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AURORA AFV KITS : BOXARTS VARIATIONS & OTHER DETAILS |
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BOXARTS |
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Early « comic book » style boxart . « famous fighters »Series in an oval logo . This logo was used up to 1963. |
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Boxart signed by John Steel (lower left) . This illustrator also worked for Revell where he was the naval expert. Boxart used from 1963 to 1970. |
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Boxart used from 1970 to 1973 . The illustration is either the earlier John Steel art touched up to fit into the square format or a new art « in the style of John Steel » by an unidentified illustrator. These boxes were introduced at the suggestion of Charles Diker, the then-newly appointed Aurora boss. He wanted something that would stand out and unify the line . To justify the over-sized boxes , vac bases were introduced. These editions of the kits also featured alternative decals researched by noted armor historian Bruce Culver. |
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Illustration from the 1973 catalogue . It should not even appeared as it is obviously intended for the long box format. By that time square boxes were the order of the day. |
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For the « Photascope » issue a sticker was just added on the square box. Two models were given the Photascope treatment : the King Tiger and the Stalin. |
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Extract from the Photascope instructions : the idea is to put a slide photography of a real tank interior ivisible through a hatch!!! |
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Exemple of vac bases included with a square boxes. Only the 155mm gun was intended to have its « specific » base with holes to dig the spades in. The others subjects had to do with « generic » bases. |
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In 1976 were introduced « white » boxes à la Tamiya. Apparemently the kit thus boxed were only available in UK and USA. |
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Here is a sample « white box » . Note that while the Sherman was widely promoted as being an « Israeli « sherman because this kit included this decal option, this does not appear on the box which displays prominent white stars. |
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In the European mainland this is the kind of boxart which was used. The often dull colours and the orange-red colour piping are quite distinctive if not particularly appealing. The orange-red stripe denotes the military series. |
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Monogram set including an Aurora-pedigree tank with a Monogram-pedigree aircraft. Two such sets were issued : P51B/Panther and Sherman/Fw190 . |
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FIGURES |
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All the Aurora kits include figures but quality is quite variable depending on the kit. Note how the Japanese figures are smaller than the others while the German ones tend to be bulkier. A great pity is that no attention was given to have the figures interacting with the vehicle they accompany. |
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