Anybody have knowledge of "RINGO MODELS' ????

As far as I know all the Ringo ship kits were reissues of the Ideal Toy Company (ITC) kits, most of which were later reissued by Glencoe.

Good morning

If my memory serves me correctly RINGO kits turned up here in the states in the 1960's. Many of them were old ITC kits, repackaged in RINGO's own boxes with new boxart. I had the Grumman "Duck", the Savio Marchetti "round the world" flying boat, and the steamboat "Clearmont"(sp?) and a US NAVY blimp. Glencoe has the molds and released the "DUCK"  and the Navy blimp a few years ago, I still think they are in production. I'm not sure how long RINGO was in business and their "home of origin". I'll take a look in my vault of "golden hits"(model stash) and see if I can find a RINGO box, if so I'll post the info.

Regards

Mike M. 

  Thanks for help...More to the point..Are they any good or typical of the times...Rough in the box and a bear to construct...Likely I suppose...

They're certainly nowhere near the standard of 1990s or 21st century kits in terms of detail, moulding or accuracy, but they aren't at all bad considering the moulds were designed in the late 1950s. And the ITC/Ringo/Glencoe range contains some absolute gems in terms of subject matter.

The ship kits I know of are:
1/225 USS Oregon (Indiana-class predreadnought battleship, fought in both the Spanish-American War and WW1)
1/74 WW1 Sub Chaser (USN 75" submarine chaser; can be converted to a WW2 SC with a lot of work)
1/120 Corsair II (JP Morgan's steam yacht; can be converted to the gunboat USS Gloucester with some work)
1/48 Coast Guard lifeboat
1/500 SS United States
1/500 SS France

I think Ringo also reissued the kit of Fulton's steamboat "Clermont", which later reappeared under the Lindberg label. Also listed on "Rajen's List" are a 1/350 Graf Spee and 1/96 schooner "Water Witch", neither of which I've ever seen. ITC apparently produced a number of other kits, including the 3-masted yacht "Atlantic" in 1/96, a US Gato-class sub (Halibut) in 1/170, USS Enterprise in 1/400 (is this the one which Revell reissued?) and a 42-foot motor cabin cruiser in an unknown scale. They also made a set of tiny ship kits, including a tug, paddleboat, Viking ship and Chinese junk, which Glencoe have recently reissued.

The Oregon is a bit sparse in terms of detail, and really needs either some scratchbuilding or an aftermarket PE set (I believe Toms Modelworks produce one) but the Corsair II and sub chaser will produce nice models when built "out of the box", though extra detail will improve them. I don't have the lifeboat or the civil ships so can't comment on these kits.

Even their aircraft range includes some unique subjects - their 1/48 Grumman Duck is still the only injection-moulded kit of this plane I know of. And the Curtiss Condor, Martin MB-2, Hughes Convertiplane and Navy blimp (have I forgotten any?) are unlikely to be available anytime soon other than as resin or vacform kits. (I've built the MB-2 and it turned out nicely with some work). The only real "turkey" in the Glencoe aircraft range is the "1/48" D.H. Venom which is more like 1/55 scale and very crude.

I'd be lying if I claimed to be certain, but I think the ITC and Lindberg versions of Fulton's Clermont were completely different kits.  I remember the ITC one only vaguely, but I built the Lindberg one a couple of times when I was much younger.

If I remember right, ITC molded the set of big reduction gears on each side of the engine as one piece.  The Lindberg kit, on the other hand, was motorized - and rather ingeniously so.  All the gears worked, and the crosshead of the scale steam engine moved up and down above the cylinder.  The only visible evidence of the actual power source was a small worm-and-worm-gear arrangement that barely projected into the engine well. 

It was, by the standards of its time, a really nice kit.  It even included some well-detailed figures of crew and passengers.  (I think Lindberg may have achieved a "first" there:  the first plastic ship kit to include a figure of a woman.  Airfix's Mayflower later shared that distinction.)