[1][2] With the hiring in 1952 of salesman John Cuomo (1901–1971), the company began the manufacture of its own line of plastic model kits, efficiently marketed with a skeleton staff.

[3] The target market were young hobbyists, similar to the kits of the rival companies, Monogram and Revell.

Aurora profitably targeted a younger demographic than their competitors, creating smaller-sized, less detailed models at a lower price.

[4] By 1953, six more dies had been made for new airplanes: the Curtiss P-40E Warhawk, Messerschmitt Bf 109, North American F-86D, and the Lockheed P-38L Lightning, and a fictitious Russian "Yak-25" (later sold as "Mig-19").

By 1965, Aurora had many automobile kits in 1:32 "slot car" scale including the Triumph TR3, MG-TD, Jaguar XK120, Austin-Healey 3000, Alfa Romeo GT convertible, Mercedes-Benz 300 SL convertible, 1958 Ford "Squarebird" Thunderbird, the American Cunningham, and a few Indianapolis 500 winners, like the Monroe Special, and the Fuel Injection Special.

These included a series of popular historical knights in armor, and other still life buildings, animals, boats, and other intriguing objects.

Guys and Gals of all Nations were also produced and included Dutch, Chinese, Indian, Scottish and Mexican figures.

[9] These included RKO Pictures' King Kong,[10] and characters from Toho Studios: Godzilla, Ghidrah (Ghidorah),[11] and Rodan.

[12] After this, monster vehicles such as Dracula's Dragster, Frankenstein's Flivver, Godzilla's Go-Cart, King Kong's Thronester, Mummy's Chariot and Wolfman's Wagon were introduced, fortifying the company's car offerings.

[citation needed] In the late 1950s, Aurora acquired the rights to the Model Motoring slot car racing system from UK toy manufacturer Playcraft.

[citation needed] The cars were originally driven by a unique, vibrator drive system based on a door "buzzer."

[15] Part of the popularity of the Pancake motor cars was that they could easily be disassembled by the hobbyist with the simple removal of the brass gearplate clip which gave ready access to the armature, brushes and magnets, and serviced with readily available factory original replacement and upgrade parts.

There is a vibrant community of small sellers on internet market and auction sites, and a few remaining shops with multi lane professional tracks still exist along with clubs whose members travel to other states for national sanctioned races.

Some of these events are run with the name of "The Fray", and have a specific set of rules on how cars can be modified, and what parts must be in the original configuration.

Cigarbox cars were packaged in small yellow cigar-like boxes which had fancy red serif lettering and gold trim.

[19] Some of the cars offered, however, were unique and not often seen in miniature, such as the 1967 Ford Galaxie 500, 1963 Buick Riviera, Mako Shark Corvette concept, Cheetah Chevy, Lola GT racing coupe, and the Porsche 904.

Eventually, thinner, low-friction wheels (some chromed and some not) were added and chrome-like shiny paint finishes were introduced, making the cars flashy, but competition was keen and financial troubles loomed.

Nabisco received unwanted publicity when Aurora introduced a line of “Monster Scenes” which included torture devices and a scantily clad female victim; newspapers reported negatively on the line, and the National Organization for Women voiced their objection.

[26][27] Atlantis Models is based in Deer Park, New York, and though also making sci-fi figures, has equal focus on animal dioramas.

[28][29] Polar Lights, Monarch and Moebius all use an oval logo very similar in shape to that of the original Aurora style.

[30] In the 1990s, the family of Joseph Giammarino announced the return of Aurora Plastics Corporation as a manufacturer of hobby kits under the name LAPCO, or Lost Aurora Plastics Corporation, with a product line to include reverse engineered reissues of long-gone kits.

Again in 2007, Giammarino's family announced the return of Aurora, with their first offerings stated to include aircraft and figure kits from their original 1960s line.