Aurora Model MIB Red Knight of Vienna
Kit Thick Box Fold Top
Aurora History -Knights
Aurora's first figure kit was the Silver (of Augsberg) Knight circa 1956.
The Blue (of Man) and Black (of Aurnberg) Knights followed in 1957.
In 1958, the Red (of Vienna) Knight was added and finally the Gold Knight
(homeless, apparently, as no "hometown" was designate) riding horseback
showed up in 1959. A Green (of Landschut) Knight was proposed but never
made it out of the development stage. Aurora would sell these kits
constantly for the (nearly) next 20 years - changing the box artwork along
the way but the kit remained the same inside.
Variations (Camelot, Shining Armour)
Three of the original knights were reissued in 1968-1969 as "Camelot"
knights as the movie Camelot was a huge success the prior year.
Each Camelot knight sported a common new base with new shields. The Silver
Knight became King Arthur. The Blue Knight became Sir Galahad. And the
Black Knight became Sir Lancelot. A final run of all five knights came out
in chrome as the "Knights in Shining Armour" from Aurora, England, in
1973-74. These shining armour knights were sold almost solely in England -
with some possibly in other European countries. It was also at this time
that the first four knights were re-issued again (in the 1963 boxes) as a
special run of 5,000 for the Polk's Model Craft Hobbies store in New York
City. These boxes were tagged with a strip of tape that reads "Made In
England".
The listing is for an original Aurora Model MIB Red Knight of Vienna Kit
- Thick Box, Fold Top. We've literally collected, bought, and sold Aurora
character kits for over 30 years. In the hundreds of knight kits we've
owned (and thousands we've seen), we've NEVER run across another one of
these "Thick Box" kits. Frankenstein has his "thin box" - and now the Red
Knight has THIS box variation. It's a thin, directly lithoed folded box -
but is "thick" in the same dimensions as Aurora's standard long box
monster and super hero kits. The directly lithoed box style appeared in
toys roughly in the late 1960's - by all indications, this would fall in
that time line. But we cannot even begin to guess where they were marketed
or why this variation is so rare. We've seen more 3 model, knight gift sets!
Get yours today!