Aurora Model Kits
Aurora Wall Bracket Display Stand
Plastic Model Kit, Box Condition: Sealed Mint
$55
Factory Sealed Aurora Line logo from about 1954.
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.