VEB Plasticart

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VEB Plasticart was a toy manufacturer established in 1958 in Zschopau, German Democratic Republic. VEB was a Communist-era designation, meaning Volkseigener Betrieb - "company owned by the people". The company was called KVZ (for "Kunststoff-Verarbeitung Zschopau") from 1958-1969, MPKAB (for "VEB Modell -und Plastspielwaren Kombinat Annaberg-Buchholz") from 1969-1973, VEB Plasticart Zschopau from 1973-1989 and Mastermodell GmbH from 1989-1991. After a two-years break the company was sold in 1993 by the German Treuhand (an organization which privatized state owned enterprises of the GDR) to Manfred Wader. It is today called Plasticart. In 1993 the company had only 37 workers left. A new factory was constructed in Elterlein, Saxony, and now the company counts over 70 workers. They do no longer make kits, but playthings for toddlers.

The old VEB Plasticart produced 40 different kits and a few games (e.g. the mancala game "Badari") made of plastic. Most kits were static models and used scale 1/100 for airliners, 1/50 and later 1/72 for smaller aircrafts. They also produced a model of the Soviet spaceship Vostok (scaled 1/25) and the Energia rocket with the Soviet space shuttle Buran (1/288). Many of them are today valued collector items.

After 1991, Revell took on some of the kits.