Pyro and Eaglewall

Recently a discussion on another board addressed some concerns about the relationship between Eaglewall, Pyro Plastics, Life-Like Models and Lindberg Models. The following is a paraphrasing of the information I posted there and is also a quick overview concerning those four companies. These discussions can sometimes breed misinformation, so I wanted to set down a few thoughts.

First, the Eagle (Eaglewall) molds never left the United Kingdom. Pyro did release eight Eagle kits (of British and German subjects) under the Pyro name in 1962 (only) through a trade agreement with Eaglewall Plastics LTD. Eaglewall Plastics, LTD went insolvent in 1963. Pyro went on to produce twelve more 1:1200 model ship kits from only four actual molds of Pyro design. Models derived from these four molds stayed in production for a reasonably long amount of time with Pyro finally ceasing to use them about 1970. The 1:1200 scale Pyro molds were purchased (Pyro molds only-not the Eagle molds!) in 1972 by Life-Like along with the rest of the Pyro mold assets. Life-Like used these molds in the late 1970’s to produce six of the former Pyro 1:1200 models under the Life-Like name. The molds had suffered some damage between the time Pyro quit using them in 1970 until Life-like started using them sometime after 1974. The damaged mold for the US battleships (issued as North Carolina and Washington by Life-like) produced models that looked like they had moles tunneling under the armor! Lindberg purchased the Pyro/Life-Like 1:1200 molds in 1978 and announced four kits in 1979. These were never produced since Lindberg didn’t have the molds for two of the ships announced (former Eagle models) and one of the remaining two kits would have used the badly damaged US battleship mold (North Carolina in this particular case). To the best I have been able to ascertain via discussions with former Lindberg employees, Lindberg still has the four Pyro molds and has no intentions of ever using them again. Time will tell.

As an aside, I was able to purchase some new old stock 1:1200 scale Life-Like kits about three years ago from a hobby store in the mid-western United States. Perhaps a warehouse stash of old Life-Like models may have surfaced about that time? They do still occasionally show up on the usual auction sites.

I go into more detail concerning Eagle and Pyro in my book. I will address more on Pyro, Life-Like and Lindberg in my second book which will also detail model ships in roughly 1:1200 scale produced by twenty-five companies over the last 50 some years. I think some of this information may surprise you when it is published.

Donald D. Hood