Plastic Model Kits
Precise Martin Marietta Sprint ABM
Plastic Model Kit
$1100
Very rare promotional model of the 'Safeguard' ABM Missile Sprint. The Sprint and Spartan pair made up the missiles of this Anti-Ballistic Missile system with Sprint designed for short range interceptions. The system was made operational on October 1 1975 and Congress voted to shut it down less than 24 hours later on October 2 1975. Condition is excellent. Missile measures 14.75 inches high and is made of plastic. The missile body is mint with no broken parts - no scratches - no wear. The decals are 'very good.' There is some black missing on the roll pattern at the top (see photo) and the same amount missing on the back base roll pattern. The red 'US ARMY' is mint on the back but part of the 'R' is missing on the front as shown. The base is 'excellent' and has a metal plate that reads 'US Army Sprint Antimissile Missile - Martin Marietta.' There are no touch ups or repairs and no cracks. Please note that shipping insurance is required.
Precise Trident SLBM - Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile
Plastic Model Kit
$325
Rare promotional item. Missile measures 10 inches high. Wooden base with no name plate. Missile paint is NM+ and decals are NM. Base is original and near mint. The missile is missing a small nozzle adjuster arm. The other three arms are present. There has been no restoration or touch up on this model. Insurance is required for shipping.
Topping Martin SM-68 Titan ICBM - Factory Model, 1/68
Plastic Model Kit
$1400
Rare factory model from about 1957 or 1958. Missile measures 18 inches high. Includes original box in excellent condition with inside packing materials. The model is mint and original. No restoration has been done and there are no flaws. The original base in in the same condition. The rocket separates into 'stages' as the actual missile did. Titan I was the first USA multi-stage Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Designed in 1955, it was originally a back-up for the Atlas program. Titan was larger than Atlas and was also seen as an early space launch vehicle. Titan was stored in hardened underground silos. The arrival of solid fuel Titan II and Minuteman I missiles in 1963 made Titan I obsolete. The follow-on, Titan II became a major workhorse in the space program and served well as a heavy lift ICBM.
Aurora Aurora ATLANTIS Merchant Raider Factory Model, 1/456
Plastic Model Kit, Box Condition: No Box
$1400
In the 1950s and early 1960s the major model manufacturers would create factory-built and painted display models. These were intended for hobby shops to help stimulate sales. These were disposable items that were produced in very low numbers, so they are very rare today. Here is one of the rarest of the rare: The 'Rattlesnake of the Ocean' Merchant Sea Raider Atlantis factory build up by Aurora. The unbuilt kit is among the most valuable and rare Aurora single kits, making the factory built display much more so. This one is in excellent original condition. The painting is 1950s professional quality as is the gluing. The glue has held up well and all parts of the ship are very solid. The ship is very clean. The original paint is almost flawless with some light scratches on the port side. The 'ATLANTIS' decals are perfect. The stack 'K' starboard decal is mint; the port one is missing 2mm of the white top on one leg of the 'K'. The factory cardboard wood-tone base is 100% intact with typical corner splits on the bends and edge wear. The removable covers display is mint with all 10 gun/hanger covers present. The kit is now 100% complete. It was missing 4 small parts which I am providing. I took them from an original Atlantis kit, so they are 100% correct. (they are the propeller, 'Y' rear crane, rear flag and rudder) Overall, this is an excellent and rare investment piece for the advanced Aurora collector. Shipping insurance required. From modeler Stephen Payne: Recommend that the builder or collector of this kit add the following books to their collection-The German Raider Atlantis by Captain Bernhard Rogge & Wolfgang Frank & Sea Raider Atlantis, Story of a German Surface Raider by Ulrich Mohr & A.V. Sellwood. The first book is by the ATLANTIS commander, Kapitan zur See Bernhard Rogge. He oversaw the transformation and outfitting in Bremen and captained the ship during her 602 day operational voyager which sank or captured 22 ships totaling 144,384 t (142,104 long tons). Rogge also was one of the few German officers of flag rank who was not arrested by the Allies after the war due to the way he had exercised his command of Atlantis. Captain J. Armstrong White, captain of the British CITY OF BAGHDAD, which Atlantis sank in July 1941, stated, "His treatment of prisoners left respect, instead of hatred."The second book is by the ATLANTIS First Officer, Ulrich Moher. Both books read much the same as the events related are the same, but it is interesting to see these events from the two perspectives. Captain White (see above) wrote the foreword to Atlantis, the Story of a German Surface Raider, written by U. Mohr & A. V. Sellwood.The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis (HSK 2), known to the Kriegsmarine as Schiff 16 (SHIP 16) and to the Royal Navy as Raider-C, was a converted merchant vessel to German Hilfskreuzer (auxiliary cruiser) used for commerce raiding. Commerce raiders did not seek to engage warships, but rather attack enemy merchant shipping; the measures of success are tonnage destroyed (or captured) and time spent "at large" holding up enemy resources. Atlantis had the longest raiding career of any German commerce raider in either world war.
Sunbeam Bristol Britannia (ex-Frog) - Soviet Military Transport, 1/96
Plastic Model Kit, Box Condition: Fair
$79
Many Frog molds made their way to the ex-Soviet Union, probably in the 1960s. Of them, this one is perhaps the most interesting. This kit represented quite a research problem, but Mark Zandy has provided information from his Soviet kit collection. The manufacture is Jaroslavl Chemical Plant "Lutch" (Jaroslavl is a town on Volga river). "Lutch" can be translated as "Ray", but "Sunbeam" is a better interpretation. Rovex sent this mold to the USSR in 1977 in an agreement between Dunbee-Combex-Marx and Novoexport, but the Bristol Britannia didn't receive the Novo kit number and this kit had been produced only for the Russian market. The price was 2 rubles, which I am told was expensive at the time. The number on the box OCT 17-296-75 refers to the number of an industrial standard for plastic toys production that was established in 1975. The box states "assembly kit of a transport plane" and it is clearly in USSR military markings. The scale is stated as 1/72, which is incorrect. Inside the box is the Frog model of the Britannia, which is 1/96. What the Soviets were doing with a model of the Britannia in Soviet military markings is unknown to me. There are no instructions or decals, but it was easy to determine that the kit is missing one propeller retainer (easy to make or can be left out as it does not show) and is missing four propeller blades. The kit also has a clear windshield and full landing gear, gear doors, etc. The kit has never been started. "Lutch" received 4 ex-Frog molds. For the domestic market kits were numbered: No. 196 -- Hawker Tempest V (bagged), No. 197 -- P-47D-25 Thunderbolt (bagged), No. ??? -- Bleriot XI (bagged) , No. 214 -- Bristol Britannia (you can see this number on the box: Article Jr 085 -- 1 -- 214). At least two different boxes were issued for the Britannia. Dusty Rhodes may have an answer as to how a Britannia could even come close to wearing a Soviet Star insignia - "...you pose a very good question about why anyone would have thought of issuing the kit with Soviet markings. From Woodley, Bristol Britannia (2002), and some online sources, I now think there may be a vaguely sensible reason. Bristol sold four Britannia transportsto Cuba in 1959, under an exception to the US embargo. The state airline Cubana ran these until around 1975, including leases to Czechoslovakia. Some of the aircraft were used to transport Cuban troops and Soviet equipment to communist insurgents in Africa. Castro apparently thought the use of British a/c was a big to do; Woodley (p. 90) describes an instance in which Fidel flew around Cuba in one of the ships and making a radio broadcast. I found no evidence that Soviet military or other markings were even temporarily applied, but as a result of all this, it might not have seemed unreasonable to someone to use red stars on the box art for this kit."