When I was young Monogram was my favorite model company. Their models were fun to build and looked great assembled. Monogram kits ranged from Tom Daniel’s show rods to detailed aircraft and armor models with Shep Paine’s diorama tips. Thomas Graham’s Monogram Models is a worthy tribute to the company.

 Like Graham’s earlier books the illustrations hit you first and grab your attention. Color illustrations fill the first 136 pages. You’ll see your favorite models and some obscure kits. Naturally, there are photos of build-ups and box art. I was surprised to see Monogram’s in-store displays illustrating many of the earlier models.

 While the photographs grab your attention, Monogram’s story will hold your interest. Monogram was an established model company that transitioned from wood to plastic. Graham tells the story of the models, the company and the people who made the company.

 Monogram’s founders met during the depression working for Comet Models. Bob Reder, an avid model airplane builder, graduated from high school in 1934 and started working as a draughtsman and model designer for Comet Models. Jack Besser dropped out of high school and joined Comet in 1936 as a shipping clerk. He worked his way up the company until he was an assistant sales manager when WWII started.

 During the war, Reder established the program to furnish the armed services with identification models of Axis and Allied aircraft. Comet’s draftsmen produced 1/72 scale plans of the aircraft. High school students produced models from the plans.

 After the war, disputes among Comet’s owners led Reder and Besser to start their own company. While they worked at Comet, they planed their new company. Besser ran sales, finances and manufacturing. Redder was in charge of engineering, tooling, quality control and cost accounting. Monogram’s first products were a trio of wood ship models with precarved hulls. More models with preshaped wood parts followed. The company grew.

 Monogram eased into the plastic model business. They started to include injection-molded parts in their wood kits. Monogram decided to produce plastic kits after Revell, Aurora and other manufacturers demonstrated the profitability of the market.

 Manufacturing plastic kits required a large investment in injection molding machines and a commitment to keep developing new models. Monogram’s first plastic models were a midget racer, a hot rod and a speedboat. When they hit the market in 1954, more models were in the pipeline.

 Some of Monogram’s early kits became classics that continued to sell for years. Their B-25 was introduced in 1955 and was one of Monogram’s first all plastic aircraft. It remained in the catalog until 1985.

 Monogram concentrated on quality while other manufacturers battled for market share. Monogram thoroughly researched of the subject of a model. They engineered their kits to incorporate lots of detail in relatively few easily assembled parts. When test assemblies indicated a problem, Monogram modified the die. Sometimes the list of changes ran to twenty pages. Other manufacturers bagged trees at the injection-molding machine. Monogram added an extra inspection to ensure every model had all the parts. This approach created models like Monogram’s 1/48th scale aircraft - they keep selling decades after their introduction.

 Monogram understood their market and realized it was important to manufacture models children could assemble. Children unable to finish their first models won’t be future customers. Most of their plastic kits were engineered for easy assembly. Monogram polished the dies and molded the kits in appropriate colors so they’d look decent unpainted. Monogram pioneered high quality snap-together kits, so younger children could build (and buy) models.

 Most of the draughtsmen, designers, model builders and engineers responsible for Monogram’s quality built models for a hobby before working for Monogram. A number of them stayed with the company for decades. Graham has interviewed them puts their stories into this book.

 Graham devotes a chapter to Tom Daniel's collaboration with Monogram. I read this chapter first. Daniel’s show rods like the Beer Wagon, the Red Baron, the Dump Truck and the T’rantula hit me at an impressionable age and left their indelible mark on my aesthetic sensibilities. Daniel’s models may have saved Monogram. Daniel started designing cars for Monogram at about the same time as the company lost money when the slot car boom collapsed. His cars gave Monogram cash when the company needed it most and they continued to sell. At their peak in 1972, they accounted for 54 of the 97 kits in the Monogram catalog.  

Daniel designed some memorable novelty kits for Monogram. The Ghost of the Red Baron was based on a Daniel’s sketch. The Air Farce Flapjack is a Daniel’s design. And he designed a number of Snoopy themed models for Monogram.

 From time to time Monogram tried new directions with mixed results. In the late fifties some models incorporated working features that could drop bombs, launch torpedoes or eject pilots. Starting with the Big T in 1962, Monogram released enormous 1/8 scale car kits. Stanley Mouse’s Happy Monster series made a brief appearance in the mid sixties. The Phantom Mustang and Phantom Huey were large aircraft models with clear parts to reveal their internal structure and working parts.

 In 1968, Mattel purchased Monogram in an exchange of stock with Reder and Besser. Mattel wanted to broaden their base beyond the erratic toy industry. Redder and Besser thought Mattel’s financial resources would help them if an opportunity appeared and Mattel assured them they would continue to manage their company. In 1969 Mattel reorganized and fired Monogram’s experienced sales staff.

 Soon Mattel pressured Monogram to make their models more toy-like. The Snoopy series and the Skystick were attempts to increase the play value of models. The Skystick was a joystick that controlled the movements of an airplane sitting on a pylon. For Monogram, the Skystick was an engineering nightmare and a failure in the marketplace. Few serious models were introduced.

 Fortunately, Mattel caught their error in time and turned product selection and marketing back to Redder and Besser. Monogram introduced serious models like their B-17. However financial shenanigans at Mattel led to a new CEO at the toy company. He disliked Besser’s independent style and replaced him with Tom Gannon.

 Gannon was a former president of AMT. When he arrived at Monogram the company trailed Revell, AMT and MPC in sales. Gannon set out to increase sales by nearly doubling the number of new kits released each year while maintaining the company’s profitability and reputation for quality. Gannon’s bold and risky strategy worked.

 In the early eighties Mattel wanted to sell Monogram to cover their losses in the video game business. Gannon put together a group of investors and bought the company in 1984. In 1986, they sold Monogram to Odyssey Partners, the company that purchased Revell. The combined company took the name Revell-Monogram for tax purposes and because Revell had better name recognition overseas. Although the Revell name came first, Monogram led the company and soon Revell’s operation was transferred to Monogram’s Des Plaines facility.

 Revell-Monogram changed ownership a number of times. Graham’s book concludes with the company owned by a group of Chicago businessmen called the Revell group. Although the company’s headquarters are still in Illinois, all the manufacturing is in China.

 A bibliography and a 21-page price guide finish the book. The price guide lists every Monogram model and their years of production.

 If you’re curious about the history of the hobby or wonder why some kits are better than others are, this book is for you. This is the story of the people who made the kits better.

April 2007

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