Nintendo paper model leaflet from mid 1970s

Welcome to 2021 and best wishes to you all. We will start the new year with a couple of short posts featuring some recent finds.

Shown in the picture below are two one-page leaflets for Nintendo products from the mid 1970s that I acquired recently; one of the Paper Model (ペーパーモデル) series and the other for cards games.

These leaflets were part of Nintendo's sales material and used to promote new products to potential (wholesale) buyers from toy and hobby shops. They are about A4 size and printed double-sided in color.

In this post we will take a look at the Paper Model one, and the other one is shown in more detail in a next post.

The front side shows a description of the Paper Model series and an overview of fourteen models in the Vehicle Series (のりものシリーズ). These were fun card board hobby sets, retailing for a modest ¥100.

Paper Model leaflet - front (1974)

At a later date this series was extended with two extra ones, bringing the total different vehicle models to sixteen. [As an aside, although most of the Paper Model series still is not that difficult to find in Japan these days through Yahoo Auctions, these last two models are much rarer.]

Paper Model leaflet - back (1974)

The back of the leaflet shows two other series available at the time: the Building Series (たてものシリーズ)...

... and the Zoo Series (どうぶつシリーズ).

Not shown on the leaflet is the fourth series with more elaborate Paper Model sets, the so called Panorama Series (パノラマシリーズ), which was released later in 1974.

The leaflet also shows two display options available to shops: a counter stand (86 centimeters high) and a floor stand (148 centimeters).

To find out more about the Nintendo Paper Model series, check out this previous post.

Nintendo Paper Model series - Introduction (ペーパーモデル シリーズ, 1974)

From around 1977 onwards, Nintendo would specialize more and more in video games. But in the first half of the 1970s, their strategy still was about branching out in many areas of the game and toy business, and to seek revenue and profitability from a broad product portfolio.

This portfolio included the light beam toys, action toys (like Lefty RX, Mach Rider and Shot Racer), board games and the series of Mini Games, to name a few.

One of the areas which Nintendo also tried was handy craft. After a first attempt in the 60s (with the Picture Cutter), a more elaborate product line was introduced in 1974, in the form of a series of paper craft models.

Nintendo Paper Model (1974)

At first glance, this may appear a surprising market for Nintendo, but with in-house printing presses available for mass cardboard printing (an inheritance from Nintendo's playing cards roots), producing paper model kits was actually not that farfetched.

The series was called Paper Model. The katakana name (ペーパーモデル) was written in a very 'papery' font.

Nintendo Paper Model series - Overview (ペーパーモデル シリーズ, 1974)

The 1974 Nintendo Paper Model (ペーパーモデル) line of papercraft sets consists of 39 sets in total.

Nintendo Paper Model series (1974)

These sets are grouped in four themed series:

• Vehicle Series
• Building Series
• Zoo Series
• Panorama Series