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Lindberg Dodge A-100 Pick-up Coca Cola Truck


Duntov

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Hi there:

I picked this kit up at the local Hobby Lobby for just under $15. This kit is not new and has been around for some time appearing to have its origins in the old "Little-Red Wagon" of 1960's fame. I bought that kit when it first came out and I always liked it. I have been eyeing this thing for some time now and today seemed like a good day so here we go...

The box art reflects the contents, an A-100 Dodge COE pick-up in Coca Cola livery. The box contains that truck but also all of the parts needed for the drag version of Little Red Wagon (no LRW decals though).

BoxArt-vi.jpg

The body is reasonably well done and captures the look of the real truck. If you are a fan of this genre you may want to check the dimensions and overall casting accuracy more closely but it looks good to me. The body is also equipped with opening doors and hinges that are bit large looking. However, I suspect most reasonably skilled modelers will change those out for better looking scratch built items. The glass is clear and smooth and reasonably thin. The decal sheet provides the various Coca Cola scripts and that's it. Nothing else. The frame and bed insert are well done but rudimentary. My only complaint here is that the bed insert has very deep grooves for cutting the engine bay for the Little Red Wagon and time has taken its toll. The groves are so deep in spots that there are holes into the bed area. You can see this clearly in the picture below.

BodyFrameDecals-vi.jpg

The wheels and tires are a set of vinyl no name items (five of them - so you have a real spare!!!) a set of huge Goodyear slicks with brand names and a well done set of period mags in chrome. You also get dog dish hubcaps and a set of steelie wheels!!! That is really nice..I think so any way!!! The chrome tree is well done and has a ton of neat parts on it for the engine and exterior.

Chrome-vi.jpg

The engines (there are TWO in this kit) are nicely done multi-piece affairs. The stock engine is about 17 pieces. The custom engine is greatly simplified but has about 25 pieces and an automatic transmission. The higher parts count for the custom engine is a result of eight velocity stacks and eight plugs. Both have separate oil pans so no seams here! The only problem I see with the engines is that they look to be on the small side. This is a 1/24 th scale kit. This is primarily based on looking at the chrome vale covers, base and Hemi. They just look too small. If you cmpare them to the fuel tank parts on the same tree you can see that they appear to be too small and the tank way too large. Overall, this is small potatoes but you can decide on that one. It's not the first kit to have an out of scale engine. The frame and running gear / suspension are all simplified separate pieces that are well done. The steering wheels can be built poseable but you will want to either glue them in permanently or rework the snap in spindles and axle to be more accurate / substantial. The extra frame box for the Little Red Wagon is present too. The rear end is "FULLY CAST" (yippee!!!).

Engine-vi.jpg

The interior reflects a stock truck and is basic but well done. It includes a dash, seat belts, two part seats, a nice steering wheel, steeering column and shift lever turn signal combo and door panels with cast on details. You also get a push button automatic option as well. THAT is going in my build up for sure!!!! Only the gas pedal from the LRW is included so you will need to add parts here especially since the doors can be opened. Again the drag accessories are included i.e. a full roll bar set up.

Components1-vi.jpg

Overall this is an interesting kit of a really different subject. The simplicity (and age) is clearly reflected in the price. You can easily build up a stock truck with dog dish hubcaps or the Little Red Wagon or some other over the top variant and I am sure many of you already have some wild ideas about where to take this. (I am thinking about a mild custom lowered tow vehicle for the old Revell midget trailer in my junked kits stash.) Go get this kit…the price is right, there are plenty of extra parts and only your imagination and your parts box content will hold you back on this one.

Have fun!

Regards Bill (Duntov)

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i actually had an A100 van years ago; it had the dashboard auto shift and the 318 v8. the kit is very accurate in depicting a short A100 pickup. i have two builtups of the reissue from the '90's, both stock versions of the LRW. i never could get the door hinges to work well, so the doors are glued shut. i might grab a couple more to see if i can replicate my old van....

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This is obviously the "Little Red Wagon" kit with a new decal sheet... so why not toss in the old LRW decal sheet, too? Call it a 3-in-1 kit (stock, drag LRW, and Coke version)... everybody wins! I think Lindberg missed the boat here by not including the LRW markings. Heck, even add a buck or two to the retail price if they have to pay for a decal re-print, but really... this kit could so easily have been more than what it is.

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This is obviously the "Little Red Wagon" kit with a new decal sheet... so why not toss in the old LRW decal sheet, too? Call it a 3-in-1 kit (stock, drag LRW, and Coke version)... everybody wins! I think Lindberg missed the boat here by not including the LRW markings. Heck, even add a buck or two to the retail price if they have to pay for a decal re-print, but really... this kit could so easily have been more than what it is.

The "Old" licensing "Bug-a-Boo" strikes again! We lose,unstead of a real deal in a 3 in 1 model, we get a so so 2 in 1. :lol:

Edited by horsepower
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The LRW kit had been in production for what, a decade or so? If you really want the LRW version, you can probably get one cheaper on ebay or at a swap meet than you can buy a new kit for. If Coca-cola's name is on the kit, you can bet there will be nothing else included to distract from the Coke images/names/logos, etc.

If Lindberg really wanted to hit a home run, they'd reverse engineer the Touch Tone Terror parts which have never been re-issued. :lol:

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This is obviously the "Little Red Wagon" kit with a new decal sheet... so why not toss in the old LRW decal sheet, too? Call it a 3-in-1 kit (stock, drag LRW, and Coke version)... everybody wins! I think Lindberg missed the boat here by not including the LRW markings. Heck, even add a buck or two to the retail price if they have to pay for a decal re-print, but really... this kit could so easily have been more than what it is.

it is a nice kit and all but to make it really worth wild is if they did what AMT did in the 90's when they did there coke run and gave things like the 2 soda machines and a hand truck in the kit,that would be worth me spending a buck or two more.

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Lindberg has been doing that on many of their kits lately, I've even heard of a few that were actually 1/32 scale listed as 1/24 on the box.

I have one better than that. I was looking at getting their trolley kit that they advertised as 1/24 (IT's marked '1/24' right on the box) bacause I thought that it would make a great load for a low-boy trailer... No dice... it's actually a 1/48 scale kit. My question is this: How does a MODEL company hit a home run with a kit like the Police Charger and then mess up something simple like the scale of a particular model???

On topic; I have this particular A100 kit and am thinking about building it as a sport truck with bumble bee stripes, a nice set of Cragar S/S or Keystones and a soft tonneu cover... So many choices with this one, I need more than one. :)

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The LRW kit had been in production for what, a decade or so? If you really want the LRW version, you can probably get one cheaper on ebay or at a swap meet than you can buy a new kit for. If Coca-cola's name is on the kit, you can bet there will be nothing else included to distract from the Coke images/names/logos, etc.

If Lindberg really wanted to hit a home run, they'd reverse engineer the Touch Tone Terror parts which have never been re-issued. :)

To Casey's point .... I neglected to mention that the usual embossed license information is not "Lindberg"..... it is the Coca Cola company - very clearly visible on the underside of the bed insert......still it's an intersting kit........

Regards Bill (Duntov)

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Lindberg has been doing that on many of their kits lately, I've even heard of a few that were actually 1/32 scale listed as 1/24 on the box.

The Coca-Cola branded '34 Ford pickup is the same way, listed as 1:24 when it is in fact 1:25. But that's not the worst... the San Fran Cable Car kit is listed as 1:24 but is actually 1:48! :)

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The early run of the cable car had 1/24 on the box. Also on the website. Soon after it was fixed. I had an email exchange with them about it, as I bought it with intent of doing a small diorama in 1/24. I'm still going to build it eventually, but I was disappointed. The kit was originally by Hawk, and somewhere along the way, someone tagged it as 1/24 instead of teh correct 1/48.

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is obviously the "Little Red Wagon" kit with a new decal sheet... so why not toss in the old LRW decal sheet, too? Call it a 3-in-1 kit (stock, drag LRW, and Coke version)... everybody wins! I think Lindberg missed the boat here by not including the LRW markings. Heck, even add a buck or two to the retail price if they have to pay for a decal re-print, but really... this kit could so easily have been more than what it is.

Might just be because the LRW version has been reissued, and was in the lineup for a while before this one came out. Yeah, the inclusion of the LRW decals would be a bonus (even though I doubt I'll ever build this kit as a LRW replica, personally), but there's probably going to be quite a supply of the straight stock/LRW versions of the kit in circulation for a while.

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  • 1 month later...

i jsut picked up this kit at the local hobby lobby for 11 bucks (yay for coupons)

im really impressed with it, there is a lot of flash on it but that can be fixed

what really impressed me though is that this kit includes 2 COMPLETE engines

lots of kits (the revell ford 32 for instance) come with alomst two engine (in the case of the revell your one starter short of 2 full engines) but this kit has everything to build a good 440 (i think) and a great hemi with some really cool oldschool go fast parts

im pretty sure im going to build the hemi, install it in the subframe, hook up the rear end and see what i can think up around it

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This was built from the last LRW version molded in red. It's a cool kit that builds into a sweet little replica, and the doors weren't even too hard to get to open correctly. The "440" is actually a 273 small block IIRC but I didn't install it. This one's not finished yet, I need to weather it, make an old topper, add some cargo, put a red rag in the gas filler and build/install the engine. There's a couple more of these in my stash too, one will get the van body with a slant 6 and the other......???

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For 15 or less with the coupon I think this kit is probably pretty close to the best bang for buck model. Stock or drag parts, two complete engines, Two sets of wheels, a "real" spare, etc. I personally don't really care it doesn't have the Little Red Wagon decals. Three or four aftermarket places make them if you want them. Look at Revell's comparably priced models the "Classic Cruiser" line. One way to build it, no extras, etc. This kit is cheaper than some current snap kits.

I say thank you to Coke for licensing another kit. Your licensing allows me to fill my "to build" shelves with interesting models for cheap.

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I picked this kit up @ Hobby Lobby today to use as reference for my 1/43 scale A-100 pickup and van projects.

Sadly, the slicks inside are the worst I have ever seen. Not only do they have sink marks(!), but they are horribly mis-shapen in the 'tread' area, and appear to have shrunk after coming out of the mold. I don't know what happened, but they can't be used. I've never had a problem with the slicks in earlier Lindberg kits, so I'm hoping this is a fluke and I just got a bad pair. :(

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