Matchbox (brand) - Model Kits

Model Kits

Although Matchbox is best known for its die-cast cars, around 1972 it bought the AMT Corporation, the dominant American plastic model kit manufacturer, and set up its own plastic kit division in the UK. Concentrating on 1:72 scale military aircraft and 1:76 military vehicles, it competed with the then-dominant Airfix company. The Matchbox kits had a distinctive appearance, the parts in each kit were produced in two or three colours compared to the single colour plastic of Airfix. The boxes were also more colourful and included clear windows so the contents could be seen. In addition, unlike Airfix's military vehicle kits, the Matchbox military vehicle kits all came with a small diorama base. Matchbox also continued AMT's extensive line of 1:25 scale cars and trucks. Other kit ranges included 1:32 and 1:48 aircraft, 1:700 ships, 1:32 cars, 1:12 motorcycles, and the still well-known 1:72 Flower class corvette. The Matchbox kits were well made, with modern tooling and techniques, but critics felt that the kits were too coarsely detailed in comparison with other models on the market, and too "toy-like". Yet they were still just as complex and time consuming to construct as any other kit, which limited their appeal to more casual model builders. The company was unable to fully satisfy either the casual or serious model building market, and was one of the first companies to abandon model kits when the hobby started its decline, selling AMT to the Ertl Company and shutting down its own kit division less than twenty years after starting it.

While the Matchbox-branded kits were not a success, the same was not true of the AMT line. By the 1970s AMT had 20 years' experience tooling car kits, and the only difference European ownership made was a somewhat broader selection of subject matter than had been seen from them before or since. Original Matchbox model kits are highly collectable.

The Matchbox model kit molds were acquired by Revell Germany in the early 1990s, which continues to sporadically re-issue the old Matchbox kits, now under the Revell label. Recently, a number of the most desirable Matchbox kits have made re-appearances, to the delight of modelers: In 1:72nd scale, The H.P. Victor, the Supermarine Walrus, Handley-Page Halifax and PB4Y Privateer, and in 1:48th Scale the A1-E four-seat Skyraider. Many modelers are also looking forward to a re-release of the Mk II/Mk VI Hawker Tempest, the English Electric Canberra, RR Spey Phantom. Revell has confirmed that it will be re-releasing the much sought after 1:32nd Scale Spitfire Mk. 22 with Griffon, and the 1:32nd Scale De Havilland Venom.

It is reported that pirated copies of Matchbox kits, particularly the military vehicles series, appeared in China in the mid-2000s. However, they were not pirated. Shanghai Universal Plastic Toys Company (SUPT) has produced them based on its original British kits under the licence from Universal since its establishment in early 1990s. The kits usually have modified areas to accommodate recasting of the words "Made in China", but you may see illegible "Made in England" underneath sometime. The phrase "Lesney Products & PLC" and its original copyright year are usually kept unchanged. These China made PK series were sold mostly in mainland China and Japan. There were typos on some of these China made plastic kits packages especially with Chinese or Japanese languages on cover, however, they were really produced by SUPT and were factory made mistakes. The SUPT left a large stock of Matchbox Motor City series before it renamed as Yuan Jie Company (元杰). Mattel came out a contract with SUPT, which prohibits the latter party to sell those undestroyed stocks.