Testor Corporation is a manufacturer of model kits, tools, and accessories based in Rockford, Illinois and is part of RPM International.
Axel Karlson had been producing a product known as "Karlsons Klister", which was originally intended for use in the repair of women's stockings, but had quickly found use in other applications as well. In February 1929, Karlson convinced Nils F. Testor, then the manager of an F.W. Woolworth store in Rockford's Swedish district, to serve as office manager of his new enterprise. It was a relatively risky move for Testor, who began his career as a stockroom boy in Woolworth's Chicago store on State Street. Karlson's Klister ultimately proved unsuccessful and Karlson returned home to Sweden. Testor borrowed enough money to purchase the firm's assets and found The Testor Chemical Company.
By the time Testor came along, cobblers had become the product's primary market. Coming to the conclusion that the only way to save his new acquisition was to sell the product to additional markets, Testor renamed the adhesive "Crystal Clear Household Cement" and began marketing it to households as a general-purpose repair product while continuing to sell a large quantity to shoemakers.
Testor's actions proved to be successful, and by 1936 the company was able to expand its product line. Staying true to its status as a chemical corporation, hobbyist model cement and butyrate dope was introduced to the public. Four years later, Testor Corporation became a founding member of The Hobby Industry of America, an association of hobby parts suppliers and manufacturers.
Axel Karlson had been producing a product known as "Karlsons Klister", which was originally intended for use in the repair of women's stockings, but had quickly found use in other applications as well. In February 1929, Karlson convinced Nils F. Testor, then the manager of an F.W. Woolworth store in Rockford's Swedish district, to serve as office manager of his new enterprise. It was a relatively risky move for Testor, who began his career as a stockroom boy in Woolworth's Chicago store on State Street. Karlson's Klister ultimately proved unsuccessful and Karlson returned home to Sweden. Testor borrowed enough money to purchase the firm's assets and found The Testor Chemical Company.[2]
By the time Testor came along, cobblers had become the product's primary market. Coming to the conclusion that the only way to save his new acquisition was to sell the product to additional markets, Testor renamed the adhesive "Crystal Clear Household Cement" and began marketing it to households as a general-purpose repair product while continuing to sell a large quantity to shoemakers.
Testor's actions proved to be successful, and by 1936 the company was able to expand its product line. Staying true to its status as a chemical corporation, hobbyist model cement and butyrate dope was introduced to the public. Four years later, Testor Corporation became a founding member of The Hobby Industry of America, an association of hobby parts suppliers and manufacturers.
Industrial production necessitated by World War II caused severe shortages of raw materials for manufacturers not directly involved in the war effort. In Testor's case, this manifested itself in difficulties acquiring the chemicals necessary to continue producing its line of adhesives and paints. As a result, the company was forced to branch out into other segments of the hobby market. To this end, Testor began producing static scale models of popular aircraft out of pinewood. These scale models proved enormously popular, and enabled Testor Corporation to survive despite its inability to produce its flagship chemical products in any significant quantity.
On February 1, 1944, a fire broke out at Testor's main Rockford facility. In addition to totally destroying the upper two floors of the four-story brick building, production lines and equipment suffered severe damage from both the fire itself and from the water used to douse the flames. Total damages were estimated at over US$200,000; however, in less than a year a new, larger plant was built and production continued. With the end of the war, the company was able to resume production of its trademark glues and paints, including adhesives for the plastics that were quickly becoming popular. Additionally, surpluses of ultra-lightweight balsa wood left over from the war enabled the company to begin producing flying wooden aircraft models as well as provide raw balsa wood for builders of custom-designed models.
As the 1950s began, Testor prospered in the climate of a thriving American economy. The company added a second factory to its operations in 1951. This enabled the production of a greater number of products, including gloss enamel paints in 48 different colors, new adhesives, and fuel for model airplanes. The following year, Testor began to produce balsa wood hand gliders on a large scale, as well as model airplanes with plastic landing gear and propellers that were powered by rubber bands.
In addition to the company's plants at 2305 Charles Street and 520 Buckbee Street, in January of 1952 Testor leased a third building to increase its manufacturing capacity. With the expansion of both its manufacturing facilities and its line of products, Testor began to grow as an enterprise during the 1950s. Midway through the decade, the firm made its first acquisition, purchasing Duro-Matic Products Co. in 1955. Based in Culver City, California, the company had manufactured the McCoy model airplane engine since 1941. In conjunction with the rapid expansion underway at Testor, Charles D. Miller, who had served as Duro-Matic's president since 1947, was named as Testor's vice-president in charge of manufacturing. He and Nils Testor had enjoyed a close working relationship in previous years. Miller was serving as president of the Hobby Industry Association at the time of his appointment.
In 1955, Testor sold more than 50 million units of merchandise. By this time, the company had evolved into one of the nation's largest buyers of small glass bottles and plastic tubes, respectively used to package its PLA enamel paints and cement. Additionally, Testor had become the world's leading consumer of balsa wood, which it imported from South America. In addition to using balsa wood to manufacture toy airplanes, Testor also sold the wood in board, sheet, and strip form to consumers for hobby use. By the mid-1950s, Testor was also producing approximately 100,000 bottles of its enamel paint each day. In addition to paints and glue, the company sold lighter fluid in cans for 15 cents each.
In spring 1956, Nils Testor announced that his firm had opened a branch in Stockholm, Sweden, called Testor Produkter A.B. In the April 29, 1956 Rockford Morning Star, Testor said that the objective of the new office was to capitalize on the Western European market, which then consisted of approximately 275 million people. Two years later, Nils Testor revealed that he would move from Rockford, Illinois, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he had established the Testor Balsa Co. for manufacturing toy airplanes, as well as the Testor Adhesive and Paint Co. Inc. These firms handled functions once performed in Rockford. By this time, operations in Rockford consisted of the Testor Corp., which held the primary responsibility of assembling, packaging, and selling the firm's products, and the Testor Chemical Co., which focused on the manufacture of paint, enamel, lacquer, and adhesive. In late 1958, C. Roderick Stroh was president and general manager of Testor Corp., and Forrest K. Elson was president and general manager of the latter company.
Enterprise growth continued in the 1960s. By February 1963, Charles Miller had become president of Testor Corp. In order to serve customers in Canadian and European markets, Testor established a Canadian subsidiary in Weston, Ontario, in 1964. Four years later, Testor bolstered its Duro-Matic line when it acquired Wenmac Corp., a manufacturer of engine-powered cars and planes.
In 1965, the Jupiter Corp., a Chicago-based holding company, acquired Testor. At the time of the sale, Testor employed approximately 450 workers, 200 of whom were based in Rockford, Illinois. Nils Testor, who maintained residences in San Juan and Westport, Connecticut, remained the company's chairman. Miller continued to serve as president and chief operating officer.
In 1969, Testor pioneered sniff-proof glue by adding mustard oil to its formula. The additive, which was intended to protect youth from inhaling harmful fumes, made sniffing glue extremely unpleasant, if not impossible. Testor made its formula available to other glue manufacturers at no charge and supported legislation in several states, including New York and New Jersey, which intended to make such additives mandatory.
The company ended the 1960s with another acquisition. Testor's 1969 purchase of the Hawk Model Co. added plastic model kits to its product line. Hawk reportedly produced the industry's first plastic model.
In 1949, Nils Testor began talks with Charles Miller, president of Duromatic Products, regarding a possible partnership. Duromatic was the manufacturer of the McCoy hobby engine, a popular motor for self-propelled models. These talks culminated in a joint marketing agreement of the McCoy engine with Testor model airplanes, as well as an agreement for each company to design its respective products to be interoperable with those of the other.
By the 1960s, plastics had risen to prominence in American life, including the hobby industry. Almost all model kits on the market were plastic, necessitating paints and glues different from those used for wooden models. Although Testor had been producing such chemicals since the 1940s, it had resisted producing plastic model kits for quite some time. However, the company could not stick to its tried-and-true line of wooden models indefinitely, and so in the early 1970s it purchased IMC and the Hawk Model Company, both well-respected manufacturers of plastic model kits. Later that same decade, the Italian model kit manufacturer Italeri was acquired, further expanding Testor's line of plastic model kits, usually repackaged with photographs rather than paintings on the box.
In 1984-1987 Testors sponsored a video series "Adventures in Scale Modeling". The program featured half hour segments on detailed model building with a on-location shoot featuring the item being modeled. The shows were produced by WSWP-TV.
Shortly after the 1980s arrived, Testor introduced a new line of high-quality snap-together model kits for intermediate-skilled modelers. Although the kits were relatively simple to assemble and did not require the use of paints or plastic cement, they were designed with great detail so as to satisfy more advanced modelers. Among the models offered in this new line were the Rolls Royce Phantom II and a Peterbilt Conventional semi-truck. At the time, the latter model was the most complex snap-together product ever produced by Testor and was composed of over 50 different parts.
On January 17, 1984, RPM Inc. (Republic Powdered Metals) of Medina, Ohio, acquired Testor. At the time, RPM also operated such well-known companies as Bondex, Bondo, Mohawk, Rustoleum, and Zinser. That same year, Testor extended its international reach even further by forming an Australian subsidiary.
By the mid-1980s, Testor was producing models that were cutting-edge. One such model, the F-117 Stealth fighter plane, sparked a great deal of controversy when it was released. Even though the U.S. Air Force would not acknowledge the plane's existence, Testor was able to paint what it believed to be a realistic representation of the exterior appearance of the top-secret aircraft by speaking to industry experts and reviewing articles and technical drawings. In the May 29, 1986, Rockford Register Star, Ernie Petit, then the company's national sales manager, commented: "We do a tremendous amount of research. We accumulate everything we can learn and everything that's already published, and from the information we gather, this is our best guess of what the latest stealth fighter is."
When a real stealth fighter crashed near Bakersfield, California, in August 1986, the event only added to the controversy. With national attention focused on stealth aircraft, Testor was in the media spotlight. Consequently, sales of its stealth fighter climbed to industry record-breaking levels, eventually reaching one million units. Several years later, the Air Force acknowledged it had developed the F-19 Stealth fighter which, in many respects, was similar to the F-117 model produced by Testor.
In the February 1997 issue of FineScale Modeler, Testor designer John Andrews recalled: "There were senators holding up our model on television and saying they couldn't get any information on the Stealth and here we had this toy company doing these models. We just happened to be in the correct place at the right time and we had a model."
Although the Department of Defense did not provide Testor with information on the F-19 Stealth fighter, military sources have provided the company with blueprints, photo opportunities, and information related to other military aircraft. Such cooperation allows Testor to produce extremely accurate models. In addition, the company listens to customer feedback when determining which models it will produce.
During the 1990s, Testor acquired English airbrush manufacturer Aztek. During that decade, the company continued to produce a wide array of interesting models in addition to modeling paints and adhesives. By this time, Testor's model kits had evolved considerably from simple hand gliders made of balsa wood to plastic facsimiles of military aircraft like the SR-71 Blackbird Spyplane, the RF-4 Phantom II Spirit of America, and the V-22 Osprey, as well as land vehicles like the Sherman M4 A1 tank.
In 1994, Testor added the S4 UFO to its lineup of models. According to the September 26, 1994 Rockford Register Star, the company based the design of its UFO on descriptions from a former government scientist who supposedly worked with such craft at Nellis Air Force Range in Nevada. Based on input from the same man, Testor released a model of Grey--The Extraterrestrial Life Form. In 1997, Testor unveiled its Roswell UFO model, based on the alien craft that supposedly had crashed in the desert near Roswell, New Mexico, 50 years earlier.
By the early 2000s, Testor remained a dominant force in the hobby industry. In addition to its operations in Rockford, Illinois, the company had manufacturing facilities in Europe and the Far East. Almost 50 years before, Nils Testor had commented on the success his company was experiencing in the November 29, 1955 Rockford Register Republic, remarking: "Where we are today doesn't mean anything. We hope we never arrive--I hope we keep right on moving." If past performance is any indication, Testor's future will be characterized by continued success.
Principal Competitors: Racing Champions Ertl (AMT); Revell-Monogram.
Statistics:
Wholly Owned Subsidiary of RPM Inc.
Incorporated: 1929
Employees: 300
Sales:50 million (2001 est.)
NAIC: 325510 Paint and Coating Manufacturing; 325520 Adhesive Manufacturing; 326199 All Other Plastic s Product Manufacturing
Key Dates:
1928: Swedish immigrant Axel Karlson forms Testor's predecessor, Karlson's Klister.
1929: Nils F. Testor joins Karlson's Klister as office manager, then purchases the firm's assets and founds The Testor Chemical Co.
1936: Testor begins marketing a wide range of cements and paints for hobby and model airplane enthusiasts.
1940: Testor begins marketing scale model airplanes made of balsa wood.
1952: Testor begins making balsa wood hand-gliders.
1955: Testor makes its first acquisition by purchasing Culver City, California-based Duro-Matic Products Co.
1956: Nils Testor announces the opening of a company branch in Stockholm, Sweden, called Testor Produkter A.B.
1964: Testor establishes a Canadian subsidiary in Weston, Ontario.
1965: Chicago, Illinois-based Jupiter Corp. acquires Testor.
1969: By purchasing the Hawk Model Co., Testor adds plastic model kits to its product line.
1978: Annual sales reach $24 million.
1984: RPM Inc. (Republic Powdered Metals) of Medina, Ohio, acquires Testor.
1994: Testor adds the S4 UFO to its lineup of models.
2001: Testor achieves sales of more than $91 million.
Address:
620 Buckbee Street
Rockford, Illinois 61104
U.S.A.
Axel Karlson had been producing a product known as "Karlsons Klister", which was originally intended for use in the repair of women's stockings, but had quickly found use in other applications as well. In February 1929, Karlson convinced Nils F. Testor, then the manager of an F.W. Woolworth store in Rockford's Swedish district, to serve as office manager of his new enterprise. It was a relatively risky move for Testor, who began his career as a stockroom boy in Woolworth's Chicago store on State Street. Karlson's Klister ultimately proved unsuccessful and Karlson returned home to Sweden. Testor borrowed enough money to purchase the firm's assets and found The Testor Chemical Company.
By the time Testor came along, cobblers had become the product's primary market. Coming to the conclusion that the only way to save his new acquisition was to sell the product to additional markets, Testor renamed the adhesive "Crystal Clear Household Cement" and began marketing it to households as a general-purpose repair product while continuing to sell a large quantity to shoemakers.
Testor's actions proved to be successful, and by 1936 the company was able to expand its product line. Staying true to its status as a chemical corporation, hobbyist model cement and butyrate dope was introduced to the public. Four years later, Testor Corporation became a founding member of The Hobby Industry of America, an association of hobby parts suppliers and manufacturers.
Axel Karlson had been producing a product known as "Karlsons Klister", which was originally intended for use in the repair of women's stockings, but had quickly found use in other applications as well. In February 1929, Karlson convinced Nils F. Testor, then the manager of an F.W. Woolworth store in Rockford's Swedish district, to serve as office manager of his new enterprise. It was a relatively risky move for Testor, who began his career as a stockroom boy in Woolworth's Chicago store on State Street. Karlson's Klister ultimately proved unsuccessful and Karlson returned home to Sweden. Testor borrowed enough money to purchase the firm's assets and found The Testor Chemical Company.[2]
By the time Testor came along, cobblers had become the product's primary market. Coming to the conclusion that the only way to save his new acquisition was to sell the product to additional markets, Testor renamed the adhesive "Crystal Clear Household Cement" and began marketing it to households as a general-purpose repair product while continuing to sell a large quantity to shoemakers.
Testor's actions proved to be successful, and by 1936 the company was able to expand its product line. Staying true to its status as a chemical corporation, hobbyist model cement and butyrate dope was introduced to the public. Four years later, Testor Corporation became a founding member of The Hobby Industry of America, an association of hobby parts suppliers and manufacturers.
Industrial production necessitated by World War II caused severe shortages of raw materials for manufacturers not directly involved in the war effort. In Testor's case, this manifested itself in difficulties acquiring the chemicals necessary to continue producing its line of adhesives and paints. As a result, the company was forced to branch out into other segments of the hobby market. To this end, Testor began producing static scale models of popular aircraft out of pinewood. These scale models proved enormously popular, and enabled Testor Corporation to survive despite its inability to produce its flagship chemical products in any significant quantity.
On February 1, 1944, a fire broke out at Testor's main Rockford facility. In addition to totally destroying the upper two floors of the four-story brick building, production lines and equipment suffered severe damage from both the fire itself and from the water used to douse the flames. Total damages were estimated at over US$200,000; however, in less than a year a new, larger plant was built and production continued. With the end of the war, the company was able to resume production of its trademark glues and paints, including adhesives for the plastics that were quickly becoming popular. Additionally, surpluses of ultra-lightweight balsa wood left over from the war enabled the company to begin producing flying wooden aircraft models as well as provide raw balsa wood for builders of custom-designed models.
As the 1950s began, Testor prospered in the climate of a thriving American economy. The company added a second factory to its operations in 1951. This enabled the production of a greater number of products, including gloss enamel paints in 48 different colors, new adhesives, and fuel for model airplanes. The following year, Testor began to produce balsa wood hand gliders on a large scale, as well as model airplanes with plastic landing gear and propellers that were powered by rubber bands.
In addition to the company's plants at 2305 Charles Street and 520 Buckbee Street, in January of 1952 Testor leased a third building to increase its manufacturing capacity. With the expansion of both its manufacturing facilities and its line of products, Testor began to grow as an enterprise during the 1950s. Midway through the decade, the firm made its first acquisition, purchasing Duro-Matic Products Co. in 1955. Based in Culver City, California, the company had manufactured the McCoy model airplane engine since 1941. In conjunction with the rapid expansion underway at Testor, Charles D. Miller, who had served as Duro-Matic's president since 1947, was named as Testor's vice-president in charge of manufacturing. He and Nils Testor had enjoyed a close working relationship in previous years. Miller was serving as president of the Hobby Industry Association at the time of his appointment.
In 1955, Testor sold more than 50 million units of merchandise. By this time, the company had evolved into one of the nation's largest buyers of small glass bottles and plastic tubes, respectively used to package its PLA enamel paints and cement. Additionally, Testor had become the world's leading consumer of balsa wood, which it imported from South America. In addition to using balsa wood to manufacture toy airplanes, Testor also sold the wood in board, sheet, and strip form to consumers for hobby use. By the mid-1950s, Testor was also producing approximately 100,000 bottles of its enamel paint each day. In addition to paints and glue, the company sold lighter fluid in cans for 15 cents each.
In spring 1956, Nils Testor announced that his firm had opened a branch in Stockholm, Sweden, called Testor Produkter A.B. In the April 29, 1956 Rockford Morning Star, Testor said that the objective of the new office was to capitalize on the Western European market, which then consisted of approximately 275 million people. Two years later, Nils Testor revealed that he would move from Rockford, Illinois, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he had established the Testor Balsa Co. for manufacturing toy airplanes, as well as the Testor Adhesive and Paint Co. Inc. These firms handled functions once performed in Rockford. By this time, operations in Rockford consisted of the Testor Corp., which held the primary responsibility of assembling, packaging, and selling the firm's products, and the Testor Chemical Co., which focused on the manufacture of paint, enamel, lacquer, and adhesive. In late 1958, C. Roderick Stroh was president and general manager of Testor Corp., and Forrest K. Elson was president and general manager of the latter company.
Enterprise growth continued in the 1960s. By February 1963, Charles Miller had become president of Testor Corp. In order to serve customers in Canadian and European markets, Testor established a Canadian subsidiary in Weston, Ontario, in 1964. Four years later, Testor bolstered its Duro-Matic line when it acquired Wenmac Corp., a manufacturer of engine-powered cars and planes.
In 1965, the Jupiter Corp., a Chicago-based holding company, acquired Testor. At the time of the sale, Testor employed approximately 450 workers, 200 of whom were based in Rockford, Illinois. Nils Testor, who maintained residences in San Juan and Westport, Connecticut, remained the company's chairman. Miller continued to serve as president and chief operating officer.
In 1969, Testor pioneered sniff-proof glue by adding mustard oil to its formula. The additive, which was intended to protect youth from inhaling harmful fumes, made sniffing glue extremely unpleasant, if not impossible. Testor made its formula available to other glue manufacturers at no charge and supported legislation in several states, including New York and New Jersey, which intended to make such additives mandatory.
The company ended the 1960s with another acquisition. Testor's 1969 purchase of the Hawk Model Co. added plastic model kits to its product line. Hawk reportedly produced the industry's first plastic model.
In 1949, Nils Testor began talks with Charles Miller, president of Duromatic Products, regarding a possible partnership. Duromatic was the manufacturer of the McCoy hobby engine, a popular motor for self-propelled models. These talks culminated in a joint marketing agreement of the McCoy engine with Testor model airplanes, as well as an agreement for each company to design its respective products to be interoperable with those of the other.
By the 1960s, plastics had risen to prominence in American life, including the hobby industry. Almost all model kits on the market were plastic, necessitating paints and glues different from those used for wooden models. Although Testor had been producing such chemicals since the 1940s, it had resisted producing plastic model kits for quite some time. However, the company could not stick to its tried-and-true line of wooden models indefinitely, and so in the early 1970s it purchased IMC and the Hawk Model Company, both well-respected manufacturers of plastic model kits. Later that same decade, the Italian model kit manufacturer Italeri was acquired, further expanding Testor's line of plastic model kits, usually repackaged with photographs rather than paintings on the box.
In 1984-1987 Testors sponsored a video series "Adventures in Scale Modeling". The program featured half hour segments on detailed model building with a on-location shoot featuring the item being modeled. The shows were produced by WSWP-TV.
Shortly after the 1980s arrived, Testor introduced a new line of high-quality snap-together model kits for intermediate-skilled modelers. Although the kits were relatively simple to assemble and did not require the use of paints or plastic cement, they were designed with great detail so as to satisfy more advanced modelers. Among the models offered in this new line were the Rolls Royce Phantom II and a Peterbilt Conventional semi-truck. At the time, the latter model was the most complex snap-together product ever produced by Testor and was composed of over 50 different parts.
On January 17, 1984, RPM Inc. (Republic Powdered Metals) of Medina, Ohio, acquired Testor. At the time, RPM also operated such well-known companies as Bondex, Bondo, Mohawk, Rustoleum, and Zinser. That same year, Testor extended its international reach even further by forming an Australian subsidiary.
By the mid-1980s, Testor was producing models that were cutting-edge. One such model, the F-117 Stealth fighter plane, sparked a great deal of controversy when it was released. Even though the U.S. Air Force would not acknowledge the plane's existence, Testor was able to paint what it believed to be a realistic representation of the exterior appearance of the top-secret aircraft by speaking to industry experts and reviewing articles and technical drawings. In the May 29, 1986, Rockford Register Star, Ernie Petit, then the company's national sales manager, commented: "We do a tremendous amount of research. We accumulate everything we can learn and everything that's already published, and from the information we gather, this is our best guess of what the latest stealth fighter is."
When a real stealth fighter crashed near Bakersfield, California, in August 1986, the event only added to the controversy. With national attention focused on stealth aircraft, Testor was in the media spotlight. Consequently, sales of its stealth fighter climbed to industry record-breaking levels, eventually reaching one million units. Several years later, the Air Force acknowledged it had developed the F-19 Stealth fighter which, in many respects, was similar to the F-117 model produced by Testor.
In the February 1997 issue of FineScale Modeler, Testor designer John Andrews recalled: "There were senators holding up our model on television and saying they couldn't get any information on the Stealth and here we had this toy company doing these models. We just happened to be in the correct place at the right time and we had a model."
Although the Department of Defense did not provide Testor with information on the F-19 Stealth fighter, military sources have provided the company with blueprints, photo opportunities, and information related to other military aircraft. Such cooperation allows Testor to produce extremely accurate models. In addition, the company listens to customer feedback when determining which models it will produce.
During the 1990s, Testor acquired English airbrush manufacturer Aztek. During that decade, the company continued to produce a wide array of interesting models in addition to modeling paints and adhesives. By this time, Testor's model kits had evolved considerably from simple hand gliders made of balsa wood to plastic facsimiles of military aircraft like the SR-71 Blackbird Spyplane, the RF-4 Phantom II Spirit of America, and the V-22 Osprey, as well as land vehicles like the Sherman M4 A1 tank.
In 1994, Testor added the S4 UFO to its lineup of models. According to the September 26, 1994 Rockford Register Star, the company based the design of its UFO on descriptions from a former government scientist who supposedly worked with such craft at Nellis Air Force Range in Nevada. Based on input from the same man, Testor released a model of Grey--The Extraterrestrial Life Form. In 1997, Testor unveiled its Roswell UFO model, based on the alien craft that supposedly had crashed in the desert near Roswell, New Mexico, 50 years earlier.
By the early 2000s, Testor remained a dominant force in the hobby industry. In addition to its operations in Rockford, Illinois, the company had manufacturing facilities in Europe and the Far East. Almost 50 years before, Nils Testor had commented on the success his company was experiencing in the November 29, 1955 Rockford Register Republic, remarking: "Where we are today doesn't mean anything. We hope we never arrive--I hope we keep right on moving." If past performance is any indication, Testor's future will be characterized by continued success.
Principal Competitors: Racing Champions Ertl (AMT); Revell-Monogram.
Statistics:
Wholly Owned Subsidiary of RPM Inc.
Incorporated: 1929
Employees: 300
Sales:50 million (2001 est.)
NAIC: 325510 Paint and Coating Manufacturing; 325520 Adhesive Manufacturing; 326199 All Other Plastic s Product Manufacturing
Key Dates:
1928: Swedish immigrant Axel Karlson forms Testor's predecessor, Karlson's Klister.
1929: Nils F. Testor joins Karlson's Klister as office manager, then purchases the firm's assets and founds The Testor Chemical Co.
1936: Testor begins marketing a wide range of cements and paints for hobby and model airplane enthusiasts.
1940: Testor begins marketing scale model airplanes made of balsa wood.
1952: Testor begins making balsa wood hand-gliders.
1955: Testor makes its first acquisition by purchasing Culver City, California-based Duro-Matic Products Co.
1956: Nils Testor announces the opening of a company branch in Stockholm, Sweden, called Testor Produkter A.B.
1964: Testor establishes a Canadian subsidiary in Weston, Ontario.
1965: Chicago, Illinois-based Jupiter Corp. acquires Testor.
1969: By purchasing the Hawk Model Co., Testor adds plastic model kits to its product line.
1978: Annual sales reach $24 million.
1984: RPM Inc. (Republic Powdered Metals) of Medina, Ohio, acquires Testor.
1994: Testor adds the S4 UFO to its lineup of models.
2001: Testor achieves sales of more than $91 million.
Address:
620 Buckbee Street
Rockford, Illinois 61104
U.S.A.
Last edited: