ESCI

ESCI was a well-known model aircraft manufacturer. It is no longer in business. It specialised in static models.

They started manufacturing aircraft, military vehicle, car kits and figures around late '70s early '80s. Some of their kits were famous and also officially awarded (Modell Fan magazine) for their accuracy and smoothness. They were pioneers of engraved panel lines at injection moulded kits alongside with Hasegawa.

Products

The early Esci 1/72 scale aircraft offerings, notably the Mirage F-1, F-104, F-15, F-100 and F-5 and Sea Harrier kits, were extremely accurate at the time of their manufacture. The F-104 and F-15 Eagle kits were later superseded by other competitors like Hasegawa, but ESCI's line of 1/72 scale F-5, F-100D/F, and Sea Harrier remained, until today, arguably among the best scale replicas ever produced in injection moulded plastic. Esci's 1/72 Sea Harrier kit is quite exceptional because it has continued to be re-released under many other familiar model brands such as Italeri, Revell and even Fujimi marques as well. Esci was also noted for releasing 1/72 scale models of top-secret Soviet supersonic bombers such as the (Tu-22 and the Tu-26) during the height of the Cold War era, despite it being a difficult subject to find information and references.

Quality

ESCI became noted for their 1/72 military vehicle line as they were one of the first manufacturers to release an extensive and accurate series in that scale.

ESCI's 1/48 arcraft line had below-average accuracy and detailing in spite of the interesting themes (Mig-23, Mig-27) and eyecatching box art. The exception to this are the two crisp models of the famous Henschel ground attack aircraft, the (Hs-123 and the Hs-129).

Interestingly their World War II line was limited to ground vehicle themes (in 1/72, 1/35, and 1/9 motorbikes).

The US ERTL company merged with ESCI in the early '90s. The period of unchanged kits under ESCI/ERTL label was pitifully short. In the mid '90s they completely disappeared from the market. Although several kits has been re-issued under AMT logo they lacked the aforementioned exclusive appearance. After 2000, Italeri has begun re-releasing many interesting and still accurate ESCI kits, this time under the Italeri brand and with new updated box art and decal options. These re-releases ensure ESCI's lasting contribution to the plastic modelling hobby.

External links

* [http://www.plastikowe.pl/baza-danych/firmy/esci-ertl Extensive list of ESCI / ESCI-Ertl kits (in Polish)]
* [http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com The plastic soldier review website carrying an extensive list of all ESCI figure and accessory kits]