Plastic Model Kit History
The history of plastic modeling originated shortly before WWII, albeit in very limited form. Mass produced plastic kits came in the post WWII era, but you can not look at the history of plastic model building without considering the long history of model building in general, which dates back at least to ancient Egypt. Some burial sites contained models of chariots and of ships. Throughout history models were used to represent ideas and to record constructions. Before photography models ranked with art to record contemporary events. In the lobby of the El President Hotel in downtown Santo Domingo is a model of the Santa Maria. It is 20th century model used to illustrate the islands history. In fact, most models from the past seem to be ships and many are well crafted. Most warships were constructed in model form before the actual vessel was built. Up until the mid 20th century model building was a hobby that took great amounts of time. With the availability of mass marketed plastic model kits and the disposable income in the (relatively) prosperous times following WWII and the rebuilding in Europe and Japan, a new hobby was born: Plastic kit building.
One of the prime selling points was a connection with history. Another was a hunger for an understanding of how various machines functioned. Model building creates an interest in subjects that will build into every thing from what is the color of the engine in Richard Pettys car, or what color was an F6F 5 Hellcat. Model building allows anyone to own a representation of the USS Constitution or to hold Darth Vaders Tie fighter.