Just curious, does anyone build Lindberg kits? I see little reference to them, at least on the modeling sites I tend to visit. They seem to have some interesting aircraft subjects, but not the most detailed and a few don’t seem to have accurate lines. The ships and boats look interesting, as well as their motor vehicles. What has been your experience with these kits?
The only Lindberg kit I’ve built is thier 1/32 (closer to 1/35) LCVP. Overall it looks the part, although the machine guns in the kit were a joke. I’ve looked at a few other Lindberg kits and like you said they lack detail and in some cases accuracy. I think they’d be good for practicing new techniques and experimenting.
I’m 53 years old and most of Lindberg’s kits were old and terrible when I was a kid. I think some of their last, brand new tooled kits were in the 1990s and were hit and miss compared to other manufacturers like Monogram, Revell, Tamiya and Italeri.
Many of their last new kits were tied into movies like the original Jurassic Park movie and Independence Day (ID4). Both of those movie lines used some decent new tooled kits that were rounded out with very ancient similar models.
For instance, with Jurassic Park, they had new tooled T-Rex, Raptor and Spitter models and added several other dinosaur models from the 1950s. They also added JP markings to their current Ford Explorer kit to represent the one from the movie, but that kit wasn’t close to looking like the movie vehicle.
In ID4, they did an alien ship and alien exo-figure and added an older F/A-18 and ancient Stearman PT-17 trainer kit.
Their final new tooled armor kits were a very bad T-55, T-80 and BMP.
Today, their line consists of their old stuff along with some abandoned kits from Testors and Hawk. Some of their car kits are pretty good though, but of older subjects.
They occupy the attention of a group of modelers I call the “I wrestled it into submission” set. Some people like a real challenge.
If you are interested, take a look at the Round 2 company. They are reissuing old Lindberg, MPC, Hawk and other kits.
For ship modelers, Lindberg has a bunch of out-of-the-ordinary interesting kits—albeit in odd scales, and mostly useful as basic hull/structures, with a fair amount of work necessary for decent-looking detail. Kits like their USCG ‘Cape’ class patrol boat, assorted landing-craft and the WW2 minesweeper can be knockouts, but most are in odd scales for which aftermarket goodies are scarce or non-existant.
Less impressed with their aircraft, which are generally simplified (or simply awful) versions of types more readily available elsewhere.
One great advantage for all is that they are—or usually can be found—dirt-cheap, so for wild, speculative or enthusiasm-restoring projects, they’re perfect. No qualms about cutting off bits or poking holes…since any attention is generally an improvement. I did their re-released Q-Ship as a semi-authentic WW1 freighter/decoy ship recently—just such a ‘wild hair’ project—and it was great fun…but a lot of mods anf improvements were required just to get it to a ‘basic’ standard.
I have never tried one of their ship kits ( just by looking at the box you can tell their “detail free”) But I have done a few of their car kits.
The Dodge 700 tilt cab truck was a good kit and went together easy. It’s the old IMC kit. Just keep in mind that the instructions have the hinges installed upside down ( that took me a few min. to figure out. )
Lindberg’s 1 / 32 scale of car kits does have quite a few cars that are not available anywhere else. ( Some of the old Pyro kits ) so if you’r looking for a subject that has’nt been “done to death” these are a good choice.
I usually dont do 1/32 scale… my parts box is mostly 1/25. It makes it hard to kitbash stuff.
Lindberg 1960s kits were clunky like the FROGs, also cheaper to buy. Built most if not all of the 1/72 1960s airplane kits, including the terrible He 219; last ones were in 1980s.
After building my Regia Aeronautica Italia kits want to build another Lindberg He 219 IF can find a complete kit, also want to build the 1960s FROG & Revell kits, already have one of the former.
What I “miss” most about the Lindberg kits was the boxtop art particulary the “monsters”, stolid compared to the Auroras, probably why I remember them better. I easly can get carried away talking about 1950s & 60s kit boxtop art, they live vividly in memory…
My experience with Lindberg kits is that they are generally pretty bad.
Poor (sometimes awful) fit, minimal detail, etc. In that regard they are probably comparable to most 50 year old designs.
I’ve done a couple of aircraft, and they have a distinctly toy-like appearance. My son has done a few ships and they seemed about the same.
I’d agree with everyone. I’ve been modelling since the early 1960s and even then, I was never fond Iindberg kits. Bad fit, poor detail, et al. I liked Revell, Monogram, and even Airfix better. If you wanted to make a kit better, more power to you.
Thank you, this is what I was looking for. I’m new to the hobby, so I have enough challenges right now! Some of their subjects are interesting, the harbor tug boat comes to mind. Probably slim to no chance of them re-tooling to improve their line.
No, I doubt if they’ll be retooling anything.
The market niche they’re serving seems to be either people who are just getting into the hobby and might pick up a Lindberg kit for cheap, or folks who are going for nostalgia (hence the vintage style packaging).
If you are new to the hobby I would highly recommend spending a few extra dollars and trying out a Tamiya, newer Revell, or newer Airfix kit. Well worth the investment.
Likely low as getting a 1/72 Broplan C.D.R.A. CANT Z.1007 “Asso” never mind a Legato Z.1018 “Leone” bomber or night fighter, will keep looking though…
Revell does a harbor tug that was a pretty decent kit back in the days. Lindberg kits are best left to the kids. They did do a line of low rider cars that were good for the kids. Some had hop kits that allowed the car to bounce up and down. Some with working headlights, etc. No interiors, engines and whatnot. Windshields were very dark tinted black plastic. This was early 2000s when my now 24 year old daughter built cars with me.
There is a guy in our local club in Charlotte that builds the 1/72nd Lindberg stuff, and he does a great job on them. Says they build up rather easily. His builds look accurate to me, as I always thought the Lindberg kits were very inaccurate, especially when it came to the general shape of the aircraft. This guy has proven me wrong on that.
Built the He 100 when first came out and again c.1986, did extra decal work with aftermarket products, very nice solid kit.
I build them occasionally, because they kit subjects no one else does. The quality of the kits is hit or miss. Some are poor, a few are really great, especially a couple of their car and ship kits. Often they have accuracy issues, and detail is never a highlight. If you are after accuracy and detail, you have to do a lot of extra work. If you are a novice and able to overlook the flaws, they are inexpensive kits.
The next one I intend to build is their shrimp boat. I suspect this is a composite of several individual boats, and does a fair job of representing the type.
My experiences are limited, but I did get the Stuka/262 double boxing at HL last year. The Stuka was very basic and lacked a lot of details, but went together very well. The 262 is going to be a whole lot more work to put it together. I figure the 262 will be good enough to practice camo mottling once I get it together.
But they can turn out good enough for ceiling hangers. They just take some creative thinking and a lotta love.
That’s exactly what I’ve been doing! My plan is to learn the basics first before attempting the more challenging kits. The first kit I picked up when returning to the hobby was the Revell P40. I wound up tossing it back into the box in frustration and not attempting another kit for another year. My second kit was an Academy P51 C Mustang, but I had trouble with the canopy masking. I had enough sense to set it aside, learn how to mask canopies on a few easier kits, then finish the Mustang when I felt ready.
As for the Revell P40? I use it for experimenting. I’ve seen a few really nice builds of that kit on here but I can’t say I want to attempt it again any time soon!
At least y’all are being systematic! Resins are mostly what am working with - or against - great number 1/72 Regia Aeronautica Italia (RAI) kits are resins; instructions generally are poor, some so bad I’ve had to guess on what goes where, Internet photo checking does wonders here.
BTW, currently working on two types each Choroszy Modelbud Breda 25 & 28 biplane resin kits assembly line style, one kit is missing tailplane support parts another has 2x number of wing strut parts. I can’t fault Anon Chroroszy entirely, really works hard putting out off-the-road kit subjects, just glad I can get them given near everything RAI seemingly always is “limited edition”.
Lindberg’s old spacecraft concept kits can be fun, straight out of the box or customized. Accuracy and detail don’t matter with these kits. https://culttvman.com/main/tom-herings-space-station-transport-rocket/
