The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

A very nice build,think....I have this in the stash.

Nice Alfa!

I think that SMER have sold the AR and TL moulds on to Atlantis Models.

very nice

A very nice model made from this very old kit!
The SMER Alfa Romeo Alfetta 158/9 started life described as a Merit super kit way back in the 1960's because it had engine detail, alongside the Talbot Lago released at the same time.
Merit based in Potters Bar, England made a series of kerbside 1/24th scale racing car kits from the 1950's and early 1960's. The Alfa and Talbot moulds were sold on and the kits made by SMER for a number of years after. I believe that these two moulds have been sold on again to Atlantis Models. All the other kit moulds were sold by Merit to a toy company in Italy back in the early 1970's. Not known what happened to them afterwards as to this poster's knowledge they were never released again after being sold on. My guess is that the moulds have probably been destroyed or became unusable years ago. Not sure if there would be any copyright issues after all this time as maybe the toy company that bought the moulds may themselves have long gone out of business
What surprises me is that resin casters have not got hold of original kits from EBay or wherever and done some replication of those old kits. There were some gems of subjects like a Vanwall, Lotus 11, Jaguar D Type and Aston Martin DB3, plus some other GP cars of the day, Connaught, BRM, Ferrari, Maserati to name a few and also a little Cooper with engine detail.
Besides the racing car kits Merit did some aircraft and ship kits. I can remember the first plastic model that I ever made as a child was the Merit Black Falcon pirate ship!
A very rare and sought after kit of theirs is Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird World Water Speed Record Boat.
As Michael Caine would say 'Not a lot of people know that!'