>The SMER kits have an interesting history. Most of SMER's molds were
>acquired from Artiplast, an Italian company started in the mid-'60s.
>Artiplast used other companies' molds for most of its kits. The
>Nieuport 11, Sopwith Camel, Se-5a, Fokker Dr.I, Fokker D.VII, and
>Albatros D.III were from Aurora molds, while the DH-2, Avro 504K, and
>Bristol Bulldog came from Merit. It appears Artiplast produced the
>Walrus themselves. The source of this information is _The Collectors
>Value Guide for Scale Model Plastic Kits_ by John Burns.
-snip-
A couple of small corrections.The Merit/Smer/Artiplast Nieuport 11, SE-5a,
Dr.I, D-VII, Camel, and Albatros molds were not Aurora molds but
rather *copies* of Aurora molds by Merit. The Walrus (and the Fairey
Swordfish) were original Merit molds as were the DH-2, the 504K, and
the Bulldog. Artiplast bought all the Merit molds when Merit went
'belly-up' in the late '60's.
Artiplast added its own original SVA-5 mold to the
Merit kits. In the mid/late '70's, SMER picked up all the
Artiplast/Merit WW1 molds and has been producing them
off and on, on a more or less continuous basis since then.
However, the Artiplast/Merit non-WW1 kits seem to have disappeared
completely. Anybody got a clue as to what happened to the
non-WW1 molds?
Cheers!
-- Bill Shatzer - bshatzer@ednet1.osl.or.gov - aw177@FreeNet.Carleton.ca "It's useless to fight the forms. You've got to kill the people producing them." Vladimir Kabaidze