Ju 388 vacu kit

[zenrat]

I find the lower right corner of this photo intriguing; MADE IN XXXXX 

Who do they think they're kidding? 

I think that said ENGLAND before the man with the die grinder got to it.

[Old Wombat]

I find the lower right corner of this photo intriguing; MADE IN XXXXX 

Who do they think they're kidding? 

I think that said ENGLAND before the man with the die grinder got to it.

Far too short. My money's on CHINA (the barely visible bits of the letters seem to match).

[zenrat]

But these later releases were being openly made in China.  Why would they hide that?
My money is on that originally saying where they were being made BEFORE the moulds were sent to China.

[Old Wombat]

But these later releases were being openly made in China.  Why would they hide that?
My money is on that originally saying where they were being made BEFORE the moulds were sent to China.

Only other option that I can think of that might fit is INDIA. 

[zenrat]

One of us needs to buy an original release Matchbox Ju 188 in order to see where it was made...
 

[zenrat]

Or, look on Evil-Bay.

This is the back of the original release box.  Note bottom left.



But I can't find any sprue shots of an original release kit which clearly shows the relevant area.

[Old Wombat]

Well, having found these images (not the same sprues but showing similar signs of alteration) , I can only assume that the sprues that killnoizer has are at least 3rd gen

1st image showing MADE IN ENGLAND


2nd image showing alterations to the "MADE IN ..." panel similar to killnoizer's but they've taken out "MADE" & the location (which is much shorter than the "ENGLAND" in the above image.


And obvious signs that the MADE IN ENGLAND was removed much more professionally.


Weird, but there you go!

In 1982, Lesney Products & Co. Ltd. sold the scale model arm to Universal Holdings/Universal Toys of Hong Kong, who moved the Matchbox brand and tooling to Macau.
In 1991 Tyco bought Matchbox but weren't interested in the plastic model end, Revell Germany bought the rights to the Matchbox molds.

[zenrat]

I found images of a later generation Matchbox box with "printed in Germany" on it.  No mention of where the actual contents were made though.