Robert Reder, Monogram Models co-founder, dies

The model-building hobby has lost another of its forefathers. Robert Reder, co-creator of Monogram Models, has died. He was 93.

Starting in 1935, Reder was a designer and draftsman at Comet Model Airplane & Supply Co. in Chicago. During World War II, he worked with the Navy to develop a national program for building identification models, used for training by pilots and anti-aircraft gun crews. By 1945, he and pal Jack Besser pooled their life savings ($5,000), and started Monogram Models in, appropriately, his mother’s basement. Monogram started with balsa-wood ship and airplane models, but soon switched to injection-molded plastic and added automotive subjects. Making those car kits in slightly larger 1/24th scale, rather than the AMT/MPC/Revell industry-standard 1/25th scale, has caused mild controversy within the hobby for years.

Reder’s death, on February 20, comes less than a month after the death of another plastic model kit pioneer, George Toteff.