Aurora Plastics Corporation

The Aurora Plastics Corporation is a toy and hobby manufacturing company based in the United States. Aurora became widely known for the plastic model kits it produced in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, Aurora's figure kits are still highly valued by collectors.

Aurora Plastics Corporation was founded in Brooklyn, New York in March, 1950. Its founders, Joseph E. Giammarino (1916-1992) and Abe Shikes (1908-1997) moved the company to West Hempstead, Long Island in 1954. There, they contracted the manufacturing of injection molded plastics.

Giammarino was an engineer and Shikes was the businessman of the duo. In 1952, Aurora employed salesman John Cuomo (1901-1971). It was then that the company began to manufacture its own line of plastic model kits. Now in competition with rivals Monogram and Revell, Aurora marketed to young hobbyists. They deliberately targeted younger hobbyists than did Monogram and Revell. This proved to be a wise business move. Aurora's models sold for less because they were smaller and less detailed than those of their competitors.