and see
Airplanes on the main Comet/AUTHENTICAST page.
Comet Metal Products Co., Inc.
AUTHENTICAST
(Logos from 1945 Catalog)
Comet Metal Products Co., Inc. History
(collected and moved here 02 Jul 03)
During and after World War II and at least into the Korean "police action"
(1940s, 50s, and 60s), a small firm in Richmond Hill (Postal Code 18), Queens
County, New York (near the Long Island Rail Road's
Morris Park Shops, built a line of scale model ships (see logo above),
planes, railroad cars, tanks and armored vehicles, and soldiers under the
trade name "Authenticast".
[Actually, their plant was hidden deep against the LIRR yard in the wye
between the Main Line and the line to the Flatbush Avenue station and you
couldn't get there from Atlantic Avenue except by driving to the Sheffield (or
Sealtest) plant and turning north through a tunnel under the RR embankment
(130th Street) and then going in a block or two, turning right (east) on either
92nd or 91st Avenue or on 90th Avenue or 89th Road and going into either of
the two cul-de-sacs they formed to stub segments of 132nd Street and they
were on the northeast corner of one of those two tiny blocks, facing north on
either 91st or 89th Road (how's THAT for a 50 year old memory AND a
drawn-out sentence?).]
Per
An Abbreviated History of Comet on
Mike's Tanks, it had been founded in 1919 by Abraham Slonim, an
immigrant from Germany, who started trying to interest the U.S. government
in ID (spotter) models ca. 1930, and was carried on by his sons Joseph and
Samuel Slonim, who came to the U. S. in 1935.
(30 Dec 04)
I'd run across a page of "15mm" castings of tanks and AFVs that sure looked like my
old AUTHENTICAST models; the QualityCast line (Quality
Castings Inc.). I e-mailed and asked about the "15mm". Chuck
Cook replied instantly; he'd bought up the old AUTHENTICAST molds,
refurbished them, and added more. The "15mm" scale is an approximation; the
Slonims built the models in the weird scale of 1" = 9' (1:108) instead of HO
(1:87.1)!
Comet's history was amplified by Chuck Cook on 26 Jun 03; Chuck advised that
Comet/Authenticast went out of business in 1960. He started Quality
Castings (QualiCast) in 1984 with some molds from a predecessor
company Custom Cast and then began doing new models in the mid 1980's.
Chuck doesn't remember exactly which ones, but thinks the first 48 (6000 to 6048) US
and the first 13 German, and the first 12 UK, and 7 Japanese and 8 Russian were
AUTHENTICAST, but later redid a lot of those models and in some cases kept the same
numbers and in others renumbered them.
Quality Castings Inc was sold to 19th Century Miniatures effective 26 Mar
2002. The entire business was relocated to the 19th Century Miniatures
facilities in Michigan; NCM owners Steve Jamieson and Stephen Thomas continue
expanding the QC line and improving it.
{One can't find Nineteenth Century Miniatures on the Web;
it is doing business as Battle Honors - Old Glory 15's at
www.oldglory15s.com - SB,III - 25 Jun 03}
WARNING! - you can not access their full site on older browsers; it
is fully framed and requires sequential entry by product, country, era, and category.
Another site (about ship models) has a partial history of Comet; it is on Paul
Jacobs' 1250 Scale
site (within the Steel Navy site) on
which he notes that "In 1962, the last of the Sloman {sic} brothers
died, and that brought Comet to an end. Several collectors managed to
buy the moulds and began producing under the name Superior" and that in
1962 Superior "began production after purchasing the old Comet/Authenticast
line" (that is the 1:1250 ships models ONLY).
Paul's Steel Navy site leads one to Pete Parschall's
ALNAVCO, which carries the 1:1250 ships line along. There we find more
of the Comet/AUTHENTICAST history as related by Wayne Smith, a consultant to
ALNAVCO, who was hired by Superior ca. 1967 at the age of 16; he "started by
finishing ships and spray painting them, then casting them, then making 'conversions'
and finally making the 'masters' from which the castings are made". Wayne
relates that a "number of the Superior masters are 60 years old as first developed by
Authenticast". "Purchased in 1960 by Ian 'John' Carter, many were updated
with AA guns, deck hatching, and boats and in some cases completely replaced".
"In 1999, John Carter retired and Alnavco, who had been the primary dealer for the
company for 34 years, bought the Superior ship lines and immediately embarked on a
program to upgrade many of the models, mainly in the area of casting the secondary
turrets separately, as well as issuing models that had not been available for years."
Because of heightened interest in these models, I have reproduced here the entire
{?} 1945 catalog of planes, ships, and tanks of WWII; it is 3-color (on white),
but the illustrations are all black on white. In addition, I also include the
(apparently) accompanying price list; it is B&W and undated but also includes an
announcement of RAILROAD ACCESSORIES, INDUSTRIAL MACHINES, and OFFICE and
DRAFTING ROOM FURNITURE in O, HO and OO scales.
I am unable to locate the provenance of these images or the order in which
they should appear; the pages are unnumbered and so are presented in an
order that seems appropriate to me at this time. The catalog
is largely arranged by type of model and by war period.
If the person who provided these scans would like to be credited, just let me
know.
Mike's Tanks reminded
me that Comet also produced minature football squads and that reminded me,
in turn, that I once had both those AND baseball teams.
(30 Dec 04)
Image pr17 conclusively sets the scale of the tanks at
"1 in. to 108 in.",
1:108,
NOT HO scale (1:87.1),
not even close (about 24% smaller - 1" = 9')!
As I note on the main Comet/Authenticast page, I am reasonably certain that
the soldier sets which followed later were, in fact, at HO scale.
The frontis matter is somewhat obvious as to order; the product information is
grouped in two ways, by "planes, ships, and tanks", and by battle or theater.
So, in no great semblance of original pagination, here is the 1945 Comet Metal
Products Co. AUTHENTICAST catalog [with very large thumbnails
for these images, please be patient (I'll resequence them eventually)]:
1945 AUTHENTICAST
(Comet Metal Products) Catalog
1945* AUTHENTICAST
(Comet Metal Products) Price List
The price list is undated but accompanies a 1945 catalog and is also unpaginated;
again in no especial order:
[I just made up (large) thumbnails for
these pages; I'll resequence them shortly.]
Anent Comet/AUTHENTICAST history, Bob Beattie, a war
gamer, advised 25 Aug 03 that Comet was in some way tied to Holger Eriksson's
S.A.E. (Swedish African Engineers) who, in 1957, started producing 30mm
painted figure sets; they apparently also made HO scale railway and military figures.
HO soldiers listed are 6002 - Union army, infantry, cavalry, and artillery and 6003 -
Confederate army, ditto. They were made betrween 1946 and 1950 in Ireland
and between 1954 and about 1960 in South Africa.
AUTHENTICAST Ship Models
[Excerpted from Naval and Marine continuation page 1.]
During and after World War II and at least into the Korean "police action" (1940s,
50s, and 60s), Comet built a line of scale model ships (see logo above), under the
trade name "Authenticast". These were originally U.S.N.
recognition models, "Waterline Models" in the scale of 1: 500 and "Waterline
Miniatures" at 1:1200.
There is a partial history of Comet Metal Products Co., Inc., and its ship
models, above, from Paul Jacobs' 1200 and 1250 model warships page and Pete
Paschall's ALNAVCO site. I remember that I got one of the more elegantly-
shaped British battleships, the German Schlachtschiff (battleship) Scharnhorst,
and the Japanese carrier Shokaku, ca. 1945, all long gone now, battered into
pancakes by incessant "bombing" from my model airplanes. PLEASE don't ask
me why those three (I have absolutely no idea). I'm beginning to think there
may have been a few others, as well, such as the Atago.
A correspondent wrote on 08 Dec 02 that he has a set of German model ships
that was used for training by the USN Bureau of Aeronautics Special Services
Division.&nsbp; The models are contained in a large wooden box bearing
marking saying "Device 5-AA Serial Number 280" and "Mfrd. by Comet Metal
Products Co., Inc." Can anyone tell us more about these (I referred
him to Paul Jacobs.)
I promised much more information on an equivalent set of Japanese ID models for
you; here it is, a true rarity and a gem!
(Thumbnail images, click on pictures for larger images)
This is a near-mint Comet (not yet AUTHENTICAST) Japanese Ship Model Spotter Set
which a 10-year old boy got 24 years ago and which has been sitting ever since.
The 14" x 16" wooden box is dark gray with black stenciling (hard to decipher or
photograph) reading "U.S. NAVY MINIATURE MODELS - JAPANESE NAVY"
under rope handleS. It contains 20 models, each attached to a wood base
and on the bottom of each base is the message:
MFG. BY COMET METAL PRODUCTS, CO., INC.
RICHMOND HILL, N. Y.
and the name of the ship. The name of the ship also appears molded on the
side of each model.
Amagiri class, Aoba class, Asashio class, Atago, Chokai and Haya,
Fuso class, Hatsuharu class, Hibiki class, Ise, Kongo,
Mogami, Mutsuki class, Nachi class, Nagato class, Natori class,
Sendai class, Shokaku class, Tone class, Wakatake class, Yubari.
In this arbitrary compartment location order (matching the photos), they are:
1. Asashio class 6. Nagato 11. Amagiri class 16. Mogami
2. Mutsuki class 7. Fuso class 12. Yubari 17. Atago
3. Hatsuharu class 8. Kongo 13. Sendai class 18. Tone class
4. Wakatake class 9. Ise 14. Natori 19. Nachi class
5. Hibiki class 10. Shokaku class 15. Aoba class 20. Chokai and Haya
The Fuso, Ise, Kongo, and Nagato are battleships, the Shokaku is an aircraft carrier
(obviously), the Aoba, Atago, Chokai/Haya, Mogami, Nachi, and Tone are heavy
cruisers, the Natori, Sendai, and Yubari are light cruisers, and the Amagiri, Asashio,
Hatsuharu, Hibiki, Mutsuki, and Wakatake are destroyers.
The bigger ones are in the 6" to 9" length range; here's Shokaku:
(Thumbnail images, click on pictures for larger images)
This is the underside of a typical shelf and the imprint on top of the box:
(Thumbnail images, click on pictures for larger images)
The light cruiser Yubari in compartment 12 is the only model that appears to be
damaged; it's stern is bent upward but the owner will not touch it (wise).
21/29 Oct 2004 - I heard from a gentleman who has a box of 1:1250 German ships;
the battleships are the Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, and Gneisenau; the aircraft carrier is the
Graf Zeppelin; the heavy cruisers are the Admiral Hipper, Admiral Eugen, Admiral
Scheer, and Lützow; the light cruisers are the Emden, Köln, Leipzig, and Nürnberg;
and the destroyers are the Maasz, Narvik, and Galster. Hopefully, photos will
follow.
AUTHENTICAST Miscellany
Well, that has to be absolutely fascinating for old timers who remember all this and for
collectors who can only imagine what it was like back then. One collector
mentioned missing machine guns from some of his vehicles and that jogged a 50-year
old memory; I knew I had a bunch of spares somewhere and I went off to look.
Sure enough, right in my main hobby storage drawer (of so many), there was an
ancient Scotch® Brand Cellophane Tape No. 175 tin, with a faded,
yellowed label peeling away where that tape had embrittled and snapped; the label
reads MILITARY VEHICLE PARTS and, inside, there they were,
sixteen (16) of 'em, most bare but a few painted! Not only that but
there was also a bunch of heavy straight pins I used for replacing hull MGs that
snapped off, a tiny fragment of one such, a couple of rolled paper tubes used to snug
up loose turret pivots, and a slightly-bent, rusty nail tip.
24 Jun 03 photos by and © 2003 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
That nail tip was the Slonim's poor postwar excuse for the 105mm howitzer barrel of
the M45 (not the 152mm Russian KV II). I had pulled that abortion out of the
turret and turned a proper barrel from a piece of round stock, probably by spinning it
in my Foredom Electric flexible shaft drill and holding a file and emery paper against it;
I didn't aquire a small lathe until several years after I reached adulthood.
Leave it to me to have kept it in the tin all these years AND to have
remembered what it was and where!
(06 Jan 05)
Two of those painted guns are NOT olive drab but a very dark grey; they don't look
anything like MGs! I wonder if they aren't turreted secondary deck guns from
the 1:1200 German Scharnhorst which I demolished?
Just in case anyone can tell, I blew up a detail of the guns (with the M45 nail in
between) to pixellation (in the absence of my close-up lenses):
Detail of 24 Jun 03 photo by and © 2003/2005 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
{KVII/M45 gun callout revised 06 Jan 2005}
I got new close-up lenses and here're those details anew, with a very big surprise
(for me)!
30 Jun 03 photo by and © 2003/2005 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
{KVII/M45 gun callout revised 06 Jan 2005}
You can see the guns better and the nail AND a home-made
1/32" drill I made at age 12
or so to drill holes in the models for pins for more guns, antennae, etc.
What the heck; here's the drill up close:
30 Jun 03 photo by and © 2003 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
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2005
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