(written from a Production point of view)
Revell-Monogram is a manufacturer of model kits and held the license for Star Trek model kits based on Star Trek: Voyager, the only Star Trek series or film (at the time) long-time kit producer AMT/Ertl did not hold the rights to use.
History
Revell-Monogram LLC was formed in 1986 when formerly independent US model kit companies "Revell", founded in 1943, and "Monogram Models Company", founded in 1945, were merged into one company by their then owner "Odyssey Partners of New York", retaining both names, which was reflected in the new combined company logo featured above in the introduction.
Revell itself had established a German subsidiary in 1956, which split off from the mother company in 2006 and became a fully European owned independent company herself as "Revell GmbH & Co. KG".
The company is also the licensed producer for model kits from the Battlestar Galactica franchise, whereas the German iteration is concurrently that of the Star Wars franchise as well in the European Union.
Star Trek association
Revell-Monogram produced a limited number of kits while it had the Voyager license; these included USS Voyager itself, a Kazon raider, and the Maquis raider, as well as a three-piece set containing all those ships in a smaller scale and even smaller pre-painted snap-together models of the three vessels. In 1997, a "limited edition" version of Voyager was produced, with an open shuttlebay and shuttlecraft plus revised decals and detailing, as well as Revell-Monogram's last addition, what they called Kazon torpedo. Despite rumors of a possible Delta Flyer, Revell-Monogram never issued another kit. The company, despite already having merged opted to release the models under their separate brand names, "Monogram" for the US and "Revell" (through their German subsidiary) for Europe, the special edition Voyager of 1997 the only exception. The 2009 reissues were only released in Europe by the then independent German branch of Revell, who renegotiated a separate European license for Star Trek model kits after their split.
Unlike AMT (the original Star Trek model kit company that lost out on the bid for the Voyager license), who up until then had only done so for two of their Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the Deep Space 9 kits, Revell had for their 1990s releases especially commissioned photography of the actual production-used studio models featured as art on the top and sides of the kit boxes as aid for the modelers.
In December 2011, Revell Germany sprang back into life with the first truly new releases since 1997, now based on the Star Trek: The Original Series. Released for the European market only (as Round 2 LLC holds the license for the American market) were kits of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 and the Klingon D7-class battle cruiser. It should be noted that these were Revell originals and not AMT derivatives, and as such differed in scale and tooling.
The status of the US-held license is, as of 2019, unclear as not a single Star Trek model kit has been marketed or re-issued since 1997 by Revell-Monogram.
In May 2013, Revell-Germany scored a scoop with their release of a model kit of the USS Enterprise, on the occasion of the release of Star Trek Into Darkness. Though US company Polar Lights had already announced a release of this ship back in 2009, their product was continuously delayed and even canceled in 2012, so Revell-Germany became the first company that released the very first licensed model kit based on the events depicted in the alternate reality, albeit it in Europe only. Having remained unavailable in the USA, Producer Robert Meyer Burnett has related the lenghts he had to go through to get a copy of the kit in a February 2017 Word Balloon podcast interview (currently posted on YouTube), since licensed non-US sellers such as Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.de are prohibited to sell these to US residents.
The 2019 German Star Trek model kits reissues, saw the box-art synchronized with those as introduced one year earlier by the two other officially licensed Star Trek model kit producers, AMT and Polar Lights.
Star Trek releases
| Revell-Monogram Releases | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item | Scale | Release | Item No. | Notes | Boxart |
| USS Voyager | 1:670 | 1995 | 3604 | US release | 
|
| 04801 | European release | 
| |||
| 1:3788 | 1996 | 06900 | "Pre-painted" "Mini"-kit European release | 
| |
| 1:670 | 1997 | 3612 | Limited (20,000) Edition; included open shuttlebay; in-scale shuttlecraft; improved decals; Voyager bonus pin; Box Art by Randy Asplund | 
| |
| 2009 | 04801 | European reissue of 1995 | 
| ||
| 2019 | 04992 | European reissue of 04881 (2009) | 
| ||
| Maquis raider | 1:323 | 1995 | 3605 | US release | 
|
| 04809 | European release | 
| |||
| 1:1276 | 1996 | 85-3611 | "Pre-painted" "Mini"-kit US release |  
| |
| 06902 | "Pre-painted" "Mini"-kit European release | 
| |||
| 1:323 | 2009 | 04809 | European reissue of 1995 | 
| |
| Kazon raider | 1:458 | 1995 | 3606 | US release; two variant issues are known with photos of the slightly differently angled model on each box cover | 
|
| |||||
| 04810 | European release | 
| |||
| n/a | 1996 | 85-3610 | "Pre-painted" "Mini"-kit US release |  
| |
| 06901 | "Pre-painted" "Mini"-kit European release | 
| |||
| 1:458 | 2009 | 04810 | European reissue of 1995 | 
| |
| Voyager 3-piece set | 1:1400 | 1996 | 3607 | Two variant US releases; "Bonus Value Pack" with glue, paint and brush included, and a regular issue without the bonus contents | 
|
| |||||
| 05780 | European "Bonus Value Pack" release; no regular kit release is known to exist | 
| |||
| Kazon torpedo | 1:35 | 1997 | 3608 | US release | 
|
| 04813 | European release | 
| |||
| USS Enterprise NCC-1701 | 1:600 | 2011 | 04880 | European release only; includes optional decals for the USS Potemkin and the USS Constellation [1] | 
|
| 2019 | 00454 | European "TechniK" release only; essentially a reissue of 04880, but now with lighting and sound effects rigs | 
| ||
| 04991 | European standard reissue | 
| |||
| Klingon D7-class battle cruiser | 2011 | 04881 | European release only; tooled to approximate the appearance as seen in DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations" [2] | 
| |
| USS Enterprise | 1:500 | 2013 | 04882 | European release only | 
|
| 50th anniversary Set | 1:600 1:500 |
2016 | 05721 | European release only; contains both reality versions of the USS Enterprise as previously released; glue and paint included | 
|
- Scales courtesy of Starshipmodeler.com
Trivia
- Components of the Voyager and Maquis raider kits were spliced together to form some of the background ships during the DS9 Dominion War saga, most notably the USS Yeager.
- The model of the Val Jean owned by Teero Anaydis in VOY: "Repression" is the small scale Maquis raider from the three-piece set.
See also
See also
External links
- Revell-Monogram.com – official website
- Revell.de – official German website
- Monogram models at Wikipedia
- Revell at Wikipedia
- Trek Models at StarshipModeler.com