About Revell Inc.

Model kits have entertained, educated and inspired one generation of builders after another. For over six decades, hobbyists of all ages have turned to the Revell Group brands, Revell and Monogram, for kits that are fun, affordable, and easy to build — without sacrificing quality or accuracy.

In 2007, Revell Inc. was purchased by Hobbico®, one of the world's largest manufacturers, distributors and retailers of model hobby products. It marked the start of an exciting new era for Revell.

Hobbico is 100% employee-owned, giving each of the Revell employees a vested interest in helping our products and company succeed. Revell is a company that was started by modelers, for modelers, full of people who share the same passion for modeling. What's more, it's a passion matched by a commitment to success. Hobbico's mission — to promote your enjoyment of hobbies with products of the highest quality — is the same one that launched Revell nearly a century ago.

Hobbico Headquarters, Champaign, IL

Bob Reder & Jack Besser

Pull toy cars

Illustrations used with permission of Thomas Graham. Several books are available that tell the complete histories of Monogram and Revell Model companies. For information, click on the cover images shown.

Charles Lindberg’s 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic turned many boys into model plane enthusiasts. Among them was young Bob Reder of Chicago, born in 1917 and only 13 when he successfully flew his first tissue-and-balsa kit.

Reder joined Chicago’s Comet Models as a draftsman and designer after his high school graduation. Later he and Comet sales manager Jack Besser formed their own company — one that would simplify model kit assembly with more prefabricated wood parts. That company, christened “Monogram,” offered its first ship model kits to eager hobbyists on November 14, 1945.
Like Reder, Brooklyn native Lewis Glaser was born in 1917. But when his time came to select a trade, he chose the emerging plastics business. Glaser started a California plastics company, Precision Specialties, just weeks before the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack.

One of its first products, a ladies’ compact, was marketed under the name “Revell” — from the French word reveil, “to awaken”. A series of pull toy cars followed in 1946, some with detachable cables so the cars could be displayed. These, Glaser realized, could easily be turned into buildable model kits.

Independently, Glaser and Reder sparked a sweeping new leisure time tradition. By 1956, according to Boy’s Life magazine, 80% of boys would become model builders!

Lewis Glaser

1942 Life magazine cover

“Highway Pioneers” plastic car kits

Extensive research

In the 1930s and 40s, “serious” models were made of wood. That began to change in the early 1950s, when Precision Specialties enjoyed huge success with “Highway Pioneers” plastic car kits. Glaser changed his company’s name to Revell Inc. — and set about making affordable, high-quality plastic models labeled as “Authentic Kits”.

Authentic described Revell’s approach to model-making perfectly. Each subject, Glaser explained, must be “what is historically important and what is exciting. It’s got to be both.”
His engineers drew detailed blueprints using photos, schematics, and any other available documentation. Skilled sculptors completed patterns for every part that would be in the final kit. These had to pass a “buildability” test before molds were produced.

Mold-making was an art in itself! To create details as fine as shoelaces on 1” tall figures, a mold might require up to 7000 hours. Further precision was achieved by planning models in large scale, then reducing the size with a pantograph during tooling.

Meanwhile, Monogram set similar priorities for its kits: “Ease of construction, with a maximum amount of detail.” A 1949 trade journal applauded the company for producing “low-priced kits anyone can put together.”

Detailed blueprints

"Authentic" airplane kits

Snoopy® motorized kits

Polaris submarine kit

Nearly everything capturing the public’s fancy since then has been preserved in a fascinating timeline of plastic model kits — created by Revell or Monogram, and perhaps built by you, your father or grandfather.

During an affiliation with toy giant Mattel® in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Monogram experimented with models that had “play value” after assembly. These included a successful series of licensed Snoopy® motorized kits.

Mattel also supported Monogram’s “Snap Draggins”, a new type of plastic model with snap-together parts. These evolved into SnapTite® kits and encouraged younger children to join the model-building fun.

Revell explored the opposite extreme in a series of intricate 1/32 scale airplanes that included cockpit interiors, raised rivets, sliding canopies and retractable landing gear. A 1967 issue of Scale Modeler called them “so realistic, you’ll feel like climbing in and flying away.”

But the highest compliment to Revell authenticity may have come six years earlier. In 1961, U.S. Navy Admiral Hyman Rickman examined the Revell Polaris guided missile submarine kit — and pronounced it equal to releasing classified information “for $2.98.” Its designers had guessed a little too correctly...forcing Lewis Glaser to argue for its inaccuracies!

SnapTite® kits

SPIN DRIVE®

Plastic model kits

Eventually, and perhaps inevitably, Revell and Monogram became one. They were purchased and consolidated in 1986 by Odyssey Partners of New York, and Revell relocated to Monogram's Chicago-area offices. Several more ownership changes came before Revell Inc. found a well-matched home in the Hobbico group.

People today have more leisure time than Lew Glaser and Bob Reder ever imagined. Revell is always developing wonderful ways to spend it.

Revell has invested in new tooling for products like assembly-ready SnapTite® models, including Ferrari®, Star Wars® kits for science fiction fans, and classic cars and planes for nostalgia buffs. Among the latter you'll find '57 Ford® Tudor, '50 Oldsmobile® Coupe and Ventura bomber models coming in 2012.

Revell promotes model-building across the country with the National Model Car Championships and nationwide car show Make n' Take™ events for kids. We've gone beyond plastic model kits, too, with SPIN DRIVE™ slot car sets, new tool and wood lines for crafts, and a full line of Pinewood Derby® racers and accessories.

There's a lot more fun ahead. Revell invites you to join in!

Craft Wood Center

New SnapTite® packaging

Licensed Boy Scouts of America®
Pinewood Derby® products