Lindberg Gremlin

[george 53]

Fellas,I was just checkin out the Bay,An I came across a sale of a Lindberg Gremlin kit in 1/24th scale kit#72335.Anyone know anything about this kit? Is it real? When was it released?I'd like to find one, but I've never heard of it.Anyone know where to get one other than Evil Bay?

[larrygre]

It's a reissue of an old, very simple kit called the "Gremlin Grabber," and it's most assuredly NOT 1/24; it's 1/20. My understanding, though, is that Lindberg did mislabel the new issue as 1/24.

Ken, it was one of two 1/20 scale snap kits Lindberg first issued in 1972 - the other was the "Vega Voomer". Both kits are VERY simplified, but workable if you have a stash of vintage MPC 1/20 scale parts on hand.

[george 53]

Thanks alot,Ken an Larry. I was interested in it, but since it 1/20, I won't waste my time now.I don't have any 1/20 stuff to begin with soooooo.........

[Zoom Zoom]

For the life of me, I can't fathom how they think this model will sell...odd scale, toylike quality...can't compare with the Fresh Cherries diecast...seems to me like a model that besides a few oddballs (yes, we know who they are, and we all have oddball stuff we'd buy that the rest of the world could care less about ) that Lindberg couldn't give these things away.

[Modelmartin]

Back in the day when that kit first came out I combined it with a MPC 1/20 AMX to make a Gremlin pro-stock! Never quite finished it but it was cool. There are a bunch of Monogram, Lindberg and MPC 1/20 Vettes Firebirds and Camaros that would be good donors for a street machine type conversion. 1/20 is still odd though unless you are a F1 builder.

Andy

[SteveG]

My source at Lindberg told me he was pretty upset sfter he was informed that Gremlin Grabber kits were miss-labled. To add insult to injury he didn't find out until after they were shipped because he would have re-boxed them given the chance.

Also, Ken is pretty much on target about the game plan, they are cleaning out the vault to find out what will sell. The most popular kits will probably be expanded with new versions. Some like the GG probably won't be seen again but I don't blame them for giving it a shot as who else has a plastic Gremlin kit, nobody. I doubt you'll be seeing any of their 1/20th scale kits from the early 90's re-issued any time soon. However you can expect a few more nice suprises from the old kit vault to be coming.

-Steve

[Jello]

No doubt Lindberg will lose money on the Gremlin kit and I also believe there was plans to release that Vega kit too? but what worries me is this, if Lindberg loses money on kits that will not sell, are they going to assume business is bad and not sell any kits at all?....seems silly to try to sell kits that anyone can tell you if they will sell or not and then blame the lack of sales of that bad kit on a bad market for model kits today. I hope not as I don't plan to buy the Gremlin or the Vega for that matter but the other Lindberg kits such as the '64 S/S cars, Ford truck, '61 Chevy, Dodge A-100 and L-700 truck I have got several of each one.

I wish Lindberg would tool up some new kits rather than waste money on kits that will not sell and of course, the way things are today, I can understand not tooling up any new kits.

~ Jeff

[Aaronw]

No doubt Lindberg will lose money on the Gremlin kit and I also believe there was plans to release that Vega kit too? but what worries me is this, if Lindberg loses money on kits that will not sell, are they going to assume business is bad and not sell any kits at all?....seems silly to try to sell kits that anyone can tell you if they will sell or not and then blame the lack of sales of that bad kit on a bad market for model kits today. I hope not as I don't plan to buy the Gremlin or the Vega for that matter but the other Lindberg kits such as the '64 S/S cars, Ford truck, '61 Chevy, Dodge A-100 and L-700 truck I have got several of each one.

I wish Lindberg would tool up some new kits rather than waste money on kits that will not sell and of course, the way things are today, I can understand not tooling up any new kits.

~ Jeff

I'm wondering if there may be some records issues regarding scale at Lindberg. Some of their aircraft kits have been mislabled as well.

Is it possible Lindberg thought the Gremlin was 1/24 when they ran the molds?

[SteveG]

I'm wondering if there may be some records issues regarding scale at Lindberg. Some of their aircraft kits have been mislabled as well.

Is it possible Lindberg thought the Gremlin was 1/24 when they ran the molds?

No, they definately new it was 1/20th scale. You can see it marked that way on the website. According to my source there, the boxes were a printing error.

As far as sales go, re-issued kits are the most profitable for them. If sales happen to be slow on a few products they're not going to fold up a go away.

Last time I asked, I was told they are very pleased with total kits sales numbers. More kits are planned and are on the way. Besides, my work bench is over flowing with Lindberg related projects. Look for some announcements this fall.

-Steve

[Uncle Mike]

I was glad to see that Lindberg will be reissuing the ex-Testors, ex-Coddington street rod kits, i.e., the Smoothster, the Coupester and the Vantastic. These are VERY nice kits that build up great, and have lots of parts that are useful for other rod projects. I was a little suprised that the Boyd's Hauler pickup wasn't also on the list ... maybe later for that one?

YES! The Vantastic! Great body for doing some stuff that would require resin bodies otherwise!

The Vantastic provided me with a quick rear section to replicate a '36 Ford Phaeton...Tudor, yet!

I tend to avoid the B-yd, like the sticker says, but used the "Boydster" as a rusted-out hulk in a mini-diorama, drew lots of comments!

Lindberg has been a remarkable source for 'different' stuff...usually at bargain prices, too.

I haven't seen this Gremlin yet. I'll do a search on the Bay. Thanks! Great post!