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.

Box		K-series	1-of-5,000	H/O series	S series
Ag	Silver with embossed pattern and black print
Ag1	Silver with embossed pattern and blue print
Ag2	Silver with blue square pattern and red print
Ag3	Silver with white diamond pattern and black print
Am	Amber Box with a picture of the prototype marked "H O GAUGE".
Bb	Blue Box with black print	X
Bg	Blue Box with embossed diamond pattern and gold print
Bg2	Blue (plain) with gold print (One of 5,000)
Bg3	Blue (plain) with gold print (K-Series)
Bk	Black with silver print
Bw	Blue Box with white print
Cr	Cream with black print. Medium blue box bottom
Cr2	Cream colored Box with red print
Gb	Green with blue print
GG	Glossy, Gold Foil box with embossed pattern and blue print
GG2	Glossy, Gold Foil box with embossed pattern and black print
GG3	Glossy, Gold Foil box with embossed pattern and blue print (50th Anniversary Special)
Gr	Dark green with gold print
H	Heritage Box with red "ribbons" and a picture of a GN Caboose, H0 Scale ("Gauge")
H5	Heritage Box with red "ribbons" and a picture of a GN Caboose. "ONE OF 5000" text over the right ribbon.
HO	Heritage Box with red "ribbons" and a picture of a GN Caboose, 0 Scale ("Gauge")
L	"Linen", beige with red print
N	Northeastern, yellow with black print
N2	Northeastern, yellow with brown print. "S Gauge"
Or	Orange with blue text
R	Red with black print, K-series
R2	Red with black print, "1-of-5,000"
Rb	Red with blue print, "1-of-5,000"
Rg	Red with gold print		X
T	Turquoise glossy with gold print
Wd	Wood grain
Y	Yellow with black text, K-series
Ys	Yellow with black text, S-series
Y2	Yellow with black text, "1-of-5,000"

Acknowledgments

Ambroid is a registered trademark of Graphic Vision, Inc. and is used here with permission.