Laughing Whale and Midwest models

[grsjax]

Maybe a dumb question but are some of the Midwest kits originally Laughing Whale Kits.  Seems to be a lot of similarity between the old Laughing Whale and some of the Midwest offerings.

[mtaylor]

Per this: http://www.naturecoast.com/hobby/lw.htm, the answer is yes.

[cdogg]

I'll take the midwest prices over those! The Cat boat looks cool.

[catopower]

My understanding is that Midwest acquired some of the Laughing Whale line, but I'm not quite sure which kits.

 

I have a couple Midwest kits in the closet and the instructions are far better than Laughing Whales instructions ever were and the parts are pretty clean. Overall, I'd say they are an improvement over the old LW line. In the past, the LW kits were a little crude, pre-cut parts were a bit rough, the kits had very limited, photocopied instructions, but the plans were very good and they had an interesting selection of subjects. I built a couple of the old kits and still have the ginormous Muscongous Bay Lobster Smack kit in the closet. 

 

I've never looked at one after the line was picked up by BlueJacket, but I would expect they've been improved a lot. Still, I wouldn't sell Midwest kits short. They have a high production value and they're designed to be sold on the store shelf, so they're pretty complete and reasonably priced.

 

Clare