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The Hawk Model Company was one of the first American manufacturers of injection-molded plastic model kits. ==History== Hawk Model Airplanes was established in 1928 by brothers Dick (Sr.) and Phil Mates, in Chicago, Illinois. Promoted as "America's Oldest Model Company", the company was purchased by the Testors Corporation in 1970. The Hawk Company assets were later acquired by J. Lloyd International, Inc. of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which, in turn, sold them to Round2 LLC of South Bend, Indiana in 2013.〔Round2 LLC, press release, March 18, 2013〕 From its inception in 1928 to the early 1950s the company manufactured a successful line of solid-wood aircraft models, which eventually included injection-molded generic plastic propellers.〔Fischer, Dave: ''(Early Plastic Model Kit Development in the USA )'', oldmodelkits.com blog, September 2, 2009〕 The Mates brothers exhibited built-up and painted plastic models at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1934.〔Fischer, op. cit.〕 During World War II, Hawk helped to supply plastic identification models for use in military training.〔Fischer, op. cit.〕 In 1946 Hawk produced one of the very first all-plastic model kits, the Curtis R3C-1 racer.〔Fischer, op. cit/〕 Four additional kits (all classic 1930s racers) were added in 1948; Gee Bee, Howard Ike, Laird Solution, and Supermarine S6B. These early kits were molded in acetate plastic, but from 1949, Hawk employed polystyrene in its injection-molding process.〔Fischer, op. cit.〕 The kits were advertised as “1/4 scale”, meaning ¼ inch equals 1 scale foot or 1/48th scale. Additional, increasingly sophisticated toolings were developed into the 1960s. By the time of its sale to Testors Corp. in 1970, the company's catalog included a wide range of realistic scale replicas of aircraft, ships, missiles, vehicles, and conceptual subjects in 1/48, 1/72, 1/144 and smaller scales. Among notable releases: * LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin (in 1/245 scale, when finished, this kit measured 38.5 inches long.) * Lockheed Constellation (the company's first polystyrene kit) * Lockheed U-2 (1/48 - One of its most popular and accurate examples - based on the Garry Powers flown variant) * Spirit of St. Louis (1/72 scale) * Messerschmitt Me 163 'Komet' German Interceptor * Gee Bee racer (the original 1948 tooling was still being re-boxed by Testors Corp. into the early years of the 21st century.) * Spad XIII World War I-era bi-plane * Mister Mulligan Benny Howard racer * Travelaire Mystery Ship racer * Grumman F8F Bearcat * North American P-51 Mustang * Manned Orbiting Laboratory (a conceptual space model) * 3 Rocket-Powered Guided Missiles Many of these original Hawk toolings were re-boxed and reissued periodically by Testors and its successors, and continue to be available. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hawk Model Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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