An Aviation Enthusiast's Kit Collection

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Progresswerk Nuernberg

Introduction
The German company PROGRESSWERK NUERNBERG (Nuremberg) distributed and produced plastic kits from the 1960's until the early 1970's (exact dates are still subject of my research).
For years I associated the brand name "PROGRESS" mainly with vacuum cleaners and motor scooters. I did not care much of the meaning of the sticker on a Bloch 152 Heller kit, which is one of the very few leftovers of my early modelling days (picture right). Looked like that Progresswerk Nuernberg was not more than a German importer like Biengraeber or Behrends.

Only when I browsed PAK-20 (Plastic Aircraft Kits of the 20th Century) [1] sometime in early 2007 and came across the entry for "Progress-Werke", I became aware, that this company was a plastic kit manufacturer too. I learned, that this German company, "issued ex-ITC kits in the mid 1960´s". The author John Burns lists a F-108 Rapier, a Northrop N.156 and T-38, and a Boeing 727, the mould origin of which was not known to him. Had I looked in John Burn´s Collectors Value Guide [2] then, too, I learned, that Progresswerk also produced kits of ships (Graf Spee, "Rhein River Cruise Ship", and Z-1 Zerstorer ).

In April 2007 the kit manufacturer Progresswerk was discussed in the Airfixcollecting Forum [3], where the German members were asked if they know anything of the history of the German company Progresswerk. That aroused my interest but a search in the web did yield next to nothing. Only the fact that the company was still in existence in 1970 and the former postal address of the Nuernberg factory. There was not much more information posted from other members, too, apart from what could be found in the collector's guide quoted above and the existence of Heller kits with a Progresswerk sticker.

In December 2009 a new thread about Progresswerk was started in the German Brands section of the Airfixcollecting Forum. That inspired me to resume my resarch on the history of PROGRESSWERK. This time I was much more successful. New, refined searches in the web now provided me with crucial results. In addition I personally contacted municipal authorities, the Nuremberg municipal archive and the Toy Museum in Nuremberg. Most important I managed to buy Progresswerk kits in auctions (first was the battleship Graf Spee (picture 2, right) which gave me literally "hands on" information of the products.

I had enough material now to start this entry of Progresswerk Nuernberg on this website in 28.July 2010.

History
Progresswerk Nuernberg was founded in 1863 producing small leather goods, pioneered injection moulding of plastics in the 1930´s, expanded in the aera of plastic manufacturing in the 1960´s and closed down in the early 1993´s. More detail is given in the History Section.

Product Line
Based on kits listed in instruction sheets as well on price lists and catalogues I provide an overview of the product line of model kits issued by Progresswerk Nuernberg.

Epilogue
On my research I grew fond of Progresswerk as a company and became interested in its activity beyond the distribution and production of plastic kits. Therefore I started a more comprehensive research on this company. This is documented in a seperate section of this website and is written in German language (with some subtitles in English).

Plastic Kits