Status of Lindberg?

[bisc63]

49 minutes ago, Fat Brian said:

The 37/38 Fords are based on the original Smoothster tooling that was done for Testors as part of their deal Boyd Coddington in the 90s.

I wonder if that would mean Italeri originally? Am I correct in thinking Testors never actually did their own tooling, but marketed kits tooled by others? I know they used Italeri often, as well as Fujimi, Hawk, Heller, and maybe Pyro.

[pack rat]

3 hours ago, Dave Van said:

That 1/20 Gremlin was a OLD tool.....they ran it to generate some cash.  It was nothing like the new tool 1/20 stuff. 

Yes; the later 1/20 scale stuff was very well done, and the subject matter was good.......too bad about the scale.

[Fat Brian]

14 hours ago, bisc63 said:

I wonder if that would mean Italeri originally? Am I correct in thinking Testors never actually did their own tooling, but marketed kits tooled by others? I know they used Italeri often, as well as Fujimi, Hawk, Heller, and maybe Pyro.

The Boyd kits were done specifically for Testors but I have no idea who originally cut the molds. If I can find my original Smoothster box there might be some clues on it.

[Fat Brian]

13 hours ago, pack rat said:

Yes; the later 1/20 scale stuff was very well done, and the subject matter was good.......too bad about the scale.

Yes, it's a terrible shame that Nissan truck isn't in a more common scale.

[Casey]

So, is it official that the Lindberg name/brand, for all intents and purposes, for automotive releases is now a thing of the past? Not saying it was the wrong decision if so-- quite the opposite, actually.

[Rob Hall]

They definitely seem to have moved away from it in the last couple of years...on the Round 2 website, they only show 3 Lindberg products--all pirate ship kits.   And not much more on the Auto World store site.

[StevenGuthmiller]

3 hours ago, Rob Hall said:

They definitely seem to have moved away from it in the last couple of years...on the Round 2 website, they only show 3 Lindberg products--all pirate ship kits.   And not much more on the Auto World store site.

Lindberg was absorbed under the Round-2 banner some time ago, just as AMT, MPC, Polar Lights, and several other brands were.

None of these companies exist independently anymore, and haven’t for quite a while.

All of Lindberg’s line, (as well as the others) are now owned and produced by Round-2, often under different company badges, (ie, Lindberg models packaged as AMT kits, etc.)

If you’re interested in the history of these different kit companies up to this point, the information can be found on Round-2’s website.

 

 

 

Steve

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by StevenGuthmiller

[Brian Austin]

On 2/4/2022 at 3:47 PM, bisc63 said:

It seems they tried a little of everything scale-wise! As I noted above, their late model Super Bee kit was 1/24, and I forgot to mention those 1/24 '37 Ford Ford street rod kits they did. Some of those were showing up at Ollie's stores a couple years back for ten bucks. They build up nice, and are very good sources for modern rod chassis/suspensions. Why they wandered into 1/24 after tooling 1/25 back in the 90s-20000s I have no idea. Maybe someone else's tools? Hoping to appeal more to European market where 1/24 is more "standard" car scale?

My '38 Ford "Van" is interesting.  The components are rather nice, and would be good for kitbashing.  While the chassis and fender units do seem to be 1:24 scale, the body itself seems undersized for some reason.

[Rob Hall]

2 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Lindberg was absorbed under the Round-2 banner some time ago, just as AMT, MPC, Polar Lights, and several other brands were.

None of these companies exist independently anymore, and haven’t for quite a while.

All of Lindberg’s line, (as well as the others) are now owned and produced by Round-2

 

Yes, I think we are all quite aware of that...the point I was making is Round 2 doesn’t seem to be using the Lindberg brand much anymore...

Edited April 13, 2023 by Rob Hall

[Rob Hall]

On 2/4/2022 at 7:15 PM, bisc63 said:

I wonder if that would mean Italeri originally? Am I correct in thinking Testors never actually did their own tooling, but marketed kits tooled by others? I know they used Italeri often, as well as Fujimi, Hawk, Heller, and maybe Pyro.

There are a few tools that were only issued under the Testors brand..presumably made by some third party, like the Boyds kits incl. the Boyds Chevy pickup. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

31 minutes ago, Rob Hall said:

Yes, I think we are all quite aware of that...the point I was making is Round 2 don't seem to be using the Lindberg brand much anymore...

Sorry.

I was under the assumption after reading yours and Casey's posts that you were legitimately wondering what Linberg's current status was.

Maybe it's just the way that my brain works, but I guess it didn't enter my mind that there would be anyone who really cared about who's name was on the box.

The kits are still available under one name or another.

Seems like a moot point to me.

 

 

Steve

Edited April 13, 2023 by StevenGuthmiller

[1930fordpickup]

The Polar Lights name has been out recently. I wonder if we will see a kit or 2 come back out under the Lindberg name in a few years. 

[Bugatti Fan]

Tooling floats from one manufacturer to another. Same kits appear under different labels. I am sure that Aoshima's MGB  kit has been marketed under the Revell name for example, as did Lindberg's Bugatti Royale kit.

Brands get either get absorbed into others or 'badge engineered' by a holding company who buy out the businesses, or simply reintroduced under a new brand name altogether like Atlantis or Polar Lights.

The kit industry will always be in a state of flux. Even two of the biggest players, Airfix and Revell have been bought out numerous times over the years.

Edited April 20, 2023 by Bugatti Fan

[SfanGoch]

I asked why all the Lindberg car kits were being reboxed as AMT on the R2 Facebook page and the reply was a bunch of double-talking-from-both-sides-of-the-mouth gibberish about R2's commitment to provide the best service to its customers. In plain English, "We're gutting Lindberg of any and all decent kits to shore up the big guy line, leaving the junk kits."

[Bugatti Fan]

Management Speak, don't you just love it?

Expressions like 'Blue sky thinking!' being used at meetings.    I can understand that one if I were an airline pilot maybe.     

Other expressions I find annoying. 'Enjoy!........... Enjoy what?     'Missing you already!' when you leave a fast food joint and other crass meaningless expressions.

Radio DJ's saying 'Love You' when someone phones in and the conversation ends and they don't know the caller from Adam.

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

36 minutes ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Management Speak, don't you just love it?

I believe if there was a moratorium placed on the human manufacture of bovine exhaust and hot air, we would instantaneously solve the "existential environmental crisis".

Just sayin', as they say.   

Edited April 21, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[SfanGoch]

More like insayin' Management-Speak.

[niteowl7710]

23 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

I asked why all the Lindberg car kits were being reboxed as AMT on the R2 Facebook page and the reply was a bunch of double-talking-from-both-sides-of-the-mouth gibberish about R2's commitment to provide the best service to its customers. In plain English, "We're gutting Lindberg of any and all decent kits to shore up the big guy line, leaving the junk kits."

Well if Lindberg had actually ever made anything decent of their own and didn't rebrand a bunch of dreck from IMC, Ideal Toy, Palmer & Pyro as "Lindberg" they wouldn't need a dozen kits tooled up the 90s wouldn't make or break the brand. Relabeling those Craft House era kits as AMT was the best thing to do with them to separate them from the reputation that Lindberg justifiably earned over the years they were basicly inactive and just shoveled out that ancient tooling catalog over and over.

[SfanGoch]

Some people might find it hard to believe that Lindberg produced decent model kits other than just cars. You're just not old enough to know that.

[Bugatti Fan]

Lindberg's Bugatti Royale kit looks a reasonably good kit from in its day, having one that I have yet to build.

The company started I think back on the 50's. I can remember when I was still at school saving up my pennies for their B17G bomber kit. Not sure what the scale was. Maybe 1/48th? Anyway it looked big to me at the time.

Two of their sailing ship kits I can remember as being really nice were the French Frigate La Flore and their Wappen Von Hamburg. The same kits were marketed as 'pirate' ships when re issued down the years.

[peteski]

7 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Lindberg's Bugatti Royale kit looks a reasonably good kit from in its day, having one that I have yet to build.

The company started I think back on the 50's. I can remember when I was still at school saving up my pennies for their B17G bomber kit. Not sure what the scale was. Maybe 1/48th? Anyway it looked big to me at the time.

Two of their sailing ship kits I can remember as being really nice were the French Frigate La Flore and their Wappen Von Hamburg. The same kits were marketed as 'pirate' ships when re issued down the years.

I think Lindberg made many very nice (non-automotive) model kits.  I believe the gripes here are directed at their automotive models, especially in the odd scale they chose.

[Bugatti Fan]

Their Bugatti Royale is a 1/24th scale kit as was their Chrysler Atlantic kit. Both quite nice.

Having not acquired any other Lindberg car kits, what was the odd scale they chose?

[Ace-Garageguy]

1 hour ago, Bugatti Fan said:

...what was the odd scale they chose?

They made some 1/20 automotive stuff.

[Tabbysdaddy]

I have the 1/20 Sonoma and Explorer, built them both. I think they're very nice. 

[1930fordpickup]

4 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

Their Bugatti Royale is a 1/24th scale kit as was their Chrysler Atlantic kit. Both quite nice.

Having not acquired any other Lindberg car kits, what was the odd scale they chose?

Not only were they nice kits, but also good subject matter.  The only problem was the scale.