COLD WAR WARRIOR REVAMPED: RENWAL LACROSSE MISSILE WITH LAUNCHER TO 1:32 SCALE

REVELL-MONOGRAM CONTINUES TO DIVE into the tooling bin of the original Renwal company, retrieving and releasing kits more or less as they were, ‘way back when.’

INCOMING - 1:32 SCALE RENWAL M-50 ONTOS RECOILLESS RIFLE AFV FROM REVELL

REVELL ACQUIRED THE RENWAL name and most of its tooling in 1976. A number of kits have been re-released, the latest being the M-50 Ontos, which uses the original Renwal logo, box-style, and Blueprint Models series title.

GORGEOUS RETRO BOX ART FOR THE RENWAL TWIN-FORTY SELF-PROPELLED ANTI-AIRCRAFT CANNON

WE ARE GREAT FANS OF OLD KITS AND retro-style box art at SMN, so news that Revell is re-releasing the old Renwal M42 Twin Forty AFV is very interesting indeed.

RENWAL CLASSIC 'VISIBLE MAN' KIT: INVISIBLE SECRETS REVEALED

The Renwal Visible Man is one of the best-known model kits ever made. Here are details of how it came to be, as told by Adam Rosenbloom, grandson of the Visible Man’s inventor, Irving Rosenbloom.

2012 PRODUCTS REVEALED - INCOMING KITS FROM REVELL-MONOGRAM

From Mat Irvine:

Here’s a look at Revell-Monogram kits for release in 2012. I’ve previously  mentioned the recreated Renwal Blueprint series, with the futuristic Teracruzer and Mace missile, but there’s much more coming down the line.

RENWAL TERACRUZER WITH MACE MISSILE - UPDATE

SMN report:

Reference last week’s mention of the upcoming Revell-Renwal Teracruzer and Mace reissue, Mat Irvine has kindly supplied these pictures of an assembled model. We’ve also shown the original box, so you can see the minor differences between the then-and-now kits. 

RENWAL’S LARGEST MILITARY KIT - THE US ARMY M65 ATOMIC CANNON

Mat Irvine: Revell has owned most of the old Renwal company’s moulds for decades - actually, since 1976 - and has reissued many of those kits. So far, these have been released in Revell boxes, but now, thanks to Product Manager Ed Sexton, the original distinctive Renwal box-art has been reintroduced, including the Renwal brand name.

COLD WAR WARRIOR RETURNS - MACE MISSILE FROM RENWAL

SMN report:

Mat Irvine spotted the next Revell reissue of a classic Renwal military kit when he was at the iHobby Expo  recently. It will be the futuristic Teracruzer and Mace missile set, and as you will read in Mat’s article later today, there’s been a sea-change at Revell where packaging is concerned.

MISSILE KITS FEATURING THE COLD WAR CORPORAL MISSILE

Mat Irvine reports
From around 1955, one of the mainstays of the US Army’s military might in Europe was the surface-to-surface Corporal ballistic missile, the first such to carry a nuclear warhead. The 139 km (86 mile) range Corporal looked sleek and functional, but in reality was very unreliable and took a large number of personnel to ready it for launch. But the Corporal did prove an ideal subject for the early Revell company’s growing range of space and missile kits, and it now stars as another of Revell-Germany’s Classic Kit range reissues.

Uniquely, Revell issued the kit in two forms, one of which consisted of the missile and launcher, with three crew and a stand-alone tracking station; it’s this kit that Revell-Germany has reissued, using the original box-art as a centrepiece, with the ‘Classic Kits’ medallion added.

These types of kit had to have ‘working parts’, so the launcher’s support arms were designed to be foldable, the transporting road wheels can be unsnapped, and support pads placed. So, position the missile for launching (or glue if you want to avoid the danger of it falling over!), add the unrealistic number of crew (three is something of an underestimate - Corporals needed about 250!), and you have a classic icon of the Cold War.

But as noted, the Corporal was issued in two forms. The other kit came with the still-futuristic looking Transporter-Erector, as well as the missile and launch pad, and this kit has been reissued separately by Revell-Monogram.

This is a pure reissue, as R-M has not put it in the SSP range, (which still exists, though much reduced), with a built model on the box. This is only the third outing for this kit - the original from 1959, the History Makers Series II in 1983, and now this one in 2010. The Transporter-Erector has even more ‘working features’- from the clamps that hold the missile in place, to the gearing that moves it through 90 degrees for placement on the launch pad. The pad itself can be hitched up behind the main vehicle.

As an intriguing aside, both kits are to the original scale intended for military vehicles, 1:40, as used by Revell at that time, and others such as Adams. The only real alternative then was 1:32, which was used by Renwal. The now common 1:35 scale for AFVs had yet to appear - though when it did, it wasn’t from a Japanese manufacture, as I suspect is usually assumed. In fact, it was almost certainly first used by Monogram. However, this now almost universal use of 1:35 led to an incorrect scale being put on the Revell-Germany box, which states 1:35, not 1:40.

The pictures show, top to bottom:
1  Three Transporter-Erector kits, with the original (and best-looking) box at right.
2  A selection of parts from the reissues, laid out side by side. Note the different shades used for components.
3  Revell-Germany’s Corporal, ready for flight.
4  Revell-Monogram’s Transporter-Erector builds into an impressive piece of hardware.
5  The R-M Transporter-Erector with Corporal awaiting a launch decision.

SHADES OF RENWAL’S VISIBLE MAN - CLEAR PARTS LET YOU LOOK INTO THE SOUL OF YOUR MODEL

Decades ago, the US Renwal company came up with the bright idea of making a transparent model that revealed the insides of its subject, a 3D version of the traditional cutaway book illustration. The Renwal Visible Man was a big success, and was soon joined by the Visible Woman (though without private parts to allow her to give birth), the Visible Engine, and others that included even a Visible Dog.

Apart from these early stalwarts, transparency has been largely ignored by manufacturers over the years, but the magic of ‘seeing inside’ is still there, and the latest convert to the idea is Trumpeter. Its big 1:32 scale Fairey Swordfish is absolutely a gem in this department, with a transparent port fuselage section that allows you to gaze inside the ‘stringbag’s portly form. You can mask off parts for painting, to reveal more or less of the interior, as you wish.

The recently introduced MkII Swordfish joins the already available MkI, and is packed with detail, has a wingspan of some 433 mm (17 in) and has a box stuffed with no less than 373 components. Wire bracing on biplanes has become a near-standard fixture on ready-built models such as those of Corgi, but here on Trumpeter’s Swordfish, you get to do it yourself with a supplied wire bracing set. Never the easiest of jobs, at least the big 1:32 scale helps, though this reviewer will pass on the job to a more nimble-fingered craftsman.

All in all, a fine addition to the ranks of see-inside models, and an excellent kit of a World War II classic aircraft.

Visit Trumpeter here.

You can buy the Trumpeter 1:32 scale Swordfish MkI here.

MAT’S US DIARY: NIKE PARK

One of the most exciting series of models in the 1960s were those from Renwal. These were large-scale kits of exotic US ships, subs and tanks, including the then largest model kit made, the almost three-foot long Atomic Cannon.

Some of Renwal’s kits were re-boxed for the UK market by Frog, under the ‘Frog-Deluxe’ name, with virtually everything being the same except for the change of logo. Amongst the military kits was the Nike Ajax, one of the first anti-aircraft missiles to be built, and named after the Greek goddess of victory.

By today’s standards the missile was extremely primitive, but then it was the ultimate in technology and many American cities were ringed with Nike Ajax missile batteries. Chicago was no exception, and a number of outlying areas had Nike batteries. But technologies change and the large fixed sites were displaced with smaller, more mobile options. The sites then became abandoned and overgrown - eventually, many would find an industrial park or a shopping mall built over the top.

But some remnants are still around, and there is one near where I’m staying, in the town of Addison. The original site is now a municipal park, called, um, appropriately Nike Park, and this one at least has of its two original features still standing - more or less - the radar platform and the original control building. The former is really ‘just there’ now, not fulfilling any function at all, except probably as a nesting place for birds, but the latter has been updated and likely contains power control systems for modern needs, such as lighting for the baseball field.

Nothing of the original Nike missile batteries themselves survives, but just get a few of those original kits (and they were reissued by Revell in its ‘History Makers’ series) and you can recreate what was - for a short time at least - the ultimate sophistication of Cold War anti-missile defence!

Mat Irvine

The pictures show the Renwal Nike Ajax kit box (top). It included details of how to join several kits together, so you could build your own missile battery, perhaps to protect the front room...

Mat poses by a Nike Park sign (middle), now in a somewhat flattened state.

The radar platform, with steel panelling round the spiral stairs, to stop anyone who wants a higher view.

MAT’S US DIARY: KANE COUNTY TOY FAIR

Kane County sits west of the Chicago metropolis and hosts the twice-a-year Toy Fair at its fairground, something (a fairground, that is) that no self-respecting American town can do without. I was last there in October 2008, but new buildings have sprung up since, meaning that a lot of what used to be held in, frankly, the animal sheds, could be moved inside. But two such sheds remain in use. They are otherwise reserved for ‘Cattle’ and ‘Swine’ (‘Rabbits’ was not in operation this year!). Apparently Kane County’s Toy Fair used to be a lot larger than it is now – but it’s still pretty big.

The Toy Fair does more or less what it says on the tin. It’s a fair for the selling of toys - plus models, dolls and other collectibles - and stall after stall has a wide variety of bits and pieces that are likely to be junk to most people, but maybe a treasure to others. We all set off - me and my other half Georgy, Dean Milano and wife Gay, and were joined by Gay’s daughter Kim and her elder son, Jack, all of seven years old.

It didn’t look exactly promising as the forecast was for a downpour, and with rain threatening when we arrived, by the time we got under cover, it was coming down like stair-rods – but that meant all the more time for browsing!

You never know what you might find at these sorts of fairs – plus not being ‘from around these parts’ they are mostly going to be different from the sort of finds at a British equivalent. So you wander from stall to stall, peering at stuff that may be hidden under other stuff, or tucked away under the table. Then you bargain. Using the Middle Eastern principle that the price marked is only a rough indicator and should never be taken at face value, the first question should always be, “What’s your best offer on this?”, followed by the sort of look that indicates that it had better be a ‘good offer’. Actually, most are just that. Invariably when I’d seen something at $25, and having asked the question and expecting $20, and $18 came back (as it did on one occasion)... well, it would be churlish to turn it down! So by the end of the day - and by now with the Sun out - a few more items had been added to the Mat Irvine Collection.

The pics show (top) a kit I’d never seen before, at least in this box – the original Renwal kit of the Mercedes 300 Gullwing in 1:12 scale. Gay found me an astronaut (middle), though I didn’t take her up on the offer! Georgy (bottom) gazes at just one stall’s wares.