PZW (Podlaskie Zaklady Wytworcze)

Introduction

Around 2005 I won the  polish kit of the S-1 Sep glider in an auction together with some other gliders of this range (picture 1). I'm not shure if they were part of a lot or just a bargain. All lettering is in Polish language so the name of the maker  did not reveal immediately. These kits went into one of my storage boxes.

Probably in 2012 I bought the S-55 helicopter which I saw in the display of an private seller (picture 2). I could not resist to buy this  Airfix-like Whirlwind in white plastic. Same as before no instant hint to the identity of the producer. It as well slipped in a storage box and rested there until I started a research on these brands in 2013, inspired by a thread in the Airfix Collecting Forum [1]. I started to aquire kits in various packing styles in a similar choice as shown in the forum. see My Collection.  I always regard "kits in my hands" as the best primary sources for a research.

At first view it  seemed that all these kits came from the same maker. But with the help of a dictionary I looked up the Polish language lettering of the boxes. It turned out that we apparently are concerned here with two companies:

- Zaklady Przemyslowe "RUCH" located in Kobylka, Poland.
      and
- Podlaskie Zaklady Wytworcze  located in Siedlce, Poland.

In the following I will use RUCH and PZW as acronyms for these company names.

RUCH abandoned production of plastic kits and model cars in 1972. Production was taken over by PZW in 1974 and was expanded with more types. The manufacturer RUCH will be treated in a separate page.

History

The following is an abstract of the statements from the Polish website Seria Miniatur [2] I quoted above. This site deals mainly with the plastic model cars issued by RUCH and PZW but it provides useful general information about the two companies whereby the aircraft kits are mentioned, too. I incorporate clarifications by an e-mail contact with the author, and some own considerations.

The production of the kits and car models of RUCH was taken over by the manufacturer Podlaskie Zaklady Wytworcze in Siedlce in 1974. An additional production hall was built. PZW was already engaged in the manufacturing of toys since the 1950's. The name literally translates to Podlachean Production Works. Podlaskie is the name of a district in eastern Poland (see lettering on the boxes in the third post below). There is no connection with RUCH  anymore which concentrated on their original field of publishing and selling printed media.

The kits from RUCH origin I can confirm are: Mig.15, Sikorsky S-55,   HMS Cossack destroyer, which were copies of Airfix kits and TS-11 Iskra, PZL-23 Karas, and PZL P-11C, which obviously were own RUCH designs. Kits added newly by PZW were the PZL P.7a, the pre-war Polish lightplane RWD-8, and a series of Polish sailplanes. All aircraft kits are in the 1:72 scale.

In April 10th, 2006 the company Podlaskie Zaklady Wytwórcze filed for bankruptcy and was finally shut down in 2008.

Up to now I do not know how long the production of plastic kits lasted. But kits must still have been issued in the 1990's as the change of street name from "Krasickiego 15" to "10 Lutego", which occured in 1990 is reflected by the lettering on the boxes.

Possibly moulds have been taken over by ZTS, Mastercraft and later Mistercraft which may have continued to issue these kits under their own labels. But that is another story which still has to be researched.


Product Range and Packaging Styles

PZW Packing Styles

In My Collection I list all PZW kits I have in my collection complemented by some third party pictures. This may serve as an overview of the product range of RUCH without beeing complete.

For my own use I added kits from RUCH and ZTS to have a survey for searching missing kits in my collection.

Ruch used various box styles for packaging. For a comprehensive review of the packing styles see my subpage PZW Packing Styles.