Model rr manufacturers A

A. C. Gilbert Company

The A. C. Gilbert Company was an American toy company, once one of the largest toy companies in the world. It is best known for introducing the Erector Set (a construction toy similar to Meccano in the rest of the world) to the marketplace.

Gilbert was founded in 1909 in Westville, Connecticut, originally as a company providing supplies for magic shows (Alfred Carlton Gilbert was a magician). Gilbert invented Erector in 1911, inspired by railroad girders, and the construction toy was introduced two years later.

In 1929, Gilbert bought the US company producing Meccano, which had been set up in 1913 by the British parent, and continued production as "American Meccano" until 1938.

By 1935, Gilbert was also producing microscopes.

In 1938, Gilbert purchased American Flyer, a struggling manufacturer of toy trains. Gilbert re-designed the entire product line, producing 1:64 scale trains running on O gauge track. Although these are sometimes referred to as S scale or S gauge trains, they are technically O27. At the same time, Gilbert introduced a line of HO scale trains, which were primarily marketed under the brand name Gilbert HO. Gilbert was the largest employer in New Haven from the early 1930s to the late 1950s, employing more than 5000 in three shifts at its Sound Street Manufacturing facility. In the late 1930s, the company expanded to produce home house products and small appliances including, mixers, milk shake machines, toasters, stoves and ovens, and washers.

By 1942, Gilbert was producing equipment for military aircraft for use in World War II.

Gilbert introduced S gauge model railroads in 1946, mostly in response to the shortcomings of O scale utilized by Lionel and Marx. These newer American Flyer trains were smaller and proportioned more realistically than either the pre-war American Flyer trains or its post-war competition. Although these new trains were popular, Lionel outsold American Flyer nearly 2 to 1.

From 1922, A. C. Gilbert made chemistry sets in various sizes as well as similar sets for the budding scientist, adding investigations into radioactivity in the 1950s with a kit featuring a Geiger counter. A. C. Gilbert began making microscope kits in 1934. A line of inexpensive reflector telescopes followed the Sputnik-inspired science craze in the late 1950s.

Gilbert struggled somewhat after the death of its founder in 1961. Gilbert's family sold out its shares, and the company was never profitable under its new ownership. In 1965, A. C. Gilbert produced James Bond movie tie-in figures and a slot car road race set featuring Bond's Aston Martin DB5. By 1967, Gilbert was out of business. Erector was sold to Gabriel Industries and moved production from Erector Square in New Haven, Connecticut, to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. American Flyer was sold to Lionel.

Although A. C. Gilbert has not existed as a company for several decades, Gabriel continued to use the brand name on its Erector Set and microscope products, a practice that subsequent owners of the Erector brand have continued. Current Erector toys have the words "The construction toy from A. C. Gilbert" on their packaging. Lionel also uses the brand name on its American Flyer products, along with the old Gilbert catchphrase, "Developed at the Gilbert Hall of Science", on its product packaging.

A collection of Gilbert trains, Erector sets and objects built from them, chemistry sets, etc. is displayed in the Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden, Connecticut. The factory building now provides space for artists and others in the Erector Square complex. Another display of vintage Gilbert toys is located at A. C. Gilbert's Discovery Village in Salem, Oregon.

A 1940s Gilbert chemistry set.

AR Kits

AR Kits is an Australian model railway business which produces quality Australian-outline kits. The business commenced operation in November 1979 under the control of Arthur Robinson. A friend designed the logo which still exists to-day and the business was named AR Kits referring to Australian Railway Kits. Both the logo and Australian Railway Kits are registered trademarks.

History

Arthur's dream of having a long rake (train) of (only) BCH coal hoppers was the driving force behind the formation of the business. Tooling for the BCH kit began shortly after, but problems delayed its introduction. So much so that the first kits to appear on the market were the NSWGR (New South Wales Government Railways) GLX/GLV louvre vans. Advertising for these kits first appeared in issue 109 of Australian Model Railway Magazine (AMRM), July/August 1981. A review by Mr Bob Gallagher is recorded in the September/October issue. The modelling fraternity were informed in AMRM issue 114 May/June 1982 of the imminent release of the NSWGR BCH and the projected release of the BWH variant. The model was eventually reviewed in issue 116 of AMRM. By the end of 1983 the proposed BWH was still not available.

Arthur was finding it difficult to manage both his fledgling business and permanent employment which resulted in the sale of the business to Rodney and Cheryl James of Rails North Models. Advertising on page 60 of AMRM issue 118 confirmed the sale and the business was relocated to Grafton in northern New South Wales. Consolidation of AR Kits continued and in the September/October AMRM came news of the next models to be released, these being the NSWGR BDX and CCX set down for October, plus the long-awaited BWH and MLE. A preview of the BDX and CCX appeared in the March/April 1985 issue of AMRM with a review taking place in the following issue. Things were starting to move and in the July/August issue of AMRM the MLE wagon was reviewed. Then came the eventual review of the BWH/FWH wheat hopper albeit a bit late and in the middle of a manufacturing rush. The review took place in September 1985 and with it came the news that AR Kits was about to release a WHX Wheat Hopper and CH Coal Hopper. The following month saw the review of these hoppers along with the first high-quality, injection moulded delrin bogies for the Australian market. The 2CL (XCL) and 2CF (XFA) freight bogies were to be the bench mark for Australian manufactured bogies for years to come. Fitted with high quality brass wheels they gave running qualities previously only seen in overseas manufactured products.

AR Kits have incorporated some of the lines from Main West Models and introduced all of those items formerly owned by L&C Kits, The Footplate Models range of DJH Locomotive Kits, LMR Locomotive, railmotor and rollingstock kits and the Flushglaze range of model loco and carriage window inserts produced by South East Finecast exclusively for AR Kits.

AR Kits bought Lloyd's Model Railways, and its models are progressively being brought back into the AR Kits range.

AR Kits is currently up for sale, and the names "Footplate Models", "Flushglaze", and "LMR" will be eliminated, and will become either Main West Models or AR Kits..

Find Gauge O Figures with this link: o-0-scale-figures_2992387.html

Arnold (models)

Founded in 1906 by Karl Arnold in Nürnberg, K. Arnold & Co. began its life producing tin toys and related items. They produced an extensive line of model ships, doll house items and other toys. In 1935, K. Arnold & Co. hired Max Ernst as their managing director. Ernst, not to be confused with the German realist artist of the same name, was a significant factor in the future of Arnold.

History

Nürnberg was badly damaged by allied bombers during World War II, and, at the end of the war, all of the Arnold facilities were in ruins. Postwar production continued at a facility in the Upper Palatinate (Oberpfalz), with the company beginning its slow recovery with the manufacture of window hardware. The postwar operation of the company was under the direction of Max Ernst and Ernst Arnold, son of Karl Arnold. The factory buildings in Nürnberg were rebuilt and the Arnold Company continued to grow.

In the postwar period, smaller model train sizes became the order of the day. In earlier times, model trains had been largely the plaything of the well to do who had enough money to live in houses large enough to support the display of the larger scales of model trains. The growth toward smaller scales had begun in the early 1900s, with O scale being the first “small” scale. In the 1930s, HO/00 scale became the “small” scale. In the late 1940s and 1950s, TT scale was the “small” scale, allowing for realistic model railroad displays being situated in relatively small areas. Three companies led the TT revolution, H.P. Products of Indiana, USA, Tri-ang of the United Kingdom and Rokal of West Germany.

But TT-Scale was not to be the smallest scale in model railroading. Led initially by Lone Star Toys of Great Britain and Trix of Nürnberg, there was a movement toward an even smaller scale. Both companies experimented earlier with “floor toys”, unpowered model trains designed to be moved about by child power. Lone Star dropped by the wayside after a period of time, but Trix continued experimentation and development of what would be their electric powered Minitrix product line. Arnold was to come up with a workable solution, also. The introduction of Arnold rapido was from scratch because nothing like this had been done before. Arnold was literally establishing what would become N scale. This is not to say that it was the sole developer of N, but Arnold Rapido was there first.

Although Karl Arnold’s son, Ernst, was involved with the company, several sources cite the presence of Max Ernst (who remained as Managing Director for over forty years until 1976), as the prime mover behind this new product line. Ernst has been described as a dynamic businessman, the person most responsible for the introduction of the Arnold Rapido product line. Karl Arnold passed on in October, 1946, leaving his son and Herr Ernst as principals in the Company. Much later, an Arnold Sales Manager, Ferdinand Graef, would marry Max Ernst’s daughter, Sonja, keeping the Arnold company as a family operation. It would continue to be so until 1995.

Production phases

There are several distinct phases of Arnold’s model train production. In the period of 1960 - 1962, Arnold marketed the Arnold Rapido 200 product line; this line was very crude yet it also was a sensation because of its much smaller size than TT.

The next phase was from 1963–1967, when the rapido product line begins to swing toward scale representations of the trains. It is during this period that the “Rapido Coupler” comes into production, beginning its widespread use by all model train manufacturers in N-Scale. It was in 1964 that the term “N-Scale” came into use. Between 1968 and 1970, rapido line of trains reached maturity, notably with its turntable and roundhouse. Arnold entered into a business relationship with the U.S. company Revell around 1968, beginning the marketing of Revell Rapido model trains. This relationship was marked by the beginning of production of North America more accurate North American prototype models by Arnold. This relationship continued for several years, ending in the late 1960's or early 1970's. Arnold continued their expanded production, with new models until the early 1990s.

Transfer of assets

On Max Ernst's 1976 retirement, Arnold employed perhaps 200 to 250 people, using three facilities in the Nürnberg area. The Company continued under family control until 1995, when Arnold went into bankruptcy and was sold to the Rivarossi Group of Italy. Rivarossi, in turn, also went bankrupt, leading to the sale of all assets to Hornby of the United Kingdom. Production is carried out in China.

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Athearn

Athearn is a United States manufacturer of model railroad equipment, produced and distributed by American hobby manufacturer Horizon Hobby, Inc. of Champaign, Illinois, USA.

History

The company's history began in 1938, when its founder-to-be, Irvin Athearn, started an elaborate O scale layout in his mother's house. After placing an ad selling the layout, and receiving much response to it, Irv decided that selling model railroads would be a good living. He sold train products out of his mother's house through most of the 1940s. After becoming a full-time retailer in 1946, Irv opened a separate facility in Hawthorne, California in 1948, and that same year he branched into HO scale models for the first time.

Athearn acquired the Globe Models product line and improved upon it, introducing a comprehensive array of locomotive, passenger and freight car models. Improvements included all-wheel drive and electrical contact. One innovation was the "Hi-F" drive mechanism, employing small rubber bands to transfer motion from the motor spindle to the wheels. Another was the double-ended ring magnet motor, which permitted easy connection to all wheel drive assemblies. Athearn was also able to incorporate flywheels into double-ended drives.

The company produced a model of the Boston & Maine P4 class Pacific steam locomotive which incorporated a cast zinc alloy base and thermoplastic resin superstructure. It had a worm drive and all power pickup was through the bipolar trucks that carried the tender. This item was discontinued after the Wilson motor was no longer available, and was not redesigned for a more technologically advanced motor.

Athearn's car fleet included shorter-than-scale interpretations of passenger cars of Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad prototypes. The company also offered a variety of scale-length freight cars with sprung and equalized trucks. The cars could be obtained in simple kit form, or ready-to-run in windowed display boxes.

The comprehensive scope of the product line contributed to the popularity of HO as a model railroad scale, due to the ready availability of items and their low cost.

Irv Athearn died in 1991. New owners took control in 1994, but continued to follow Athearn's commitment to high-quality products at reasonable prices.

Athearn was bought in 2004 by Horizon Hobby. Athearn was then moved from its facility in Compton to a new facility in Carson, California.

In mid-2009, all remaining US production was moved to China and warehousing moved to parent Horizon Hobby. Sales and product development was relocated to a smaller facility in Long Beach, California.

October 16, 2009; Athearn announced the discontinuation of all Blue Box Kits, due to issues keeping the prices competitive caused by increased manufacturing and labor costs.

"Effective immediately, we here at Athearn have made the difficult decision to discontinue the production of our Blue Box line of kits. There were several factors that contributed to this extremely challenging decision however, the primary issue revolved around affordability and ensuring that our Blue Box kit pricing remain aligned with what the market can bear. Unfortunately, due to increased manufacturing and labor costs it has been determined that we are no longer able to continue offering kits at competitive price points as compared to our already assembled products." ~~Excerpt from an email from Athearn.

Atlas Model Railroad

Atlas Model Railroad Company, Inc. makes scale models in N scale, HO scale, and O scale. The company is based in Hillside, New Jersey USA. They produce a wide variety of locomotives, rolling stock, and vehicles. Atlas is well known for their flex track and codes 55, 80, 83 and 100 track. Atlas also makes compatible structures and bridges.

History

In 1924 Stephan Schaffan Sr. founded the Atlas Tool Company in Newark, NJ. In 1933 his son, Stephan Schaffan Jr., came to work for his father at the age of sixteen. Steve Jr. built model airplanes as a hobby and frequented a local hobby shop. Being an enterprising young man, he would often ask the owner if there was anything he could do to earn some extra spending money. Tired of listening to his requests, the hobby-store owner threw some model railroad track parts his way and said, "Here, see if you can improve on this".

In those days, railroad modelers had to assemble and build everything from scratch. Steve Jr. created a "switch kit" which sold so well, that the entire family worked on them in the basement at night, while doing business as usual in the machine shop during the day.

Subsequently, Steve Jr. engineered the stapling of rail to fiber track, along with inventing the first practical rail joiner and pre-assembled turnouts and flexible track. All of these products, and more, helped to popularize model railroading and assisted in the creation of a mass-market hobby. The budding entrepreneur quickly outgrew the limitations of a basement and small garage operation. Realizing they could actually make a living selling track and related products, Steve and his father had the first factory built in Hillside, New Jersey at 413 Florence Avenue in 1947. On September 30, 1949, Atlas Tool Company Inc. was officially incorporated as a New Jersey company.

An EMD GP9 made by Atlas on the South Hampton Roads Ntrak.

CSX 2112 (an EMD GP38 built by Atlas) awaits to switch a grain silo in a rural Virginia town.

Airfix

Airfix is a UK manufacturer of plastic scale model kits of aircraft and other subjects. In Britain, the name Airfix is synonymous with the hobby, a plastic model of this type is often simply referred to as "an airfix kit" even if made by another manufacturer.

Founded in 1939, Airfix was owned by Humbrol from 1986 until Humbrol's financial collapse on 31 August 2006. As of 2007, Airfix is currently owned by Hornby.

Model railways

In 1962 Airfix bought from Rosebud Kitmaster Ltd, their moulds and stock for the Kitmaster railway range. The models were adapted to be compatible with Airfix's rolling stock models produced from 1960 which went with Airfix's trackside accessories of a few years earlier. Only ten of the Kitmaster locomotives were released under Airfix.

From 1975 to 1981, Airfix also manufactured a line of ready-to-run (i.e. non-kit) model railway stock in OO gauge (1/76.2 scale). These models were based on British prototypes and at the time of introduction, they represented a significant improvement in detailing and prototype accuracy compared to British outline model railway stock from other British ready-to-run manufacturers such as Hornby. The product range expanded fairly rapidly in the first few years. A model of a Great Western Railway (GWR) 0-4-2 autotank steam locomotive and GWR autocoach are amongst some of the many memorable and important product releases. Airfix also offered an analogue electronics-based multiple train control system (MTC) allowing independent control of multiple locomotives on the same track. Airfix produced a large number of plastic kits for both railway stock and scenic items. Some of these such as the footbridge and engine shed became instantly recognizable to almost every railway modeller in the UK.

The brand label was changed to Great Model Railways (GMR) in 1979, although the Airfix name was still included. However, Airfix left the model railway business in 1981. The models were sold to one of its main competitors Palitoy who produced the Mainline range of products. The former Airfix moulds together with the Palitoy designed 2P 4-4-0 and Class 56 diesel were later re-sold to Dapol Ltd and then subsequently to Hornby. Dapol provided new chassis for the 14xx and Castle. The remainder of the Mainline Railways had been produced for Palitoy by Kader Industries and ownership of those tools remained with Kader, being later used to form the basis of the Bachmann Branchline models. Dapol continues to produce (but not promote) most of the kits but as the moulds (some now over forty years old) wear out the kits are being discontinued. Hornby continues to make 4mm/ft scale models from the Airfix mouldings.

A monthly magazine, Model Trains, was published by Airfix from January 1980. The magazine included especially good articles aimed at newcomers to the hobby and also included many articles about modelling US and Continental European railways, as well British prototype railways. The publication of Model Trains continued for some years after Airfix ceased ownership in 1981. A change in the editorial team saw the original Model Trains editorial staff launch a new title as Scale Trains, in April 1982. A slight name change followed in April 1984, as Scale Model Trains following the final issue of Model Trains in December 1983. Scale Model Trains ran till June 1995, when a new publisher was found and the magazine was relaunched in 1995 as Model Trains International, the November/December issue being issue number 1. As of 2007, it continues to be published bi-monthly.

Diorama sets

HO/OO scale World War II scenes including the "Battlefront History" series. Also the "Rampaging Scorpion" and "Colossal Mantis" science fiction dioramas. A new series of Airfield Sets has recently been released, with Aircraft, Military Vehicles and Figures included in the box. Airfix also produce a range of Military Vehicles such as the RAF Refuelling Set to be used with Structures like the Airfield Control Tower.

Figures

1:76, 1:72 and 1:32 scales. Sets of mostly military figures (approximately 14 to 30 per box for 1:32, 30 to 50 per box for 1:72), of subjects such as World War I, World War II and Modern Infantry, Waterloo, Arab Tribesmen, etc. These are made in polythene, a soft durable plastic. Some vehicles of simpler casting and detail than their polystyrene equivalents and buildings were also available and included in larger play sets, e.g., the Coastal Defence Assault Set which included polythene tanks and infantry for either side plus a polystyrene Coastal Defence Fort kit. Collectors of vintage toy soldiers have reported brittling and disintegration of Airfix 1/76 scale plastic figures, though not as an age related effect

Multipose Figures

1:32 scale. A small range of World War II figures in polystyrene that could be assembled in different poses.

Collector Series

54 mm. These were plastic kits of single figures, mostly from the Battle of Waterloo, American Civil War, and English Civil War. Some kits have a rider, e.g., George Washington and Charles I, on a horse.

Historical Figures

1:12 scale. Famous figures from history, mostly from the England, e.g., Elizabeth I, Anne Boleyn, Edward, the Black Prince, Henry VIII,[14] Julius Caesar, and Oliver Cromwell. Also produced were a Bengal Lancer, a showjumper with horse (rumoured to have been based on the young Princess Anne), a 1:6 scale human skeleton, and a James Bond and Oddjob paired kit.