Record List Display: Matchbox". United States Patents and Trademark Office. {{ cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= ( help) The buyout by Mattel was greeted with considerable trepidation by the Matchbox collectors' community. The rivalry between the Hot Wheels and Matchbox brands was not only a battle fought by the companies; collectors of each of the brands felt strongly about the qualities of their brand of choice. For the typical Matchbox collector, Hot Wheels were inferior in scaling and model choice, making them less desirable. There were fears that Mattel would either impose a Hot Wheels-style philosophy on the Matchbox line, or actually fold the Matchbox line into the Hot Wheels series. Early concerns of this nature by collectors were countered by assurances from Mattel that Matchbox would continue to develop its own product line independently from Hot Wheels, and that it was intended that Matchbox represent more realistic and traditional vehicles, while fantasy ones would be placed firmly in Hot Wheels territory. To demonstrate the latter commitment, some very realistic Hot Wheels Caterpillar models were actually re-branded to Matchbox, although that did not assuage concerns about the strength of the former assurance. Matchbox set up its own plastic kit division in the UK around 1972/73. Concentrating on 1:72 scale military aircraft and 1:76 military vehicles, it competed with the then-dominant Airfix company. The Matchbox kits had a distinctive appearance, the parts in each kit were produced in two or three colours compared to the single colour plastic of Airfix. The boxes were also more colourful and included clear windows so the contents could be seen. In addition, unlike Airfix's military vehicle kits, the Matchbox military vehicle kits all came with a small diorama base. The earlier Sky Busters were produced in 1973 from London, England. During the 1970s, Skybusters competed against Dyna-Flytes, produced by San Diego based Zee Toys and the Ertl Company distributed-Hong Kong manufactured Lintoy. Skybusters combined military and commercial aircraft models at their earlier stage. The United States Air Force, Air France, Federal Express, Lufthansa and QX Express were among the first brands to advertise with Skybusters. Some of the first Skybusters released were Learjet, Airbus A300, Boeing 747 and Corsair AD7 airplanes.

In a few years time the model range had grown to over 30 models in the two-colored purple range and extended into many other ranges Products currently marketed under the Matchbox name include scale model plastic and die-cast vehicles, and toy garages. In 1991 Revell bought the molds for the whole range of kits and got a ten year lease to use the Matchbox brand name The Guild’s aim is to promote aviation art in all its forms and to encourage interest in the genre by artists and non-artists alike. Matchbox Model Kit Memorieslook no further but use the search with a particular PK-number to list all variations for that kit. Although the company was no longer British-owned, limited production continued in England until the mid-1980s, re-using many of the old Lesney castings, but most production and tooling was moved to Macau. It was during this period that Matchbox acquired the rights to the venerated Dinky brand, perhaps the "mother of all toy car collectibles", and united two of the most important names in die-cast under one roof. New models were created (sometimes dies were also bought from competing companies), and the Dinky Collection was born. Dinky models tended to be of more recent classics (particularly the 1950s), while Yesteryears tended to concentrate on older vintages. It was also during the Universal era that the "Matchbox Collectibles" concept was developed (see below, "Matchbox Collectibles").

The Universal Group bought Matchbox Toys Ltd. and the marketing companies for France, Germany and Australia for 16.5 million pounds.We reconfigured some of our material around reissues in the Aircraft Orange area. Just compare the following: Specials - A special last run of the Mirage IIIB for an Italian magazine in 1995 by Revell and a limited edition of the BAC 167 Mk.80 Strikemaster issued by Revell in 2011. His work is renowned for its detail and accuracy, especially his aviation subjects, which has resulted in him being the three times winner of the coveted Guild of Aviation Artists “Aviation Painting of the Year” award. Roy and his wife Sue have always been keen sailors and would go to their sailing yacht in France to unwind whenever time allowed. Although their sailing days are now over, they still travel extensively from their home in a quiet Kent village.