ROUND 2 TAKES ON CLASSIC KIT BRANDS LINDBERG AND HAWK

NEWS UPDATE FROM MAT IRVINE:
Round 2 Corporation, owner of the AMT, MPC and Polar Lights brands, has just acquired Lindberg and Hawk, both revered names from the early days of plastic kits.

Lindberg and Hawk are two of the oldest kit names, though Lindberg (under which label Hawk has run in the recent past) has had a roller-coaster of ups and downs over the years. However, a resurgence in the 1990s saw brand-new kit lines being introduced, and Hawk bought back some of its iconic kits, such as the Weird-Ohs.

Survival doubt
But output declined in the 2000s, and company survival has been in doubt more than once over the last decade. But now it seems that both Lindberg and Hawk have a new lease of life with Round 2.

New owner
The Round 2 Press Release runs: “Round 2 LLC, acquires Lindberg and Hawk Model Kit Brands. Round 2 to Produce Popular Land, Air, Sea & Space Models - Adding to AMT, MPC & Polar Lights.

The PR release goes on: “...Round 2, LLC, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Lindberg and Hawk Models brands and assets from J. Lloyd International. With the transaction, Round 2 adds these two well-recognized and historic plastic model kit names to their existing trio of AMT, MPC and Polar Lights model kit lines, licensed from Learning Curve Brands, Inc. in 2008 and purchased outright in 2012.

Five-brand stable
“Consumer trust and excitement has been building over Round 2’s efforts with the initial three brands since 2008. Now, with the assets of five major model companies in its stable, Round 2 solidifies its position as a top producer and fierce competitor in the plastic kit sector of the hobby industry.

Diversity
Thomas Lowe, President and CEO of Round 2 states: “The addition of Lindberg and Hawk results in a combined product catalogue for Round 2 that is so diverse, it will include virtually every type of model kit genre imaginable and in a wide range of scales. Whether you’re looking for cars, trucks, aircraft, ships, sci-fi, space exploration, anatomy and figures or even crazy monsters, we now have it all! We’ve made plans to hit the ground running with these brands and are ready to go.

Moving a pickup
“As we progress into the future, we will be working with the vintage Hawk and Lindberg tooling to resurrect more exciting kits that haven’t seen the light of day in decades, just like we have with AMT and MPC. We’ll also be happy to put the 1934 Ford Pickup tooling back under the original AMT brand, from where it originated.”

Two versions of the 1934 Ford Pickup (below) show the original illustrated 3-in-1 AMT box, with later photo-style Lindberg reissue below.

Love that hobby
Lowe continues: “Like our customers, we love model building. Lindberg and Hawk models are sure to excite modellers of all ages. From the connection with history to a hunger for an understanding of how various machines, both human and mechanical function, the kits created by the original brands have always offered a wide variety of subject matter for model makers, and we plan on continuing that long standing tradition.”

Summation
Sounds good, and SMN is looking forward to a flood of fascinating retro-flavour kits from Round 2’s new brands.

Lindberg kits here, not forgetting the wonderful Weird-Ohs.

And one more thing...

This is a page from the 1958 Lindbergh catalogue, with picture and intro from company president, Paul Lindberg. Love that Convair Hustler!

ANOTHER BIG JET FROM REVELL WITH A 1:32 SCALE RED ARROWS HAWK

David Jefferis reports
The BAe Systems Hawk is one of the best known jet trainers, and the Red Arrows one of the world’s top aerobatic teams, so it’s great to see a new-tool kit of the two-seater on sale. The Hawk is not a large aircraft, but at 1:32 scale the wings span 294 mm (11.6 in) and the fuselage is some 368 mm (14.5 in) long, so the benefits of sheer size are clear. There are 158 components in the kit, including the ventral tank carrying the diesel fuel used by the smoke system. As a vet of many a Reds display, I reckon they use more smoke during a show than any other team I’ve seen - in Guernsey one year, a vast mist of the stuff wafted across the crowd in a multi-coloured haze, but everyone loved it!

Hawk details and a Guernsey antique shop

Revell has included the sort of detail you might expect, with the twin cockpits in particular packed with detail - they form the best Hawk interior yet available in the model market. The ejector seats are especially worthy of note, and the finished model will certainly repay efforts to give those seats extra finish, with a little little weathering on the edges. Again in Guernsey, I spotted an old ejector seat in a top-end antique shop. It had been stripped to bare metal and given a high-lustre polish, being sold in reupholstered form as a talking point, ‘suitable for the gentleman with everything’. Ah, if only I had the room... And the cash, as it wasn't exactly cheap.

Back to the kit, flaps, air brakes, ailerons, and rudder are all supplied separately, so you can have these items up, down, in or out, as the mood takes you. Just right, as are the detailed landing gear bays. All in all, an interesting kit for anyone who has watched in admiration as the Red Arrows perform one of their awesome displays.

About the Red Arrows

The Red Arrows form the official Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, its pilots having given displays since 1964. In this near half-century of action, the team has used various aircraft - it started with tiny little Folland Gnats - but has been flying Hawks since 1979. In that time, the Reds have given 4000-plus displays in 53 countries, all over the world. They have many formations, and are constantly developing new ones, though perhaps the best-known is the trademark ‘Diamond Nine’ grouping. And nine is the standard Reds number, with nine volunteer pilots, each having a three-year placement - three pilots in their first year, three in their second, and three performing their final season. It’s not impossible to get a flight with the team either - one female charity auction winner bid around $2.4 million USD (£1.5 million GBP) for the chance! 

See Hawk kits and models here.

The pictures show:

1-5  Revell 1:32 scale Hawk details.

6-8  Reds in action, in the air and after a show.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

As we enter the Christmas season, we can all look forward to 2011 which, if model world rumors even come partly true, promises to be a very eventful year!

 Thank you for visiting Scale Model News throughout 2010 and we look forward to your company in times to come.

We are also looking forward to launching some major improvements to Scale Model News. So stay tuned!


As for the pix above, well wouldn’t we like to make a kit of that Jules Verne Nautilus lookalike?! Sad to say, there isn’t one quite like it available, so it’s here as an Xmas-week project idea for you kit-bashers out there.

And who got the idea for the Hawk paint job? This US-issue Hawk, aka T-45, is one of several of these jet trainers finished in deliciously bright Centennial markings. And you don’t need to be a skilled basher to create one for the display shelf...

Have a look at some Hawks (and not just the BAe kind) here.

BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH ‘RAF FLYING REVIEW’

Here’s another treasure from the SMN Vault of Ancientness - one of a bound set of 1961-62 RAF Flying Review magazines. In its time, this monthly British publication was a must-buy for air and model fans, and was packed with news, views, stories, and what was called ‘Technical Gen’ - hard-core info-porn to you and me.

As almost all air fans are also modelers, the scale model page was an important part of FR. While the magazine's lead feature ranted (rightly) about the UK government’s disastrous habit of canning air projects just as each prototype had shown its worth, Michael Farmer’s 'Model Talk' was looking at the latest Hawk kit, a 1:48 scale F-104 Starfighter.

The F-104 displayed Hawk’s attempt at giving a model a realistic bare-metal look by using a vacuum-deposition ‘chrome’ finish; at that time, model makers had little choice beyond a streaky paintbrush, so the prospect of a jet covered with chrome plating was very interesting indeed. However, Farmer reckoned the Hawk effort was TOO realistic, rightly saying that no aircraft is ever likely to be as shiny as this, even fresh from the factory. Today of course, we’re spoilt for choice, and metallic finishes and dull coatings are cheap as chips.

Opposite Model Talk is an advertising gem, a full-page black-and-white ad for the 88-model Aurora range. For this reviewer, the tasty one of the three kits shown is the gorgeous Regulus II, complete with an operating launch platform - come on, today’s reissue-meisters - IWOOT! The twin-rotor Piasecki H-25A is pretty tempting too, its look and layout predating today’s heavy-lift workhorse, the Boeing Chinook. The SE5a? It looks OK enough, but here in 2009, we’re really spoilt for choice in this department, especially in the diecast zone. Corgi’s 1:48 diecast SE5a includes ultra-fine rigging that the average model maker (well, me anyway) wouldn’t even dream of attempting.

If a Corgi SE5a hits the spot, Amazon has several variations on offer at the moment, here.

GENIUS IDEA! TAMIYA METAL CREW FIGURES

Aaah... it’s the brain-flash that says, “Why didn’t we think of that before?”. The Tamiya 1:48 BAe Hawk Mk66 comes in Swiss Air Force markings, and - ta-da! - a pair of heavyweight pilot figures, made of metal instead of plastic. The result is that they combo duties as crew and nose weights.

At last, you don’t have to pack the nose with assorted bits of lead shot, so for this aircraft at least, tail-sitting is not an option. The renowned manufacturer Cartograf has produced five sets of decals for Tamiya, and in an international hookup, Italeri makes aircraft parts. In real life the Hawk and trainers like it are not large aircraft, so 1:48 scale really suits it - the finely crafted model measures 242 mm (9.5 in) long.

The real Hawk (its first flight was 35 years ago) is a highly successful aircraft, with 900-plus made so far; they are flown by air forces all around the world. The Swiss Air Force flew Hawks for about 15 years, until they were sold to Finland in 2007. The Finnish Air Force currently has 18 Mk66 and 47 Mk51 Hawks in service.

The Tamiya Hawk with its paunchy pilots should be available in stores and online retailers shortly.