You all know better than I, theres a company now (Dragon?) casting tiny little airplanes in three color blue- one piece.

A real classic. I have a Matchbox PB4Y-2 Privateer. Rare enough, the only one at 1/72 scale.

The parts are molded in black (I guess close to Sea Blue), Intermediate Blue (and that's being kind), white and clear. Great Indian Squaw nose art- couldn't post it here.

I think what we've established is that it still is pretty common. I personally like the trend toward neutral grey plastic that many manufacturers of serious, adult-type scale models are adopting, but there's still a market for kits that "don't need to be painted."

My wife brought me, from Japan, a model of Osaka Castle made by Doyusha. (I think it's actually a pretty big company, but not into aircraft, armor, or ships.) It was on 1/350, and molded in white, dark green, and tan.

Another example: the Academy/Airfix 1/700 Titanic. For that matter, I think the various 1/400 and 1/350 Titanic kits are multi-colored.

Looking at my stash.

The Revell America is black, tan.

Monogram dragster red and silver.

Heller victory yellow, black,

It was pretty common.

Waynec ;

   You are so correct . But , you must also include Aoshima in the list . I have their Triton 3-3300 and it is in clear , yellow , silver and black . You almost don't have to paint it if you don't want to . That's a model of Triton's product line .The real sub is manufactured in Florida .

Bandai kits are still multi color, 1/700 drilling ship and modern Japanese exploration submersibles.

I don't think Marx is in business any more. But I could well be mistaken. When I was little I had several of the Marx "playsets," which featured forts and other buildings made of litho-printed metal sheets. (The edges were rolled over for safety, but a kid could get a nasty cut on the hook-shaped tabs that held the parts together.) And they had those wonderfully sculpted soft plastic figures.

In nostalgizing about multi-colored kits, let's not forget the grand old Aurora range of World War I aircraft. Each of them had a sprue of black parts (wheels, guns, engine, etc.) alongside the sometimes rather bizarre colored parts for the rest of the airframe. (That dark metallic red Fokker Triplane was so ugly I never bought it.) And each of them had a nice little round name plate - in black.

Proff;

    That's the " Sea Witch "? Now there's a Switch  .And from Marx too ? I wonder if I could contact them and get new decks .The foredeck on mine is rusty and has a bend in it .  I could call ERNIE PETIT and see if he could help I guess .

As for the LINDBERG stuff , well Ernie and I go back a ways together .

"No painting required".

I believe many mfgs believe only a few experts really paint their models (hence the sparce color instructions on some kits).  But they are fewer and fewer.  As more mfgs realize that most folks today DO paint their models, there is no good reason for multi-colored kits.  Also, of course, for those mfgs who also sell paint, single color kits may push more sales of paint :-)

Hmmmm, remember the Monogram P-38 I built back in the late '70s had the main parts in silvery-grey plastic and the wheels, guns, etc on a separate sprue molded in black.

And a Matchbox Me-410 in the late '80s molded in three colours 'so you don't have to paint it' as the box top proudly proclaimed!

Colored sprues..... hated them in the 70s-80s and still hate them now. LOL! But it sure brought back memories though.

I was going to say Matchbox too, for their wonderful 1/76 armor kits, of which I built at least a dozen. I painted them all, of course, but I vividly remember their colored plastic.

Yes, but the 190 kit dates to their early 1/48 aircraft kits first released in the mid 60s or so. As far as new released kits go I am pretty sure that the final kit from Monogram to do this was their 1/48 B-29. I am willing to bet that their current issues of the B-17G and B-24J are still coming in the silver/black sprue combos. I know that the B-29 was updated with a new sprue a few years back with new props and I am pretty sure they went to all gray plastic on that one.

stikpusher

I think in the US the trend continued at least until the mid to late 70s.

Perhaps even later. I have one of those Monogram "Air Combat Series" double kits with a P-51B and FW190A kit from the mid-late 80's. The FW190 kit includes olive green (airframe) and black (prop, u/c, cockpit etc) sprues.

I think in the US the trend continued at least until the mid to late 70s. The Monogram 1/48 B-17G was molded in silver gray plastic with certain parts like the props, machine guns,  bombs, and tires coming on a black sprue. I think their B-24J released a year or so later did the same thing... possibly even the B-29 did so also.

The new AFV Club 1/350 I-19 submarine kit that I built last year had a red molded lower hull, clear sprue for the "Glen" float plane, and gray sprues for all other plastic parts. Plus of course the obligatory PE fret.

I just bought a small kit at a Barnes and Noble sale...................and seem to recall Japanese companies going all out during the 1970s and 1980s with multi colour kits.

In more recent years, we've got Bandai, particularly in their Gundam line, moulding individual sprues with 3-4 different colours.

KnightTemplar5150

Sorry, guys, but when I think of kits molded in different colors of plastic, I immediately think of that brief time back in the '80s when neon colors were all the rage. Monogram released their "Luminators" line of kits which were molded in a weird translucent plastic that was supposed to imitate a glowing neon effect. ............

I'd forgotten about those kits. 

Tankerbuilder

now that you mention multimedia; the Lindberg SC 100 had not just the usual electric motor ( pre-built) but flexible black plastic tube for use as hydraulic brake hoses, fabric seat belts and distributor wire with distributor cap firing sequence instructions.

 jtilley

I never knew Revell made model railroading accessories.

Now that you mention sailing ships, I was surprised that the RoundTwo Blockade Runner re-issue I purchased is molded in four colors.

Thanks for the warning about short runs at RoundTwo.

Guess I'd better raid my Christmas kit money and buy some of those kits now.

I would not be surprised if the 1/25 scale steam engine kit re-issue "  The General" is short run.

Perhaps I should re-consider the Sea Witch as well.

TB, that Lindberg clipper ship was the Sea Witch. It originated with Marx - in several colors, with the metal decks.

It's still available from Round 2 Models in its later form - with plastic decks replacing the metal ones. Here's a link: http://www.round2models.com/models/lindberg/sea-witch-ship .

Even by today's standards it's not a bad kit - and at the moment it's the only plastic American clipper ship kit on the market. And with the big Revell Cutty Sark off the market, it's the only large-scale merchant ship available in plastic.

I have the impression that Round 2 is making short production runs, and not replacing kits that get sold out. (Some of my favorites, the old Lindberg-ex-Inpact British 1930s fighters, are no longer listed on the website. I'd suggest that anybody who wants a Sea Witch had better get it now.

Almost all the Revell sailing ship kits were in multiple colors (two exceptions: the Santa Maria and HMS Bounty). And some of the Revell warships. The Coast Guard Eastwind and Campbell, and the USS Olympia come to mind.

Revell also used to make a series of HO scale buildings, which were some of the nicest plastic kits ever produced. All of them, I think, were molded in colors.

Ah, memories!

Hi ;

   I will tell you this  . Monogram's multi - color kits go back as far as 1955 and some years later they were at it again with the Darryl Starbird Custom T-Bird and then The  Blue Beetle and the Undertaker that were popular then . At one time All the  multi colored T-Birds ( the 58 ) morphed into Miss Elvira's car . There were planes too , that had Black bombs and Landing Gear and Bomb Bay hardware .

      A.M.T. did a few Promo's multi colored ( the body and the interior were two colors and the chassis was black ) As was the first year of the Mack Bulldog from the teens . Monogram also rung true there too . Pyro did mostly the Guns of history as multiple colors this includes The Gattling Gun and some Cannon and All their pistols .

    MPC did one and I still have mine .Remember the Little Red Wagon Dodge drag Pickup the D-100 ? It came with a Red body , Black frame and Chrome engine and White seats . If you built it stock all those parts were red.

     Now LINDBERG not only did Multi - Color but Multi - Media kits . They had a Sailing ship .I believe it was a Square Sterned " Yankee Clipper " . Mine is molded in Black and copper ( nope , it's not painted ) and Lithographed Teak colored and textured decks .

To my recollection , Using my egg and milking money ( when we were on the farm ,) and newspaper-route money afterward , they were all reasonably priced . There didn't seem to be a price difference.  

       Revell did a plethora of multi- Colored large kits , .Space Stuff , Civilian Stuff . Mainly   Even today if you check the " North Cormorant " oil rig , The colors on the cover of the box is what's inside . Unless they changed it . I haven't built mine yet . I bought it on a lark years ago ,and find myself wishing I had picked up the " Westinghouse Nuclear Reactor and Power Plant model ( another multiple color kit .)at the same time .

      I re-read my post and realised I'd forgotton a well known bunch of kits .The " Gangbusters " from MPC .Many cars from Johan and last but not least , All the Classic Cars of History by MONOGRAM

The only ones that I recall in the UK were Matchbox & it seemed pretty par the course for their aircraft kits to be multi-coloured. Some were quite conveniently coloured & as a kid let me get away without painting, while others were pretty bizarre & random.

I must be feeling either whimsical or especially sadistic as the first new tool multi-hued subject that I most wanted was a Berlin Brigade vehicle.............: 

 jtilley

Thanks for reminding me of Matchbox! 

I do not know why I had forgotten them, especially as I once owned a two colour Matchbox 1/72 Fw-190 A.

I had not realized that Revell had produced a multi-hued kit in 1951 and Academy released a Phantom had created a new tool two colour kit.

Don't forget Matchbox, which, in the seventies and eighties, was known for its multi-colored aircraft and armor kits. Some of its choices were rational; others were...distinctly odd.  If I remember right, Matchbox 1/72 aircraft sold for just about the same prices as the competition.

The idea of multi-colored molding has been around for a long, long time. It used to be taken for granted (and maybe still is) that model railroad car and structure kits were molded in several colors. (Think - Bachmann's old "Plasticville USA" line.)

I have Dr. Graham's book on Revell in front of me. The first multi-color kit I can find on his list is a red, white, tan, and bronze 1910 Maxwell, issued in 1951. (By some definitions it was Revell's first model kit; it was also available as an assembled "pull toy.") Revell's first genuine scale model in two colors seems to have been the 1/192 Constitution, first released in 1956. Dozens of other Revell ship, car, and aircraft kits were originally issued in multiple colors - and still are.

I notice that Academy, with its 1/48 Phantom series, seems to have revived the tradition.

Oh, yes.

Speaking of multiple coloured models:

https://www.allpar.com/forums/threads/1952-plymouth-working-plastic-chassis-and-engine-from-1952-auto-show.160165/

I can't help wonder if it influenced the creation of a Renwall kit.