Has anyone put one of these together?
I think they are pre painted but they have to be glued together.
I’m having a hard time finding anything online about them.
I’d like to know how many parts they have(I know that will differ from kit to kit) but a general idea would be good.
They are pretty cheap at around $12 a kit. But still look like they could be fun to build.
The only good things I can think about are first, they are made in the US, and they are good for beginners. They are usually not prepainted, out of scale majorly, poor fit, and they only have decals for one plane.
I thought they were pre painted.
I’ll have to check one out at the hobby shop tomorrow.
Lindberg bought up a lot of molds as companies went out of business. Lindberg has kits made by (at a minimum) Palmer, Pyro, IMC, Hawk, and of course Lindberg. Quality varies and all of their aircraft kits date from the 1960s and 70s so you can assume at the least you will probably want to add a little detail.
Bashing Lindberg seems to be a popular pastime for many here, but if you accept the limitations of an older kit and are willing to do some work, most can be built into a nice model. Some of their kits really are very bad, but most have potential. Many are your only option for a subject without going to expensive resin kits.
If you have the option for another brands plastic kit, it is almost always going to be better than the Lindberg kit.
Just say “no”…
Lindberg has been around since the dinosaurs roamed the earth. As has been said, some of their kits are not too bad with a little work. The older [Lindberg molds] are good for learning how to paint and weather kits without spending a lot money on any one kit. Otherwise, do’nt expect too much from them. If you really want to talk about worthless[cnsod], try Starfix.
I like the old Lindberg (and Hawk, Fujimi, & Testors) kits to practice scratch building. Many of these kits have little to no interior, engine or wheel well detail. They are often missing minor and major external details. If you just relax about trying to make it accurate and have fun, it can be an enjoyable build. However, they are a lot of work, no matter what.
For a cheap quick build, I like Arii and Otaki kits.
The last Lindberg kit I built was the XF-91 Thudercepter. Not too bad really. You have to add a cockpit, I used a F-84 seat, tubes for the rocket boosters, something for the engine exhaust, and the intake needs a little work. I also added wheel wells and some simple landing gear detail. Soon I’ll start looking for a XF-88 and if I’m lucky, a F-90.
Lindberg is one of the older American plastic model companies, and has been noted, their catalog included many molds from other makers who went out of business, and Lindberg bought their molds. Their catalog also includes many original designs.
The kits reflect model kit production philosophies and expectations of their time, so some of them are little better than plastic toys that you have to assemble. Others are fairly decent representations of their subjects, for their time, though, as noted, there are better models out there of the same subject. For example, their Curtiss F11C Goshawk kit is a nice kit, though it possess only a rudimentary and completely inaccurate interior. But that makes it a great subject for scratchbuilding, especially since the out-of-print Classic Airframes kit is much harder to come by.
Their dinosaur kits reflect the evolution (pun intended) of model kits. The oldest of them came from Life-Like, and though I had fun building them when I was 6, they’re just horrible, horrible kits. They’re all tail-draggers, with smooth skins, and very poor fit to the parts. But their later kits, tied into “Jurassic Park”, are much better models, both in their engineering and in their adherence to the fossil evidence.
I’m a nostalgia builder, so I don’t turn my nose up at them. I have a stack of Goshawks, plus a couple Stearmans (one with a U-Bild-It motor kit, to motorize the model, and another in orange plastic, boxed as Randy Quaid’s Stearman crop duster from the movie “Independence Day”), a couple Gloucester Gladiators, and I look forward to finishing each one and flexing my scratchbuilding muscles.
I would pass on their aircraft carrier kits, though. I would like to track down the little Model T that was my first-ever model, when I was 5.
Best regards,
Brad
As far as I know, they have the only 1/48 scale Stearman PT-17/N2S Kaydet, P-6E Hawk, and JN4D “Jenny” kits on the market and all three of those are pretty good kits, but you have to be willing to do the superdetailing/scratchbuilding in the cockpits and on engines to bring them in-line with the modern Shake & Bakes…
No, they don’t come pre-painted… That is, unless you want them painted overall-yellow…
I’ve only build the Stearman, doubles as my X-mas tree topper! Have another in the stash($1 at a vendor table!!!) It is a tough little kit, things don’t just “line up”, no cockpit, but with some work, it can be turned into a medal winner…ask me how I know!!!
With the possible exception of Starfix… But it’s close… I have one Lindberg kit I had the mistake of buying here. Their F7U-1 Cutlass. No detail, and very poor fitting parts.
I always liked their 1/48 Gloucester Gladiator. Its a sturdy kit. Yes, the interior needed work, but using plastic card, and the resin set intended for Roden’s version. Engine and Things had a resin engine that fit like a glove into it. I built 2 of them Art Chin’s with the Nationalist Chinese Airforce and RAF No. 263 Squadron in RN camo for use in Norway…
Mike T.