An Aviation Enthusiast's Kit Collection Home How it All Began 50's & 60's 1970 up Various Topics Books Contact       Packaging Styles List of DUBENA Kits back to 50's & 60's   DUBENA Introduction The Czechoslovakian toy manufacurer DUBENA Cesky Dub  issued a series of 10 airliners kits in the 1970's and 1980's. The moulds for these plastic kits came from the German toy manufacturer  Siku which  issued a series of 35 ready-assembled post war civil and military aircraft types in 1/250 scale from 1959-1964. I got aware of DUBENA kits from a letter to the editor in Avia Mini IV magazine. [1] As the Siku aircraft had such an importance in the recollection of my memories (see How it All Began ) naturally I had to have a look at them and add them to my collection. I aquired the first lot of DUBENA kits in August 2003 from a US seller in an auction. I was pleased. Later on in 2003 and 2004 duplicates were added as well more in later years. That was a good decision as I now I have examples of various package styles. List of Dubena Kits I compiled a list of DUBENA kits . It is based on the listing given in PAK-20 [5] and backed by the number of individual kits I found since 2003.   History I did no find much about the history of DUBENA. I can present here only fragments I got from various sources. DUBENA Cesky Dub is the complete company name, which is  printed on the boxes or found in the logo ( examples see Variation in Package Styles). Cesky Dub is  the town, the company was (or still is) based in. [3] Dubena obviously was a producer of toys. [4]. John Burns tells us in PAK-20 [5] " Eight of these [airliner] kits were originally issued in the mid-1960's in bags by an unknown Czech manufacturer. Dubena acquired the molds, added two of their own [!]... and issued them in boxes during the mid 1970's". Burns obviously did not know, that the moulds came from Siku, so DUBENA could not add moulds of their own. I confirmed the Siku origin as is claimed in Avia Mini [1] by comparing the Siku models and the DUBENA kits. The Siku origin is especially supported  by the observation that although the Siku logo and "Made in Germany" is deleted the Siku catalogue numbers on the underside of the wings are still retained in the same positions. The DUBENA airliners were issued at least in the 1970's and 1980'. I found the dates 1976 and 1982 printed on the rear of boxes (see Variations in Packaging Styles). John Burns also lists four 1:72 ex-Boreslav vacuum-formed kits which were issued by Dubena in the early 1980's General Remarks Dubena naturally used own boxes. An example for the Siku box is shown on the right. They changed all liveries and provided own decals. For instance, the TWA livery for the L-1649 instead of the original Lufthansa rep. Air France, or CSA instead of Aeroflot for the Tu 104. I compiled some observation about packaging styles here, which mainly difered in the stamps on the boxes. Plastic Kits Original box for Siku Caravelle , SAS livery. Cat. No. F2b  ©o.s.       Packaging Styles List of DUBENA Kits back to 50's & 60's   Home How it All Began 50's & 60's 1970 up Various Topics Books Contact Started: 2003 Revised: July 2007 April 2015 Author: cjk  ©cjk