Lindberg ship model opinions?

getting excited about this build hooyah , pulling up a chair .

When I'm done, the intent is to have it look something like this, except on a drydock style stand, getting prepped for a tow. This is (was) the EX-USS Strength, AM-309, down in Panama City. She had been used as a salvage project up on the Potomac River and the moved to PC in 1980, I believe. Then, to the point of getting dangerous, she was retired permanently in '87, and towed out to sea and sunk as an artificial reef.

GMorrison

Old thread, haven't heard from Bondoman in years.

...

  I feel like Bondoman is still here, in spirt at least.

I love just about all the Lindberg ships.  You can't make'em worse. You can make them better and even a different ship then Paul Lindberg intended.

That Mine Sweeper and the old Q-ship have to be the best of the bunch for Warship fans.  Lindberg did have some beauties with the larger scale sailing ship line too, no matter what they called the kit.

  The 1/125 scale of this Minesweeper will look great as a sunken hulk. It occurs to me that most of the Lindberg line of re-issued Pyro kits are perfect for hulks too.

Hey GM,  why did you throw away that 1/600 cruiser?  The hull was not to bad once you sanded it down...and all the other parts could have been used for sprue-glue.  That Lindberg plastic melts real good with thin cement.

   Nino

Gy  Morrison---c'mon man! Silk purse out of sow's ear! Diamond out of lump of coal!  Or buy it again for 5 bucks and spend 100 at Shapeways for 3D fix-its!!

Old thread, haven't heard from Bondoman in years.

I recntly bought a "USS Manchester", very excited about a 1/600 Cleveland Cruiser.

It was so bad, I threw it away.

I recently finished the Shrimp Boat.  I found some appropriate netting at Hobby Lobby to hang from one of the booms.  Also added some geegaws to pilot house.  Not a bad little kit- I am satisfied with results.

Oy!

    hey Guys, You know the one that no one seems to mention? the Tuna Clipper. Originally a LifeLike/Pyro kit ,she's not far off what they were. Also converts to a nice looking R.C. or static motoryacht! T.B.

Way back in 1986, I went through advanced diver training (First Class Dive School) at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center (NDSTC) in Panama City Beach, Florida. During the salvage phase, we raised a 'training hulk', which was an old Admirable class, Steel hulled minesweeper. Yes, the very same as the Lindberg minesweeper kit. So, finally, I am now building (bashing) that kit into the salvage hulk we trained on. The fun part is that I get to strip it down to just the basic structure, rust the heck out of it, and add lots of sea critter growth. Since the running gear was garbage anyway, I don't have to worry about it. Additionally, I got another one, half built and at a yard sale, that I'm converting into a Patrol Craft, Escort (PCE-842 Class), as one of those was used in the same way back at the old Navy dive school at the Washington Navy Yard.

As you can see in the picture, it's time to break out the rock salt for this one! I'll let you know how they turn out.

Anonymous - Being a Who fanatic, you did a marvelous job on this song about Lindberg kits! Excellent job on the lyrics!

ww2psycho - I'm currently building the Nantucket lightship and will follow it up with coverting the Shrimp boat to look like Forest Gump's "Jenny" from the movie. The fit on parts leaves a lot to be desired and there is a lot of flashing and pin marks that need to be cleaned, but I'm willing to put in the effort to make a decent looking model in the outcome.

A big difference compared to a Revell and Trumpeter kits that I have built - thes two companies produce excellent kits.

Ah, Lindberg.   I spot these kits at yard sales all the time.  Decent kits for a youngster that  usually require a lot of work to make them into something accurate.

Lindberg is what I call an "afterthought" company.  Their molds are very old now.  For some reason I picture a guy in an office somewhere, noticing another Johnny Depp pirate movie is coming out.  So he gets on the phone to some the Chinese factory they use from time to time, placing an order for 150,000 ship kits and telling them to redo the boxes with artwork that "resembles" Pirates of the Carribbean.  Then the guy goes back to what he was doing...

See?  An "afterthought" company...

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the 'classic' 1/125 Blue Devil destroyer, where any resemblance between it and a real Fletcher is pure accident! My local Ollie's Bargain Barn had a bunch of them cheep! last year, along with Hawk Graf Zeppelin's. Didn't buy wither...

The beauty of these kits is they are a boon to those afflicted with hyperaccurateness or they're good for the "kit improver". The CG Patrol boat is probably the best of the kits you didn't mention. Fine detail (except for the 20mm) and it's still a warship in the technical sense as they were outfitted for ASW. The minesweeper is quite accurate; just sand off the brick-style panel lines (esp on the pilothouse) look at a few plans to be sure where the deck equipment really goes and you're all set. I like the LCVP; just about right and the LCT is fairly decent. I don't have the LSD but from what I've seen it's not so bad. I don't like the LST as it barely even tries for the minute detail. These kits are more expensive now (go figure) but no one else does these in the scales Lindberg does. That's the appeal i think.

The BHR from Revell is based on the old Aruora kit.

The best Lindberg kit is the "Jolly Roger" which is based on a model of a 18th Century French frigate model in a museum. The original kit was called the "La Gloire" and it's a very good model.

Otherwise their kits are a little more florid and fanciful.

Coming in a bit late to this, I have built the old Aoshima or Imex Spanish Galleon and it is, imho, one of the best researched and best produced models (plastic or wood) of this elusive subject. I built it about 15 years ago before my eyesight and hands went south due to advancing age.  I think Revell did a good job with their Golden Hind of a a couple of decades or more ago.but fell down with their alleged Spanish, then re-packaged as English galleon. That was the 29-inch fiasco apparently based on a Hollywood movie set.  In fact, I had thought that even the 60-year-old plus Shipyard ships-in-miniature series in a standard waterline five inch format were better than the tubby Lindberg series now being re-issued: Golden Hind, Bon Homme Richard, etc.---I think based on the Heller "Cadet" series. Heller has done some good work on sailing vessels of the 17th century, usually French men-of-war, and the Airfix kits of the 1970s or 1980s are pretty decent. But what seems to sell and drive the market is the pirate craze, thanks to the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels. Look on ebay as to what is being sold and you'll see various efforts at modeling the fictional "Black Pearl" or even more spurious Flying Dutchman. These are Disney-fied children's toy type models, in the same vein as the Revell "Pirates of the Caribbean" ship based on the ship-shaped restaurant at Disneyland, which is in turn a version of the Captain Hook ship from Peter Pan. 

Sometimes modelers have interesting motives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRtCEdUMDVc

I bult this kit beautifully, perfectly, but completely stock.  It was the way I always wished I could, when I was nine years old and made a sloppy mess of it.

Most things you can't go back and change, but this was one that I could...

When I broached this subject with Lindberg a year ago, I was politely informed that they are marketing these kits for a children's market, not to the serious modeler's market.  I repeated my position that their marketing approach was a shame because these are really nice kits and that we older modelers have the money with which to buy many kits.  However, I got no further response.  Oh well, perhaps the real answer to the sailing ship enthusiast's dilemma is to start a new company.

Bill 

I wasn't saying there was no market, just comment on how they were marketing them. It seems that with the popularity of Pirates and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchies that people will "identify" with "Pirate ship" maybe more than "Black Pearl" or even "Queen Anne's Revenge."

Tracy,

With sincere respect, I have always doubted the argument that there is no market for sailing ship kits.  I maintain that the manufacturers simply do not know whether there is a market for them. As far as I know, there is no real research showing one way or the other.

Revell of Germany is making tentative headway in this area by periodically releasing new kits (I can't wait for their new WASA!), but no other manufacturer has done so.  If the manufacturers keep releasing their tired old kits, few will buy them, making the market seem scanty at best.  But, if we look at the success of what John Tilley referred to as the HECEPOB (Hideously Expensive Plank on Bulkhead) market, there is an obvious interest in sailing ships.  I'll wager that, if the manufacturers offered real choices in a common scale, there would be a market for them. But, that is my opinion. 

Bill

Harquebus

Brilliant! Late in my reply (but can you really be late since the web is perpetual?) to this post but I could not refrain from singing this song with the new lyrics! I am a current fan of Lindberg but only of the older tried and true vessels. I can easily recommend and concur with others who speak well of:

US Navy Minesweeper

US Coast Guard Patrol Boat

Shrimp Boat

North Atlantic Fishing Trawler

Diesel Tug

Tuna Clipper...perhaps more of the modern vessel lineup. All these are great right out of the box with minimal improvement/superdetailing/scratchbuilding. There's some fine detailing and delicate parts on the Shrimp Boat and and CG PB for one. I like these very much. FWIW.

 

Here's my lindburg Sovereign of the seas that I got from a yard sale.

Maybe they are listening to the market place more than reason?

I have said many times that Lindberg makes reasonably good sailing ships.  I wish that they would get rid of the silly "pirate ship" marketing and market them under their real names and flags.  I also wish that Lindberg would expand their sailing ship range since they really do a nice job of them.  But, they will not listen to reason!

Bill Morrison

Brilliant! Late in my reply (but can you really be late since the web is perpetual?) to this post but I could not refrain from singing this song with the new lyrics! I am a current fan of Lindberg but only of the older tried and true vessels. I can easily recommend and concur with others who speak well of:

US Navy Minesweeper

US Coast Guard Patrol Boat

Shrimp Boat

North Atlantic Fishing Trawler

Diesel Tug

Tuna Clipper...perhaps more of the modern vessel lineup. All these are great right out of the box with minimal improvement/superdetailing/scratchbuilding. There's some fine detailing and delicate parts on the Shrimp Boat and and CG PB for one. I like these very much. FWIW.

I happened to think ,after I posted the last time .I didn,t tell you which LINDBERG boat kit I rc,d . It was the LCVP . Why ?, well the RADIO SHACK 4 wheel drive p/u gear fit in there without much trouble AND the batteries were UNDER the cargo in the welldeck ! The COAST GUARD CUTTER IS a good candidate for small RC and it would work as well or better than the LCVP. Many RC clubs don,t like the smaller stuff running when they do so ,  if you have a place to run without a club GO FOR IT !!!          tankerbuilder

I snagged the smallish Henry Morgan whaler in a Lindberg boxing. You can't fail to detect it was once a Pyro kit from the 60's, that you could buy at any drugstore. It is a nice little kit and basically a fun nostalgia build. Which is why I wanted to kow what their small USS Constitution was all about.

I also snagged their "Jolly Roger" kit - box photos of the built kit make it lok pretty sharp. Note that HobbyLobby has a 40% off coupon on their website and HobLobs almost ALWAYS have Lindy "pirate ships" on their shelves; the source of my JRoger. 

I have only had one Lindberg ship kit    La Flore   French Frigate. Never got around to building it but seem to remember that it looked quite a nice kit of an unusual subject.

I one of the earlier posts in this section converting a hull to make a pirate ship waq mentioned.One of the first ship kits I ever made was the Black Falcon pirate ship made by Merit in England in the 1950's. The moulds have gone to an East European manufacturer and it was re released  some time ago. it was a bit crude and from memory looked as though it was a 2 masted Brig. If you can get one this could depict a pirate ship quite well I should imagine with some work

PHILLIP , hey , I appreciate the input.I have to say though I have never seen a radio controllable boat or ship model for $40.00. The cheapest one I founrd is a supposed SEARAY and it was $129.00 . That said you will have fun with you choice and if you aren,t worried about power or range ,well you can stuff gear from a radioshack four wheel drive pickup . It will all fit . Then enjoy , study , think about the way she handles and plan to do something bigger that you can use FUTABA radio gear and servos and gell cell motorcycle batteries . I use them in tugs because they not only give you a lot of running time , but , they make good ballast too ! I use motors you can find at electronics hobby stores that sell salvaged electronic drive motors by the bucket .     oldcarguy

The Trawler, like many of the Lindberg kits, come and go, and come back again. Best advice?, keep an eye on your local Hobby Shop...........or, if you have the patience, order one and wait for it to arrive.