute going out so quickest way to find out who is, check my feedback, mrcooljules and you will see a huge amount from one person, maybe universalxxxxxxxxxxx
good seller.
I bought many loads at a time so is easy to work out who from. couple of months ago but not bought much recently.
That sounds like the seller I bought from once. First time I ever sent cash in the mail to HK so I wasn't sure if it would arrive or that the kit would make the trip back. Turned out to be a successful venture.
Ebay's hiding stuff again. They removed the search link from the upper tier and it's now only available in it's own little window further down the page. You have to put something in that box and click search. You then will be on the search page; click "advanced search" (it doesn't even look hyperlinked) and you should see the "seller" hyperlink. Thanks ebay, nice move!
Yes, this is getting confusing. I'd like to examine a Chinese and original Matchbox side by side. Revell AG was supposed to not be able to use the Matchbox name after 2000 although they still own the molds. I would assume they still have possession of the artwork. Either they came to a new agreement with the owners of Matchbox's intellectual property or they are getting the Chinese to produce the kits and packaging and exporting from there. You know how difficult it is to sue Chinese bootleggers and the only bootlegging in this instance would be the packaging . IIRC anything coming into the US has to have the country and date of manufacture on the package. Does this hold true for the European community? tia,
i looked at the chinkie ones last night, i have a lot and many many more orig ones and the box, inst etc have a lot of chinease writing, they also come with those tiny naff tubes of glue. The Churchil still has 1982 printed on it, but Made in XXXXXX wiped off, which IIRC Revell did too.
artwork seems to match too and decal options also.
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