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Boxes for Ambroid Wood Craftsman Kits
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Ambroid Wood Craftsman Kits

The Boxes

Ambroid seemed to have had a great pleasure in packaging their kits in many different boxes. It started out modestly enough with all early kits packaged in an amber box with a picture of the model on the front. Soon these boxes were replaced with others, and with the introduction of the "One-of-Five-Thousand" series kits, the number of different boxes really increased.

The pattern in what boxes were used can be described as the early kits came in the amber box with a picture of the prototype car on it and the words: "HO Gauge". Later K-series kits came in a yellow box with black print, followed by a blue box with white print. But, unfortunately, it is not that simple. There have been orange, red, and variations on the blue boxes for the K-series as well. Common for all K-series boxes is that the Ambroid logo is centered on the box front and they all have the text "The finest name in Cement - The finest name in Model Railroad Kits" (except the Am box).

The S-series cars seem to have come in a yellow box with black print (similar to the K-series yellow box).

The H-, and O-series cars came in a beige colored box with red ribbons and a picture of the K-9 Great Northern Caboose. The difference lies in the text on the boxes. The only exception to the standard boxes I have seen, is the H-1 kit, which has the text "One of 5000" on the front. No other kit in the two series has this text.

The "One-In-5,000" series seem to have had many different boxes, maybe not one for each kit, but pretty close. All of them have the Ambroid logo in the upper, left-hand corner and the text "ONE OF FIVE THOUSAND" HO COLLECTOR'S ITEM in the lower, right part of the box.

There are also a number of kits in the K- and 1-of-5,000 series that came in a Northeastern box. These boxes had the kit number hand-written on them. I don't know if these were prototypes or what the reason for the strange combination of Northeastern box and Ambroid kit number could have been. There are other abnormalities as well. I have in my private picture collection one of the Vinegar Car (1-of-5,000 number 1-4) in a Y box with handwritten kit name and number on the box. There has also been a sighting of the Outside Braced Reefer (1-of-5,000 number 1-5) in a Y box.

Below is my first effort to a classification of the boxes. Take it for what it is; a first trembling step on a very long journey to list all boxes for all kits.

BoxK-series1-of-5,000H/O seriesS series
AgSilver with embossed pattern and black print   click for larger picture  
Ag1Silver with embossed pattern and blue print   click for larger picture    
Ag2Silver with blue square pattern and red print   click for larger picture  
Ag3 Silver with white diamond pattern and black print click for larger picture   
Am Amber Box with a picture of the prototype marked "H O GAUGE". click for larger picture   
Bb Blue Box with black printX    
Bg Blue Box with embossed diamond pattern and gold print click for larger picture   
Bg2 Blue (plain) with gold print (One of 5,000)   click for larger picture  
Bg3 Blue (plain) with gold print (K-Series) click for larger picture   
Bk Black with silver print   click for larger picture  
Bw Blue Box with white print click for larger picture   
Cr Cream with black print. Medium blue box bottom   click for larger picture  
Cr2 Cream colored Box with red print   click for larger picture  
Gb Green with blue print   click for larger picture  
GG Glossy, Gold Foil box with embossed pattern and blue print   click for larger picture  
GG2 Glossy, Gold Foil box with embossed pattern and black print   click for larger picture  
GG3 Glossy, Gold Foil box with embossed pattern and blue print (50th Anniversary Special)   click for larger picture  
Gr Dark green with gold print  click for larger picture    
H Heritage Box with red "ribbons" and a picture of a GN Caboose,
H0 Scale ("Gauge")
     click for larger picture 
H5 Heritage Box with red "ribbons" and a picture of a GN Caboose.
"ONE OF 5000" text over the right ribbon.
     click for larger picture 
HO Heritage Box with red "ribbons" and a picture of a GN Caboose,
0 Scale ("Gauge")
     click for larger picture 
L "Linen", beige with red print   click for larger picture   
N Northeastern, yellow with black print click for larger picture click for larger picture   
N2 Northeastern, yellow with brown print. "S Gauge"     click for larger picture
Or Orange with blue text click for larger picture     
R Red with black print, K-series click for larger picture   
R2 Red with black print, "1-of-5,000"   click for larger picture  
Rb Red with blue print, "1-of-5,000"   click for larger picture  
Rg Red with gold print X    
T Turquoise glossy with gold print   click for larger picture  
Wd Wood grain   click for larger picture  
Y Yellow with black text, K-series click for larger picture   
Ys Yellow with black text, S-series    click for larger picture
Y2 Yellow with black text, "1-of-5,000"   click for larger picture    

 

Acknowledgments

Ambroid is a registered trademark of Graphic Vision, Inc. and is used here with permission.
Ambroid adhesives can be found at Ambroid.com


Updated 08/22/2006 Copyright © 2006
Per Harwe
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