Revelling Over Aircraft

In the early 1940s, California entrepreneur, Lou Glaser, founded an injection molding company, Precision Specialties, that performed contract work for other manufacturers. Glaser realized that Revell should be selling children’s toys, specifically plastic model kits. The first Revell-made mold was the 1953 USS Missouri. The first three aircraft kits followed quickly. The F-94C, F7U-1 and F9F-6 were molded without landing gear and with minimal panel lines and rivet details. Decals were included and the stands were simple, small and molded in the color of the aircraft.

Revell quickly released more kits and went to a two-piece cardboard box with a lithographed “slick” artwork on the top. From 1955-59 the “S” logo was used. These kits have a yellow “S” in a red oval on the box ends to advertise the use of “Revell S Cement”.  The first three aircraft molds were modified to show increased rivet detail and were given landing gear. More kits were released as plastic models caught on, including the B-29, B-36, B-47, F-84, DC-7 and more. All aircraft came with the famous “Globe Base” transparent relief world map for desktop display. The “S” kits were perhaps the most extensive line of models available. Airplanes, pleasure boats, cars, trucks, tanks, guns, military ships, ocean liners, animals and more filled the catalogs.

Plastic Headquarters

Bakelite (pronounced bake-a-lite) is another name for phenolic resin, developed by the Belgian-American chemist Dr. Leo Baekeland in Yonkers, NY, in 1907. It was the first plastic made from synthetic components, making it revolutionary for its electrical nonconductivity and heat-resistant properties in electrical insulators, radio and telephone casings and such diverse products as pipe stems, children's toys, and firearms, as well as a popular alternative to everyone's silver kitchenware. It was also seen as an inexpensive alternative to high-end jewelry materials. Some bracelets can be quite beautiful due to the penetration of light and Bakelite's transparency. The resin can be molded quickly, is smooth, retains its shape, and is resistant to heat, scratches, and destructive solvents. It is not flexible, however.

Bakelite Corporation faced serious competition from other companies after its patent expired in 1927. The term Bakelite is sometimes used in the resale market to indicate various types of early plastics, including Catalin, Plaskon, Beetle, or Faturan, which may also be brightly colored material. Since its glory days through the 1940s, Bakelite jewelry and radios have become popular collectible items. New reproductions can resemble Bakelite, however.

A Beetle Not Made By Volkswagen

American Cyanamid Company began as a fertilizer company in 1907 by Frank Washburn, a Cornell-educated civil engineer. The company's name is derived from the fertilizer chemical calcium cyanamide. When William Bell became president of American Cyanamid in 1922, he was pushing the need to diversify. Among many other common products, American Cyanamid eventually made products as diverse as Pine Sol cleaner, Old Spice cologne and after-shave lotion, and Breck shampoo. American Cyanamid merged with American Home Products in 1994.

One of Cyanamid's trademarks was plastic kitchenware, a popular product in the 1950s and 1960s. Called Melmac—not to be confused with the home planet of ALF, the furry alien from the television sitcom—it was a hard plastic dinnerware made with melamine and formaldehyde, known for its durability and vibrant colors. They also produced and trademarked "Beetle," a urea formaldehyde resin. The urea formaldehyde powder had technically originated around 1925 in Great Britain, referred to as Beetleware and noted for its colorful speckled dishware. An Ohio businessman, traveling in England, convinced American Cyanamid to start the licensing and import the formula to the United States. Beetle plastics, thinner than the later Melmac, were a subset of Plaskon Plastics where their products often overlapped. First marketed in 1928, Beetle was popular for its pastel colors and versatility into tableware, dishes, handles, ornaments, and onyx (mottled or marbled) radio cabinets.

Note: All of the resin-molded plastics used during the first half of the twentieth century were simply tradenames from different manufacturers. Catalin was another. The Bakelite Corporation had popular products of its own and was considered the most durable. Similar to Catalin, Bakelite plastic was also used in radio cabinets (in shades from reddish-brown to black), clocks, jewelry, and the classic black telephone case. The advertisement above is from 1945.