Company

Alexander Engel KG was founded in 1952 in Knittlingen/Baden-Wuerttemberg, a state in the South West of Germany where it has remained ever since.

Model hobby was an increasingly prosperous business after the Second World War. In these days Alexander Engel was mostly involved in the manufacturing of model engines and modelling accessories.

By the end of the 1950s Alexander Engel had made several prosperous contacts to US manufacturers such as Cox, Testor, DeBolt Engineering and other leading US brands which he managed to distribute successfully in Germany for over two decades.

In the 1960s Engel was mainly involved in development and manufacturing of model kits of his own brand such as the legendary Me109, Red Falcon (Roter Adler) and the Telemaster whose design has been copied by many other companies up to this day.

The most renowned engineers in model hobby had their start with Alexander Engel, such as Dieter Schlueter (now a subsidiary of Robbe/Schlueter) and Siegfried Kussmaul (former CEO of Multiplex, now a part of HitTech Corp.). Companies such as Krick were founded mainly by the financial commitment of Alexander Engel in those days.

By the end of the 1960s Engel had established its own manufacturing facilities for plastic injection moulding in Malta, an island in the Mediterranean, then ruled under the British Commonwealth. After a change of government to “socialist rule” this subsidiary was confiscated, putting an end to this enterprise.

However, nothing could bring an enterpreneur such as A. Engel down to the point of resignation. Alexander Engel re-established his manufacturing plant in Germany and grew even larger mainly concentrating on the production of model airplane kits in Germany and England.

In 1979 Engel presented the first static diving submarine model, the Patrick Henry, at the Nuremberg Toy Fair. This was quite a success being the first submarine model to be equipped with Piston Tanks allowing it to submerge just as its original counterpart.

In the 1980s even more innovative products followed in all sections of the model hobby trade.
More than a 150 aeroplane, boat and submarine models were released within less than a decade, all carrying (and deserving) the Engel logo.

Alexander Engel passed away in 1995. Having handed over the business already in 1993 to his son, the current managing director Gregor A. Engel, the company has had all opportunities to steady prosperity and growth.

In addition to its own product line ENGEL carries special modelling brands such as Deluxe Materials, Radio Active and other innovative modelling specialists.

In 2006 Engel has released a highly innovative product VII/C, a full scale, static diving model submarine which beats everything on this ever expanding section of the model hobby market. A new milestone in terms of quality, scale, functionality and pre-assembly of components.

Alexander Engel KG has been run as a family business on a larger scale for more than a half of a century, with traditions and business relations that half lasted for more than thirty years in many cases ... and we are proud of it!

Due to e-commerce, Alexander Engel KG has been able to sell its products worldwide to more than 35 countries. And we are doing our best to keep up with this success also in the future ...